Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | Where's The Beef?

[TheNumber4]

I’m not sure Jeff thinks that way. He’s sinking down the depth chart faster than the Titanic in the North Atlantic.

He’s been a hungry and prideful goal scorer his whole life. Why wouldn’t he think that way.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

If only we would have drafted that sure fire stud goalie Wallstedt

Jesper Wallstedt Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Jesper Wallstedt, a hockey player from Vasteras, Sweden born Nov 14 2002 who was active from 2016 to 2025.

www.hockeydb.com

Oh wait

Looks to be tracking well. Youngest goalie to start a game in Wild history. Last season 2.70 gaa, 910 sav% & winning record on a non-playoff team with a -61 goal share. Iowa Wild looks like a real young AHL roster squarely focused on development.

"Wallstedt, who is viewed by many as the top NHL goalie prospect, has earned AHL Goalie of the Week honors twice this season. He has posted a .913 save percentage or better in 17 of his 33 starts — including 13 contests with a .930 SV% or higher. Not only has he had a large workload in terms of starts, but he’s also faced the fifth-most shots across the AHL with 964 shots against in 33 games. Not to mention he’s been in net for 16 of Iowa’s 19 wins this season." Top Prospect Jesper Wallstedt Growing Through Ups and Downs of Sophomore Season | Minnesota Wild

Personally I wanted Cossa in that draft (and fully believe the Oilers were targeting him until Detroit moved up to snake that). But with Wallstedt there at their pick, I felt they should still have taken the best ranked, pedigree goaltender of the draft class. However reality was a position player would likely develop quicker and add some cheap salary years in the near term winning window versus a goaltender, even an elite one, jumping into an NHL support role. But ... well that didn't work out with their draft choice.

Oilers organizational strategy with goaltending has been very spotty. Sign and play retread guys at the NHL and a draft approach of throwing volume, low percentage picks hoping to find a diamond. Skinner's the only home grown guy to breakthrough to NHL success and that was out of necessity with the colossal misfire on the Jack Campbell winning window bet.

Never any certainty for drafted players at any position. But Wallstedt looks to be growing his game within a clear succession planning in Minnesota.

 

[Mr Positive]

Looks to be tracking well. Youngest goalie to start a game in Wild history. Last season 2.70 gaa, 910 sav% & winning record on a non-playoff team with a -61 goal share. Iowa Wild looks like a real young AHL roster squarely focused on development.

"Wallstedt, who is viewed by many as the top NHL goalie prospect, has earned AHL Goalie of the Week honors twice this season. He has posted a .913 save percentage or better in 17 of his 33 starts — including 13 contests with a .930 SV% or higher. Not only has he had a large workload in terms of starts, but he’s also faced the fifth-most shots across the AHL with 964 shots against in 33 games. Not to mention he’s been in net for 16 of Iowa’s 19 wins this season." Top Prospect Jesper Wallstedt Growing Through Ups and Downs of Sophomore Season | Minnesota Wild

Personally I wanted Cossa in that draft (and fully believe the Oilers were targeting him until Detroit moved up to snake that). But with Wallstedt there at their pick, I felt they should still have taken the best ranked, pedigree goaltender of the draft class. However reality was a position player would likely develop quicker and add some cheap salary years in the near term winning window versus a goaltender, even an elite one, jumping into an NHL support role. But ... well that didn't work out with their draft choice.

Oilers organizational strategy with goaltending has been very spotty. Sign and play retread guys at the NHL and a draft approach of throwing volume, low percentage picks hoping to find a diamond. Skinner's the only home grown guy to breakthrough to NHL success and that was out of necessity with the colossal misfire on the Jack Campbell winning window bet.

Never any certainty for drafted players at any position. But Wallstedt looks to be growing his game within a clear succession planning in Minnesota.

Also what was weird was the Campbell signing. It did show an organization commitment to invest in goaltending, but it was such a bizarre risk. The guy had so small sample body of work and any deep dive into his stats had red flags all over the place.

Even then, I'd say he was a good risk to take but not for all that money and term. They just looked at the save percentage and a couple good playoff games and inked him. When it comes to goaltending our organization just doesn't spend time or care to the decision making, or non-decisions. Maybe Bowman changes it but so far in his small sample it's pretty much business as usual.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Also what was weird was the Campbell signing. It did show an organization commitment to invest in goaltending, but it was such a bizarre risk. The guy had so small sample body of work and any deep dive into his stats had red flags all over the place. Even then, I'd say he was a good risk to take but not for all that money and term. They just looked at the save percentage and a couple good playoff games and inked him. When it comes to goaltending our organization just doesn't spend time or care to the decision making, or non-decision making. Maybe Bowman changes it but so far in his small sample it's pretty much business as usual.

Held my nose with the Campbell signing. Didn't like it but the goaltending hole was a massive gap within the final evolution of the rebuild(s) era into a winning window mature phase team. I felt Markstrom or Ulmark free agent years would have been way better bets. Another product of erratic, changing management groups. They're fortunate Skinner stepped into the breach and has kept his head above water. But they live with some wild swings of performance volatility of a developing goaltender in place of the window veteran goaltender required.

 

[TheNumber4]

Also what was weird was the Campbell signing. It did show an organization commitment to invest in goaltending, but it was such a bizarre risk. The guy had so small sample body of work and any deep dive into his stats had red flags all over the place.

Even then, I'd say he was a good risk to take but not for all that money and term. They just looked at the save percentage and a couple good playoff games and inked him. When it comes to goaltending our organization just doesn't spend time or care to the decision making, or non-decisions. Maybe Bowman changes it but so far in his small sample it's pretty much business as usual.

Kosko sucked, but Smith was good and cheap. The Oilers panick moved cause of all the incessant noise and whining around their goaltending even though Smith was providing league best goaltending value.

Without the noise I don’t think they panic move into the horrific Campbell signing. Let’s hope they don’t make the same mistake twice.

You know what they should have done after Smith provided .923 and .915 goaltending for a measly 2.2M cap hit. They should have said to themselves let’s go and do that again. It would have avoided the Campbell signing, the potential Husso signing, the potential Kuemper signing. They could have found someone cheap to tandem with the already decent Skinner they had in the system. And if that someone cheap didn’t work out they could have tried again the next year, and the next. All while Skinner held the fort and continued developing.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Also what was weird was the Campbell signing. It did show an organization commitment to invest in goaltending, but it was such a bizarre risk. The guy had so small sample body of work and any deep dive into his stats had red flags all over the place.

Even then, I'd say he was a good risk to take but not for all that money and term. They just looked at the save percentage and a couple good playoff games and inked him. When it comes to goaltending our organization just doesn't spend time or care to the decision making, or non-decisions. Maybe Bowman changes it but so far in his small sample it's pretty much business as usual.

Jack Campbell was allegedly scouted and recommended to Holland by Dustin Schwartz. It's actually unreal how much Schwartz has held back this franchise and yet the guy has even better job security than Kevin lowe

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

It's crazy to me that the only questionable thing Grier has done since the summer was trade us Emberson. Everything else was gold, and he's building up the Sharks future quite nicely.

Getting a 2nd round pick and Walman for free is insane
Trading up to 11 and leaving the draft with both Celebrini and Dickinson is huge.
Picks and prospects for Askarov and Liljegrin are both great gambles.
Trading a 6th for Blackwood a year ago, and getting a 2nd and player for him now is smooth.

It's crazy how quickly they're going to leapfrog the ducks rebuild if he keeps this up. Won't be long before they pass the Flames in their quest for mediocrity.

*edit* also hilarious, for as much as we complain about the old boys club, 2 former Oilers players are doing a pretty good job as GM's right now

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

He’s been a hungry and prideful goal scorer his whole life. Why wouldn’t he think that way.

It’s an assumption your making. Sabres bought him out for a reason.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Jack Campbell was allegedly scouted and recommended to Holland by Dustin Schwartz. It's actually unreal how much Schwartz has held back this franchise and yet the guy has even better job security than Kevin lowe

I spoke to someone at a junior game last year, who was in one of the Organizations that Campbell played for (that's all I'll say). Said he had the athleticism to do great things, but there was always a mental/confidence issue. Said nicest guy in the world though, and hoped he would find his confidence and his game.

 

[TheNumber4]

It’s an assumption your making. Sabres bought him out for a reason.

First of all we are talking about his thoughts. So his performance in Buffalo doesn’t really matter.

I think it’s safe to assume life long goal scorer Jeff Skinner still wants to score goals. What’s the alternative? To assume he doesn’t give a bleep about goal scoring anymore?

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

It's crazy to me that the only questionable thing Grier has done since the summer was trade us Emberson. Everything else was gold, and he's building up the Sharks future quite nicely.

Getting a 2nd round pick and Walman for free is insane
Trading up to 11 and leaving the draft with both Celebrini and Dickinson is huge.
Picks and prospects for Askarov and Liljegrin are both great gambles.
Trading a 6th for Blackwood a year ago, and getting a 2nd and player for him now is smooth.

It's crazy how quickly they're going to leapfrog the ducks rebuild if he keeps this up. Won't be long before they pass the Flames in their quest for mediocrity.

*edit* also hilarious, for as much as we complain about the old boys club, 2 former Oilers players are doing a pretty good job as GM's right now

Old boys club isn't necessarily a bad thing to be honest. Bringing in people with strong ties to the team as a player makes them more invested in the franchise's long-term future. Some of the better GMs were longtime players for their former teams (Joe Sakic, Don Sweeney, Rob Blake etc). Heck, even the Oilers did well with Kevin Lowe as GM for the first few years before he got full of himself and started thinking himself the next Glen Sather. A lot of them have a brilliant mind for the game, it's how they got to the NHL in the first place. You just need to make sure that they A) put in their dues and gain the necessary skills/experience for management and B) be willing to let go of them when they start performing poorly.

As for Staios and Grier having success, I'm not surprised. They both put in work in various scouting/management gigs before getting hired and both were players who performed far above their talent level due to smart play and sheer effort.

 

[OilerTitanFan]

Zach Fucale is planning to make a comeback to the NHL, maybe we can take a chance on him and roll the dice. Could end up being another Tim Thomas story.

Montreal is also looking as they seem to have given up on Cayden Primeau.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

First of all we are talking about his thoughts. So his performance in Buffalo doesn’t really matter.

I think it’s safe to assume life long goal scorer Jeff Skinner still wants to score goals. What’s the alternative? To assume he doesn’t give a bleep about goal scoring anymore?

I’m just challenging your assumption of how he thinks. Buffalo bought him out for a reason. Sure he wants to score goals, but your assuming he is going to suddenly have some sort of self realization or actualization which will turn his season around.

Perhaps he sees he is just not a fit here, or the dynamics aren’t working for him.

In the end fans have zero clue how or what he’s thinking.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

If only we would have drafted that sure fire stud goalie Wallstedt

Jesper Wallstedt Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Jesper Wallstedt, a hockey player from Vasteras, Sweden born Nov 14 2002 who was active from 2016 to 2025.

www.hockeydb.com

Oh wait

This makes me mad every time it's brought up. Ugh.

 

[TheNumber4]

I’m just challenging your assumption of how he thinks. Buffalo bought him out for a reason. Sure he wants to score goals, but your assuming he is going to suddenly have some sort of self realization or actualization which will turn his season around.

Perhaps he sees he is just not a fit here, or the dynamics aren’t working for him.

In the end fans have zero clue how or what he’s thinking.

But I didn’t assume his thoughts would turn into actualization. Like I said earlier, thoughts not actual performance.

I literally said “ my Prediction”. And you’re like welll that’s an assumption you’re making. Like yeh, that’s what I said. So in no way did I say he’s for sure thinking that.

Regardless I think alpha athletes who’s done it their whole lives are more likely to think they still have it, then pack it in at a unripe age of 32. So agree to disagree on what we THINK he might be thinking.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

But I didn’t assume his thoughts would turn into actualization. Like I said earlier, thoughts not actual performance.

I literally said “ my Prediction”. And you’re like welll that’s an assumption you’re making. Like yeh, that’s what I said. So in no way did I say he’s for sure thinking that.

Regardless I think alpha athletes who’s done it their whole lives are more likely to think they still have it, then pack it in at a unripe age of 32. So agree to disagree on what we THINK he might be thinking.

I haven’t said anything about what he’s thinking. Only challenging your assumption. That’s all. Anyway not a biggie - I have my money he’s traded out.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Why does a guy sign for far less money then he could have and also insists on a full NMC?

He’s shooting his shot for a cup and regardless of his performance the team is still one of the favourites and they can’t move him off the team in any way without his consent. I wouldn’t completely rule out a move but if it happens I don’t think it’s before the deadline and almost assuredly it would only be to a handful of teams that Skinner feels have as good of a chance as the Oilers, Id be near positive he’s not accepting a trade to a non playoff or bubble team.

 

[Soundwave]

It's crazy to me that the only questionable thing Grier has done since the summer was trade us Emberson. Everything else was gold, and he's building up the Sharks future quite nicely.

Getting a 2nd round pick and Walman for free is insane
Trading up to 11 and leaving the draft with both Celebrini and Dickinson is huge.
Picks and prospects for Askarov and Liljegrin are both great gambles.
Trading a 6th for Blackwood a year ago, and getting a 2nd and player for him now is smooth.

It's crazy how quickly they're going to leapfrog the ducks rebuild if he keeps this up. Won't be long before they pass the Flames in their quest for mediocrity.

*edit* also hilarious, for as much as we complain about the old boys club, 2 former Oilers players are doing a pretty good job as GM's right now

If Askarov is for real, that's outstanding GMing on Grier's part. Imagine we could have locked in a star in the making goalie as soon as we got McDavid, likely the entire McDavid era is very different (for the better).

 

[TheNumber4]

I haven’t said anything about what he’s thinking. Only challenging your assumption. That’s all. Anyway not a biggie - I have my money he’s traded out.

Yeh it’s whatever my comment was kind of tongue in cheek anyways. I’d be surprised if he’s traded. But I guess we’ll see.

 

[belair]

Yeh no way Skinner is moving. And the Oilers ain’t dumping him.

If he's going to be a mainstay in the bottom six, we're going to need a more impactful 4C than Derek Ryan though.

 

[TheNumber4]

If he's going to be a mainstay in the bottom six, we're going to need a more impactful 4C than Derek Ryan though.

I hope Philp keeps progressing and is given a serious look.

 

[AM]

I hope Philp keeps progressing and is given a serious look.

My kid gave me a scouting report when they played the marlies. Looked good!

 

[TheNumber4]

My kid gave me a scouting report when they played the marlies. Looked good!

I don’t watch much AHL. But his hockey IQ was very apparent in his brief call up earlier. There’s definitely something there with this player.

 

[McDoused]

I don't think I've ever been more perplexed when it comes to our forwards. To this point, I'm not really sure how set any of our lines are.

At times the RNH-McDavid-Hyman line have been one of the best in the NHL. I'd feel more confident in this line if nuge was more of a threat but it seems like he's taken a step back offensively this year. Do you look at moving nuge further down the lineup and playing someone else with McDavid? Maybe Evander Kane goes into that spot when he returns.

The Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Kapanen has been a good story but I'm not sure you want two bottom 6 guys strapped to Draisaitl in the playoffs. I think Podkolzin can stay their but the hope is probably Arvidsson coming back in and taking that spot from Kapanen.

The Janmark-Henrique-Brown line hasn't been great like it was in the playoffs. I'm not sure we see them go back to that but they have never been a proper shutdown line like Knob wants. I actually think Henrique is better suites as a LW than a center. He's also too good to be on a 4th line.

Jeff Skinner has been getting 4th line minutes and hasn't found a spot on this team yet. I still think their is a player there but probably not for the Oilers. It's going to be tricky to send him elsewhere as I'm not sure how many playoff teams are lining up for him.

I would think that the Oilers would be looking to trade:

1. Jeff Skinner
2. Victor Arvidsson
3. Adam Henrique

That's 10M in cap space that they could use for other options. You would have to think that they would want a legit top 6 forward to play with Draisaitl and maybe a guy better suited for 3C.

RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Marchessault
Kane-Nelson-Brown
Janmark-Philp-McCarron
Kapanen-Perry

That's a lot of work for Stan to do in a short amount of time. It will also look back on Jackson if Bowman comes in and basically hits undo on all 3 guys he signed during the offseason.

 

[Shanahanigans]

I'm wondering if we could do a Henrique-Skinner for Evans-Armia swap with Montreal. Maybe sweeten the pot with a pick if necessary, but both of our guys are established NHL forwards who should still have value. Gives us some more size and speed in the bottom 6, and both are good PKers as well. Would change the dynamic of our bottom 6 instantly.