BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Mattias Ekholm (NSH), Ryan Hartman (MIN), and is help coming in net for the Edmonton Oilers?
Craig Button absolutely tore the Oilers a new a$$hole on TSN 1260 recently. Click this link and read what he said!
TSN1260’s Jason Gregor is pissed! Check out this rant on the Oilers here!
BLH has some ideas for the Oilers lineup card. Check those out here!
NEW: Keith Jones and Patrick Sharp think the Calgary Flames have a better chance at the playoffs this year than the Oilers. Read about that here.
NHL Rumors and Speculation
- TSN’s Pierre LeBrun’s latest appearance on Insider Trading let it be known that the Nashville Predators might have a player who a lot of teams would covet, including the Edmonton Oilers I believe.
“I don’t know if the Predators have decided that they’re outright sellers but they’re right on the brink and there are some obvious names like Mikael Granlund, Erik Haula, they signed one-year deals and they’ll be UFA at the end of the year. Those will be your pure rentals but there’s a more intriguing name when I talked to teams around the league that they hope will be on the market. I think there’s an absolute solid chance that the Predators at least listen on top-four defenseman Mattias Ekholm who’s been a long-standing member of that organization. He’s got a year-and-a-half left on his contract at a real bargain price at $3.75M. He doesn’t have any no-trade protection and again, this would really be about the Predators perhaps seeing what’s out there and if they don’t like it then keeping him, but think of the Jake Muzzin deal a couple of years ago where he had a year-and-a-half left on his deal or Alec Martinez last year, he had a year left. That top-four D that’s had a couple of playoff runs in him can be appealing to a contender. That would be an intriguing name.”
BLH’s Thoughts: Jake Muzzin was traded for Carl Grundstrom, Sean Durzi, and a first-round pick in 2019 that turned out to be Tobias Bjornfot. The return LA got for Martinez was a 2020 2nd round pick (Will Cuylle) and a 2021 2nd round pick.
As an Oilers fan, I am definitely interested in Mattias Ekholm to anchor the second-pairing’s left-side and so I can slot some players down to where they need to be, not where they’re required to be. The fancies don’t paint him in a great light this year, to be honest, could that be a result of his team though?
You look at the prices to acquire such a player in the past and it makes you hesitate and wonder how much you’d be willing to pay. Also, the Preds would have to either eat some salary or take a contract back in order for Edmonton to be in a position to trade for the 32yr old.
So, to put it in perspective, the Oilers would need to offer something like Tyler Benson, Rafael Lavoie, and a high draft pick if we’re using the Muzzin template. Again though, money would need to go back… So as much as I’d like to see Ekholm in an Oilers jersey, I have a tough time seeing it a realistic possibility.
- Michael Russo of The Athletic says that the Minnesota Wild could move Ryan Hartman if they’re afraid of what he might be awarded in arbitration. Other names that he mentioned the Wild moving include Viktor Rask and Nick Bonino.
“Hartman could command a bigger salary than the Wild are willing to pay a fourth-liner this offseason and already will have to re-sign Fiala, Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov.”
BLH’s Thoughts: I’ve always liked Hartman’s aggravating style. $1.9M is about $1M too much for the bottom-six in Edmonton though. He has some interesting advanced metrics though. He’s a bit of a drag offensively but defensively, this season, he’s done fairly well in the relative “against” stats.
CA/60: 0.78
FA/60: -5.61
SA/60: -3.26
GA/60: 1.28
xGA/60: -0.63
SCA/60: -2.1
HDCA/60: -1.25
HDGA/60: 0.23
PDO: 0.900
I bring up the against stats because the Oilers definitely need a hand in keeping the puck out of the net. They need more players willing to do the mucky things that result in a better team defense. Plus this player would be someone who could contribute on the penalty kill as he’s seen quite a bit of that TOI since joining Minnesota.
Personally, I don’t know if Zack Kassian is going to return to the pugnacious pugilist that we all fell in love with, especially if we don’t know when the fans will return. Could Hartman be a Blake Coleman-type for Edmonton is another question worth asking.
Bob Stauffer said that the #Oilers won't be trading for a goalie on @OilersNow this morning.
"It's not happening during the season, we know that. So they've got to make due with what they've got." pic.twitter.com/qkgrZTM2Xn
— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) February 17, 2021
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