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

Oilers Biggest Roster Need?

  • 2nd Pairing RD

    Votes: 81 39.7%
  • Starting Goalie

    Votes: 116 56.9%
  • Top 6 LW (RNH, Podkolzin and Jeff Skinner Aren't Getting it Done)

    Votes: 3 1.5%
  • Top 6 RW (Arvidsson and Hyman Aren't Getting it Done)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3C

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Physical Bottom 6 Wingers

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • Other (Post Your Opinion)

    Votes: 3 1.5%

  • Total voters
    204

Soundwave

Registered User
Mar 1, 2007
74,426
30,684
Askarov killing it.

HFOilers eying Blackwood

200w.gif
 

Fourier

Registered User
Dec 29, 2006
26,747
22,398
Waterloo Ontario
Stats like this like do lack some context though. The Oilers might be not allowing a lot of high danger shots, but they are definitely leading the league in colossal breakdown freebie goals.

They are in a different class than the rest of the league in "what the hell just happened" and Bouchard, who plays the most minutes on D, is elite class in head scratching decisions

Some of these breakdowns don't even count as high danger chances but they are the most dangerous chances because it's unexpected.
Last night the Jets in the first half hung Hellybuyck out to dry on multiple occasions. He made every stop. I am not sure I buy the argument that the Oilers make so many more egregious errors than other teams justifying the save numbers. At some point the goalies job is to stop those shots. Plus as a I have shown before its not just 5 alarm goals against for Skinner. He is being beaten all over the offensive zone.

1732623198412.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: TopShelfGloveSide

Whoshattenkirkshoes

Registered User
Aug 11, 2014
4,546
2,069
He's absolute upgrade on Pickard and is very likely upgrade on Skinner.

I think you could move Skinner out East, honestly, because there are competitive teams that could use skill and he's played out their his entire career.

It's absolutely a risk, but this isn't some $6M maybe, it's a guy with a long track record, the issue is he was beaten down by a team that a complete and utter disaster.

Also, Anaheim would absolutely have to eat 50%.
My only worry is Gibson is he is injury prone. Assuming we ship Skinner out, we're playing with fire.

The good news is even at 50 percent retained Gibson shouldn't be that expensive. I think the ducks want "to do right by the player"
 

Scrapin Ice

Registered User
Oct 25, 2024
154
50
One of the big problems here is that our pro scouts have most likely been detailed to do a detailed analysis of Jiricek but how do you put any faith in what they come back with? This is not something either Jackson or Bowman can do for themselves either.
 
  • Like
Reactions: barry halls

Jimmi McJenkins

Sometimes miracles
Jan 12, 2006
78,863
41,884
Alberta
My only worry is Gibson is he is injury prone. Assuming we ship Skinner out, we're playing with fire.

The good news is even at 50 percent retained Gibson shouldn't be that expensive. I think the ducks want "to do right by the player"
He is, but he's healthy now and has still played more than Blackwood over the last several years.
 

Whoshattenkirkshoes

Registered User
Aug 11, 2014
4,546
2,069
Gibson, Binnington or Blackwood would all be upgrades on the current situation. If management doesn't want to "give up" on Skinner, fine. Trade or waive Pickard.

As for Jiricek, I don't see him as being the answer here, but if we can get him for a reasonable cost, sure go for it.
If we don't move Skinner it gets hard cap wise and we limit our ability to get a defencemen
 

NotAVacuumSalesman

The Guide And Record Book™
Jun 19, 2017
4,268
7,762
Jiříček doesn’t fit the timeline here. He’s not the piece for a team that’s in win now mode.

I’m getting conflicting reports on the return for CBJ. TSN reporting a trade for another high selected prospect (McGroarty for Yager) or a hockey trade for a young forward who can play now (a la Drysdale for Gauthier).

I do like Jiříček, scouts had him comps stylistically to Pietrangelo or McAvoy from his draft report. The potential is huge, scouts were clamouring at his incredible upside. Played men’s top league Czech Extraliga as a 17 year old. He won Extraliga ROTY in 20-21.

He’ll take time to develop like any other big defencemen. I don’t think the Oilers can afford him the development time he needs. He’s only 20.

@Czechboy what’s your opinion?
 

FlameChampion

Registered User
Jul 13, 2011
14,808
17,470
Jiříček doesn’t fit the timeline here. He’s not the piece for a team that’s in win now mode.

I’m getting conflicting reports on the return for CBJ. TSN reporting a trade for another high selected prospect (McGroarty for Yager) or a hockey trade for a young forward who can play now (a la Drysdale for Gauthier).

I do like Jiříček, scouts had him comps stylistically to Pietrangelo or McAvoy from his draft report. The potential is huge, scouts were clamouring at his incredible upside. Played men’s top league Czech Extraliga as a 17 year old. He won Extraliga ROTY in 20-21.

He’ll take time to develop like any other big defencemen. I don’t think the Oilers can afford him the development time he needs. He’s only 20.

@Czechboy what’s your opinion?

Well if he was traded for Savoie or O’Reilly or Akey, they don’t really fit our timeline either.

The good thing with Jirichek is that he is still on an ELC so he’s much easier to fit in cap wise.

Trading for him to expect him to be a RD2 next to Nurse probably isn’t wise.

The team could also make other moves at the trade deadline with the picks they have to obtain a stop gap in the middle of the defense.

I don’t watch Jirichek enough to know what his game is post draft. Young players don’t seem to fit here in well or get much leash so I don’t know if its worth trading for him.
 
Last edited:

belair

Win it for Ben!
Apr 9, 2010
39,668
23,374
Canada
Jiricek seems risky. His Edge numbers are basically the same as Josh Brown's as far as speed and speed bursts go.

Betting on defensemen that are horrible skaters isn't usually the smartest move.
What Jiricek has between his ears is lightyears ahead of what Josh Brown does.
 

belair

Win it for Ben!
Apr 9, 2010
39,668
23,374
Canada
While I got so excited about Jiricek my brain stopped functioning someone here kicked in the voice of reason. Yeah if they will take an Akey and a wanner go ahead--dont think they will. But i think we should keep Savoie and O'Really. We have places already lined up for these guys.
You move Savoie in a deal if it means you get Jiricek. What Savoie does in his ELC isn't irreplaceable. He's a secondary winger that's going to get some level of production boost from playing with elites. We've seen how the payscale works in the past.
 

Whoshattenkirkshoes

Registered User
Aug 11, 2014
4,546
2,069
You move Savoie in a deal if it means you get Jiricek. What Savoie does in his ELC isn't irreplaceable. He's a secondary winger that's going to get some level of production boost from playing with elites. We've seen how the payscale works in the past.
Yes as long as he's not the only defensive upgrade we get this season
 

CupofOil

Knob Flavored Coffey
Aug 20, 2009
48,686
45,655
NYC
Stunning to me that people still think there's no concern with Skinner.

Does he have the potential and/or to be the guy? Yes.

Has he proven in isolation that he has the talent level to play on a SC contender? Yes.

Has he shown the consistency to be someone that we can 100% rely on to play well through the playoffs? No.

Has he shown the ability to narrow the size of the swings in his game? No.

It really isn't that complicated. He's a guy with some talent that can either give you good enough goaltending or be the sole reason we lose and it is never apparent how or when these instances will occur. This is not conducive to winning in the playoffs. It's not like he has one bad or underwhelming performance and then can jump right back and turn it around, it always drags for games at a time and you never know when it will happen. Just look at the playoffs last year:

Kings series - brutal for Games 1-3, then a stud in Game 4, then back to being mediocre at best in Game 5.

Nucks series - complete joke through games 1-3, then pretty steady for games 6 and 7 with the major caveat that the Oilers were on their game and dominated 6 and 7 severely limiting chances against. If anything, goaltending was why Game 7 in particular wasn't an easy multi goal win.

Stars series - Definitely good enough in Game 1 and 2 (but not without some hiccups), dog shit in games 3 and 4. Then good again in 5 and 6 (again, not without some hiccups in 5).

Finals - not objectively terrible in any of the games really, but struggled to make the "big save" that teams need at certain times to win the Stanley Cup when it really mattered. Missing that next step in his game.

I don't know how anyone could look at his playoff record last year and determine that he's definitely the guy. If anything we're very lucky to have gotten as far as we did with circus up and down net minding basically every series. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind we win the Stanley Cup last year with a different goalie even if everything else was exactly the same.
I don't think anybody, as far as I've seen, says that there's no concern with Skinner.
I'm just replying to you because I've been one of the few Skinner defenders and aren't sure if this was directed at me so I needed to clarify.

My purpose in this thread was to reply to the statement that he's a backup at best when he's proven to be more than that the previous two seasons. There's no defending what he's done this season and the Oilers would be wise to not ignore the goalie market BUT I don't see any real solutions out there that are clear upgrades on Skinner as a starter or Pickard as a backup so I don't know where to go unless you want to bring in somebody just for the sake of bringing in somebody that's different. Of course it's easy to upgrade on what Skinner has been this season thus far but history dictates that he'll likely bounce back so I guess we'll see.

I wouldn't mind bringing in a developmental goalie that's NHL ready that fell out of favor with another organization or simply giving Rodrigue a bit of a test run but then you're risking losing him on waivers if he gets sent back down. No easy solutions from the goalie market right now.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad