Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | Oilers to sign Dermott, assign Philp, waive J. Brown, Caggiula, Lavoie, Rodrigue to minors.

[McDNicks17]

Question is if the $125k extra in cap hit (assuming Dermott signed league min) would be worth it for what is going to be the #7 guy. He’s not going to play ahead of Kulak and the fact he’s a LD precludes him from playing over Stetcher does it not?

Tough to say. If he's purely a #7D, probably not, but I'd feel a lot better with Brannstrom playing up the lineup if there's injuries.

 

[bellagiobob]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1842990173141053565

 

[belair]

Its hard to move the puck when you are fishing it out of the back of your own net, hence Dermott has more value. Just because passing is his best asset does not mean its better than others. His puck skills are less than Ceci's (3X the turnovers, less assists).


Dermott is really not my favorite player at all, but at least he can play some tougher minutes and does not turn the puck over.

I read your last post. The numbers just don't support it on the larger scale. He was one of Ottawa's better transition defenders last season and he's come out the past two seasons in the green there.

This team needs better transition. I don't think anyone would argue that. And from all the material that's out there, he'd help in that regard.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Thank god he's been replaced with someone who's priority is winning a Stanley Cup.

Not sure the give a shit meter can be measured between an organization's management group past or present. But critical factor early in this new tenure is cat turd decisions can be buried in the desert at no precious cap cost (technically not desert but close to the Sierra Nevada). Brown Down was always going to be a viable option.

Starting point is Game 7 Stanley Cup Final. Good to look into the future and leave the past successes and failures there.

 

[belair]

You realize Brannstrom had the lowest GA/60 on the Sens D last year, right?

I'd like to see some video of him. Because there's been nowhere for him to hide on that roster. Partners like JBD and Hamonic weren't doing him any favors.

From what I read, he's getting better at avoiding getting blown up as a smaller defender.

Question is if the $125k extra in cap hit (assuming Dermott signed league min) would be worth it for what is going to be the #7 guy. He’s not going to play ahead of Kulak and the fact he’s a LD precludes him from playing over Stetcher does it not?

I do remember him playing some RD in Ottawa when he played against us. It would be a bit of a negative losing a bit of that space, but odds are we're going to be needing some cap gymnastics at the deadline and likely along the way anyways.

 

[lakai17]

Goalie Devin Cooley on waivers.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Brannstrom is not that physical and that is the biggest issue the oilers have right now, In my opinion. I do find it amusing Avs signed him in the off season only to trade him before the season starts

 

[CanadasTeam99]

I remember how hyped up Brannstrom was when he started playing. Amazing how much some guys just fall.

 

[Jumptheshark]

I remember how hyped up Brannstrom was when he started playing. Amazing how much some guys just fall.

Taking a quick look at some of the players on waivers today. There are a few "why can he not make it" players.

Goalie Devin Cooley on waivers.

So far he has only been a back up with both the AHL and ECHL. We have 3 guys on the farm already fighting for ice time in net

 

[Senor Catface]

Goalie Devin Cooley on waivers.

Well, he's closer to the ECHL than he is the NHL.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Kind of seems like he'd be an ideal pick up.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807478707138789414

Checks a lot of boxes. Strong passing numbers, retrievals, exits and entries.

JFresh would like Eric Brannstrom.

 

[McDNicks17]

JFresh would like Eric Brannstrom.

Technically that's Patrick Bacon liking him.

(He does the data for the micro stats.)

 

[Louis Cypher]

Holland waived Janmark immediately after he signed him too.

That was because of money. Him and Kostin.

 

[Louis Cypher]

Both were scratched a chunk during the playoffs. Ryan got manhandled the deeper we went

I like Ryan and what he's done for his career but we don't need that type of player in our bottom 6. We need speed and size with upside signed cheap.

 

[belair]

Brannstrom is not that physical and that is the biggest issue the oilers have right now, In my opinion. I do find it amusing Avs signed him in the off season only to trade him before the season starts

Physicality isn't his game, but he's got speed and that's something we lost a lot more of this summer. On defense the size isn't that big of an issue considering everyone on D besides Stecher is at least 6'2.

It's literally Brannstrom vs Dermott and neither of those guys are known for banging bodies.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Technically that's Patrick Bacon liking him.

(He does the data for the micro stats.)

Bacon is fried!

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I'd like to see some video of him. Because there's been nowhere for him to hide on that roster. Partners like JBD and Hamonic weren't doing him any favors.

From what I read, he's getting better at avoiding getting blown up as a smaller defender.


I do remember him playing some RD in Ottawa when he played against us. It would be a bit of a negative losing a bit of that space, but odds are we're going to be needing some cap gymnastics at the deadline and likely along the way anyways.

I'm not really feeling the Brannstrom vibes. He's a small, undersized left-shot defender with below league average skating speed and bursts with a 54.9% career advantaged o-zone starts (51% last season). Not a big point producer or elite skater to mitigate against his size and match up challenges. He was let go by a non-playoff team and signed on the cheap only to be moved again to help their cap situation (after losing a camp battle for a bottom pair job in Colorado).

Don't see him taking a prospective job from Dermott who is known and seems to be valued and trusted by the head coach. Looks to be a better hedge for Vancouver who paid to weasel out of LTIR by acquiring him and have a giant d-corp to hide this niche player if they ever needed an injury recall.

NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking Statistics - Skaters

NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking Statistics for skaters including skating speed, skating distance, shot speed, shot location, and zone time.

edge.nhl.com

 

[nexttothemoon]

You keep going on about concerns about offence which is overwhelmingly this team's competitive advantage which they further added to this off-season with two NHL proven top six players. Last year the Oilers were 99 percentile for shots on goal; 90 percentile for goals scored; 71 percentile for shooting percentage. They scored 40 more goals than NHL average.

It is this overwhelming ice-tilt in offensive production and their elite zone time play driven by their elite forward group (93 percentile offensive zone; 90 percentile defensive zone) that enables them to take a risk on three unproven or journeyman #6,7,8 on their right-side defense. Barring injury the clear need is going to be 2RD upgrade that pushes everyone down to more realistic, manageable competition levels for an elite team.

NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking Statistics - Teams

NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking Statistics for teams including skating speed, skating distance, shot speed, shot location, and zone time.

edge.nhl.com

Well let's look at some of those stats and how the Oilers are looking right NOW... because this team is much different than the one that was playing in the playoffs and in the regular season last year... lots of new bodies now with chemistry to recreate and who knows how the team will gel together.

RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Skinner-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Janmark-Henrique-Brown
Podkolzin-Ryan-Perry

That's pretty much the set in stone forward group at this point... unless they call up Philp/Lavoie but it looks like cap accumulation means they are running with a skeleton crew for now at least.

Here's the stats for that forward group based on last season's stats... also keep in mind that this roster isn't young and everyone who was already aging... got another year older and poetentialy slower as well.

Percentile ranks for each line:
RNH:
68th in skating speed
Below 50th in shot speed
82nd in shots
52nd in shooting %
72nd in goals
94th in offensive zone time

McDavid:
99th in skating speed
Below 50th in shot speed
95th in shots
70th in shooting %
94th in goals
99th in offensive zone time

Hyman
75th in skating speed
Below 50th in shot speed
98th in shots
97th in shooting %
99th in goals
98th in offensive zone time

Skinner
Below 50th in skating speed
71st in shot speed
88th in shots
64th in shooting %
83rd in goals
Below 50th in offensive zone time

Draisaitl
92nd in skating speed
Below 50th in shot speed
89th in shots
97th in shooting %
97th in goals
94th in offensive zone time

Arvidsson
84th in skating speed
52nd in shot speed
Below 50th in shots
54th in shooting %
Below 50th in goals
63rd in offensive zone time

Janmark
79th in skating speed
Below 50th in shot speed
Below 50th in shots
Below 50th in shooting %
Below 50th in goals
72nd in offensive zone time

Henrique
Below 50th in skating speed
Below 50th in shot speed
62nd in shots
94th in shooting %
83rd in goals
Below 50th in offensive zone time

Brown
56th in skating speed
Below 50th in shot speed
Below 50th in shots
Below 50th in shooting %
Below 50th in goals
68th in offensive zone time

Podzkolzin
Below 50th in skating speed
Below 50th in shot speed
Below 50th in shots
Below 50th in shooting %
Below 50th in goals
90th in offensive zone time

Ryan
Below 50th in skating speed
Below 50th in shot speed
Below 50th in shots
51st in shooting %
Below 50th in goals
75th in offensive zone time

Perry
Below 50th in skating speed
Below 50th in shot speed
Below 50th in shots
86th in shooting %
56th in goals
55th in offensive zone time


Obviously some of those stats above are from when they were on previous teams... so it remains to be seen how the new lineup will look over a full season.

I'm not outright saying they will be worse offensively but I think there's a very good chance that happens because there's a whole lot of new line combinations and new faces and you know every single team in the NHL now knows the Oilers are contender #1 for the cup and opponents usually bring their A games when they play the Oilers... like it's a 7th game of the playoffs for an opponent and it's hard for the Oilers to consistently play up to that level of effort/intensity every game.

I'm obviously going to watch and see (like everyone else)... but my "hot take" is that the offense will be more of an issue than the D at least initially. I think Emberson/Stecher will fill the open spots reasonably effectively... whereas I think it will take time for the offense to gel.

In goal... well it's average at best with Skinner/Pickard but they basically will only be as good as the overall D in front of them... and if goal production does take a dip... that makes every flub and weak goal by the goalies look even worse. Run support cures a lot of defensive and goaltending issues so hopefully I'm wrong and the Oilers can score at the rates they were producing last season.

I'll gladly eat crow and admit my concerns were overblown if they are again top 5 in goal scoring. I just have a gut feeling that it's going to be a much harder grind this season to produce offense at the same rates they did last year.

 

[belair]

I'm not really feeling the Brannstrom vibes. He's a small, undersized left-shot defender with below league average skating speed and bursts with a 54.9% career advantaged o-zone starts (51% last season). Not a big point producer or elite skater to mitigate against his size and match up challenges. He was let go by a non-playoff team and signed on the cheap only to be moved again to help their cap situation (after losing a camp battle for a bottom pair job in Colorado).

Don't see him taking a prospective job from Dermott who is known and seems to be valued and trusted by the head coach. Looks to be a better hedge for Vancouver who paid to weasel out of LTIR by acquiring him and have a giant d-corp to hide this niche player if they ever needed an injury recall.

NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking Statistics - Skaters

NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking Statistics for skaters including skating speed, skating distance, shot speed, shot location, and zone time.

edge.nhl.com

He's not any slower than Dermott, who he's both younger and more accomplished than--both offensively and defensively. That's the consideration that I'm making.

I don't really see the upside of Dermott. And beyond a decent showing in a handful of nothing preseason games, his career trajectory has been in a downward trend since he left Toronto.

The reason the Senators moved on from Brannstrom is because he was a arb eligible RFA coming off of a $2m AAV, a contract that he earned.

Brannstrom is a better hockey player than Travis Dermott. And I think the Oilers would be wise to consider that.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Pelletier on waivers--after being hyped by the Flames media for a number of years.

At least they still have the #1 player in his draft class... Mark Jankowski.

So camp just a big waste of time except for PTO Dermott likely getting a contract. This roster was picked two months ago.

Good thing we wasted all the opportunity to at least let Draisatl gel with his new wingers.

This is pretty much my thoughts every year... the roster is written in pen before camp starts and unless injuries to the starters happen... actual "competition" in camp is a fraud.

 

[Captain Controversy]

So did podz make the team?

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

I was pleasantly surprised by the cuts. Didn't think they would axe Brown, was worried they believed Lavoie's scoring could make up for the rest, and while Philp clearly made the roster on merit, this is probably best for the team right now. All tough decisions for different reasons imo

Now hope a dman pops up on waivers and makes it to us. Hard to believe this group is going to get it done lol

 

[nexttothemoon]

The Defense scares me this year and more so than just the personal. We lost a lot of speed on the forwards and those guys had the speed to come back and help out defensively and help keep the puck deep on dump ins.

I'm worried the older team will be slow to get back to help and slow on the forecheck which will just put more preasure on our weak defense and average (at best) goaltending..

Yes... team offense is certainly reliant on overall team D which comes from the forwards as well. Easier to score goals obviously when you are able to move the puck quickly from your zone more easily and that includes the forwards having good speed to exit defensive zones and enter offensive zones.

 

[Jumptheshark]

So did podz make the team?

For the time being. I think he would not clear waivers if sent down

 

[Captain Controversy]

For the time being. I think he would not clear waivers if sent down

I think he should learn from janmark and mold himself into another janmark.