Edmonton Oilers Talk: What Do You Think About These Five Bottom-Six Centers?

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Edmonton Sun

Oilers need more from supporting cast like Minnesota Wild

Markus Niemelainen’s stock has gone up in his four games since his recall because he’s a hitter (15 since he left Bakersfield), he gets in the way with his six-foot-five frame… Niemelainen needs work on his puck-moving but you can coach that.
They could really use a two-way centre with some major checking chops, and also some offensive pop like Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek.
The Oilers power play, which could be counted on for a goal a game through the first 20 games, often a tide-turner or a comeback into games after a bad start, hasn’t looked quite so lethal the last four… It’s become a tad predictable, looking for the one-time shot — pass, pass, pass with their pitch and catch skill…
The Wild, poster boys for running four lines, do not have a regular forward who plays less than 10 minutes a game. The Oilers have five — Devin Shore, Kyle Turris, Brendan Perlini, Colton Sceviour and Tyler Benson.
Evan Bouchard had an up-and-down game against the Wild, but he’s gone from a guy who was an after-thought last season with 14 games, mostly taxi-squad, to a clear top 4 D… He should be getting more PP work. His shots get through.
Kailer Yamamoto has to do more to stay in the top six… In his last three games, no points, no shots. In his last seven games, five shots on goal. High marks for his ability to steal pucks and survive at his size but you can’t play on a second line when there’s no offence.

BLH’s Thoughts: If the Oilers are going to get the ideal third line center, they’re going to have to pay for it as Eriksson-Ek is making $5.25M/yr.

Here are some names I don’t mind for 3C, but they’d cost.

Nazem Kadri is making $4.5M/yr (expiring this summer btw)

Radek Faksa makes $3.25M/yr

Scott Laughton makes $3M/yr

Bob Stauffer’s independent researcher, Woodguy aka Darcy McLeod, likes Arizona’s Johan Larsson and he’s on an expiring contract that pays him $1.4M. He might fit what the Oilers are looking for exactly.

Speaking of Bob, he mentioned Bouchard and the PP on his radio show recently, so I do wonder if that means we might see Uncle Evan finally get his chance considering he’s outproducing Tyson Barrie with little to no PP time and quite a bit less TOI/game.

How many times have you read here recently that unpredictability made Edmonton’s PP so lethal? Now it’s mired in 1/16 funk because they’re looking for the one-timer or the bank shot off a skate or Hyman’s stick net front…

To get back in the groove, I think the PP should institute an internal rule that sees each player get a chance on net. So Barrie gets a shot, Leon, Nuge, Connor, and Hyman/Pulju, because they can’t keep looking for that cross-seam pass every time.

If I was the coach of the other team, I would simply put my bravest four skaters out as penalty killers and ask them to just collapse on the net. It would force Edmonton’s shooters to simply shoot through them, would it not? Those teams who’ve blocked a lot of shots haven’t done too shabby against the Oilers this year and how frustrating is it for Leon or Connor to get all your shots stopped before they even hit the net? It’s just one more way to get into the heads of the Oilers’ stars.

Tough times continue for Yamo… Is Tippett helping or hurting him by refusing to move him out of the top-six and do you think there are any other top-six wingers out there who can also steal pucks and feature on the PK?

Oilersnation

Random Thoughts on Losing Streaks

…consistent teams rarely swim in the gutter of losses very often.
…losing three games in a row isn’t devastating, if they can stop the losing tomorrow against Boston.
Last year the Oilers only lost three in a row once. It was a tough three-game losing streak at home with all three losses against Toronto.
Many believe that when you play well and lose that is often a sign the losing streak is coming to an end.
The Oilers recent dip is not ideal, but it is far from catastrophic just yet. But they are inching closer to it becoming a problem. They need to build off of last night’s effort. They put more pucks on net, although they didn’t generate many super high-quality chances. At least it was a step in the right direction.

BLH’s Thoughts: What do you mean “recent dip” the Oilers are one loss from being a sub-.500 team in their last 15 games… I’d say the dip goes back a bit farther than “recent”. It’s just compounded with back-to-back-to-back losses to teams that shouldn’t be beating them.

The Oilers might get lucky here though. Stauffer made it sound like Charlie McAvoy is questionable for tonight’s game and he’s one guy who could make the evening difficult for McDavid and Draisaitl, Toronto’s missing Mitch Marner because his teammate smoked him in practise and buggered up his shoulder, and Carolina’s franchise defenseman, Ethan Bear, is coming off a bout with The ‘Vid.

Is all that enough for the Oilers to grab opportunity by the balls and hang on for dear life? We’ll find out, won’t we?

The Daily Goal Horn

TSN Trade Bait Board

Ben Chariot, D (MTL)
Anton Khudobin, G (DAL)
Jake DeBrusk, F (BOS)
Mark Giordano, D (SEA) – #5 on DGH
Tomas Hertl, F (SJS) – #4 on DGH
Nick Leddy, D (DET)
Vitali Kravtsov, F (NYR) – #9 on DGH
Kevin Fiala , F (MIN) – #7 on DGH
Phil Kessel, F (ARI) – #2 on DGH
Evander Kane, F (SJS)

*DGH = Daily Goal Horn