Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with excerpts from the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!
From Oilers Now
Yesterday, on Oilers Now, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman had a lot to say on the latest speculation regarding Duncan Keith and the Edmonton Oilers.
(I’m trying out some dictation software, so if there’s some random gibberish in the quotes below, forgive me.)
Friedman on the Duncan Keith to Edmonton Rumors
- “His son lives in Penticton, BC, and there’s a feeling here that he’d like to get closer to him and the Blackhawks are willing to accommodate him.”
- “I think the Kraken are definitely interested and I think the Oilers are around there.”
- “He’s one of the most incredible athletes really in sports. I wrote a story about him a couple years ago about when he first showed up at Michigan State he basically broke all of their fitness records and they realized he had some of the most incredible VO2 that anyone’s ever seen and he takes a lot of care, like some people are gifted natural athletes and they don’t care about anything out they’re like ‘I’m gifted I could do whatever I want’.”
- “Keith is gifted and he works at it just so you know he’s got a lot of pride in himself. I don’t think he’s a 25 minute #1 defender anymore, but you know I think that what we’re looking at here is he played behind nurse at least and if he goes to Edmonton and you probably be the mentor for your young defensemen who are gonna come over. You know Bouchard, Broberg, Samorukov, anyone else who eventually plays. So yeah, I think if he ends up in Edmonton that’s the kind of role we’re looking at.”
- “A lot of people are whispering the name Caleb Jones right and if that’s what Chicago’s plan is, it makes sense you know, you reunite the brothers, like, I do think Chicago is one of the teams that Seth Jones would like to play for. I think they’re definitely on his list of places he would be happy to go. I think the Blackhawks probably know that and if they are successful in acquiring his brother, that probably helps it even more. So if you’re gonna need the money to do that, if you’re Edmonton you probably want them to retain on Keith so I don’t understand how it should make sense from Chicago’s point of view to potentially retain on Keith and take a salary that they’d have to buy out.”
- “I had heard the other day that Edmonton wasn’t crazy about the full $5.5M, maybe if they take a player to buy out whether it’s Turris or Neal, maybe that makes more sense.”
- “Edmonton wants to keep their cap flexibility and Chicago wants either Jones or Hamilton. So whatever happens in this deal can’t subtract those things.”
- “I think people look at Keith and they see he’s thirty-seven years old on the surface and they they talk about last year, he had a tough year on a team that wasn’t great defensively at all and they say that’s no good.”
- “I think sometimes a new place can rejuvenate a person. I don’t think he’s going to be Edmonton’s number one defenseman. I think they’re gonna try to slaughter a role for him and I had as a player, you know, he has a lot to offer.”
- “I do think Edmonton is looking for an experienced left shot D. I could see Edmonton looking for that kind of a player, so it makes sense to me. I mean, we’ll see if it happens.”
BLH’s Thoughts: There’s really not much more to say on things that haven’t already been said.
Bob Stauffer was very staunch in his stance that he believes the Blackhawks will not take back a contract like Neal or Koskinen. Stauffer brought up Kyle Turris and the possibility of Chicago getting him in the deal just to send him to the AHL to save money.
I’ll just say that Seattle’s in a really good position for Stan Bowman to work with because they can take Keith’s entire ticket but if Keith doesn’t okay the deal and he wants to go to Edmonton instead, I’m not sure this deal doesn’t go cold for the time being.
The other thing this is doing is taking the attention off of Adam Larsson… Could the rumors about those negotiations hitting a snag be true?
From The Athletic
Could Duncan Keith be traded?: What I’m hearing about the Blackhawks’ offseason
The one name few expected to see was Duncan Keith. But as Elliotte Friedman reported earlier this week, the Blackhawks and Keith have discussed potentially trading him this offseason.
- “We weren’t looking to move him, but it was initiated by Duncan,” a source said. “He’d like to be closer to his son. He’s getting older, and Duncan didn’t get to see him much last season. We understand that.”
One league source thought the Edmonton Oilers could be a possible destination for Keith.
- “They need a defenseman and they have the assets,” the source said.
BLH’s Thoughts: I wonder what kind of assets that source is talking about? Would the Hawks try to squeeze a player better than Caleb Jones out of Edmonton whilst dangling retained salary to tempt the Oilers into making such a trade?
It’d be cool if they wanted to send Dylan Strome to Edmonton with Keith. What would that kind of trade look like?
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