Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | The Oilers Biggest Roster Need Is?

[Jimmi McJenkins]

This is totally TJ Brodie.

Left handed D who likes to play the right side.

Moves the puck.

Has 1 year left after this season at a low cap hit (Chicago could probably retain).

No doubt Bowman keeps tabs on his old team too. He hasn't worked out in Chicago, probably the ask will be cheap.

No chance, he's cooked and part of building the culture there. He also just signed there.

Matheson is one, Nick Leddy (though he's hurt right now), Vallimaki (though he doesn't move the puck great), Walman and Ferraro out of SJ also fit that bill.

 

[Soundwave]

This teams needs someone like Zadorov on the backend. It doesn't matter if they are LD or RD,

I've always liked this player to be honest but I don't think he'll waive his NMC.

 

[Soundwave]

No chance, he's cooked and part of building the culture there. He also just signed there.

Matheson is one, Nick Leddy (though he's hurt right now), Vallimaki (though he doesn't move the puck great), Walman and Ferraro out of SJ also fit that bill.

It hasn't gone great for him in Chicago actually, think they are looking to just dump him. Rebuilding teams aren't a great place for older D to go.

Matheson will probably cost a bit more.

I'd be ok taking a flyer on Jusso Valimaki.

I'm just saying all the things Bob is describing is Brodie, he is a left shot puck moving D who primarily plays the right side. Has one more year left after this. 3 mill salary, possible for Chicago to retain some on that too.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

It hasn't gone great for him in Chicago actually, think they are looking to just dump him. Rebuilding teams aren't a great place for older D to go.

Matheson will probably cost a bit more.

I'd be ok taking a flyer on Jusso Valimaki.

I'm just saying all the things Bob is describing is Brodie, he is a left shot puck moving D who primarily plays the right side. Has one more year left after this. 3 mill salary, possible for Chicago to retain some on that too.

Brodie is very bad right now, getting him is exact wrong move for this team.

 

[guymez]

Yet it's been the recipe to success and more than good enough.

They'll definitely need to add a defenseman at the deadline, but looking to add one now is a desperation move to fix something that doesn't need fixing that will also eat all the team's cap space at the deadline. Then it's money in-money out without really have any sizeable money they can move out, so basically the playoff roster is set.

Well...the team is barley over .500 at this point in time (by over playing certain D men) and recently they have had to play 7 D to help redistribute the TOI.
Thats not what I would call a recipe for success or 'more' than good enough.

So we will have to disagree on that.

 

[McHelpus]

Isn't he a UFA this year. Little bit of term to me is at least another year or two

True, I interpreted like someone with little to no term left.

 

[TheNumber4]

This is totally TJ Brodie.

Left handed D who likes to play the right side.

Moves the puck.

Has 1 year left after this season at a low cap hit (Chicago could probably retain).

No doubt Bowman keeps tabs on his old team too. He hasn't worked out in Chicago, probably the ask will be cheap.

He’s cooked. There’s a reason the Leaf’s wanted to dump him.

 

[Soundwave]

Brodie is very bad right now, getting him is exact wrong move for this team.

I mean if it's him, we'll see I guess.

Older players tend to struggle on rebuilding teams, they just don't have the f***s to give as they get older (lol).

The previous year his metrics in Toronto were not bad. He doesn't put up as many points as he used to but he's still got a decent outlet pass.

Under Knob's system I could see him doing well. He's a better player still than Ceci.



This is a pretty nice outlet pass. He's a vet so he can be used on the PK heavily.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

The TOI distribution tellls the story with this D.
Kulak led the entire D core in TOI last game. Granted the Nurse situation obviously affected that but playing Kulak on his off side and bumping up his minutes by 30-40% isnt a recipe for success.
They need to improve the D so they can better distribute the TOI on the back end so that its more conducive to long term success over the season and into the playoffs.

Bottom line...this D isnt good enough and Management has to know that..

Agree. It's been a really smart in-season deployment fix after a hopeful eye-test and analytic stretch projection that Emberson could slot in at 2RD. No where in training camp was Kulak or Nurse trialed at 2RD. Kulak has been the story of this season on Knoblauch's work to correct a misplaced projection of over extending a youngish, inexperienced d-man. Middle pair d is tough sledding toi and competition wise.

But it's also added more ice-time to the top pair and 3 minutes toi for Kulak. Bouchard has shown some wobbles with more ice and unresolved contract. Nurse has his first injury in forever and a brain injury is not a guarantee timeline like a broken bone. Some question if this is a sustainable model when the goal is to survive gruelling series playoff hockey and compete into June again.

 

[McDNicks17]

Well...the team is barley over .500 at this point in time (by over playing certain D men) and recently they have had to play 7 D to help redistribute the TOI.
Thats not what I would call a recipe for success or 'more' than good enough.

So we will have to disagree on that.

I'd say those are odd conclusions. What overplayed defenseman is hurting the team?

 

[guymez]

Agree. It's been a really smart in-season deployment fix after a hopeful eye-test and analytic stretch projection that Emberson could slot in at 2RD. No where in training camp was Kulak or Nurse trialed at 2RD. Kulak has been the story of this season on Knoblauch's work to correct a misplaced projection of over extending a youngish, inexperienced d-man. Middle pair d is tough sledding toi and competition wise.

But it's also added more ice-time to the top pair and 3 minutes toi for Kulak. Bouchard has shown some wobbles with more ice and unresolved contract. Nurse has his first injury in forever and a brain injury is not a guarantee timeline like a broken bone. Some question if this is a sustainable model when the goal is to survive gruelling series playoff hockey and compete into June again.

Well put and I couldnt agree more.

I'd say those are odd conclusions. What overplayed defenseman is hurting the team?

Odd conclusions? what are you basing that on?
What about the current D situation is sustainable over the long term?

Lets just pick one example...is Kulak playing 30-40% more minutes (against tougher competition) on his off side sustainable?

 

[Soundwave]

I'd say those are odd conclusions. What overplayed defenseman is hurting the team?

Some people just very badly want the D to be bad as a talking point and don't like that pretty much every advanced metric says the complete opposite.

Knob's system at least defensively works. If it didn't, then you just imagined the Oilers in a Cup Final a few months ago. Every team we beat, we beat largely by shutting down their offense (which means playing defense) and even the come back against Florida was in large part due to holding them to only 2 goals/game for the last 4 games straight.

You don't need to add big players when you have a good defensive system more or less. There are a few things we need to clean up, but even the PK is coming around.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

I mean if it's him, we'll see I guess.

Older players tend to struggle on rebuilding teams, they just don't have the f***s to give as they get older (lol).

The previous year his metrics in Toronto were not bad. He doesn't put up as many points as he used to but he's still got a decent outlet pass.

Under Knob's system I could see him doing well. He's a better player still than Ceci.



This is a pretty nice outlet pass. He's a vet so he can be used on the PK heavily.

Package deal. Hall+ Brodie

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Not a puck mover, but off the board and with another year.

Oleksiak in SEA
Mikkola in FLA

 

[McAsuno]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1859321514178343014

What we've already been talking about, but tosses in the added hint of term left.

Pettersson and Provorov are both impending UFAs so I'm guessing we're looking elsewhere.

Not a puck mover, but off the board and with another year.

Oleksiak in SEA
Mikkola in FLA

My guesses are Cam Fowler and Mike Matheson.

 

[Mr Positive]

You can't let perfect be the enemy of good. I would like Shesterkin, obviously we can't afford that nor is someone like that available.

Blackwood is a large step forward up on the current goalies the Oilers have for GSAA playing on a worse team and he's also a far better athlete than Skinner which gives him a higher ceiling as a goalie.



He's a left shot D who plays the right side.

We don't need a "top 4D" per se anyway, Nurse and Kulak can occupy the no.3/4 D spots.

As a stop gap sure, but I'd hope the plan is to have Kulak anchoring the bottom pair and as top 4 insurance, and for us to get someone better than Kulak next to Nurse, ideally RD

 

[Soundwave]

I don't think they want to spend a ton on a D, for one they don't really have the assets, and they probably are going to have to retain some picks to offload some contracts in the summer. Evander Kane probably needs to go for cap purposes, if not him, then another 5 mill or so needs to come off the cap. You probably need a 2nd to move that much cap (rising cap will help in that though).

That's why I think like TJ Brodie at 30% retained or something also works within the Oilers cap restraints for the next couple of years.

I would be OK with pursuing Jusso Valimaki too, but I don't know if he plays the right side.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Pettersson and Provorov are both impending UFAs so I'm guessing we're looking elsewhere.



My guesses are Cam Fowler and Mike Matheson.

Good for Provorov, no way even pretends to re-sign, and I wonder if the bidding war for Pettersson might make the Oilers leery.

Fowler's a tougher fit, but yeah they both make sense.

I love Matheson for his skating and puck moving skills.

 

[McAsuno]

Good for Provorov, no way even pretends to re-sign, and I wonder if the bidding war for Pettersson might make the Oilers leery.

Fowler's a tougher fit, but yeah they both make sense.

I love Matheson for his skating and puck moving skills.

I'm not sold on Matheson personally. Don't see many hab fans fond of him as well since he's taking Lane Hutson's spot on their 1st unit PP. I have a habs buddy who says if you want a dman who shoots one timers 20ft wide of the net, Matheson's your guy for it. I'd make the moves to acquire Fowler. More ideal imo.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I'm not sold on Matheson personally. Don't see many hab fans fond of him as well since he's taking Lane Hutson's spot on their 1st unit PP. I have a habs buddy who says if you want a dman who shoots one timers 20ft wide of the net, Matheson's your guy for it. I'd make the moves to acquire Fowler. More ideal imo.

For what it's worth, Matheson is coming to be #3/4D here, not #1D, so that will help him find more success.

 

[McDNicks17]

Odd conclusions? what are you basing that on?
What about the current D situation is sustainable over the long term?

Lets just pick one example...is Kulak playing 30-40% more minutes (against tougher competition) on his off side sustainable?

I think I see what you mean now. I thought you meant overplaying defensemen is the reason they're at .500 as in they were playing bad because they were overplayed.

I don't really see why it isn't sustainable until the deadline. Kulak has always been a good #4/5D. Him averaging 18 minutes of 5v5 instead of 15 isn't that big of deal to me. It's not like Ceci should have been sustainable in the top4 either. I think they're fine there for now.

The real issue to me is Dermott and I think that's a spot you can actually fix now because you won't mess with your cap structure. Throw a 6th rounder at a Jack Johnson or something. Having an actual NHL defenseman that you can trust on the third pairing will bring the top4's minutes down without using all your cap and getting rid of the option to add at forward/goalie later.

 

[FlameChampion]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1859321514178343014

Where does it say isn’t happening anytime soon? Stauffer said on Oilers Now that Oilers can’t afford to wait to the deadline anymore

Guess just reading between the lines. Term means less likely that player is retained. Cap is still a problem unless they think Kane isn’t coming back (sounds like he is). I mean the dman could be on ELC or making minimum money but I don’t really get that from the tweet.

I think the team is looking at stuff but I think Stauffer is just blowing smoke personally

 

[McAsuno]

For what it's worth, Matheson is coming to be #3/4D here, not #1D, so that will help him find more success.

Of course that's the case. He can move the puck, but I'm a bit wary about his defensive skills, that's all.
Regarding Fowler:
https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/anahe...-destinations-for-ducks-defenseman-cam-fowler

"I believe Cam Fowler and the Anaheim Ducks are working on what his future could look like," Friedman said. "I don’t think this is a negative. I believe the player and the team are working together on this."

Fowler (32) has two years left on his contract that carries an AAV of $6.5 million and a no-trade clause that limits the teams to which he can accept a trade to four.

"What I’ve heard is that Fowler has indicated a willingness to talk to more teams than that and consider more teams than that," Freidman added. "Fowler has a lot of respect around the league. There will be interest. I don’t think anybody will be surprised if some time this season Cam Fowler is elsewhere."


He fits the bill on what the Oilers are looking for.

 

[McDNicks17]

I'm not sold on Matheson personally. Don't see many hab fans fond of him as well since he's taking Lane Hutson's spot on their 1st unit PP. I have a habs buddy who says if you want a dman who shoots one timers 20ft wide of the net, Matheson's your guy for it. I'd make the moves to acquire Fowler. More ideal imo.

I feel like this fan base would HATE Matheson haha.

He's a lot like Nurse as far as athleticism and decision making goes.

 

[McAsuno]

I feel like this fan base would HATE Matheson haha.

He's a lot like Nurse as far as athleticism and decision making goes.

My habs buddy dislikes him with a passion. He'd be overjoyed if Matheson got traded here.
Him: "Matheson can move the puck but his defensive awareness makes you want to break your TV."
Don't think we need that on our second pairing with a guy who's decision making is still rather low in Nurse, lol.