I had a nice long chat with one of my North American sources last night and we got talking about everything from the players rumored to be joining the Oilers on a PTO, to Milan Lucic, to Darnell Nurse’s agent, to where The Hockey News has Cam Talbot ranked going into the 2018/19 season.
I’d like to share some of that conversation with you today and I’d also like to comment on a few players who need to step up their game in order for the Oilers to make a return to the playoffs.
*Disclaimer*
What you’re about to read is my interaction with a person I happen to know is close to the Oilers organization. I’m not asking you to believe what you’re about to read nor am I claiming it to be fact. It’s just what I’ve been told and what I have permission to share.
I always tell you to treat this like any other rumor you hear online, like water cooler banter. If it comes true, awesome. If it doesn’t, men…
PROFESSIONAL TRYOUT CONTRACTS
I asked my source about his opinion on the following players and their chances of being asked to come to Oilers camp:
- Kevin Bieksa – Not their first choice but he IS an option for the Oilers. Toronto likes him as well as another Eastern team. Footspeed concerns the Oilers.
- Brandon Davidson – Top of the Oilers list. 5 or 6 teams interested. SJ and Vegas in that group. He wants a 2yr deal and has demands that are shortening that list of teams like he wants assurances (and equivalent pay) that he’ll be a top-6 defender.
- Alexei Emelin – Little interest. Emelin wants a top-4 role but Oilers don’t believe he’s good enough for that and don’t want to gift that to him but may circle back to him depending on what shakes out.
- Luca Sbisa – Haven’t even discussed Sbisa. Bad wheels.
- Slava Voynov – He’s been talked about because he IS a good dman. Can move the puck well, has a shot, and has 2 Stanley Cup rings but the Oilers feel that they’d lose a lot of fan support if they did bring him in. From a PR standpoint, it’d be disastrous for him. He’ll probably end up in a place where the fans support isn’t as strong.
I followed that up by asking if the Oilers would try to mend the hole left my Sekera internally and was told players like Ethan Bear, Evan Bouchard, or Joel Persson COULD be brought in to fill the void but in an ideal world none of them make the team. Not unless they blow the doors off of training camp.
They’re (Oilers) not going ot do anything spectacular unless it falls in their laps. They’ll look at a defender for a PTO but that’s about it. Fans expect way too much out of Chiarelli. This is real life NHL. Not NHL on the Xbox.
My source also passed along that Chiarelli is still looking at Faulk but IF anything happens on that front it’ll be closer to the beginning of the season because of cap implications and LTIR. I was told that PC could’ve acquired Faulk last year for RNH and the brass would’ve understood the move but Chiarelli would’ve been fired this summer had he done it.
CURRENT OILERS
I wanted to switch gears a bit and talk about current Oilers, so we chatted about Jesse Puljujarvi and I was told this;
Management is VERY happy with what Puljujarvi has done this offseason. He is going to have a big year. He’s going to beat out Ty Rattie IMO and take his place beside Connor.
Glad to hear that the organization is still high on Pulju. I love that kid!
If that prediction does come true, Rattie is S.O.L… And that’s predicated on him making the team out of camp. Something that isn’t guaranteed either…
We then talked about Milan Lucic and I was gifted with some info that shocked me.
The game is changing and fighting is less and less. Looch isn’t a fighter like he once was. He’s trying to get quicker. He really is. He’s just a big boy.
He was asked to get down to 220lbs for this season and he was nice about it and said he didn’t know if he could but that he’d try.
I believe he’s down to 228lbs now.
That’s not the shocking part. The part that floored me was the answer to when I asked how heavy he was at the end of last season…
I think he weighed around 245lbs. He was a biiiiig boy. That’s a big man coming at you in the corner. 6’3″ 245…
WTF! I can’t wait to see him at training camp. He’ll look so skinny. lol.
Milan is really working on getting his weight down this summer and getting his foot speed up. Apparently, Lucic is in the best shape of his career.
So what is going on with Darnell Nurse I enquired.
His agent, that c*nt, wants 5/6 years at $5.5M per year and Nurse said that he’s cool with $3M per year for two years.
Nurse is willing to sign right now but his agent is saying that they can get more.
I asked what my source thought of The Hockey News saying that Cam Talbot was the 4th worst goalie in the NHL heading into 2018 and this was the response:
That’s just cause of last year. I don’t pay attention to that crap. Just bloggers and writers flapping their gums.
Talbot will have a bounce back year. Koskinen will prove that he belongs in the show. Oilers will be alright. We’re back baby!
I love the enthusiasm! Don’t you! I share that opinion as well. I was watching one of the Oilers wins over Minnesota yesterday and Cam Talbot was making ridiculous saves in that game. That was the one where Draisaitl came down the right wing and whipped it past Dubnyk to win the game for Edmonton.
WHO’S STEPPING UP IN 2018
Cam Talbot – It’s a contract year for Dadbot and the Oilers won’t be going anywhere unless Talbot returns to his 2016/17 form. He’s arguably, apart from McDavid and Leon, the most important player for the team.
To add to that, he’s got Mikko Koskinen breathing down his neck because he’ll want that starting job as well.
Oscar Klefbom – The highest scoring defender on the Oilers last year was Darnell Nurse and he didn’t even hit 30 pts. We need Klef to reach 40pts or more this season and repay some of that patience the fans have shown him.
The Oilers don’t have a PP threat from the point and that’s why I think the PP was so poor last season. Teams simply cut off all of the other options and forced Edmonton to make shite decisions under pressure.
A healthy and confident Oscar Klefbom could be scary.
Matt Benning – Benning is going to be tasked with an increase in TOI this season. Last season he didn’t fare that well with the extra time. I feel like Benning could be a wildcard for PP QB on the Oilers 2nd unit because he’s got a slapshot that was registered at over 100mph last year.
I’d like to see more consistency in his game but being consistently good rather than consistently poor.
I’ve seen Matt Benning absolutely cream opposing players and I want to see more of that.
Ryan Strome – When Strome decided he was going to make an effort at being a better defensive centre and was placed on the PK, a little bit of magic occurred. The Oilers PK got better somehow and Strome gained a bit of confidence.
If Strome never scores 4opts in a season I won’t care but if he can be one of the league’s better PKers and defensive centres, I’ll be so happy for him. I don’t think he’ll ever be a Kadri-like centre but if he can even get close to that for Edmonton in 2018, I think that’ll push the Eberle/Strome trade closer to even than ever before.
Zack Kassian – I’ll always be of the belief that Kassian got “dinged up” after a game 1 fight with Tanner Glass last season and that’s why he couldn’t get back into the groove that we saw the previous year where he was an absolute beast.
We need him to become that beast again. His fearlessness, speed, and physicality are a rare combination of skills in the NHL today and when a player has that and applies it to the forecheck, he/she can be devastating.
