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 The Cult of Hockey
In a league where death is the status quo, the Edmonton Oilers need to get the better player(s): 9 Things
9. I expect the Oilers will qualify RFA Jujhar Khaira. I have a lot of time and respect for J.J. But if the Oilers are significantly better next season then a guy like Khaira is your 13F and not an every-night player.
BLH’s Thoughts: How can JJ accept that? Especially after the season he’s just had. If I were him I’d be taking my services elsewhere to a team where I know I’d be a that club’s 3C or 4C every night.
8. I continue to see negative chatter around Oilers D prospect Philip Broberg based on how his season ended in Sweden. The filter I run his 2020-21 year through is that Broberg’s pro team in Europe had practically no interest in developing him.
BLH’s Thoughts: I bet if you ask a GM in the SHL if that league is a developmental league, they’d tell you it isn’t. So it should come as no surprise that a professional hockey team doesn’t want to go through the ups and downs affiliated with icing a teenaged defenseman.
However, we have to remember that Philip Broberg suffered some significant injuries at the World Juniors. Don’t quote me here but I think one was a quad tear and the other might’ve been a slightly separated shoulder. He should’ve been give time to recover from those but instead he was back on the ice for Skelleftea very soon after the WJHCs were over.
Leavins says he expects Broberg to play big minutes in Bakersfield next season, I would not be shocked in the least if he was on Edmonton’s 3rd pair of defensemen out of training camp.
7. The chatter coming out of Toronto is that F Zack Hyman may not stay in that city. Yes, if that’s the case then he should be a high-priority target for Ken Holland to potentially fill an open LW spot with.
BLH’s Thoughts: Hyman would give Edmonton’s top-six a different dimension, that’s for sure, but they’ve got to make damned sure that he’s going to stay healthy enough to play that role because for the money he’s asking, I think an argument could be made that it might be better to spread it out across the entirety of the roster, do you know what I mean?
Could the Oilers sign two $4M top-six left wingers or a $5M one and a $3M done and invest that extra million in a better defenseman, goaltender, or third line center?
6. Edmonton needs a 3C. Will the Oilers wait and try to fill that 3C spot in Free Agency? Or might they instead be proactive prior to the expansion draft a week earlier? If you wait until Free Agency, you end up looking at a narrower field of candidates and all too often buyers end up paying the inflated sticker price. And expansion may make a good guy available.
BLH’s Thoughts: Looks like Leavins and Stauffer are corroborating again.
5. The Oilers, barring a trade, will be selecting 19th in the 2021 NHL Draft. I wonder if they will target a goaltender? It is an area the organization could sure use some shoring up. I doubt Jesper Wallstedt will still be around at 19. But big Oil Kings keeper Sebastien Cossa may well be. The 6’6 goalie would be a nice add.
BLH’s Thoughts: With how I’m reading things as the draft approaches, Cossa is the hottest name rising up the charts and we’ve seen these cases in the past. Last year Tim Stutzle flew up the rankings and was picked 3rd overall, in 2019 it was defenseman Moritz Seider, Barrett Hayton and Jesperi Kotkaniemi in 2018.
In my opinion, Cossa could be taken ahead of the Swedish netminder and if Wallstedt drops to Edmonton at 19, he’d be an outstanding selection for the Oilers too.
That said, I did dream last night that the Oilers would trade down at this draft…
3. I don’t have any knew information on the status of Oscar Klefbom. His projected status for 2021-22 may have a significant impact on who the Oilers protect in the expansion draft. In particular, the future of Caleb Jones in Oilers silks probably depends on Klefbom. And while Jones has some promise, even if he turns out I’m not sure his long-terms plans would include playing in Canada for any team.
BLH’s Thoughts: Can the Oilers not protect Kris Russell in the expansion draft and leave both Jones and Klefbom unprotected? Why would Jones’ projected status with the team have anything to do with Klefbom? Leave them both available for Seattle and keep Russell as your 7th dmen next year. Simple.
2. Dougie Hamilton is a terrific NHL D-man who earned $5.75m last season. Some would like the UFA become an Oiler. But is Hamilton a better offensive defenceman than Tyson Barrie? No.
BLH’s Thoughts: Hamilton’s defensive game has never really been regarded as elite but in order for him to play the minutes he has, he couldn’t have done it by ignoring that aspect of the game. My feeling is that because he puts up excellent offensive numbers that people take that as an indication he’s a 1-way player and I’m not sure that’s right.
Now, for $7.5M+/yr, if I’m a GM and that’s what a potential UFA dman wants on his next deal, he’d better be damned good on both sides of the puck, not just really good at one side and above average at the other because come playoff time when the offense dries up the defense has to be there to pick up the slack.
1.Oilers General Manager Ken Holland has continued to grind away on the Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Free Agent file. It has been suggested to me by several wise, in-the-know people that Holland probably has a brown envelope with about $30m sitting in it.
And remember: Retaining Ryan Nugent-Hopkins does not automatically make the Oilers a better team than they were the year before.
If any G.M. spends too much money to merely run in one spot, then he is probably not improving the team. So, if an agent is asking for dollars and term comparable to what Hyman or (say) Taylor Hall might command? Then the General manager then needs to be impartial and ask himself the tough question: “Who’s the better player”?
And look…all 3 of Nugent-Hopkins, Hyman and Hall are “good” players. But who has the resume as the more impact performer? Who drives the game 5v5? Whose team made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs this past season?
But if Edmonton doesn’t get the better player(s), they risk landing on the status quo. And I don’t know anyone who’ll be o.k. with that.
BLH’s Thoughts: Sounds like Leavins is really hinting at a Taylor Hall reunion, eh? Is that his personal agenda or is there some smoke to the fire? I also love that he pluralizes ‘better player’ as if to acknowledge something that I’ve hinted at in the past, maybe the Oilers could come away with TWO high-priced free agents this summer…
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