The Ted Lindsay Award is a valuable item, partly because NHLPA members vote the winner. Nothing like your industry saying you’re the best. Wayne Gretzky won it five times when it was called the Lester Pearson Award, named after a substantial Canadian who did fine works with the UN, became Canada’s prime minister for a time, and handed out cabinet posts to men who would run our nation for decades after his passing. I don’t know much about Pearson, beyond my Dad telling me that he picked the right flag for Canada.
I know the award is important, and that an Oilers player has won it eight times. Five for 99, one for Mark Messier, and two in a row for the fastest man in history. He’s up for the Lindsay and the Hart tonight (McDavid won the MVP in 2017) and it should be a fun evening. The captain spoke about his injury and other things here.
THE ATHLETIC!
The Athletic Edmonton features a fabulous cluster of stories (some linked below, some on the site). Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. Proud to be part of the group, here’s an incredible Offer!
- New Lowetide: Are these Jesse Puljujarvi’s final days with the Edmonton Oilers?
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Analyzing the early Edmonton Oilers’ 2019-20 depth chart.
- New Jonathan Willis: 2018-19 NHL Awards: Finalists, projected winners and snubs
- New Lowetide: The Oilers’ conundrum in taking Philip Broberg with the No. 8 overall pick
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Ranking the Oilers’ trade assets from the high-priced diamonds to those needing fresh starts
- Lowetide: Ken Holland’s work week: Fixing the third and fourth lines while saving money and overhauling the penalty kill
- Jonathan Willis: How are the Oilers affected by early offseason trades and buyouts to Dion Phaneuf, Andrew MacDonald?
- Lowetide: Falling talent and other fun facts that could benefit the Oilers in the NHL Draft
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Evaluating the pros and cons of potential Oilers buyout candidates
- Lowetide: Oilers GM Ken Holland is shopping for 20-goal scorers on a budget. What will he find?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Jay Woodcroft returning to coach AHL Condors and be reunited with Ken Holland
- Lowetide: Looking at the Oilers’ options for the No. 8 pick at the 2019 NHL Draft.
- Jonathan Willis: How many of Sam Gagner, Zack Kassian and Jujhar Khaira can play top-nine minutes for the Oilers?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Q&A with Ken Holland: On the draft, buyouts, free agency and how to have a successful offseason
- Lowetide: Trading for Loui Eriksson: What makes sense for the Oilers?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: The top five players the Oilers could lose in the expansion draft
- Jonathan Willis: What a trade involving Edmonton’s No. 8 pick might look like given Ken Holland’s history
- Lowetide: Hard Target Search: Finding the Oilers a centre who can penalty kill, help shape a useful third line, and serve in a mentor role
SWEDISH POSTER TALKS PHILIP BROBERG
Due to an enormous number of angry tweets and several posts on this blog forecasting the end times, I’m going to print Swedish Poster’s words and music from earlier this spring. Notice the balanced view the author gives you, and especially the line about his being a safe pick. I’m not a scout, I have Broberg No. 16 on my final list, saying “he’s big and can skate like the wind, while also displaying puck moving ability. Offense may be shy, but Swedish blue can fool you.” As a comparable, I ranked Oscar Klefbom No. 24, saying ” Big, two-way defender. Raw skill set, ISS compares him to Ryan Whitney.” If Broberg is the pick, we’ll drill down and find out about him in July. I think offense is the only real question, and he needs to bring at least some boxcars to make the pick worthwhile. Here’s SP.
The biggest ticket this year is Philip Broberg, 6’3 LHD who can absolutely fly. Skating is the first thing that pops out when you see him, not just amazing top speed but his acceleration is great both from standstill but also how he goes from 4th to 5th gear, he walks the line well and has great mobility in all directions. Against his peers coast to coast adventures are as common as a Gene pun. More interesting is to see him against grown ups in the second swedish tier, Allsvenskan, as he can’t just skate past guys at will at that level.
There you notice that he actually has a pretty good grasp where he should be defensively, breaks up plays, good gaps and moves the puck north not only by skating it up but he actually has a good first pass. As with most swedish D, in particular guys like Broberg who enters the mens ranks at an early age he’s not very physical but he’s pretty good at getting the puck from players either by shielding them off the puck or pokechecks. His shot is ok but not great, wellplaced wrister but needs more oomph to beat NHL goalies, with how explosive his skating is I think the chance he improves in that area is fairly good.
He’s got good puckhandling, not a dangler but controls the puck well at top speed, can make moves around players at high speed with the puck. He’s from the Lidström school of D where you don’t overhandle the puck once it’s under control on your stick and instead wait until you have to move past guys and make dekes to start messing about with the puck. His passing is fine, he moves the puck well technichally both forehand and backhand, as I mentioned he’s got a solid first pass.
Now the big talking point on Broberg and the thing that has people questioning him as an NHLer and thinking he’s one of the most likely players to bust amongst the top picks is his hockey IQ. I personally don’t think it’s a big issue, not elite in any way but not bad either, he knows his way around the ice, reads and reacts well.
Where I do think it stems from is that he doesn’t see the ice all that well offensively. Quite often you see him having those Darnell Nurse moments where he skates the puck into to the offensive zone and then doesn’t know what to do with it so he just keeps skating deeper into the zone, against his peers his skating is so outstanding that he usually can just take it to the net and create a scoring chance, but against tougher competition he often either ends up in the corner or just throws a wrister on net. Defensively and in other areas of the game his awareness is quite good though so I don’t think it’s about a severe lack of hockey smarts.
To my eye it looks like a lack of natural offensive instincts more than anything and that’s what might keep him from being a proper #1 D. There is one small caveat with regards to him lacking offensive instincts though. He’s a guy who’s development kind of exploded the last season and a half, he was a good player in his age group before, made the national teams and so on but something drastic happened with his trajectory once he moved from Örebro to AIK to make him the top name of the group. So what does this have to do with offensive instincts? Familiarity. Going from being a good player to a guy who can suddenly blow up the ice at will to create opportunities is a different situation and one he might need to adapt to in order to find his offensive groove. But with that burst of development you suddenly find yourself playing against full grown pros for the first time in your life and with that comes a whole new set of things to adapt to and providing offense is usually not at the top of the list for a 17 year old in a pro league.
If there’s any truth to this theory there might be untapped potential offensively and then you have a guy with pretty much the whole toolkit to be a #1D. That’s an if though. However as we’ve seen with Darnell this past season you can still be productive with limited offensive vision and instincts if your skating and puckhandling is good enough to move the puck up ice effectively. With that in mind I’d argue the risk he’s a bust is actually miniscule and instead he’s one of the safest picks in the draft. With his insane skating and ability to play defense I just don’t see how he won’t make it as a solid NHL D and even without an offensive uptick I think his upside is a #2 D.
LOTS OF WORK TO DO
HOLLAND’S 2010-11 TEAM
This is a fairly typical Red Wings team in the cap era when Detroit was contending. Mike Babcock was the coach, there were two men age 40, six more 35+ and another five 30+. Hudler was just back from a year with Moscow Dynamo and had a helluva time working his way back into the lineup.
HOLLAND’S 2018-19 TEAM (SO FAR)
Holland’s modus operandi involves employing the aged, so the idea that Sekera or Russell are in the end days with the organization shouldn’t be assumed. Nuge? Miles to go. Holland’s final Red Wings team had TEN players 30+, compared to six on the team he inherits in Edmonton. Holland might add more to the current group.
HOLLAND’S HOME FOR THE AGED
G Mike Smith. This is a possibility. Smith’s regular season even strength SP (.907) was poor but his playoff SP in the same discipline was .938 in five games. He is 37.
G Curtis McElhinney. Although he’s 36 and has posted a journeyman’s career, sometimes goalies go on runs of several years later on. He was rock solid in goal in 2018-19.
G Petr Mrazek. He’s 27, young for the group, but Holland knows him and in 40 games a year ago, Mrazek posted a .914SP.
G Brian Elliott. My personal choice, he posted a .907SP a year ago and is durable and capable of carrying a team on significant winning streaks. He is 34.
FORWARD WISH LIST
1 RW Brett Connolly. Ryan Rishaug mentioned him on the Dustin Nielson Show this morning (TSN1260), that’s a good sign. He can win battles, has skill and can play up and down the lineup.
2 LW Nik Ehlers. He would be No. 1 but I worry about the package required. Would the Jets do a pick and a player? Nurse? Larsson? What about a ‘kids pack’?
3 RW James Neal. As much risk as might be involved, Neal has the kind of skill Edmonton needs. Holland won’t be worried about age, but Lucic has to be part of the package. I wonder about a three-way mind blowing deal between Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. Can Holland pull that off?
4 LW Tyler Ennis. He shouldn’t cost a lot, brings speed and skill. There’s no downside to this acquisition.
5 LC Nazem Kadri. Dare to dream.
Coiler,
Another example of a player agent dictating terms & making a bitch out of Chiarelli.
What a pussy
That’s Roslovic, That’s been kinda of tempered recently. More of a hissy fit. I don’t think he gets moved unless it’s a straight up hockey move.
The GF% for Scheifele/Wheeler WOWY Ehlers is mindnumbingly bonkers. Wow!
Scheifele:
63/43
Wheeler:
64/44
WTF?
The ghost of Chiarelli strikes again. I wonder how long it’s going to take to get rid of the stink he left behind on this organization. In my opinion this is all on him, JP’s agent, and the player himself. False promises, terrible advice, and bad management has led to this predicament.
I can’t believe his agent would spout off like this right before the draft…he’s doing himself and his client a huge disservice. I find it hard to understand the logic behind going public like this as it could have been handled on the down low quite easily. I think this was a deliberate effort to try and hurt the team and that’s inexcusable.
Holland has all the leverage in the world and I hope he uses it wisely. Let the kid fester in the KHL if need be. NHL teams/GMs remember problem children and their agents. They won’t want that sort of headache on their team.
Thanks,
Wow, we thought Yaks value was low when he was traded.
And doesn’t Kyle Connor also want out? Or was that Roslovic?
What has gone on in Winnipeg that has soured so many players? Even before Kane vs. Byf.
Maaaan….the Ehler WOWYs vs Connor….
Check out what they did WOWY Scheifele/Wheeler….maaaaaaannnnnnnnn!
Why did I have to look at this sh!t!!
Ehlers:
http://naturalstattrick.com/playerreport.php?fromseason=20182019&thruseason=20182019&stype=2&sit=sva&stdoi=oi&rate=n&v=t&playerid=8477940
Connor:
http://www.naturalstattrick.com/playerreport.php?fromseason=20182019&thruseason=20182019&stype=2&sit=sva&stdoi=oi&rate=n&v=t&playerid=8478398
Interesting take from my 2 Jets season ticket holder buddies.
They are adamant that Kyle Connor > Ehlers.
I told them the fancies and rel fancies tell a different story.
I always love the divergence of the fancies and “seen him good/bad”.
I love Ehlers the player…”on ice” player I mean.
Professor Q,
I figured the money would come into play on both sides. It saves TO ~4 million per year but I’m not sure EDM could take on another $11m player and still fill the bottom half of the roster.
You won’t get roasted, but that would certainly be a bold trade indeed. I’m not sure if it helps the C scenario but it does help McDavid and his wings.
I’m not sure Dubas goes for it unless maybe a 4th is included also, as much as I love and respect Nuge.
I may get roasted for asking but…Does JP and Nuge get you Marner? And could we afford it? I’d love to see Marner on line 1 and on special teams.
Dennis King @DKingBH
This is likely a dumb move by the player and agent. There is a new GM and new coach to impress and work with. You have little value on the market. You’re putting the GM, the new GM, in a terrible spot. He can bury you and you kinda, mostly deserve it
speeds @hockeysymposium
If you were holland and say to Jps agent (maybe he already has):
By playing for EDM next year, JP would likely make more than in Europe, gain arbitration rights for summer 2020, and qualify for UFA status a year earlier than if he plays in Europe.
you dont think that helps?
perhaps in addition to “I’m sorry you weren’t happy with things under Chiarelli, we will have a different approach and view you as a core team member, please give us a year to prove it to you, if you still want out, we can talk about it in summer 2020.”
Great conversation on twitter… totally agree with Speeds and Dennis.
This is really nice to hear.
Maybe he’s so unhappy playing in Edmonton and the NHL that he’s killing all his value so he can go back to Europe and do his thing.
The next thing I want to hear from Ken Holland is, “I’m a real patient man… I mean it could be years of Pujo performing well in Europe before I can recover reasonable value on that pick, if ever. But if I have to wait, I will.”
This public request is such an immature rookie move, I have to believe it is not coming from the agent. And if it is, the smart thing to do would be to fire him. Not the team.
Huge. We have a GM.
Puljujarvi’s career scoring sits at 139-17-20-37 after his first 3 seasons (will it ever move from those totals??).
Yakupov was 48-17-14-31 in his rooking year and 192-42-46-88 by the conclusion of year 3.
That quote did a LOT for me.
Now hire some Gorddamn data analysts FFS!!!
“Philip Broberg’s ranking has been the topic of much debate, with some seeing him as top 10 talent, while others believing he slots into the second half of the first round. Current buzz however suggests teams at the top of the draft are buying the former. What’s your evaluation of Broberg? Do you see him having that number one D projection that makes one worthy of a selection that high?
For my tastes, no, I don’t see a number one NHL defenseman here.
I see a big athletic kid with room to grow who is quite young for this draft (first turns 18 on June 25) and who really likes the idea of producing as a blueliner. Playing a whole season for an Allsvenskan club means that he’s ahead of the curve in general, but it also showed that he’s got plenty to learn. His international showings were very promising offensively, but there may be a long learning curve here and in order to adequately handle NHL duties as hopefully a top three defenseman, he’s probably going to have to sacrifice some of that lust to produce that he shows when playing against his peers. And yet, that potential offense is exactly what has some people licking their chops.
My feelings about his actual upside is a reason I concur with those who strongly feel that outside of Byram, teams picking in the top 10-to-12 should probably still be sticking to the many offensive weapons available.”
https://flamesnation.ca/2019/06/19/2019-nhl-draft-scout-series-sweden/
He’s just gotten here, but I’m really liking Ken Holland.
Jim Matheson@NHLbyMatty
50s51 seconds ago
More
Ken Holland on Jesse Puljujarvi: “I’m not giving a player away because they’re unhappy. No way. If I trade any player I have to get fair value or I’m not doing it. I’m not trading a player to get him out of my hair.”
Yak led the team in goals that one year…
What has not worked with Bouchard at this point? He wasn’t even drafted a year ago.
Yamamoto just finished his first pro season and his draft plus 2 year – injuries aside, his development is on track for what one should reasonably expect from a 22nd overall pick. This mistake here was, once again, the org giving him NHL games in his draft plus 1 and draft plus 2 years.
Thankfully, new management expresses the need to put these players directly in the AHL.
At least Yak was up for the Calder wasn’t he?
Before we couldn’t imagine trading a lottery pick.
Posters talk about the Oilers and how they fail.
The Oilers are now different. Holland doesn’t come in with restraints. Better? We’ll see.
It is better to trade a lottery pick now, before the evidence is out.
I believe Holland has enough experience to say he wants to sign regardless of his intentions.
We aren’t used to competence.
We aren’t used to a balanced approach. UFA, draft, trade. There is no formula,it’s a fluid situation that a good GM assess constantly.
The agent is largely to blame because it seems highly evident, although not confirmed, that he had a large role in forcing aspects of the player’s development. I usually don’t buy in to this type of thing as the team controls where the player plays and how he’s deployed but it seems likely that the agent forced certain things in order to get Jesse to sign – staying on the NHL roster for 40 games to burn through an accrued season towards UFA, creating the 2 year bump in his waiver eligibility 5 to 3 years, etc. It seems the agent has done everything possible to force the org to push him through all the CBA barriers that are really there for the benefit of these prospects.
If his name was Ovechkin, he’d have been first at every forward position!
Probably which would have been ok if we didn’t sign Koskinen
I could see them trading JP for Burakovsky but I would want a little more and I really like Burakovsky
Leon picked up All-Star team votes at every forward position. lol
I’m not sure they’d give up Batherson straight for the 8th.
He’s had a more productive 20-year old season in the AHL than Benson.
Stauffer floated the idea of a Burakovsky trade today.
I like Mrazek but I feel he’s going to want (and will get) 4-5 years at $4M or so.
Jaxon,
Thanks, appreciated.
Where would Edmonton be without McDavid? Where would the Penguins be without Crosby? Where would TB be without Kuch? Hands down McDavid should’ve won the Heart.
Maybe I’m a pessimist… I think that Connor is the best player in the NHL, and I think that pretty much everybody knows it, but that it won’t matter one little lick tonight. My assumption is that he walks away empty-handed.
The dude with the stache doing comedy is pretty funny. The Sid bit had me laughing.
Holland wants to accommodate Jesse/his agent but I doubt he pulls the trigger on a trade that doesn’t bring some solid value back for the team. If that’s not available currently then Jesse will need to raise his trade value by on-ice performance. If he refuses to sign then he can sit or head back to Europe. We will retain his rights for a while and he can increase his value over-seas.
Shitty situation but, at the end of the day, we aren’t losing anything from last year’s lineup but its disappointing because this player could have (and could still have) a bright future as an Oiler.
Lol…oh dear
I was blinded by my hatred of Mike Smith
Gerta Rauss,
But agreed on Pujo.
If Lucic goes I hope it’s to a eastern team Habs would be perfect
Gerta Rauss,
Lol, that was about Corey Perry!!
Puljujarvi’s agency also reps Teemu Hartikainen, Jesse Joensuu, and Iiro Pakarinen so his players going back to Europe is a bit of a pattern with Edmonton. He also reps current Oilers Mikko Koskinen, and William Lagesson.
Hudon and #13 no salary retained.
Monumentally stupid move by Lehto.
I’ve got/had all kinds of time for the kid…his value was next to nothing so the logical thing to do was sign him and play him and hope for the best
Now, his value is even less if you can believe that
Trade him if you can get reasonable value, if not, wish him well in Europe and hope he scores 50 goals so you can recoup something for him
What a waste of a 4OV pick
I am enjoying the draft lead up.
And I keep hearing we must develop through the draft. Just one problem, it’s not working that well.
Jessie P, Yamamoto, Bouchard. I’d trade them all for one Trouba. There is more than one way to build, and no gaurentees at #8 let alone #4. (Or #1 if you throw in Yak)
Now we have an extremely valuable#8 and we are thinking about a defenceman? With uncertainties?
Seems a little foolish to me. This pick must be risk adverse, they have to find a player here.
I’m not married to trading the first, I just present it as a different (but unpopular) option.
I have Boldy jumping into the top 10 and Zegras falling to Oilers. I do believe Oilers should hunt up skilled players to build lines around before focusing on more one dimensional contributors. They cannot afford to blow this pick.
Broberg
https://flamesnation.ca/2019/06/19/2019-nhl-draft-scout-series-sweden/
JOFA,
NHL is a joke…
Edit: I know the players voted, but anyone that has followed the Bolts would know that their team was stacked. I’m not sure Kuch gets 100 points on a non-playoff team. McDavid however, has been playing on a shit team and still puts up top league numbers.
Imagine if he played for the bolts instead… he probably would have topped 150 points!
jp,
You are correct. This stories of when he was demoted down the lineup must have imprinted on me too deeply (or too wishfully Is probably closer to correct). The important thing about my original reply was that he is not a Center, And I’d add, he has nowhere near the wheels to play on our top line.
I love him like Gerta loves him. Like a mother loves a butt wart.
As per a Finnish article that had some key points pointed out by a Finnish twitterite, JP’s agent says it isn’t just management. That the player isn’t a fit with the team.
JP seems like such a lovable character from what we see, and this makes me wonder what goes on behind closed doors. There must be things about him some of the key guys on the team don’t like, and I wonder if it’s his work ethic. Spector made note about his lack of drive to succeed at this level.