Draft Week Post No. 4: 16 Shells from a Thirty-ought six.

by Lowetide

I don’t know how this well end, but will bet all of my money that Ken Holland won’t be bullied. It sounds like a young man has had enough, his agent the same, and now it’s down to getting value for a player who isn’t coming to camp. We’ve seen this movie before, doesn’t usually have a Disney end. I’ll carve management until my last breath over this, and would like to see Jesse Puljujarvi land in that Disney plot, but cannot see it from here.

Years ago, I had a terrific job offer that included a massive (for me) raise. It was not my dream job and it was not a black and white decision. I called my Dad, told him I was going to walk into my current boss’s office and tell him about the offer and tell him to match or I was going to walk.

“That’s fine,” Dad told me. “But if you are going to say that, be prepared to quit because your boss is probably going to call your bluff.” And I did, and the boss did, and it took me two years to get back on track.

Ken Holland via Reid Wilkins to Bob Stauffer: “I’m not trading anybody because they want to be traded. But if we can find something that works for everybody, I’ll look at it. If not, I’m not doing anything.”

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!

  • Willis and Mirtle: Are the Oilers and Maple Leafs good trading partners?
  • 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
  • LowetideKen 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-BowmanQ&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
  • LowetideHard Target Search: Finding the Oilers a centre who can penalty kill, help shape a useful third line, and serve in a mentor role

JP’S TRADE VALUE

The Carolina Hurricanes have back-to-back second-round picks, No. 36 and No. 37. Anthony DeAngelo went for the No. 37 overall pick in 2016. I’ll guess that’s a reasonable reflection of his current value, Bob McKenzie has Brayden Tracey and Egor Afanasyev in those slots.

I wouldn’t trade JP for a pick. He might score 10 goals next year, find his groove and emerge as a solid two-way winger in 2020-21. Tracey and Afanasyev are years away, JP is here, today. I don’t think it makes a lick of sense.

On the other hand, as a Dad, I hope he finds his place in the league wherever that may be. I’m sick of this happening to Oilers kids. I don’t blame Ken Holland, and he’s proceeding in the best possible way, but one hopes for a swift and satisfactory outcome. I so wish Woodcroft could have had him in Bakersfield for 35 games.

2016 31-40

As you know, I like to wait five years after a draft to see how each prospect shines. We are three years after the 2016 draft and can count arrows. At this point, there are many. It is painfully obvious Alex DeBrincat is the best player in the group chosen 31-40 in 2016, but rage and anger obscures a nuanced conversation about how the rest of the pack is progressing. So, if we can refrain from running past sinners through the heart with a meat cleaver, let’s see how 31-40 in 2016 are progressing.

No. 31 Yegor Korshkov, Toronto. Leafs liked his size/skill package, and have been very patient with him. He finally came over this spring, and got into some AHL playoff games with the Marlies (9, 1-0-1). He projects as a possession winger and has some skill as reflected by his KHL NHLE (30.4 and 16.0 in his last two seasons). Turns 23 in August, his time is now.

No. 32 Tyler Benson, Edmonton. Injuries derailed much of his junior career, but as a rookie pro Benson showed very well. He is an outstanding passer, great touch and vision. His final 25 games of the AHL regular season saw him deliver 10-22-32 and I think he has a chance to play in the NHL at some point next year. Last two NHLE’s were 28.3 and 37.2. I had Benson No. 34.

No. 33 Rasmus Asplund, Buffalo. I had him No. 27 on draft day, his two-way ability and offensive potential intriguing. He spent two more productive years in the SHL, and came over this season and thrived in the AHL. Last two seasons NHLE: 26.6 and 21.0.

No. 34 Andrew Peeke, Columbus. Our first defenseman, he was No. 90 on my list, scouting reports suggested he was mobile with a plus shot. He has played at Notre Dame, where his last two NHLE’s are 9.3 and 15.5. He signed a pro contract in April, regarded as a steady player.

No. 35 Jordan Kyrou, St. Louis. I had him at 49, but liked his skill. Kyrou has been thriving since his draft day and made the NHL this season (16, 1-2-3). He’s a legit prospect, last two NHLE’s are 48.8 and 35.1.

No. 36 Pascal Laberge, Philadelphia. I had him No. 19, really liked his range of skills. He struggled offensively post draft and then had a hip issue when he turned pro last fall. He played in just 15 AHL games, scoring 5 goals. NHLE the last two seasons: 14.7 and 15.4. A tough couple of years.

No. 37 Libor Hajek, Tampa Bay. I had him No. 127, he’s the kind of player my rankings don’t value. Big, strong, mobile, didn’t look like he would bring a lot of offense. He spiked offensively last year junior (expected) and has settled in to a shutdown role in the AHL. Last two NHLE’s: 16.0 and 3.3

No. 38 Adam Mascherin, Florida. He was a re-entry, so 20 years old on his draft day. A small, skill winger, I had him No. 22 (which was too high for a re-entry but I liked him a lot). NHLE’s are 32.2 and 22.5, his time is now.

No. 39 Alex DeBrincat, Chicago. I had him No. 15 overall, strictly on math. He was undersized but there wasn’t a long list of negatives on him. His draft year NHLE was 42.2, Arthur Kaliyev’s is 38.2 DeBrincat’s last two NHL seasons have point totals of 52 and 76. Monster draft pick, easily the best in this group.

No. 40 Cameron Morrison, Colorado. I had him No. 55, he’s a great skater with skill. Big winger has been consistent if unspectacular at Notre Dame, and will return for his final (senior) college campaign. Avs lost Will Butcher this way, so there may be concern. NHLE’s last two years: 14.9 and 17.0.

Okay, that exercise completed, I have a request. I’d love to see where you rank Benson on this list. DeBrincat is the obvious No. 1, but where does Benson rank?

Rishaug’s tweet came amid a flurry of Edmonton media hitting the coast and imparting knowledge. Broberg would appear to be the target, although we are still learning about Holland and perhaps he is running the counter trey. Hell, maybe he’s John Riggins!

The Benning for Connor Brown trade has been out there so long one wonders if it is every going to happen. I also wonder about the Lucic to Vancouver rumours, at some point, if it hasn’t happen it is unlikely to happen. The only exception I recall is the Smyth deal from LAK and that took a long time for reasons.

I’m pleased Connolly has made the list.

I saw lots of complaining last night online about 97 not receiving the Lindsay or the Hart. Folks, he’s very young and has been rewarded a Hart, two Lindsay’s and two Art Ross trophies. He will win many more, and might have won both if the Oilers made the playoffs. The hockey industry remains in awe of the player, as we all do, with good reason.

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Pouzar

Professor Q: I am actually just getting back into golf this year, after 8ish years away (school).

I’ve got a mixed bag of a Callaway XR Speed Driver, Adam’s Tight Lies 2 3 Wood (16°), Nike Slingshot Hybrid and Irons, and I just got a Wilson Staff Infinite Grant Park Putter delivered! All on deals, of course. I’m getting my Uncle’s old bag, too.

To answer the question asked though, I’m not sure what single length is referring to? Are Irons not usually the same shaft length?

Congrats on getting back into it!

To answer your question, irons are all different lengths. They decrease in length as the loft increases. The single length concept makes them all one length from 4 iron (some hybrids too) all the way to gap wedge ( some offer sand wedge as well).

Professor Q

Pouzar:
Any golfers here try the single length irons? Cobra? Sterling?

May as well talk golf…there will zilch going as far as trades go and the draft has been done to death.

I am actually just getting back into golf this year, after 8ish years away (school).

I’ve got a mixed bag of a Callaway XR Speed Driver, Adam’s Tight Lies 2 3 Wood (16°), Nike Slingshot Hybrid and Irons, and I just got a Wilson Staff Infinite Grant Park Putter delivered! All on deals, of course. I’m getting my Uncle’s old bag, too.

To answer the question asked though, I’m not sure what single length is referring to? Are Irons not usually the same shaft length?

Pouzar

Jethro Tull: My work colleague has single lengths. Loves them.

I’ve read a lot of positive things about them. Thx.

Reja

OriginalPouzar:
McKenzie stating he doesn’t think the Oilers will be taking Broberg.Good news I would think.I’d be just fine with it if he was the BPA, however, from pretty much all accounts, deeming him the BPA at 8th would be a huge stretch so I’d rather go with a more “consensus” BPA at 8th and I would like a forward (notwithstanding I’d be fine taking a d-man if he was legit BPA).

It will be interesting to see which team in the top 10 goes totally off script there’s usually one.

Dustylegnd

There was talk Thursday that former Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli might land here in Vancouver with his old pal Jim Benning. They were together in Boston. And while it’s true Chiarelli has been talking to Benning about a potential role, it’s also the case that Chiarelli has talked to other NHL front offices as well. No decision made on any front yet there.

The NHL truly truly is stuck in 1955….god help who ever signs this Beauty

OriginalPouzar

McKenzie stating he doesn’t think the Oilers will be taking Broberg. Good news I would think. I’d be just fine with it if he was the BPA, however, from pretty much all accounts, deeming him the BPA at 8th would be a huge stretch so I’d rather go with a more “consensus” BPA at 8th and I would like a forward (notwithstanding I’d be fine taking a d-man if he was legit BPA).

Jethro Tull

Pouzar:
Any golfers here try the single length irons? Cobra? Sterling?

May as well talk golf…there will zilch going as far as trades go and the draft has been done to death.

My work colleague has single lengths. Loves them.

jp

Lowetide:
For The Athletic: Oilers Draft Day 1: Getting it right at No. 8 overall and multiple trade winds for Ken Holland

https://theathletic.com/1036328/2019/06/21/oilers-draft-day-1-getting-it-right-at-no-8-overall-and-multiple-trade-winds-for-ken-holland/

Exciting day and weekend ahead. Looking forward to seeing how Holland shapes the roster!

GordieHoweHatTrick

Lowetide:
Armchair: Agree on Benning. There’s a reason he’s sought after.

That’s why we should keep him:)

Pouzar

Any golfers here try the single length irons? Cobra? Sterling?

May as well talk golf…there will zilch going as far as trades go and the draft has been done to death.

ArmchairGM

JimmyV1965: I’m having a hard time reconciling your comments about Benning with the fact his ATOI last year was 15 minutes. That was the lowest of any regular dman on the team. Even Caleb Jones averaged over 19 minutes. I don’t ever really remember Benning playing on the second pair last year. I’m sure it likely happened, but it would have been a short experiment.

Caleb Jones did get pushed up the ranks very quickly last year, and got spanked as a result. If you break down his TOI by teammate you’ll see that he did fine in a 3rd pairing role (even with non-NHL partners) but as soon as he went higher he lost the goal-share badly.

As for Benning, well, here’s something I posted previously:

Q: Is 1250 minutes over 3 years a large enough sample size to prove anything? I’m genuinely asking, because on another forum I’m the only guy that sees any value in Matt Benning at all, and looking at the numbers I think he can play 2RD. Certainly between him, Sekera and Russell we should be able to cover 2RD next season, but the numbers for Benning are intriguing.

To start with I used a proxy for “top-4” each year going back to 2016-17, based on TOI v Elites taken from puckiq.com, as follows:

2016-17: Sekera (35.5%), Klefbom (34.6)
2017-18: Nurse (34.9), Klefbom (32.3)
2018-19: Klefbom (35.1), Nurse (33.8)

Next I went to naturalstattrick.com and, using their “Teammates” tool, filtered all the stats for each year for the TOI Benning spent with each player listed above. I realize there were times when Russell-Benning were the 2nd pairing, but there may have been games that they were 3rd pairing too and I didn’t want to confuse the numbers with 3rd pairing data. Then too, who you play with is as important as who you play against, so showing those games where Russell-Benning played 2nd pairing probably doesn’t give us much information about potential combos this coming season, unless the injury bug strikes down 2-3 of the top-5 guys. For reference though, Russell-Benning were together just 21:04 in 2018-19 and outscored the competition 2-1. Negligible.

So I built an excel spreadsheet combining all the figures for Benning’s ice-time with the top two LHD for each season and the results were interesting to say the least. For the 3 years combined, 5v5 minutes in the top-4 only:

TOI: 1250:19
CF%: 52.79
FF%: 53.00
SF%: 53.17
GF%: 55.65

xGF%: 53.71
SCF%: 52.75
SCGF%: 56.99
HDCF%: 52.69
HDGF%: 56.72

Sh%: 9.51
Sv%: 91.75
PDO: 1.013

Again, this is just the time he spent in the top-4, these numbers don’t include any bottom-pairing play at all. This looks like a decent top-4 blueliner from here. Is it the McDavid push? Let’s look at the numbers with and without McDavid, filtered by the aforementioned top two LHD:

With McDavid

TOI: 420:30
CF%: 55.19
FF%: 56.65
SF%: 56.14
GF%: 62.96

xGF%: 56.10
SCF%: 55.27
HDCF%: 55.10
HDGF%: 59.38

Sh%: 14.05
Sv%: 90.73
PDO: 1.048

Without McDavid:

TOI: 829:47
CF%: 51.39
FF%: 50.88
SF%: 51.49
GF%: 49.18

xGF%: 52.06
SCF%: 50.97
HDCF%: 50.80
HDGF%: 54.29

Sh%: 8.20
Sv%: 94.67
PDO: 1.029

The truth is that Benning, even when playing top-4 minutes, isn’t getting a ton of “McDavid time”, just 33.6% of his TOI was spent with the world’s best center. Of course his numbers in those minutes are better, but he performed quite well even without the CMD push.

And then there’s this: Benning personally posted amazing boxcars during these minutes. His .912 points/60 puts him tied for 58th best defenseman in the NHL over the past 3 years, while his .29 goals/60 puts him in a 5 way tie for 24th, with Jones, Ekblad, Markov and our own Darnell Nurse. (I can’t believe so many Oilers fans are calling for these two to be traded). These are phenomenal numbers.

The list of marquee players that couldn’t match Benning’s .912 p/60 over the past 3 years is long, including Slavin, Petry, Morrissey, Ekholm, Heiskanen, Gostisbehere, Miller, Pesce, Ekman-Larsson, Parayko, Ekblad, Brodin, Doughty, Lindholm, Fowler, Ristolainen, Klefbom, Hamonic and Vatanen.

Now, I’m not suggesting that Matt Benning is a top-pairing guy or even a sure-fire top 4. I do know for sure that he’s played a reasonable amount of top-4 minutes over the past 3 years and has won those minutes even playing behind a piss-poor forward group. NONE of the other top blueliners can touch Benning’s GF% without McDavid, and it isn’t close:

Benning: 49.18 (while in the top-4 only)
Nurse: 44.51
Russell: 43.87
Larsson: 43.68
Klefbom: 40.27
Sekera: 40.00 (includes bottom-pairing time)

For reference, Benning’s overall GF% without McDavid (including time in 3rd pair) is 51.45%.

ArmchairGM

JimmyV1965: I’m having a hard time reconciling your comments about Benning with the fact his ATOI last year was 15 minutes. That was the lowest of any regular dman on the team. Even Caleb Jones averaged over 19 minutes. I don’t ever really remember Benning playing on the second pair last year. I’m sure it likely happened, but it would have been a short experiment.

You’re right, Benning didn’t play much top-4 this past season, just 40:10 with Klefbom and 139:16 with Nurse. Of course, he did win those minutes with a 57.14 GF%.

Check out
October 6 v Devils
October 11 v Bruins
November 13 v Canadiens
November 17 v Flames
November 18 v Golden Knights

Death By Misadventure

Jaxon:
This is my, “Holy shit! What if it turns out like this for the 5 year re-draft?!?!” list:
1. Bowen Byram
2. Kaapo Kakko
3. Alex Turcotte
4. Dylan Cozens
5. Philip Tomasino
6. Arthur Kaliyev
7. Jack Hughes
8. Raphael Lavoie
9. Cole Caufield
10. Spencer Knight

I’d toss in Alex Newhook in there somewhere, but it is not only possible, but highly probable, that the ten highest ranked players in the draft will not be the ten best players five years from now.

ArmchairGM

Pescador: Depends on where you think he is going?
If you’re speculating a different NHL team then you’re not paying attention

Ok, wow. Triggered much? I was trying to look at it from the players view, if his issues are exactly as you have surmised, why would he request a trade? Does he think all these issues – language, for instance – are going to disappear with another NHL club?

Of course not. Which indicates to me that your assessment isn’t 100% correct, otherwise his course of action would be different.

Jaxon

This is my, “Holy shit! What if it turns out like this for the 5 year re-draft?!?!” list:
1. Bowen Byram
2. Kaapo Kakko
3. Alex Turcotte
4. Dylan Cozens
5. Philip Tomasino
6. Arthur Kaliyev
7. Jack Hughes
8. Raphael Lavoie
9. Cole Caufield
10. Spencer Knight

ArmchairGM

Munny:
ArmchairGM,

I hope you (as parent) and yours are doing well.

Thanks Munny. It’s been a lot of hard work and very stressful (at times) 7 years, but now honestly I wouldn’t trade him for anything in the world. Early intervention and education is the key.

ArmchairGM

godot10: Autism is NOT mental illness.

Neither is cancer. It shouldn’t be taboo.

Material Elvis

OriginalPouzar: But he would’t be acquired to be a driver – he’d be acquired to be a secondary piece on one of the top two lines, no?

Not every forward needs to be a driver and, for $4M or less, these days, a driver will not be bought.

The numbers imply that he would be great with McDavid but questionable with RNH as his center. I am not opposed to acquiring him but there is some risk that he underperforms away from McDavid. He’s less of a sure thing than some would like to believe.

Munny

Buddy,

Also brilliant. And kudos to Ben too.

Buddy

Ben:
Interesting stuff here.

New Rule 24.1

“A player who pries, pulls or in any manner separates the pads of the opposing team’s goaltender will be penalized with goaltender interference, unless that player has played no fewer than five (5) season in the league and exhibits clear attributes of savvy and/or cagey-ness.”

Ben, these posts are brilliant!

To paraphrase Cicero, it’s a wonder that two NHL refs can pass each other on the street without bursting into laughter.

godot10

Lowetide: I support #BellLetsTalk, but I did mean this is not a place to talk autism. I don’t have the infrastructure to police comments, so things like autism, religion, politics, race etc are generally not encouraged. I wish we had a forum that didn’t comment on race, but that is not the case. I wish I could tell people about my experience with autism, but this isn’t the place. I wish I could tell people my experience with people I love who are LGBTQ. This isn’t the place. I’ve run this blog since 2005. Trust me.

LT, you are missing a few numbers and letters…It is 2SLGBTQQIA! -).

greenshifter

Pescador: I wait until I get to the till to start reading the menu before I order food

That’s a good one! My wife has this problem, drives me nuts. Especially when we’re at McDonalds where the menu has been the same our entire lives.

Foege Foegele Torpe

ArmchairGM: And going to a brand new place is going to cure this? Seems counterintuitive.

Depends on where you think he is going?
If you’re speculating a different NHL team then you’re not paying attention

TheTikk

Lowetide: I support #BellLetsTalk, but I did mean this is not a place to talk autism. I don’t have the infrastructure to police comments, so things like autism, religion, politics, race etc are generally not encouraged. I wish we had a forum that didn’t comment on race, but that is not the case. I wish I could tell people about my experience with autism, but this isn’t the place. I wish I could tell people my experience with people I love who are LGBTQ. This isn’t the place. I’ve run this blog since 2005. Trust me.

LT, I agree that this is not a forum where we can sensitively discuss and celebrate difference, but I deeply appreciate you maintaining a space that is at the least comparatively safe for different kinds of people. It means a lot.

Reja

Watching the NBA draft and I have to say the NHL draft hands down is a better production, drama and overall vibe. Same with the Awards last night it’s so corny it’s got a Genuine feel and hockey players are just such a humble bunch in public. Kudos to the NHL.

OriginalPouzar

Material Elvis: I think those WOWY numbers should give you pause for thought.I know that I was surprised to see them.Often, the eye test can fool us, especially when a guy plays with elite talent.Kapanen has some great tools but that evidence suggests he might not be a driver.

But he would’t be acquired to be a driver – he’d be acquired to be a secondary piece on one of the top two lines, no?

Not every forward needs to be a driver and, for $4M or less, these days, a driver will not be bought.

who

JimmyV1965: I think it’s a fair deal. I just really don’t like the idea of subtracting what little quality talent we do have.Digging a hole to fill another hole kinda thing.

Yeah I think it’s a fair deal too. Just don’t know if the Oilers, or the Jets, should do it.
Love Ehlers though. If the Oilers draft Broberg, I think I’d do it.

OriginalPouzar

BornInAGretzkyJersey:
frjohnk,

I’m not going to say you’re wrong here (because I see much the same), but Russell hasn’t been so prone to the famous Reset… lately.And we recently fired that defensive coach, only to replace him with yet another former Flames head coach.

I would agree with you for the first half of last season (well maybe the first 2/5ths) – the defensive group seemed different under Yawney – Russell was aggressively defending the blue line – not with regularity but on occasion and the group as a who were definitely moving the puck up the ice quicker and with intention.

Russell was great in the first third of the season but he (and the entire defence) regressed to norms as the season worse on and the re-set was back as consistently as always down the stretch.

who

Material Elvis: I think those WOWY numbers should give you pause for thought.I know that I was surprised to see them.Often, the eye test can fool us, especially when a guy plays with elite talent.Kapanen has some great tools but that evidence suggests he might not be a driver.

I’m not suggesting he is a driver.
I’m saying he would immediately become the Oilers 4th best forward. For the cost of a 3rd pairing dman. On a team with a bunch of potential 3rd pairing dmen.
I don’t need to pause and think about this trade.

JimmyV1965

who: Would you do Klefbom for Ehlers and Appleton?

I think it’s a fair deal. I just really don’t like the idea of subtracting what little quality talent we do have. Digging a hole to fill another hole kinda thing.

Foege Foegele Torpe

greenshifter: I buy 5 breakfast combos in the Tims drive thru at 6:45am

I wait until I get to the till to start reading the menu before I order food

JimmyV1965

SwedishPoster:
Lot of oranges and apples mixing here tonight.

One quick thing before I hit the bed. Börje Salming was a tough as nails sami kid who grew up in a mining town in the very north of Sweden, he’s as competitive as they come and altogether awesome. As mentioned a trailblazer back in the day. He also came over aged 22. And he didn’t come alone, he came over alongside Inge Hammarström who he already knew well from playing with him in Brynäs. So he did actually have a small support system within the locker room from day one. He’s mentioned several times how crucial having Hammarström around was for his success. So there’s that.

His daughter Bianca is an up and coming athlete btw, she competes in the heptathlon.

From my view it’s pretty obvious that regular hockey dudes who speak good english and is right type of guy can thrive and develop in the Oilers org. Klefbom is a typical hockey dude, good english. McDavid, hockey dude. Drai, hockey dude, good english. Nurse, hockey dude. RNH, hockey dude.

On the other hand. Yak, nice kid but bit of an oddball, okish english, fail. Pulju, weird kid who seems like he’s a bit all over the place, shitty english, fail in waiting. Omark, insecure guy with anxiety issues, bad english,fail. Pääjärvi, hockey dude but shy and his english is so so or at least it was.
Pretty much all russians have failed, except maybe Slepyshev who’s the most hockey dudey of the russians coming over, and McLellan complained that there was a language barrier in Slepy’s last season = gone.

I mean sure you can still build a team with guys who are the right type of hockey dudes, make sure they speak good english, pretty much only draft NA kids and swedes and you can do fine. But you will leave more talented players on the board if you’re not prepared to have room for the atypicals.
I prefer to get the most talented guys and find a way with each individual that works but I know others think differently.

Börje Salming would not have fit the typical hockey dude who speaks good english mold though.

Great post. I think the Oilers leadership group is too young to accommodate players who are outside the box, for whatever reason. Teams like the Sharks and Bruins would be much better at this.

Greenberg

Kudos to FRJOHNK for his description of Russell getting the puck to the forwards. You guys have been getting too serious on this night, the Christmas Eve of our real hearts. Lowetide even took Christmas week off, to tend to feeding his elves at this critical time.

greenshifter

Jethro Tull: Ahh! Canadian “I’m an asshole-le-ole!”

Today I pushed all the buttons on the elevator as I was getting out and some people were getting on. I just heard a “Dammit!” as the doors closed.

+1 I hate when someone does that

Munny

ArmchairGM,

I hope you (as parent) and yours are doing well.

Material Elvis

Professor Q:
So, with the Tampa Bay Rays moving to Montréal, will they become known as the Ex-Rays?

That’s perfect!

godot10

ArmchairGM: I hope you meant “this is not the place to accuse others of having autism” rather than what you wrote. I seem to recall Bell let’s talk being supported on this site.

Autism is NOT mental illness.

JimmyV1965

ArmchairGM: Have you seen Kapanen’s WOWY’s?? He scores below the average 4th liner pace when not with Matthews or Tavares, I.e. when he’s with Kadri, etc. If he can’t score with Kadri, what’s he gonna do with RNH?

Also, Benning has shown the ability to play top-4 and play it well. I’d have to think long and hard before making a 1-for-1 trade with these 2 players.

I’m having a hard time reconciling your comments about Benning with the fact his ATOI last year was 15 minutes. That was the lowest of any regular dman on the team. Even Caleb Jones averaged over 19 minutes. I don’t ever really remember Benning playing on the second pair last year. I’m sure it likely happened, but it would have been a short experiment.

tileguy

Professor Q,

Lol, clever in so many ways.

ArmchairGM

Lowetide:
This is not the place to talk autism, folks.

I hope you meant “this is not the place to accuse others of having autism” rather than what you wrote. I seem to recall Bell let’s talk being supported on this site.

YKOil

Professor Q:
So, with the Tampa Bay Rays moving to Montréal, will they become known as the Ex-Rays?

We have a winner!

TheTikk

Professor Q,

The Exposés?

Professor Q

So, with the Tampa Bay Rays moving to Montréal, will they become known as the Ex-Rays?

Jethro Tull

greenshifter: I buy 5 breakfast combos in the Tims drive thru at 6:45am

Ahh! Canadian “I’m an asshole-le-ole!”

Today I pushed all the buttons on the elevator as I was getting out and some people were getting on. I just heard a “Dammit!” as the doors closed.

Gerta Rauss

Pouzar:
Somebody make a fucking trade. Good grief.

lol