The Oilers are mired in a four-game losing streak and they currently sit on the outside of the playoffs looking in. The team is currently riddled with injuries, as Oscar Klefbom and Kris Russell’s missing presence has made the blueline paper thin. To compound matters, Alex Chiasson left Thursday night’s loss against Vancouver after getting hit by an Adam Larsson clapper.
The team placed Valentin Zykov on waivers Friday morning for the purpose of assignment to AHL Bakersfield. Zykov only got into five games with the Oilers and played more than 10 minutes just once. This would suggest that the Oilers are ready to activate Kris Russell from the Injured Reserve, but it also leaves the team with only 13 forwards, one of them being a banged up Chiasson.
That brings us to this week’s What Would You Do Wednesday FRIDAY EDITION question. Are there any reinforcements from the AHL you’d call up to help the team right now?
With Zykov on waivers, don't be surprised if the Oilers recall Kailer Yamamoto from AHL Bakersfield. Need to find scoring.
— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) December 28, 2018
Many are suggesting that Kailer Yamamoto will be the one to get the recall for the Oilers to inject some life into a struggling offence. After a slow start in the AHL, the 2017 first-round pick seems to have found a rhythym as he’s scored four goals and has put up eight points over 11 games.
That said, Yamamoto didn’t look NHL ready to start the season. He had just one goal and one assist in 12 games with the Oilers before getting sent down and he even had an opportunity on Connor McDavid’s wing but couldn’t get any offence going. Would it be prudent for his development to bring him up just 11 games into what is becoming a strong stretch at the AHL level?
Who else is there? The team’s top scorer right now is Joseph Gambardella, who has 11 goals in 27 games. He’s on the final year of his post-college entry-level deal, so if there was ever a chance to see if he could hack it, it would be now. Cooper Marody, one of Bakersfield’s best players so far, has been up and down a few times, but he’s received limited ice time at the NHL level. Cameron Hebig and Tyler Benson are both having solid offensive seasons as rookies in the AHL.
What say you, Nation? Is there an internal solution to help the Oilers through their slump right now? Does it make sense to call up Yamamoto as soon as he’s managed to find a rhythm at the AHL level? Or does Peter Chiarelli need to find another way to fix this mess?
I see no reason not to call up Yamo. He has not shown any ability to score at the NHL level so I wouldn’t expect him to add much that way. But his quickness and competetivness might help. Having said that the No.1 trouble with the Oil in on D. The recent troubles started with the Injuries to Klef and Russel. The group of forwards that were winning hasn’t changed much. Jones has looked so good I have to wonder if Bear or Lagesson are worth a try.
The time to bring in help on defence was this summer as I mentioned many times. Even though Chia said he made a mistake last season not replacing Sekera before the season started in all his wisdom he made the same mistake this season. It was not a matter of if but when a defenceman got injured and the defence was below par before the first injury occurred. Now down Sekera , Russell and Klefbom the defence is atrocious.
They are lying in the bed Chia made.
Must have been a water bed because they are drowning
Selera might be the worst break the Oil suffered this year. He tore his Achilles on early August. Where do you find a top 4 dman then without selling the farm. Not to say PC doesn’t have others crosses to bear.
I would rather let the future percolate on the minors and suffer for another year just to see Chia fired. Hopefully Nicholson goes with him. What a joke of an organization.
You don’t sound like a guy playing $400 a night to be entertained.
You should get a refund if you are shelling out that much. Definitely not worth it…
Nicholson is currently heading up a forensic audit to get to the root of what may be perceived as an underachieving year. Moving forward, the audit should be complete in May of 2020, at which point Bob will use it as a blueprint in re-evaluating the needs of the organization.
I honestly don’t understand the Oilers bring up their young talent and playing them with the likes of Kassian, Lucic, Brodziak or ??? and expect first line results.
The one thing I will say is that once Yamomoto and Puljujarvi were sent down (Jesse recently called up) you noticed a big speed difference with the team. They weren’t generating too many points but it was amazing to see how Yamamoto was wining foot battles and even board battles.
Is bring Kailer up now a bad decision for his development? I’m not sure but he will definitely help in areas like getting the puck.
There is no rationale in thinking bringing up Yamo will hurt his development.
Can Gretzky play 10-12 minutes a night?
If Kailer comes up, is he available to Seattle? I’ve wondered this about Caleb Jones too. Is he now available to Seattle? I don’t want to bring these guys up if it means potentially losing them in an expansion draft.
Two years of professional experience (including AHL) means all players currently not on an ELC will be exposed to the expansion draft unless protected.
Got it. I forgot to differentiate between the AHL and Juniors. Thanks.
If the Oilers are making player decisions, based on what may or may not happen in 2 years they should have been fired yesterday, you cross that bridge when you get to it.
Request Bettman invoke the mercy rule and give the season ticket holders back their money for the rest of this years games. Condition would be Katz puts Oilers in a blind trust managed by NHL.
Bettman is busy negotiating a franchise for the Mojave Desert.
And the “Mohave Deserters” will have a better team and more points than the Edmonton Oilers with Peter Chiarelli as GM!
ignoring the need to consider the effect on ELA timing and exposure to the expansion draft, I’d bring up Yamamoto and I’d play him in the top 6. With Klefbom, Russell, and Sekera out, we are going to need every scrap of offence we can muster. I get the sense Yammer’s got the best chance of producing at the NHL level. If he plays a decent amount of minutes and gets some PP2 time, that can’t hurt his development too much…
Thought I just heard Gregor saying that Chiasson has been placed on IR. That make KY a necessity.
Here’s an idea, how about bringing in a new GM and start at square one. Big step, yes, and the sooner it is done the sooner the Oil can begin a real rebuild.
Yup, let Chiarelli walk now. Damage control. The spooner move is evidence enough his trades equate to zero return. Fire his ass.
Bring in a qualified GM. Chiarelli should be fired before the New Year. Allow a different, proven GM behind the wheel, please, preventively.
The OBC should not be allowed anywhere near Oilers’ management. Katz should be barricaded from the office. Total joke, not funny.
Bring up the Bear!
The thinking with this ownership needs to be “acceptance” of what is.
This team is a mess and not built to make the playoffs as a result of many bad moves, signings and trades. The few good ones do not make up for all the bad ones. The Oilers are a cap team and no where close to being competitive. They have squandered a generational talent.
It is time to understand that there needs to be a fundamental course correction and do a true rebuild of management and how hockey ops/org is run here. Bobbi Nicks was not an NHL person. Chia sewered the Bruins in the end the same way he is sewering the Oilers over the last several years. He was just continuing his incompetence. It is time to understand that things are really broken here and the loser culture of the DOD has not left. Things are going to get worse in the near term. It will be ugly.
This true rebuild idea is wack. The team has McDavud for one. A true rebuild implies you trade away your top players for picks and prospects and that obviously won’t happen with McDavid. In fact trading any of the good players on the roster would be a bad idea right now. If they can move on from Lucic great, but its not likely and the return would likely be another anchor contract. The team is not as bad as people are saying. They are missing 13.7 million worth of salary on defense at the moment.
Granted they do lack scoring depth, the defense is weak compared to other teams, and goaltending is uncertain, but I don’t see why you would trade away any of the contributing players.
They need a winger and a third line center as well has help on defense. The cap should go up again and there are prospects that might emerge. I think this roster is more in need of tweaking than full on rebuilding. Bouchard is already penciled into next years roster so there are reasons for optimism. Just need to make some smart roster moves, keep the prospects percolating and let the team emerge.