Oilers Trade Deadline Shopping List

[Murphinator]

Strap in folks its going to be a depressing next 2 months. Not looking forward to playoffs.

 

[LTIR]

Podkolzin and Arvidsson are too weak and perimeter to move the needle. Niether have game breaking skating you need at times to break a game open in the playoffs.

Holloway, Foegle and Mcleod had these intangibles in key times in a series.

You have a massive problem with that second line.

Massive problem yet it's the only line that's working.

We are getting nothing out of bottom 6 and McDavid, Nuge Hyman are in ghost mode for a month.

 

[LTIR]

Strap in folks its going to be a depressing next 2 months. Not looking forward to playoffs.

As if we won't be adding pieces at the deadline. It might just be Kane up front but even then it would be something. Can't do much when you give NMC to 8 of your forwards and the remaining make 1M each.

Klingberg is starting to find his game, Emberson is good enough for bottom pairing and Stecher has surprisingly been good. Bouchard is the weakest defensively at RD IMO.
Once Ekholm-Bouchard get going and top line starts to play like a top line we will be fine. (Starting goalie playing like a starting goalie would be nice as well)

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Massive problem yet it's the only line that's working.

We are getting nothing out of bottom 6 and McDavid, Nuge Hyman are in ghost mode for a month.

Every depth player on a contender can score 10 goals.

It's a low bar. Not being able to score 10 goals means you're not really an NHL caliber forward anymore. This year, Janmark is literally the only forward that's nowhere near scoring 10 goals. (podkolzin is pacing for 8).


But yeah, all of our forwards are more or less pacing for 10+. I don't think our depth is as bad as a lot of people seem to think it is.

Bad depth was Jujhar Khaira, Markus Granlund, Riley Sheahan, Gaetan Haas, Tyler Ennis, and Joakim Nygard, Kassian, Shore, Perlini, Malone, and Archibald. all scoring under 10.

 

[Arpeggio]

Last year I brought up the fact that contenders basically have every depth player has the ability to score 10 goals.

It's a lot bar, but not being able to score 10 goals means you're not really an NHL caliber forward anymore. This year, Janmark is literally the only forward that's nowhere near scoring 10 goals. (podkolzin is pacing for 8).


But yeah, all of our forwards are more or less pacing for 10+. I don't think our depth is as bad as a lot of people seem to think it is.

Bad depth was Jujhar Khaira, Markus Granlund, Riley Sheahan, Gaetan Haas, Tyler Ennis, and Joakim Nygard, Kassian, Shore, Perlini, Malone, and Archibald.

We have a long long list of bottom-6 players who couldn't hit 10 goals, and now we have nearly an entire squad that does.

Yeah our low end depth isn't actually that bad imo. Having a fourth line of guys with 10+ goals is a good thing. When I was looking at it a couple months ago, I was surprised by how good our depth forwards were performing as a whole. But they're really lacking the 20 goal guys this season. Basically they're lacking the production that Arvidsson and Skinner were supposed to bring.

I'm shocked that Nuge is pacing to score more than last season, I feel like he's been invisible lol

 

[Drivesaitl]

I don't really get these threads. The Oilers don't play Santa to fans very often and seems like getting excited and then less than expected occurs.

My list is simple, easy, Get a goalie to replace Skinner. Not an impossible ask there. With an even valid #1 a lot of other problems are solved. Team is dangerous, still, with a valid starter.

Thats it, thats all.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

We have a bigger dropoff in our top-6 than we were expecting.
100 point Nuge and 50 goal hyman are gone.

But our bottom-6 isn't getting absolutely carved like seasons past. And when they are, it's often Skinner letting in a softie or 2.

We had a bad run last month but we're still a better team than most are giving us credit for.


Our 4th line of Pod /KK / Perry has 24 goals.
Most other years, we headed into the playoffs where our 4th line literally scored 5 goals, and a collective -30.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

I don't really get these threads. The Oilers don't play Santa to fans very often and seems like getting excited and then less than expected occurs.

My list is simple, easy, Get a goalie to replace Skinner. Not an impossible ask there. With an even valid #1 a lot of other problems are solved. Team is dangerous, still, with a valid starter.

Thats it, thats all.

I'm on team "Get-Gibson" "Bring on Binnington".

We can't go with Skinner for the 3rd year.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I'm on team "Get-Gibson" "Bring on Binnington".

We can't go with Skinner for the 3rd year.

Big ask though and I'd be surprised if we get it. Theres a lot more goalies that have had games in NHL this season that are probably better goalies, fundamentally, than Skinner. I don't think its as hard to replace him and obtain value in a goalie that is more mobile (almost anybody) and more capable of making some quality stops. I mean even Pickard is all that.

 

[TB12]

This is a deeply unserious organization.

Hoping to be surprised in a good way the next few days but f*** me does that ever seem unlikely.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Hmmm……. Didn’t we have that with Broberg and Holloway?

Oilers management confirmed to be total idiots.

Once again.

 

[McFlash97]

Massive problem yet it's the only line that's working.

We are getting nothing out of bottom 6 and McDavid, Nuge Hyman are in ghost mode for a month.

Draisaitl is the only thing working. You can put a rabbid pig next to Leon and he will use it to bounce pucks into the net.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Strap in folks its going to be a depressing next 2 months. Not looking forward to playoffs.

Oh I have a bad feeling it’s going to be a depressing 2 years..

 

[MessierThanThou]

I think we all know this buddy system-selected management group doesn't give the slightest shit about winning, only about having "nice guys."

Funny how the idiot media puppets trot out pathetic goalie names like Mrazek and 4giev, two of the very few goalies this season who, conveniently, have a worse GSAx than our tandem...

Me thinks they want the fans to think our only options in net are Jack and shit, and Jack was just bought out...

 

[harpoon]

Henrique made him expendable and is next contract was going to be a bit to rich

Henrique hasn’t made anyone expendable. He’s been among the worst performers relative to cap hit this season imo. I’d rather have McLeod. In descending order of disaster.

Arvidsson
Henrique
Skinner
Brown
Perry

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Henrique hasn’t made anyone expendable. He’s been among the worst performers relative to cap hit this season imo. I’d rather have McLeod. In descending order of disaster.

Arvidsson
Henrique
Skinner
Brown
Perry

Solid bottom 6

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

We will wait until after the deadline to judge, but there should be fire Jeff Jackson chants going on

 

[ManofSteel55]

We have a bigger dropoff in our top-6 than we were expecting.
100 point Nuge and 50 goal hyman are gone.

But our bottom-6 isn't getting absolutely carved like seasons past. And when they are, it's often Skinner letting in a softie or 2.

We had a bad run last month but we're still a better team than most are giving us credit for.


Our 4th line of Pod /KK / Perry has 24 goals.
Most other years, we headed into the playoffs where our 4th line literally scored 5 goals, and a collective -30.

Agreed, as usual, Oiler fans (myself included) are screaming that the sky is falling, when for some of our guys - Nuge, Hyman and S. Skinner, for example - the only direction we can expect them to go from here this season, is up. I'd still like the team to pick up another RD, upgrade on Stu,, but adding Kane alone wouldn't be the end of the world either. Adding Kane back allows Nuge to slide to 3C, Henrique to 4C, and hopefully we can end up with 3 lines that can score consistently.

J. Skinner - McDavid - Hyman
Podkolzin - Draisaitl - Savoie
Kane - Nuge - Arvidsson
Janmark - Henrique - Brown/Perry
Kapanen

The blueline, I still see as an issue with the 2RD spot, and obviously the top pair needs to get going again, but if we can add an Oleksiak type, we're sitting pretty good.

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Oleksiak
Kulak - Klingberg/Emberson
Stecher

Which just leaves the goalie issue, which Stan is publicly saying we aren't worried about (I hope its a ruse to drive prices down, but I believe its true). We're likely going into the playoffs with Stu and Pickard. The less said about that, at this point, the better. I do hope Stan can see what most Oiler fans see - that the only areas where the Oilers are not near the top of the league are goaltending, and penalty killing.

 

[CROTT]

Henrique hasn’t made anyone expendable. He’s been among the worst performers relative to cap hit this season imo. I’d rather have McLeod. In descending order of disaster.

Arvidsson
Henrique
Skinner
Brown
Perry

That was the thought last offseason, yes Henrique hasn’t preformed up to expectations. A drop in production was expected due to a less offensive role compared to his time with the ducks.

 

[GrumpyKoala]

Dear Santa, last Christmas you forgot my goalie. Please send it directly, mom have tendency to blow all our money on bottom 6 forwards.

Replying to my own post is a bit of a dick move but say ain't f***ing so...

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Henrique hasn’t made anyone expendable. He’s been among the worst performers relative to cap hit this season imo. I’d rather have McLeod. In descending order of disaster.

Arvidsson
Henrique
Skinner
Brown
Perry

McLeods production completely craters in the playoffs.

Henrique's production remains relatively consistent in the playoffs.

 

[ManofSteel55]

So we’ve gone from fans complaining that the Oilers are on a losing streak cause they made too many off season changes and the chemistry isn’t right yet, to wanting to make 5 or 6 deadline moves, with weeks to gel before the playoffs.

Nope, just 2. John Gibson. Jamie Oleksiak. Winning.

 

[belair]

Holloway, Foegele, and McLeod scored at a lower goals per game rate than Klim Kostin did in the 2023 playoffs (and lower than Anton Slepyshev in the 2017 playoffs).

I think their impact on last year's run is overstated. Foegele and McLeod got themselves healthy scratched during the playoffs too for poor play.

If you wanted to keep them fine, but lets not revise actual history. If they had great playoffs they probably all would have been retained, but their playoffs were borderline. McLeod was probably toast because of that terrible turn over in period 3, game 7 vs. Vancouver that gave the Canucks life when they had none for the entire game.

Your love affair with Klim Kostin has no end. If he's such a reliable goalscorer, why doesn't he score goals?

They caught lightning in a bottle in a post trade stretch of hockey where even Jay Woodcroft limited Kostin to less than 10 minutes a night.

Kostin wouldn't make this team.

 

[Soundwave]

Your love affair with Klim Kostin has no end. If he's such a reliable goalscorer, why doesn't he score goals?

They caught lightning in a bottle in a post trade stretch of hockey where even Jay Woodcroft limited Kostin to less than 10 minutes a night.

Kostin wouldn't make this team.

We don’t have a lot of money to spend next summer. Frederic will likely want a premium to stay here versus signing in the US, we may also be stuck with Arvidsson.

The bottom six is not so great that Kostin couldnt make it, the Oilers don’t have many players pushing from the farm either.

 

[belair]

We don’t have a lot of money to spend next summer. Frederic will likely want a premium to stay here versus signing in the US, we may also be stuck with Arvidsson.

The bottom six is not so great that Kostin couldnt make it, the Oilers don’t have many players pushing from the farm either.

Frederic is a PKer, multi-positional forward and more importantly, he's an NHL regular.

I agree that there's a risk with Frederic, who has whispers he may want to sign in St Louis in the summer. But the Oilers need to do what they can to find a way to get him signed.

As for Kostin, I'd be fine with him coming back on a league minimum deal. That's what he's worth today. And maybe he'll see it that way considering the only time he's looked like an NHL player has Ben in Edmonton.