Edmonton Oilers Trade Talk: “Find this year’s Blake Coleman.” Says Stauffer

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Cult of Hockey

The Edmonton Oilers have to be grinding out of the break, both on the ice and off: 9 Things

The more I talk with people in Edmonton and elsewhere, the more I realize that the club came much closer to a coaching change than Ken Holland will let on or that most of us realized at the time. In fact, had the Oilers lost that Calgary game, I very strongly suspect that there would have been a media conference hastily scheduled the next day. Discussions had been had. Displeasures in the state of the club at that moment in time had been stated in no uncertain terms.
I am worried about the goaltending. If the goalies the club has now are perfectly healthy, then I agree there’s a chance the team will be o.k. I have a lot of time and respect for Mike Smith . If he’s sound physically I have little doubt that he can still make an impact. If the much-maligned Mikko Koskinen is limited to about a 3 ^rd of the games has a track record as an adequate NHL backup.
…it is fair to scrutinize the pro scouts. Most of the players brought over the past 2 years have been described as “depth”. The 2020 deadline acquisitions of Mike Green and Andreas Athanasiou were ultimately utter busts.
If your team is truly improving, your acquisitions need to get progressively stronger with it. The status quo isn’t good enough. You’re no longer just plugging in vets until the kids graduate.
I’ve heard names like Lawson Crouse (Arizona), Mason Appleton (Seattle), Nathan Bastian (Seattle at the time, later claimed by New Jersey), Mason Marchment (Florida) and Nick Paul…
…these newer names also still have runway. They’re generally a bit younger and would still have a chance to develop along with the rest of the group. There’s no guarantee any of the existing guys will even be in the league next year.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’ve been saying for weeks now to prepare yourselves for the possibility that Ken Holland is unable to upgrade the netminding position and we’re starting to hear it through the team’s voice (Bob Stauffer) too.

Another line of thought coming out of the official and unofficial team lines is that the team is targeting younger forwards from “distressed” organizations who might be going into or are within a “rebuild”. To add to this, Stauffer mentioned yesterday that maybe there’s an appetite to spend a bit more to get a better player (middle-six, 7-10 forward) with term left on his deal.

In an interesting turn of events, new 4th line LW Warren Foegele could be moved if Holland wanted to move him.

As for the pro scouts, I feel very strongly that changes will be coming there. I’ve heard that Ken Holland is unhappy with recent efforts and how “chatty” they’ve been since he joined the team. Rumor has it, not sure how true it is, he has gone as far as to hand down a suspension in one case.

As for the Athanasiou and Green trades, if you can’t see there were other mitigating factors in why those deals ultimately failed, you’re not looking at them with a clear and open frame of mind. Covid might’ve played a part and also, wouldn’t it make sense to maybe look at Archie Henderson as somebody who might’ve played point on bringing those ex-Red Wings to Edmonton?

Ken Holland is pro-vet, he’s always been like this. So, he’s always going to give an older player the time of day and force a younger one to take his job. There’s intangibles they bring to the club too and with a team whose core is this young, I don’t think you can have enough veteran voices in the locker room.

That being said, this team IS taking the next step in its evolution and I would agree with Leavins that perhaps it’s time to move the crosshairs to some younger targets when it comes to player acquisitions.

But I’m torn, because on the other hand, Edmonton’s got some young guns bubbling under in Bourgault, Savoie, Lavoie, Petrov, Broberg, Niemelainen, Samorukov, Kemp, Skinner, Konovalov, etc.

So, it’s a delicate balance that Holland and his management team have to work with.

Re: #letsgooilers potential trades

Recently, Bob Stauffer's been talking about targeting "distressed" clubs for younger players that can play but also emphasized that any trade is tied to EDM's goalies.

Today, he was a bit more specific,

"Find this year's Blake Coleman."

— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) February 8, 2022

The Hockey Writers

Oilers & Devils Should be Talking Trade Involving Koskinen & Graves

The Devils got hit with some bad news a while back that Jonathan Bernier is out for the season with a hip injury. With the recent and less serious injury to Mackenzie Blackwood, the team has been running with two American Hockey League (AHL)-level goaltenders for the time being in Jon Gillies and Nico Daws.
With the Devils’ need for a goaltender for the rest of the season and their playoff hopes slim, they could be looking to sell a few assets that are worth something to help put themselves in a position to improve next season, which looks likely.
… the New Jersey Devils’ situation is unique right now and the Oilers could be able to get a return that helps them more than freeing cap space for this season. This would be acquiring a defensive defenceman in Ryan Graves.
For his size, Graves doesn’t hit the most, but he is still physical nonetheless. In his short career, he has been heavily relied upon defensively, starting in the defensive zone 63 percent of the time. Pairing him with either Tyson Barrie or Evan Bouchard can make up for what they lack defensively and allow them to take more chances offensively.
Since the Oilers are right up against the cap, the most likely candidates to be moved are Koskinen and skaters who may not fit in the lineup anymore, which includes someone like Zack Kassian.
Moving Koskinen and one of the forwards mentioned above frees up roster spots, clears $1.33 million at minimum, and opens the door for the Oilers to make a deal to acquire a starting goalie. It also brings in a defenceman with term that fills the lack of effective defence-first defencemen the Oilers have on their active roster. Even if a player like Markus Niemelainen is ready to make the jump full-time to the NHL next season, Graves is versatile and what a shutdown pair that would make.

BLH’s Thoughts: Graves’ $3.16M for another year could be problematic if the club’s intent on upgrading the netminding is a priority.

To add to that, Puljujarvi, Yamamoto, McLeod, Samorukov, and Niemelainen are all restricted free agents this summer and if I’m reading things right from Cap Friendly, the Oilers will only have around $8M in cap space to re-sign those players.

I like the idea of Ryan Graves on the Oilers, but I wonder if there are some more financially prudent options out there. Soucy (SEA) or Braun (PHI) are a little cheaper and with Braun, he’d be a UFA at season’s end. So there wouldn’t be a commitment to next season with him and the right side would get shored up a bit.

Oilers Now

Jay Woodcroft

On Dylan Holloway

“I found him around the puck, in offensive chances. It didn’t go in for him but that’s just the type of hockey it was this weekend. I don’t just measure his game in offensive production, I think there are other parts of his game that we are continuing to work on with him. His skating is elite, we know that. It comes down to details in his game, professional details and he’s giving a good effort. He’s very coachable. He continues to get better every day… He’s in a good spot to continue to grow his game.”

On Rafa Lavoie

“Right around when the team started to take off in mid-December, Raf’s game took off. We don’t talk about it enough, but we’ve been on the road a lot, 14 out of 17 games, and when you are on the road that’s a way for the team to collectively come together but it’s a good opportunity for individual to narrow their focus and not having to worry about things off the ice. You can block the outside noise out and work on your game. Raf has done Yeoman’s work over the last 6 weeks. He’s going to hard areas, he’s paying the price for offensive production, and we see growth in his game and it’s a credit to him for the work he’s put in.”

On Analytics

“We see that as a piece of the puzzle, not the only part of the puzzle. It’s information, but we ensure to account for the stuff that isn’t as easy to measure, like the intangible stuff within the game. When you have a broad open mind and account for all these different sources of information it helps you have a good perspective. We have good people within the organization that provides us with some work and we do our own work as well. We think we cover lots of bases.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Sure sounds like Woody isn’t as convinced that Holloway is ready for the show yet, but maybe Rafa Lavoie gets there should he bring some more consistency to his game.

Bob’s been on a bit of a tangent lately with regards to analytics and Woodcroft didn’t fall for Stauffer’s trap there. He played that one pretty safely.

There was some more chatter about the coaching staff, the makeup of the Condors, and the run the team has been on lately. If you want, you can listen to the whole clip below.