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 NHLTradeRumors.com
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: A few thoughts from NHL executives on what the Toronto Maple Leafs should do next.
- One NHL team executive said that if the Toronto Maple Leafs traded forward Mitch Marner, they’ll be looking to find a player like him for the next 20 years. If they move Marner, they better get Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones. The same executive adds that their goaltending is the No. 1 thing. They’ll need to find some to roll in tandem with Jack Campbell and ride the hot goalie.
- Another executive said that they should trade one of their four big forwards for defense/goaltending. Going all offense hasn’t worked for them.
- A third executive thinks they need to re-think their team-building strategy their top-heavy, high-octane offensive players haven’t worked. They then have to fit in a bunch of interchangeable parts which doesn’t really translate to deep playoff runs. They need to create more cap space to spend on better players throughout their lineup. The Leafs also need to stop trading draft picks.
- Another executive with three needs:“1. Probably need to address the goaltending situation (which is a huge challenge). 2. Fourth line could use some energy/role playoff players. 3. Fifth/sixth defensemen tougher to play against.”
(LINK)
BLH’s Thoughts: So it sounds like most NHL execs believe that Toronto’s goaltending needs to be addressed.
I’d argue that they had two good goalies in Andersen and Campbell but in the playoffs they lost two major pieces (Tavares and Muzzin) and their depth fell apart. Nick Foligno tried his damnedest but he wasn’t even close to 100% and Jumbo Joe and Jason Spezza went into ghost-mode…
It’s funny, I watched Ilya Mikheyev and Pierre Engvall have really good games against Edmonton and they were nowhere to be found against Montreal. They absolutely wilted under the pressure of that series and players with that kind of speed and size shouldn’t be doing that in the most important games of the season…
Maybe Kyle Dubas went out and signed the wrong vets? What has Spezza, Foligno, or Thornton ever won from an NHL team perspective? I guess to his credit, Zach Bogosian is a winner and so is Jake Muzzin but they were rendered useless by game seven by declining health.
To steer this in an Oilers direction for a moment, if Ken Holland is going to bring in some gritty greybeards to help this team along, I’d hope he grabs the ones that have won before. Players like Zdeno Chara, Ryan Getzlaf, Duncan Keith, David Perron, Dustin Brown, or Jonathan Quick are the kind of veteran I’m talking about.
Shawn Simpson (TSN): “On the Tkachuk contract negotiations. If I was involved I would keep it positive, come in with 8 x to start. If they feel a bridge deal is better, hammer out a good 3 year deal, that they feel good about, even if you overpay. No matter what deal is signed, give him the C.”
(LINK)
BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t get the same feeling with Brady as I do Matthew and what I mean by that is that Brady looks like he’ll stick around in Ottawa and be the face of that franchise whereas I feel strongly that Matthew will blow Calgary off the first chance he gets. Possibly to unite with Auston Matthews elsewhere be that St. Louis or Arizona.
Now, if he only signs a 3yr bridge deal, that could throw some yellow flags into my predictions.
From NHL Trade Talk
NHL analyst Kris Versteeg was asked during “Good Show,” what he believed the Maple Leafs needed at this point in time to push over the edge toward playoff success. His answer was confident and redundant. Versteeg said it twice in fact – the team needs “a third-line centre number one” then he repeated “they need a third-line centre.”
Versteeg then went on the qualify that he meant “one that they’re gonna play.” He noted that, obviously they don’t wanna play Jason Spezza there.” Instead, he noted that “they need one that they can consistently roll out that can protect the top guys.”
(LINK)
BLH’s Thoughts: Is it me or will the Maple Leafs and Oilers be going through similar offseasons with regards to some of their targets?
As much as I love what I’ve seen from Ryan McLeod so far, I believe the Oilers could do with a proper 3C as well and the names I’d throw out there as skaters I’d like to see Edmonton add are Philip Danault, Alex Wennberg, Mikael Granlund, and Erik Haula.
Getting back to Toronto, I don’t know if their analytics department will be keen on adding a significant ticket to their bottom-six, but if Dubas did decide to go that route, would it make sense to trade William Nylander and then go after the man that gave them fits in their first round loss, Philip Danault?
Building a winner is not rocket science. You make the center of your lineup as strong as it can be and then work on the peripheries. Toronto and Edmonton are right there, they both probably need a 3C, top-4 dman, and one better goalie. With the way both teams have drafted, the peripheries are on the way, so it’s imperative that they don’t do anything rash…
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