Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with 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
Kurt Leavins posted his latest 9 Things article this morning. Here are a few takeaways,
- “if the Oilers bring in a Top-6 winger and re-sign Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (more on that in a minute), does Kahun make sense as a Bottom-6 winger? I suspect that consideration is a major factor in whether the pending RFA gets brought back.”
- “…would you not take a pairing of Nurse-(Seth) Jones in your Top 2? The Oilers have the prospect depth to get a deal done. But that’s assuming the Jackets plan a rebuild. And I think that’s a big assumption.”
- “(Zach) Hyman’s going to command $5m+ on his next contract. And I’m just not sure the Leafs have the space. Hyman and his relentless fore-checking abilities would seem a great fit on Connor McDavid’s left wing. But Hyman would not come to Edmonton cheap, if at all, and he will have many suitors.”
- “…what if a deal with The Nuge in Edmonton doesn’t get done? Could Columbus or Seattle be possible landing spots for Nugent-Hopkins as a UFA? Sure.”
- “I see 3 areas as essential to upgrade along the path to doing that (improving in order to reach the next level).
- 3 – a “real” 3C.
- 2 – one more legit Top-4 D-man.
- 1 – at least two more proven Top-6 forwards.
- “So, if I’m right on all of the above…then this club enters the off-season 4 key skaters plus an upgrade in goal from being a “much” better team. That is one long, pricy shopping list for Ken Holland. And the stakes are high.”
(LINK)
BLH’s Thoughts: Look at that, more folks talking about Nuge possibly heading to Seattle… I feel like I’ve read that somewhere before?…
Is it just me or do the messages coming from Kurt Leavins and Bob Stauffer sound awfully similar… If you don’t listen to Oilers Now on a daily basis as well as read Leavins’ material, you might not get that impression, but I do and I feel like they’ve got a little partnership going on. Either way, if you miss one guy, you can just read or listen to the other and you won’t be missing much. LOL.
Anyways, the end of that blog was ominous… “That’s one long, pricey shopping list for Ken Holland… And the stakes are HIGH!”
What’s Leavins saying there? Is he starting the process of calming expectations down a bit?
Stauffer already started last week I think when he tweeted out about that folks need to keep in mind that Darnell Nurse will be getting a raise soon and Holland will have to keep some of $23M in cap room dry.
My question is, how much better does this team need to be at the positions Mr. Leavins speaks of at this point? I reckon an argument could be made that they have to upgrade at the positions he didn’t speak of like, backup goalie, bottom-six left wing, and 3rd pair left-shot D.
Roster depth is where the upgrades might be required more so.
That said, one of the things we have to be cognizant of is what our definition of top-six forward or top-four dman is vs. what Kurt’s or the organization’s is.
Maybe Blake Coleman, who is a middle-to-bottom six forward in Tampa would be a top-six in Edmonton for some. Perhaps Evan Bouchard is a top-four defenseman to one person but a no.6 to someone else.
If I had to throw out some names that I believe match Leavins’ required additions, here’s what I’d say,
1 – 3C (Philip Danault, Paul Stastny, Erik Haula, Nick Bjugstad, Mikael Granlund, Alex Wennberg)
2 – “Legit” Top-4 Dman (Tyson Barrie, Alex Martinez, Dougie Hamilton, Jamie Oleksiak, Ryan Murray, David Savard)
3 – Two Top-6 Wingers (Jaden Schwartz, Taylor Hall, Zach Hyman, Blake Coleman, Brandon Saad, Nikita Gusev)
I said it earlier today in this morning’s blog, I think that RNH, if he re-signed, could be the team’s 3C going forward. He’s not great on the dot nor is he a right-shot, but he brings a lot to the table that somebody who plays in that position needs. Edmonton could then go out and sign two left-wingers of moderate price and graduate a Tyler Benson, for example. This would result in the team having three excellent forward lines with wingers that are interchangeable.
See, the problem, in my eyes, isn’t the lack of offense coming from the top-six when Connor and Leon are separated. It’s the lack of scoring coming from the bottom-nine when they are played together.
So, the Oilers can go about things a couple of ways with their forwards here,
- Add genuine (read: expensive) top six options and keep running with that plan but then sign bargain bin players to round out the bottom of the lineup.
- Add mid-range free agents to bottom nine and expand team’s scoring and two-way effectiveness depth thus leaving Connor and Leon to work with the wingers they have
If I had to guess, I think there’s a chance Holland goes with a mix of the two options. He’ll find some players like Tyler Ennis who have their warts but have a proven asset that’ll help the team and I think he’ll bring in one or two players on heavier contracts. Maybe that’s a Tomas Tatar, a Jaden Schwartz, or maybe a Zach Hyman.
However, I do not see him going on a shopping spree and there’ll be some smaller deals along the way. Swift-skating, hulking wingers Zach Sanford (STL) and Brett Murray (BUF) are some names Bob Stauffer has mentioned more than once in the past two weeks, so keep an ear out for more info on those guys.
What do you think? Are there other viable options on the table for the Oilers in your eyes? Let me know in the comments section below or on the socials!
Give us a follow on the socials!
- Youtube: Beer League Heroes Channel
- Twitter: @beerleagueheroe
- Instagram: @beerleagueheroes
- Facebook: Beer League Heroes
