This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!
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Oilersnation
Edmonton Oilers targeting goaltending, left-defence and a third-line centre in trade
- According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Oilers are reportedly preparing to target goaltending, the left-side of the defence and a third-line centre in a trade.
- Friedman noted that the Oilers and Ken Holland wanted to send a message to stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl that they are willing to go all-in after what was a red hot start to the season.
- The team has money tied up in some underperforming players like Tyson Barrie and Zack Kassian, amongst others, and one has to wonder if they are players that could be dealt to fill some other holes.
- In terms of goaltending, Koskinen and his $4.5-million cap hit could theoretically be moved to generate some cap space if a goaltender was coming back the other way.
BLH’s Thoughts: Look, I don’t think there’s a lot to say right now. Obviously Holland is looking but with every loss, the price goes up. Nobody is going to do him a favor. In fact, he’s probably going to have to do somebody else one.
But for fun, I’ll list my three preferred trade targets and if you want, you can tell me your three on Twitter @beerleagueheroe.
- Ben Chiarot (MTL), LD – the team is desperate for somebody who can shut things down from the left side and push Duncan Keith down to the third pair.
- Marc-Andre Fleury (CHI), G – If Holland is going to go out and find himself a goalie, he might as well grab the best one available. Hopefully Edmonton’s little bump in the road and Chicago’s resurgence under Derek King wouldn’t hinder the sell job Ken Holland wound need to make to convince MAF to go to Edmonton.
- Radek Faksa (DAL), C – This Czech center has a 57.7% win rate on the dot. He’s a defense-first center and when he’s shooting at his career avg (10%), he’s good for ten or more goals a year and he’s only 27yrs old.
All three players have been to the Stanley Cup final in the last five years if I’m not mistaken.
This is my wish list, don’t ask me how Holland would even attempt to get it done. But it is what it is.
Cult of Hockey
Dave Tippett staying the course with Edmonton Oilers’ line combos despite diminishing offensive returns
- It’s gotten so bad in recent times that half way through their season-long 6-game home stand the Oil haven’t scored as many as 5 goals in total. In 180 minutes before the home faithful, the Oilers have mustered a mere 4 goals, just 1 of them at even strength. That’s… not good.
- The actual bottom six? It’s not pretty, folks.
- Zack Kassian, 4 goals on the season (21 GP), and just 1 in his last 17 games — that coming when he was briefly put on McDavid’s wing
- Ryan McLeod, 3 goals on the season (17 GP), no points in his last 7 games
- Warren Foegele, 2 goals on the season (25 GP) and none in his last 18 GP
- Derek Ryan, 1 goal on the season (22 GP) and not a single point in his last 20 games
- Devin Shore, 1 goal all season (10 GP)
- Kyle Turris, 1 goal all season (15 GP)
- Colton Sceviour, Tyler Benson and Brendan Perlini, 0 goals and just 1 point in a combined 40 games.
BLH’s Thoughts: Now, when you look at that group of NHLers, which one(s) should we be expecting to score goals aside from Warren Foegele? Not a lot of snipers on that list, are there? So, should we blame them? Have we looked at goals from the blueline yet? Darnell Nurse is on pace for 4 goals, he has one currently…
The whole apple is rotten right now people! From the core on out. Except for Puljujarvi. That guy is a saint and anybody who thinks differently is probably going to Hell when they die. A special kind of Hell too where they have to block Puljujarvi’s slapshots in the nude for eternity.
Whoa! Harsh… I gotta relax…
Anyways, the cavalry ain’t coming before Christmas, so we’re just going to have to wait for the apple tree to grow us some better apples. Whatever that means.
Well, the good news is that the run and gun Toronto Maple Leafs are up next. Maybe they’ll try to go toe-to-toe with the Oilers and maybe Jack Campbell will have a bad night… This is where we’re at folks, we’re hoping the other team shits the bed so the Oilers can win a game… Not good. And the only way Dave Tippett is getting the axe is if Darryl Katz walks into Ken Holland’s office and tells him to.
Spector’s Hockey
- CALGARY HOCKEY NOW: Steve Macfarland wondered if Jake DeBrusk will flourish with another team in the same way Sam Bennett’s has since the Calgary Flames traded him to the Florida Panthers last season.
- PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: Dan Kingerski reports Ryan Bowness, the Penguins Director of Pro Scouting, attended Evander Kane’s first game with the AHL’s San Jose Barracudas on Saturday. Scouts from the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars were also in attendance.
- VEGAS HOCKEY NOW: Owen Krepps recently suggested moving Evgenii Dadonov would make the most sense for the Vegas Golden Knights to free up sufficient salary-cap space when Jack Eichel returns to action in February.
