“Holland Must Find his Curtis Joseph!” Says One Oilers Pundit

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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The Athletic (Mitchell)

Reasonable goal-differential expectations for the Oilers in 2021-22

After two seasons and a great deal of roster turnover, there are three things that are true: Goals against has been reduced, the penalty kill has taken on major importance (to the point of the roster sacrificing even-strength options) and the team has made the playoffs twice.
For two years running, the penalty kill has been splendid for the Oilers. That single-game state is giving the team an enormous advantage and doing much to drive results.
What having five PK men on the top three lines does is open up the fourth line for all manner of uses: bringing along young players, slotting in tough forwards on nights when that need is anticipated, housing skill players who are waiting for an opportunity on skill lines, etc.
Holland and Tippett moved out Bear and Jones for what can be described as more reliable veterans, but there will be plays Keith and Ceci can’t get to that the younger men could handle with speed and quickness.

BLH’s Thoughts: Am I the only one who thinks that Keith and Ceci might be faster and better skaters than Bear and Jones?

Edmonton’s new defence should be more dependable when the puck has been won, and it might play less on defence due to effective outlet passes and a deeper forward group in support.
The Oilers have real firepower now. The 2021-22 Edmonton team is championship quality offensively. Three lines who can outscore seemed a dream for many years, but the pieces are on the roster as the team gets ready for training camp.
The Oilers are not balanced, filled as they are with tremendous gifts and obvious flaws. Holland must find his Dwayne Roloson, his Curtis Joseph, in the months to come.

BLH’s Thoughts: What if he’s found his Roloson in Mike Smith? Now, if he can find a Curtis Joseph too, we’re in business baby!

I was thinking this morning that the Oilers are really two pieces away from becoming a Stanley Cup challenging team,

An elite third line center

A top-15 starting goalie

I’ve said it for years, to build a hockey team you must make sure the spine of the team is the strongest part. Meaning, the centers, the goalie, and the defense have to be the strengths of the club.

The Oilers are there with McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse, Barrie, Keith, and Bouchard. They’ve got Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg, and Dmitri Samorukov on their way, but as you know, with younger players come the peaks and valleys…

Could they throw Nuge on the third line and slide Holloway to the wing? Sure! That’d probably be a decent idea when Holloway makes his debut for the Oilers anyhow with Nuge’s two-way ability. I suppose all they’d be left to find is…

Oilersnation (Gregor)

Expectations for Oilers Goaltending

Can you name the goalies who posted a .920sv% or better in 2020 and again in 2021?
- The correct answer is no one.
In the past five seasons only six goalies have posted consecutive seasons with a .920sv% or higher.
- Sergei Bobrovsky and John Gibson in 2017 and 2018.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy in 2018 and 2019.
- Robin Lehner, Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin in 2019 and 2020.
- Khudobin and Bishop split time with Dallas both years
- Lehner played 2,600 minutes (44 games) with NYI in 2019 and 2056 minutes split between Chicago and Vegas in 2021.
…with a potential crackdown on crosschecks this season (I will believe it when I see it), then more power plays should result in more goals scored across the league.
Smith was seventh in SV% last year and in 2020 Mikko Koskinen finished tied for 13th at .917sv%. If both are playing well, then the games started will likely be close to a split. If we expect Smith’s Sv% to dip a bit, should we also expect Koskinen’s .899sv% to increase?
I don’t see the reason for major concerns regarding the Oilers goaltending. I could see Smith drop down to around .916 or so, but I could also see Koskinen improve from .899 to .910.
Barring injury, I think the Oilers goaltending is capable of posting a combined Sv% around .907-.910, and if they do that the Oilers should easily have home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’d also like to add that I think a more experienced group of defensemen who are also better puck-movers will have a positive impact on Edmonton’s netminding. If Edmonton’s forwards can improve in their own end even more, that’ll also be a massive help to their goalies’ stats.

NHLTradeRumor.com

WHAT TRADES WILL THE LEAFS MAKE THIS SEASON?

Most NHL Analysts agreed the Leafs needed to add a little more grit to their lineup last season as they were perceived to be a pretty soft team. GM Kyle Dubas partially addressed this by adding forward Nick Ritchie.
Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com reports the Maple Leafs need more forward depth after the departures of Zach Hyman, Joe Thornton, Nick Foligno and Alex Galchenyuk.

EDMONTON OILERS INTERESTED IN TRADING FOR JOHN GIBSON?

Last season there were NHL trade rumors going around that John Gibson was unhappy in Anaheim and did not want to be part of a rebuild and wants to play for a contender.
Rumors are starting to float around if the Edmonton Oilers struggle with their goaltending this coming season, will they target John Gibson at some point?

WHAT WILL THE CANUCKS DO WITH QUINN HUGHES AND ELIAS PETTERSSON?

The Vancouver Canucks still have not signed Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson to new contracts. Pettersson can receive an offer sheet from another team but Hughes is not eligible to receive one as he has not played in enough games to qualify for one.
There have been NHL Rumours that Elias Pettersson could receive an offer sheet. Earlier in the offseason it was reported the Montreal Canadiens and Seattle Kraken could offer sheet Pettersson.