Oilers Pundit Says Puljujarvi’s Next Deal Could Be in the Farabee/Batherson Range

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Lowetide.ca

I BELIEVE IN MARODY

Since he was acquired by Edmonton in the spring of 2018, you and I have been staring at Marody. He’s a skilled player, a righty center and (when healthy) a point-per-game (or more) AHL talent. In his rookie season with the Bakersfield Condors, he posted over a point-per-game and was an outstanding player at that level. He even made it to the NHL for six games, and looked good.

BLH’s Thoughts: I wonder if LT is looking at Marody’s Natural Stat Trick line when he says the winger “looked good” because he was completely ineffective.

He was hurt in the spring of 2019 in a playoff series against the Colorado Eagles (by a former Oiler prospect, of course) and it derailed him for the following season. In 2020-21, the old Marody returned, a better scorer this time, and a man who moved to wing in order to push for an NHL job.

BLH’s Thoughts: Why didn’t Jay Woodcroft go the extra mile to get Marody a feature role on Bakersfield’s penalty kill like he did with Benson and when you’re a career center and you get moved to the wing, I don’t necessarily see that as a good thing… The production he put up flanking Ryan McLeod and Benson, if he didn’t do that, that would’ve been a massive concern.

Did you know Teddy Purcell was too slow? Patrick Maroon? Yes. True. Purcell’s first full NHL season (over 40 games) came in 2009-10, and he was traded at the deadline. Purcell was 24 when he began helping NHL teams win games, Maroon was 25. Marody will turn 25 the week before Christmas.

BLH’s Thoughts: Teddy Purcell and Patrick Maroon could do other things away from the puck and were glue guys in the locker room too… They were also massively built men, that which Marody is not.

Smaller players can’t be poor skaters at the NHL level, it just doesn’t work for them. Whereas bigger players aren’t traditionally fast or quick, so they get a little bit more leash there. This comparison isn’t fair in my opinion.

Bottom line: Marody needs to find a coach who believes in him, will give him a chance to establish himself in the NHL. Once he’s comfortable in the NHL, points should come. That’s my belief. I also believe that most of the time when someone says (or posts) “that player isn’t fast enough” the assertion is a community opinion built sky high through hundreds of posts that have driven the point home.

BLH’s Thoughts: I love LT’s content. Every day I hit up his site and I listen to his show, but I don’t agree with his affinity for small skilled players. However, his point about the fanbase parroting the narrative about Marody’s feet, is true, but that being said, somebody had to say it first and if he didn’t have bad boots then folks like Jason Gregor and Bob Stauffer would never have commented on it in the past. Hell, Gregor asked Marody straight up if he though his skating needed work and Marody basically told him that the folks who were saying that didn’t know what they were talking about…

Now, I’m no scout, but when I watched Marody at the NHL level, his speed and skating were so obviously not NHL level quality. Each time he attempted to carry the puck over the other team’s blue line, the defense simply boxed him out and forced him to the wall where he’d have to dump it in or lose possession.

The real bottom line is that Cooper Marody will not be a top-six forward at the NHL level on a team that has actual depth on the wing because, to put it bluntly, he’s a one-trick pony and NHL coaches don’t have time for those kinds of players who are slated to play in their bottom-six. Marody’s not beating out Puljujarvi or Yamamoto, Kassian or Archibald. So where’s he going to play? Center? Nope! Not with those boots.

I wish the best for Cooper, but I don’t personally see a future for him in Edmonton.

Edmonton Sun

Oil Spills: Oilers, Kailer Yamamoto down to wire in contract talks

NHL beat writer Jim Matheson talks to host Craig Ellingson about contract negotiations between the Edmonton Oilers and forward Kailer Yamamoto as the start of training camp for the 2021-22 season comes closer.

The Holdup on Yamamoto

“Money is the no.1 thing. There’s not a lot of cap room because Ken Holland spent a lot of that.”
“After last season, I think the Oilers are looking at Yamamoto and saying, “We’re not totally sure what we’ve got here with this player. Is he a top-six RWer or is he a 3rd line RWer?”
“You’re not paying a 3rd line RWer $5M over five or six years as Philadelphia paid Farabee and Ottawa paid Batherson.”
“It never works out well when a player is not at training camp.”
“Jesse Puljujarvi proved last year that he is (a top-six winger), if he has another good year where his stats get even better over an 82-game season, then the Oilers are going to have to pay fairly big for him long-term. Probably in the same Farabee/Batherson mode.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Not a lot said here by Matheson that he hasn’t already tweeted out, but that note about Pulju is interesting. Will the Oilers be able to afford Jesse next summer when his deal is up if he has another season equal to better than last year? Five million on a six year deal is pretty decent for Pulju if he’s scoring 20 goals a year and racking up another 20-30 assists.

What do you think Pulju should get on his next deal if he keeps trending up?

NHLRumors.com

Lance Hornby: Ilya Mikheyev‘s agent Daniel Milstein wouldn’t comment on Elliotte Friedman’s report that they requested a trade at the end of the season. He was assured by the Toronto Maple Leafs that he is a big part of their plans for this season.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: (mailbag) The St. Louis Blues still need to re-sign RFA forward Robert Thomas and get cap compliant before the season starts.

Have a hard time seeing Vladimir Tarasenko playing for the Blues when the season starts as it’s sure to be a distraction.
Zdeno Chara signing with the Blues seems unlikely. If he does play this season it’s believed he’s looking to play on the East coast.

Donnie and Dhali: Rick Dhaliwal on Friday: “Not saying they are going to sign him, could be a PTO situation but the #Canucks have been poking around with the Tyler Ennis camp.”

Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star: Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said he briefly considered trading one of their core players this past offseason.