The trade dominoes are starting to fall as we edge closer to the Feb.24th trade deadline. Tyler Toffoli is off to Vancouver, Marco Scandella is a Blue, and Brendan Dillon is going to try and win a Cup with Ovechkin in Washington. Dylan DeMelo will now be flying with the Jets and Julien Gauthier WASN’T traded for Jesse Puljujarvi! He was dealt to a team that’s long been in the Puljujarvi rumor mill though, the New York Rangers!
But what are the Edmonton Oilers planning on doing here. Well, I want to address a few things here that have been published in the media or said on sports talk radio point-by-point just to try and keep things brief. But there’s quite a bit…
- If the Oilers are looking to add some skill to the middle of their forward lineup, Tyler Ennis and Connor Brown from Ottawa might be a couple of targets to keep an eye on. Ennis would bring a lot of what Kailer Yamamoto does plus a metric ton of experience to go along with it. I wonder how he would react to a trade out of Ottawa though? Rumor has it, he wanted to play for the Sens because of their new coach DJ Smith… As for Brown, he’s been in the Oilers sights for a long time given his junior connection to Connor McDavid and his speed/power from the wing. There was a Benning/Brown deal being worked on last year that failed to materialize.
- There seems to be an Oilers scout at every Leafs game recently and a Leafs scout at every Oilers game. I don’t really think that Dubas is looking to move Alex Kerfoot in a deal for Matthew Benning plus picks/prospects. I’m sure the Oilers would love to, but I just can’t see it. However, I do wonder if Dubas would trade Jason Spezza. The Oilers are looking for a right-handed center who is good on the dot and can provide some offense to their bottom-6 and Spezza has 23pts in 49gp as well as a 53.3% winning percentage on the dot.
- Two quotes from Jonathan Willis’ latest post stand out for me regarding Andreas Athanasiou, “He’s a pure rush player, of the one-and-done variety in a league where keeping the puck in the attacking zone is the key to both good offense and good defense.” and “No doubt that he’ll use that incredible speed to score flashy goals wherever he plays out his next contract. What is far less certain is whether he’s going to help his line outscore the opposition, which is ultimately what wins games.”
- To add to that, yesterday, Bob Stauffer (630 CHED) and Mark Spector (Sportsnet) were talking about him on Oilers Now and Stauffer mentioned that he thought that Athanasiou is a bit of a “lone wolf” and the Oilers were playing like a team at the moment. Cap space and asset cost also came up as reasons why the Oilers might take a pass on AA.
- What I took from that was that perhaps the market is a bit soft on the speedy Red Wing because he’s too much of a defensive liability. Sure he can skate like the wind, but there are two ends to the rink and in a Tippett-lead team, you’re going to need to be able to play at both ends of the rink.
- Continuing with the Stauffer theme, he also said this on his show yesterday, “I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point between now and Monday if the Oilers added a bottom-6 forward that can play multiple positions.”
- Chris Johnston (Sportsnet) made this comment about the Oilers’ deadline plans, “The Oilers have had extensive talks with teams over Jesse Puljujarvi. New York Rangers showed lots of interest. The New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning inquired. Expect Edmonton to be more active and bring in a forward”
- I maintain the belief that there’s a better deal for the Oilers that includes Puljujarvi awaiting them at the draft in Montreal this summer. I don’t believe he’ll be moved in a deadline deal but if Detroit came calling and were offering Darren Helm, a player that is very responsible defensively and has spent time on Dylan Larkin’s wing, would you make that trade?
- One more from the Stauffer files. Last week he and Mr. Spector were talking about a couple of Russians, Anton Slepyshev and Konstantin Okulov, as possible summer targets for the Oilers… If they’re playing at the Worlds this summer, it wouldn’t shock me if some news regarding this emerged.
- There are only a handful of players that come to mind. I’ve got four for you, Curtis Lazar (BUF), Colton Sissons (NSH), and Melker Karlsson (SJ), and Noel Acciari (FLA). All play both center and right-wing.
- I’m not as confident on Sissons and Acciari becoming available, but Lazar and Karlsson should be.
- Is Blake Coleman going to be this year’s Ryan Dzingel? Tampa is a pretty deep team…
- Speak of the Devil(s)… Not too too long ago Jason Gregor was talking about Kyle Palmieri as a trade target he’d consider for the Oilers and just yesterday Elliotte Friedman said on SN590, “Devils have sent a signal that teams should make offers on Palmeri.”
- Friedman cont. “Tampa outbid Boston for Coleman, but Edmonton made a real push. A couple of teams said they heard he was the guy the Oilers would give up a first-rounder for.”
- This is pretty much in contradiction to what TSN’s Bob McKenzie said later on yesterday, “The Oilers would ideally want Pageau or Kreider at the NHL Trade Deadline, but the only problem is that KH doesn’t want to give up a 1st round pick. Plus, the Oilers cap situation with McDavid, Neal, Russell, Klefbom, and Kassian all not on LTIR.
- I feel like Friedman is doing some work for other GMs here. The story all along is that Holland will not part with a 1st, Evan Bouchard, Philip Broberg, or Dmitri Samorukov. Others (Bob Stauffer/Frank Seravalli) have even gone as far as to say the 2nd rounder could be off the table too… I believe this is only for rentals but if Taylor Hall couldn’t get something as good as a first-rounder and Dmitri Samorukov from Holland, it’s clear that the Oilers are holding on to their draft picks very tightly.
- But what about a 6th or 7th rounder? The Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson wondered, “Holland has been around block 100s of times. He knows you can never have enough veteran depth on defence. So if he can get rental D for sixth or seventh-round draft pick or prospect he can afford to live without (Swedish D Filip Berglund?), with Klefbom and Russell out why not?”
- Hockey insider John Shannon said this about the trade market on Twitter, “Talked to 3 GMs this afternoon, about the prices for players right now, ahead of the Monday deadline. All used different terms…but had the same sentiment: “The prices are Crazy!” “Nuts!” “Madness!”
The way I see things is that the team is banking on their top-6 consisting of the following going into the post-season:
- Neal/McDavid/Kassian
- RNH/Draisaitl/Yamamoto
Teams who have success in the playoffs have a couple things,
- Good goaltending.
- Depth at forward and defense.
I think the Oilers defense has an acceptable amount of depth (it could always be upgraded) but their forward group doesn’t.
- Benson/Sheahan/Archibald
- Gagner/Haas/Chiasson
- Khaira/Cave/Russell
- Granlund
And of course, Joakim Nygard once he’s off the IR will be added to the team. His speed and hard forechecking is missed right now. So, the solution, for me, is to upgrade the bottom-6 with players like Curtis Lazar, Melker Karlsson, or Colton Sissons. Hell, if all three could be added for a reasonable price, that would be outstanding! Then your playoff forward group would look like this,
- Neal/McDavid/Kassian
- RNH/Drai/Yamamoto
- Nygard/Sheahan/Archibald
- Haas/(Lazar/Karlsson/Sissons)/Chiasson
- Russell/Gagner/Benson
That 4th line seems to be the one worth tinkering with eh?
- Benson/Sissons/Chiasson?
- Benson/Haas/Karlsson?
- Haas/Lazar/Gagner?
I dunno, you could probably come up with countless combinations until your face turned blue.
I haven’t worked out the roster move logistics of making something like this happen, but I can trust you probably have an idea or could at least come up with one.
What do you think? Are you gonna be pissed of Holland only makes a minor move or two or do you agree with me that this is probably the best thing to do for the long-term future of the team?
