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If there’s any time during the year to pay extra attention to what the host of Oilers Now! Bob Stauffer is throwing out there, it’s right before the trade deadline because his cadence changes a bit when talking about certain players and he tends to throw our some tidbits regarding the players that the Oilers are targeting.
Case in point, during yesterday’s show (2/13/17) during the second segment where Bob is taking calls. A caller said that he heard the Oilers were linked with Patrick Eaves (our post on Eaves is here) and Bob immediately and pointedly, nearly cutting the poor guy off, asked the caller,
“Where have you seen that?”
Normally Stauffer takes a moment to offer his opinion and he’s usually pretty jovial when talking about these sort of armchair GM comments/queries but this got Bob awfully serious right quick and at the beginning, his reply was kind of all over the place.
Bob: I think Dallas is going to have to sell. Eaves has had an incredible year. I think part of it is just the fit for him and Dallas and he is a RW. So, you know, we’ll see.
A lot of short and obvious notes given here. Just seems like Stauffer was caught off-guard to me. Below you can tell he’s back to his normal self though.
Caller: He would be able to help out on the PP, would he not?
Bob: Well, he’s had a tremendous year. I wouldn’t consider him an elite PP guy. To me, he’s a 3rd line RW that’s having a career season. Like, he’s got 20 goals. He’s been on fire all year but there’s so much focus when you play Dallas on the likes of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin and Eaves has been the guy that’s stepped up. Especially, given the fact that they lost Hemsky in the first game of the year. So there’s one right winger down, they lost Janmark, that’s another top 9 forward. They don’t have Spezza right now either.
I think you’d have to look at Eaves. The price point is good, he’s cheap. That’s another thing that makes sense.
“Another thing that makes sense”? I’m assuming that Stauffer is talking about how Eaves is having a great year in addition to his cap hit being a paltry $1M.
In the end, I’m probably reading a bit more into the demeanor in which he’s saying those things. That’s just me though.
Look, I’m certain the Oilers are looking at Eaves but I can’t be 100% sure as I’m not an insider (even though I pretend to be on the internet) but did Stauffer let the cat out of the bag a bit here?
A Subtle Move
It’s a subtle move to go out and get yourself a backup goaltender, maybe some forward depth up front, with some help down the middle.
Stauffer has been talking up these “subtle moves” for a week and now he’s getting a tad more specific.
You could potentially see a backup goaltender being acquired. Absolutely! If that’s what you’re saying.
Stauffer was touching on a caller’s question about Cam Talbot needing someone trustworthy to back him up in case he starts to tire late in the season. I haven’t heard much in the way of who might be coming in to backup Cam Talbot. I think Lowetide has been championing Reto Berra but I’ve been seeing his name connected with various Swiss league teams and he’s not exactly lighting up the AHL right now.
A different caller did ring up Oilers Now! and ask about Halak but Stauffer said he’s too expensive in his opinion and I’m of the same belief. That being said, if the Islanders took back Mark Fayne or Benoit Pouliot, why not? Same difference, right? And who knows what happens at the draft? Maybe a team who loses out on Ben Bishop or M.A. Fleury comes calling and BINGO! You can move that contract on. Halak would be a helluva backup to have for a playoff run, no?
I think the forward depth up front is referring to another right-winger (Patrick Eaves perhaps? Chiarelli did, in fact, trade for him back in 2009 when he was GM of the Bruins and Eaves was part of the Carolina organization.) and the help down the middle is most likely Brian Boyle (TB) or Derek Ryan (CAR). I wrote a post on Ryan previously and the likelihood of the Oilers picking him up here.
Personally, I think that Chiarelli REALLY wants Brian Boyle but won’t be dragged into a bidding war for him. He might participate in the bidding but in the end, will refuse to pay the price in the hopes that somebody else does.
Even if the Hurricanes are in the playoffs and they keep Ryan for the post-season, I could see the Oilers re-visiting the Ryan camp in the summer and offering him a deal to come back to Edmonton to play hockey again. The guy is a beauty on the dot and Edmonton really needs help there.
I’m surprised Bob didn’t say anything about a defenseman because Chiarelli has a history of making trades for solid defensemen.
- Adam Larsson (2016)
- Andrej Meszaros (2014)
- Wade Redden (2013)
- Tomas Kaberle (2011)
- Dennis Seidenberg (2010)
- Aaron Ward, Dennis Wideman, Adam MacQuaid (2007)
Check out his trade history here. Is the market for defenders dry or the prices too dear for Chiarelli right now?
Do you think there’s anything to read into Bob Stauffer’s words yesterday? Let us know in the comments below but right after you pick up a sweet t-shirt from our Teepublic shop!
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