One never knows with these things but it does appear the Edmonton Oilers are at least casting about looking for early help in the 2017-18 season. Frank Seravalli of TSN wrote an article about the team needing help for Connor McDavid, Elliotte Friedman spent some time on the subject during his 31 Thoughts.
So, when word breaks that the Golden Knights have given permission to Russian center Vadim Shipachyov’s agent to seek a trade, we’re going to have a discussion online at the various Oilers online communities.
If not Shipachyov, perhaps another forward is the target for general manager Peter Chiarelli. Pending free agent forwards include many speed burners, a few of whom can shoot the puck and might be a good match for the Oilers club. The problem there is every team is still in contention (save for the one in the desert, and no it’s not Vegas), meaning any trade pursued at this time of year is going to involve a premium.
If the Oilers are in search of Shipachyov, or Andrew Cogliano, or Josh Ho-Sang (not a pending UFA but he was sent to the AHL today), what kind of assets can they offer?
2018 draft picks
- No. 3 overall
- No. 34 overall
- No. 65 overall
- No. 86 overall
- No. 117 overall
- No. 148 overall
- No. 179 overall
Edmonton currently ranks No. 3 in the draft pecking order, highly unlikely to draft inside the top 10 overall in 2018. Still, probably a good idea for the Oilers to keep their powder dry in terms of dealing their first-round pick at this time.
NHL Roster
Any trade for a big contract likely means money being retained by the trading club or a substantial contract going out. You’ll read online that the Oilers have $6-8 million in cap room but the real number is closer to $3.6 million.
ESTIMATED CAP SITUATION
Edmonton’s issue surrounds potential bonuses. They exist across the roster and total $4 million. Some of these bonuses are locks (McDavid probably gets max) and some is less likely. Peter Chiarelli’s roster got dinged over $800,000 in overages and it’s my belief he’ll run well below cap just in case. Jesse Puljujarvi’s potential recall (another $2.5 million in possible bonuses) also factors in.
I’d say possible trade assets out include Mark Fayne (might make the money work), Jujhar Khaira (a young player could be part of the equation) and Anton Slepyshev (suspect the organization prefers Drake Caggiula).
The Farm
Edmonton has some minor league players who could be of interest, although one wonders if there’s a desire to part with the better prospects. It would take quite a bit to pry Jesse Puljujarvi away but I don’t think it’s impossible. Ethan Bear and Caleb Jones are fine young defensive prospects, not sure the Oilers are eager to part with them just as pro defensive depth comes to town. Nick Ellis might be an intriguing option but every NHL team has a goalie they’re high on in the minors.
Most Likely
I don’t think the Oilers have enough prospect depth to deal from strength. A second-round pick would have value and the organization has shown a willingness to deal that pick in the past.
Beyond that, I think it might be Anton Slepyshev.
A big fat NO to Cogliano. Been there done that. Youth please
Can’t see the Ducks trading him anyway, not this year.
I have a bold idea, give Slepyshev a chance in the top 6 before trading him. He did well in limited time on the Lucic-Drai-Sleps combo last year. He also is trigger happy and should have a chance on the PP.
Couldn’t agree more. At least he can skate unlike Looch, Strome and Jokinen which now look like the slowest trio in the league. Can someone tell me why Jokinen is in the lineup?? He makes smart plays sometimes, but he doesn’t hit or provide many if any real grade A scoring chances. Besides the nice assist to Strome I’ve been more impressed with Malone who they sent down since he doesn’t have to clear waivers.
The Jokinen signing confused me at the time, but not one offer to Iggy and Jagr because of speed issues. Both have better hands than Jokinen, imo.
They were obviously hoping Jokinen would rebound and be a cheap contributing player and mentor for Jesse. None of that panned out but it was a low risk/high reward gamble that didn’t work out.
4 goals in 57 regular season games, definitely top 6 material.
Oilers only have 7 forwards with a goal this year. BRUTAL. If they can’t score why can’t they play a physical game and wear down the opponents defence?
This times 1000. The OIlers are at their most effective when they are crashing and banging taking the other team off of their game. I haven’t seen any of this at all since the first game against the Canucks. Not surprising that they have only won 1 game since then.
Ya. Ya. I get this. More of this. Msybe if we wear them down we will lead the league in shots and shot differential. Oh ya. We already do. WE NEED TO SCORE!
I have a better idea, bring in Hartley (Stanley cup winner), he took a terrible flames team to the playoffs, he’s mean and gets things done unlike the cream puff Todd has shown us to be.
Pakarinen, Slepyshev, Khaira, Simpson, Fayne, 1st round pick in 2018,19,20 all serviceable trade pieces just depends on which player(s) comes back. Josh HoSang seems to have fallen out of favour, have to think he could be had for Slepy and a pick. Kind of surprised he got sent down, must be a cancer in the locker room….
How would you know s—t about him to in the locker room. You must be a total jerk
Mark Fayne is not a “trade asset”
The issue is that though the Oilers has McDavid and Dri, the Oilers lack prospect depth. This comes from the 5 picks lost in the 2015 draft for Reinhart and Talbot, 2 lost for the coach/GM signings. I’m not saying (other than you know what one) it was a mistake, but it has crippled the Oilers farm system.
Not to mention incompetent drafting prior to that.
Yup. Trading for Talbot was a total F-up!
Trading for Talbot was not the issue. we traded we traded a 2nd round, and 3rd round and a 7th round. (57,79,184th respectively) the real f-up was trading the 16th and 33rd pick for Reinhart. Talbot is a top 10 goaltender. Reinhart is a bum. a lazy, stinky BUM.
I follow all the Canadian NHL clubs except Montreal and the one that concerns me right now is this Oiler club. Years of poor drafting and development except for Mcdavid and Draisatal and if it wasn’t for the clubs ineptitude in the previous season they wouldn’t have them either. Trading Hall, signing Lucic, cmon does anyone really think those were sound moves. Signing the Nuge for 6 mil, wow. Time to blow it up starting with Ciarelli and Todd
The Oilers are in big trouble. Last season was the exception.
The Reinhart Trade still really bugs me.
Question. Exactly how long HAVE you been following the Oilers for? Because your statement has several things that are wrong with it. And you can claim I’m biased and all that other Bs, but I follow this team a lot closer than you do.
1. Nuge’s contract was signed by then-GM Craig MacTavish in 2014. Peter was hired in 2015. DO NOT pin that contract on Peter.
2. While I do agree that we’ll be shaking our heads at the Lucic contract in a few years, that is a solid market value contract. Lucic was being offered more money elsewhere, and that’s the kind of money a 50-point winger generally produces. And hey, if he keeps putting up 50+ point seasons, is the contract really that bad?
3. Hall was traded for a number of reasons, the most important being that Edmonton needed help in the defensive end. Adam Larsson was not traded to be an offensive juggernaut. He was traded for his solid defensive play, which he demonstrated last season. Larsson is physical, doesn’t goof around with the puck, has good defensive zone coverage, and he doesn’t lazily poke check at the puck (unlike Justin Schultz).
4. The Reinhart trade I’m in agreement with. But only when it comes to the draft picks we gave up. Chiarelli gave up too much and I think he was influenced by the Dougie Hamilton trade. I don’t find him at fault for trading for a guy who wound up going to Vegas, because Vegas wasn’t a team back in 2015.
While I agree that Chiarelli could’ve probably done more this offseason, I’ve been behind him 100%. He’s done more in 3 years, than the previous clowns couldn’t do in 10. He made Edmonton good again. He made them a playoff team. He made them a team that can hang with the best in the west. He brought in character. He brought in grit. So I ask you, if MacT or Kevin Lowe and his “6 Stanley Cup Rings” were still in charge, would we have Talbot? What about Maroon? Lucic? McLellan? Kassian? Larsson? And would we have made the playoffs?
Look you’re entitled to your opinion, but when you openly bash our GM based on 1 bad move and a less-than-impressive start to this season, whilst also ignoring the plethora of things he did to make Edmonton a good hockey club, it makes you look foolish. And stating that you follow ALL of the Canadian teams, doesn’t help your case either.
Also, “start with Peter and Todd”? You do realize they’re the best GM and Coach this organization has employed in 10+ years right? They’re a big reason why Edmonton was so successful last year. And who would you hire to be their replacement?
“You do realize they’re the best GM and Coach this organization has employed in 10+ years right? ”
To be fair, the bar wasn’t set terribly high there. The Ralph Krueger firing still annoys me though.
yeah Ralph is just been a real barnstormer in the NHL….
You mean the guy that is Chairman to Southhampton FC, yeah agreed what did they ever see in him.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2016/09/28/ralph-krueger-world-cup-southampton-football-club/91240876/
I agree with your points, however, lucic was offered the same contract by the other teams with a slightly shorter term. He paid market or above market price for a player that wanted to come here to ride Connors coat tails. that is not getting value,
and yes he has down more than the last 2 clowns. however being the richest man at the auction or flea markets and coming home with the most assets does not make you a good trader.
Yes Larson is good, and it balances the team. But experts to this day say we lost the trade in terms of value. Signing Lucic above market value minimizes the value of cap space assets, and lucics future trade value. When he signed russel last year he paid above market value on a low value asset, and it paid off. Instead of selling high he bought high and now has lowered russels value and the cap space value.
Trading Eberle low became a neccessity because of cap room. Well selling low was a good idea, he lost value here.
Reinhart trade, well lost value there.
Drafting Benson, Neimelainen, Cairns, wasted value. Always draft skill. You can trade for intangibles later. cough cough debrincat.
Now for his dues, Talbot trade, value maximized. Maroon trade value maximized. Signing Benning, value maximized. Jones, and Bear drafted value maximized.
As I said, going somewhere and blindly spending your assets, instead of being a great negotiator and maximizing value does not make a great GM. One that continues to get great value on all aspect, drafting, trades, free agency, RFAs and cap space is one that builds a legacy and Dynasty. Chicago just sold high on panarin, and yes he is still good, but they got Saad back.
Bruinizing a team is 7 years behind the times. and while the oilers did need to get grittier it should have been done at the expense of actually skill.
should not have been done at the expense of skill
I tend to agree with the more critical evaluation of Chia. He gets too much credit for the team’s success from last season. I dont think he has been outright bad, but his mistakes might start to add up.
I don’t think Benson is wasted value… yet. I think there is still a chance he ends up being one of their best picks since McDavid. If he can put the injury plague behind him, and have a good year of development and reach 1.5 pts/gp or more, he may come into next year and earn a #1 LW job.
Benson was not a wasted pick not by a long shot, if not for his injury he was a solid top 10 pick.
I dont mind Benson but there were better picks. You are making hypotheticals about if he wasnt injured, we will never know just like we will never tell who won a draft on the day of it. The problem with the Benson pick is not who was picked, but why he was picked. Again the insistence on oil kings, oilers sons and edmonton kids played a part in it. How many teams would like to go back and take Debrincat. If you like Yamo, you should like Debrincat. Both small players with high NHLE in their draft years. Can never have too much skill.
I believe, with Debrincat, there was at least some concern that he was being zoomed a bit by Dylan Strome and the Raddysh brothers, and McDavid the year before that. I believe Benson’s upside was just a bit too attractive to pass up at #32 (was being considered as the 3rd ever player to be granted exceptional status after Tavares and Ekblad and with McDavid). Plus, Benson was known for having a very complete two-way game to go along with his offensive skills.
Just don’t care for the fact that you throw Justin Schultz’s name in there. Obviously you are with most other Oiler fans in throwing him under the bus. People should know the player a little more before beaking them in public. First of all, did they want him because he was a stay home shut down defenseman? No. Because he was an offensive, jump up in the play, with good pp success? I think so. What the oilers did to him was try to turn him into something he’s not. Mostly Eakins and staff. Give him big minutes as a young defenseman and have bigger expectations in a part of his game he needed help with. They set him up for failure and shot his confidence to %#*&. Second, if you did your homework before beaking someone here, how has he done since joining Pittsburgh? The last part of his first season with them. Low mins per game. Paired with a solid defensive defenceman. Sat first few games of playoffs. Basically Pittsburgh coaching staff knew the player and built him up slowly into what he was last year. Gave him his confidence back. Yes, the penguins as a team worked harder than Edmonton, was the big thing I noticed since he was traded there, obviously with two cups, but you still have to use the players for what their strengths are for the most part. Are we going to turn Larson into a rushing, offensive, pp defenseman…. not likely. Lastly, 51 points and a +27 for Justin last year. Too bad. Could have been that with oilers, if they weren’t such a mess. Just my opinion, to watch who’s name you are bashing without the homework.
I take it that you feel Hall for Larson was not a sound trade?
All I know is chia has to win this next trade. It can’t be a 1 for 1 deal. He has to trade a 7 for a King. They need way more speed in the top 6. And for goodness sakes Todd don’t put lucic on a 3 on 3 situation, especially against one of the fastest teams in the league you bonehead
Although I cheered this comment because the logic is solid, Looch was having a pretty good game against the Penguins and Todd might have been playing a hunch. It was wrong but whattya gonna do…
Slepyshev,Khair, and Parakinen , remind of the dog races, where the hounds chase the wooden rabbit all night long and never catch it.
I wouldn’t shed too many tears if the Oil moved Lucic. Hockey gets faster every year, Lucic not so much. Maybe the best move would be to fire McLellan and his staff. They just aren’t getting the job done. McLellan is a loser. Chias quick fixes have worked out badly for the most part.
Hard to know what’s going on in the dressing room, but can’t help think McLellan has been tuned out by some.
And who would you hire as his replacement genius? McLellan is fine and isn’t to be help responsible for this. Also, if you haven’t noticed, we’ve looked good these past 3 games. Good enough to WIN them. What if this team goes on a tear here? Still going to call for Todd’s head?
Duh yup!
The last thing this team needs is ANOTHER coach. Chia has made some strange moves but also some really good ones. I am giving Chia a slight passing grade right now as I am not sure who I would want to replace him with and he hasn’t been scared to make bold changes. Chia’s legacy I am afraid though will be the GM who made the big trades and lost most of them (Boston and Edmonton trades combined.).
Just reading all the panic and complaining about Oilers start this year. I am not worried yet. Yes, they are 2-5-1 but there are other teams not starting so hot either. Montreal, NY Rangers, San Jose, Ananheim, Washington, Nashville and a few more only has 2-3 wins more than the Oilers. I figure we do what TMac did last year and grade them based on quarter season. I believe they will recover by the 20 games mark and be in fight for division by 3rd quarter. Its been 8 games, this is not a sprint… relaxz!
yeah, one big win with many goals scored would go a long way to quieting the panic stricken masses. Here’s hoping we get that against Dallas.
Lucic to sloooooow
Maroon marginal
Strome to sloow
Jokinen to sloow
This is a big problem right now cause these guys are making up our top 9 the NHL is so fast now and it seem we are behind
I hate to think we are contemplating picking up some one else’s garbage….we have already played the overpay game and its got us nowhere.
Is it just possible that this team was so f&^Ked up that it will take more then 3 years to truly fix it? Seems so. Obviously still a work in progress. Just because McDavid fell into our laps, even he can’t erase the other 10 years of bad decisions and the resulting dysfunction that ensued. This team is closer but still needs to fill holes in the lineup and system. The Oilers need/fan’s need for success during the early years of Connor’s contract doesn’t change the reality this team is in.
I don’t get this narrative that we’re too slow. Other than Lucic in OT we haven’t been slow. And I guarantee that’s the last time he sees OT in awhile. We have slow guys. We have fast guys. It’s not like we’re giving up a crapload of breakaways outside Benning and Klef. And they aren’t slow.
The defence man skate just fine. I’m not concerned about the mobility of the defence. The forward group on the other hand is slow compared to other clubs in the league. Other teams are playing a quicker line up, the Oilers are not. The Oilers struggled against the eastern conference last season. Teams that could skate crushed the Oilers.
People list the Pens as being a team to model around. They have 2 elite players at center, they have 1 good dman in Letang and one good winger in Kessel (who they haven’t had that long) then a whole bunch of primarily no name depth guys. But they have a ton of depth and are a powerhouse now. But if you look at how the Pens did it, it probably took them 10 yrs to do it. Once you get the best player in the world, you are going to be a good team regardless. They were crap for years, lucked out with Crosby, lucked out out with Malkin, lucked out with Fleury. They got really good, won a cup, then had a dip, now they are really good again. But in that time, they primarily had ONE GM. Shero was GM for 8 years. He was allowed the time to make good moves and bad and to build the team.
Then you go to the Oilers. The had Lowe for 8 yrs until 2008. He did a decent job. Then you have Tambo for 5 who was garbage and known for doing nothing. Then you had Mac T for 2 who was a rookie GM and sucked. Those 2 ran the team into the ground. Then Chia comes in and from almost day 1, he was scrutinized for every move. But he took a team that was last or close to last for a decade, had who had a few decent NHLers but for the most part had diddly squat for NHL talent and next to NO depth and in 2 seasons they had a 103 pt season. He made tough trades and some signings that made the team better. Some of the trades probably should have happened before he came but the previous GM’s didn’t have the stones to do it. The huge majority of his moves have worked you YET fans beat him over the head about the couple that don’t. (How often does the Reinhart trade get mentioned still? 50 times a year). Oilers fans WAY WAY overvalue former players so because of that, every trade of a player he makes is crap. People still complain about the Hall trade as the Oilers getting “fleeced” yet the trade got them a really good, nasty, top pairing, right shot dman who’s dirty cheap in Larsson who checked off almost EVERY box the Oilers desperately needed. I think it was a win-win trade for both teams but fans still hate it because somehow, a 60pt winger is worth a stud dman in the minds of some Oilers fans.
BOOM! BINGO! There’s a reason Chiarelli was up for GM of the year last year. Thank you!
This comments section is exactly what we should try to avoid; indulgent, knee jerk “no you’re stupid” responses. Opposing goalies have an average of .966 save % so lets wait until at least another weak without a win please. This is making oilers comments and twitter unreadable.
Ginbaby’s comment is spot on.
Thinking out loud here, not sure if this will make sense… But, if they can acquire Shipachyov on a good deal like some combination of 2nd round picks, vets like Fayne, Jokinen, Gryba or Pakarinen, or prospects not named Benson, Yamamoto, Puljujarvi, Bear, Ellis or Paigin, then they could see what they have in Shipachyov and if things work out, then that frees them up to trade Nugent-Hopkins early to get another discounted player like Brendan Gallagher, Charlie Coyle, Victor Rask, Boone Jenner, David Savard, Anders Lee, or Brett Pesce.
In: 2 players like Coyle $3.2M and Shipachyov $4.5M = $7.7M
Out: Nugent-Hopkins $6M, Jokinen $1.1M = $7.1M
the reason Vegas is dumping him is because he is out of shape and he sucks…so we would love to pick up that crap….hey lets bring back Nikitin too
I’d be reviewing his games and try to figure out if this is a buy low situation? If Shipachyov can get anywhere near Radulov, Dadynov, Panarin levels then he’d be worth spending some picks or prospects on. It’s a money-puck move. He shouldn’t cost much in assets.
At the end of the day, this heap lies at the feet of Chirelli. He opted to stand pat during the off season while everyone else was trying to get better. He knew he had arguably his top D man on the IR for at least a month when the Oil needed a good start. No contingency for injuries.
For the people complaining that the cupboard is bare, well that’s the end result when you make trades for cents on the dollar: Hall for Larrson. Not that Larrson is a bad player, but realizing full value would have meant picks coming back. Picks or prospects that could either now be moved for help.
Ho-Sang makes too much sense. Now is the time for them to buy low on him. He is very quick and has an insane shot. He is the type of shooter McDavid needs to finish. Only thing that concerns me with this is Snow has fleeced Chia too many times already.
I’d love Chia if he can close a deal on Ho-Sang
But a lg dubl dubl knows he’s a cancer in the locker room. Must be true eh?