Puljujarvi Trade Destinations, UFA/RFA Options, and More Trade Rumors!

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

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The Hockey Writers

Oilers’ 5 Possible Trade Destinations for Jesse Puljujarvi

Chicago Blackhawks

Puljujarvi’s stellar 5-on-5 play defensively would play right into the system that Rod Brind’Amour and the Hurricanes have laid out as the Oilers’ forward is rarely on the ice for even-strength goals against.
A young player with Chicago whose name has been thrown around is Kirby Dach. Though he is three years younger than Puljujarvi and should be given more time to develop, the team might feel like they should move him sooner rather than later to get a better return.

Carolina Hurricanes

Martin Necas may be on the move from the Hurricanes, a restricted free agent (RFA) as well who got bumped down the depth charts after Seth Jarvis arrived and played very well.
Puljujarvi’s stellar 5-on-5 play defensively would play right into the system that Rod Brind’Amour and the Hurricanes have laid out as the Oilers’ forward is rarely on the ice for even-strength goals against.

Ottawa Senators

Ottawa is building a young team and Puljujarvi can play a middle-six or third-line role for them with an opportunity for a fresh start and a better opportunity. If the Oilers receive a player like Brown in return while freeing themselves on money, they have to highly consider taking it.

Colorado Avalanche

Puljujarvi is three years younger than him and the exact age when Nichushkin started to figure out his game. Colorado could see that and save themselves some much-needed money down the line by trying their luck again in transforming another very similar and younger player.

Arizona Coyotes

If Arizona doesn’t want to be rebuilding for a long time, they’d be wise to eventually start turning their plethora of draft picks into young players who can start helping with that.

BLH’s Thoughts: The big debate right now going on is whether or not Jesse asked for a trade and the answer to that is he hasn’t according to Ken Holland BUT that doesn’t mean Holland hasn’t asked Jesse if he’d be ok with the Oilers helping him find club where he’d fit in a bit better. It’s all out of JP’s hands anyhow seeing as he’s an RFA with no trade protection and he knows that and is 100% okay with it too. His ultimate goal is to be in the NHL.

Now, names like Necas and Dach are the kinds you should expect to be connected to a Puljujarvi trade but instead we’re getting the local media touting players like Connor Brown (ex-teammate of McDavid in junior) and early round draft picks. Ugh!

If this really is Edmonton’s Cup window, I think they should shoot for the moon and use Pulju to trade for Jakob Chychrun. Really solidify that back end with one of the league’s better skating dmen and then if they can convince Brett Kulak to come back, the Oilers would have one of the best skating defenses in the NHL. Especially so if they could find a way to keep hold of Philip Broberg. Also, a better defense takes the pressure off of the goalie.

Other teams connected to Jesse so far are San Jose, Montreal, Columbus, and Florida. Mostly just speculation though.

Oilersnation

A detailed list of Off-Season Trade and UFA options for the Edmonton Oilers

Dylan Strome

Dylan Strome’s primary strengths are his skills with the puck. His ability to finish his chances is superb. Strome also excels at initiating breakouts in the defensive zone and setting up teammates in high-danger areas.
Penalties are an issue for Strome, and he could improve at generating rush chances.

Connor Brown

He excels at generating chances off the rush and off dump-ins, and he’s also quite good at drawing penalties.
Brown is a below-average defensive player. He’s also quite poor in regards to special teams.

Carson Soucy

…he’s an excellent defensive defenseman, as he excels at suppressing both rush and in-zone scoring chances. Furthermore, Soucy also has the ability to play both LD and RD…
Soucy is prone to taking an exceedingly high amount of penalties. Additionally, he provides minimal offensive value beyond his finishing, which is typically an unsustainable trait for most defencemen.

Ville Husso

Ville Husso led the entire league in save percentage above expected.
He has limited NHL experience outside of this year, and allowed roughly six goals more than expected in just 17 GP in 2020-21.

Andre Burakovsky

Burakovsky is a fantastic finisher, ranking in the 95th percentile in finishing… Burakovsky is also a splendid play-maker, and is exceptional at starting breakouts.
Burakovsky is a below-average defensive player, but the larger concern is his contract; coming off a cup win with the Avs, Burakovsky’s contract is uncertain, and there’s the possibility that it’s quite pricey.

Mason Marchment

He generates a high amount of net-front chances, sets up his teammates in the OZ quite frequently, forechecks aggressively, and he’s strong in transition.
Marchment’s contract could be decently high. Relative to the chances he obtains, Marchment is also a mediocre finisher.

Conor Garland

…while he still manages to generate scoring chances at a high rate, primarily due to his excellent play-making abilities in the offensive zone. Garland also tends to dump the puck at high rates, and performs well at creating chances off the forecheck.
…his finishing is somewhat inconsistent, and his recent results have been rather unimpressive.

Darcy Kuemper

In the past three seasons, Kuemper has saved roughly 24 goals than expected to. He ranks 4th in the entire league by this metric…
Kuemper is quite injury-prone, as he’s missed several games in each of the past four seasons… Kuemper’s playoff performance raised some red flags, as he posted a mere .901 SV% behind a marvelous defensive squad.

Jack Campbell

In 2020-21, Campbell saved exactly five goals more than expected to, and ended the season with a strong SV% of 0.919. In 2021-22, he had an outstanding start, with a SV% of 0.938 after his first 24 games, and he saved a whooping 15 goals above expected.
It would be an understatement to say that Campbell’s second half of 2021-22 was disappointing. He posted a dreadful SV% of 0.890, and allowed roughly 21 (!) goals more than expected.

Jakob Chychrun

Chychrun is a minute-munching defenceman, with above-average defensive results. He’s good at moving the puck, and generates a high amount of rush chances on a pretty poor rush team.
…he’s poor at generating in-zone offence and shutting down opposing zone entries. Chychrun also takes a high amount of low-quality point shots, which is an unpreferable skill if he desires to play with McDavid.

Josh Anderson

He’s a big, physical winger, with above-average finishing results. Anderson additionally has experience playing against difficult competition.
He’s below-average defensively, and due to his horrid passing abilities, he struggles at generating scoring chances for his linemates; he’s abysmal at starting breakouts and making quality passes in the offensive zone. Not to mention, he takes an alarming amount of penalties.

BLH’s Thoughts: Sid did a really good job laying out the pros and cons of these potential adds as well as a few more but I didn’t list them all out. I just copied down the ones I found interesting.

I didn’t know Chychrun was that poor defensively. He’s basically a younger version of Duncan Keith in some senses. So maybe he wouldn’t be a good use of Puljujarvi after all. However, that’s going by the graphic that Sid has provided. I wonder how much playing for the Coyotes is tanking his fancies and also him being only 23 years old leaves him with plenty of room to grow defensively. What kind of magic could Dave Manson do with a player like Chychrun?

Trade Rumors

Spector’s Hockey

Regarding Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, Friedman said teams have told him there’s a path toward a deal between the club and the pending unrestricted free agent.
Friedman doesn’t think the Penguins are getting close to a deal with Evgeni Malkin.
Turning to Johnny Gaudreau, Friedman said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Calgary Flames offered him an eight-year contract worth around $9.5 million.
Regarding his report of the Tampa Bay Lightning looking into shopping Ryan McDonagh, Friedman believes the St. Louis Blues could be among the suitors.
Friedman mused over the possibility of the Edmonton Oilers signing Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jack Campbell on July 13.
Friedman doesn’t see them acquiring goalie John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks.
Friedman wonders if the New Jersey Devils will attempt to sign Blues goalie Ville Husso if he hits the open market on July 13.

The Daily Goal Horn

The Calgary Flames are in a holding pattern and one has to ask how long they are willing to do stay that way. According to multiple insiders, Johnny Gaudreau is reportedly sitting on an 8-year offer from the Flames.
Two league sources told The Athletic that Chytil has been the most talked-about Ranger in Drury’s various trade conversations and that the Rangers are willing to lose Chytil in order to acquire an older, more established top-six center.
…if the New York Rangers, the Montreal Canadiens or another team intends on landing Dubois, it’s going to take a very substantial offer. So, if we’re looking at the Rangers, we’re looking at [Filip] Chytil, we’re looking at [Braden]Schneider, we’re looking at [Kaapo] Kakko as one of the main principles and maybe a first-round draft pick on top of that.

BLH’s Thoughts: In the last week, Jack Campbell’s name has been front and center in Edmonton. It started with Mark Spector, then Ryan Rishaug yesterday, and now Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek are reporting the interest as well.

Campbell’s agent is Kurt Overhardt. Other clients of Overhardt include current Oilers Mike Smith, Tyler Tullio and former Oilers Kyle Turris and Filip Berglund. He once represented Darnell Nurse if I’m not mistaken too.

If Malkin leaves Pittsburgh, do you think Nazem Kadri would replace him? Was Brian Burke with the Maple Leafs at the same time as Kadri?