All The Way From Memphis

by Lowetide

Peter Chiarelli used two of his first-round draft picks (2016 and 2017) on right wingers with resumes that included offensive prowess. It’s reasonable to expect both to be pushing three or four years later but only Kailer Yamamoto is certain to be a big part of Edmonton’s future. It’s a mighty long way down rock and roll.

THE ATHLETIC!

Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. I am proud to be part of The Athletic. Here are the most recent Oilers stories.

RIGHT WING 2019-20

There were 372 regular forwards (31 x 12 players) in 2019-20, basically any forward who played 400 or more minutes. First-line Right Wingers would land in the top 93 scorers (Yamamoto was No. 3, Kassian No. 59) while Archibald (No. 288), Chiasson (No. 344) and Russell (No. 364) were fourth line level.

I think the right side, although it lacks a Nuge, has more depth than the left wingers. Kassian can score with McDavid, Yamamoto is an impressive rookie and Archibald probably scores at a third-line level with a more offensive center. Chiasson didn’t score much but he had good possession numbers, a rarity for the bottom six:

Huh. Maybe Archibald needs more than a productive offensive center. I think you could come back next season with Kassian-Yamamoto-Chiasson-Archibald if Puljujarvi won’t sign and be a playoff team. I will say that a two-way right winger like Jakob Silfverberg might be a solution, but as it is cap issues (the aforementioned four have a cap hit of $7.75 million) may force Chiasson down the line. I don’t know if the Oilers can afford Silfverberg.

OPTIONS VOLUME 1

This is sorted by points-60 and some also play center and the scorers are mixed in with the two-way types. I like every player on this list, Connor Brown looks good here.

OPTIONS VOLUME 2

Colin Blackwell is a 27-year old righty center from Lawrence, Kansas, the town where Bill James invented all his wonderful math toys that built the sports analytics industry. Nashville will sign him, but if they don’t, he is a perfect fit for Edmonton’s third line.

I am also a fan of Warren Foegele and the rest of this crew, although they are not as prominent or popular as the first list. Some of the bias against these men is silly (if Craig Smith’s name was Jocelyn Grooveremont he’d be making more money) and some of it comes from playing on a poor team (Alex Iafollo). I’ll have an item up on centers over the weekend and then we can start to drill down on these names.

LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE

At 10 this morning, TSN1260, we kickstart the weekend in grand style! Steve Lansky from Inside the Truck podcast will join us to talk Bob McKenzie, that crazy boom camera and the SC playoffs so far. Matt Iwanyk drops by at 11 to talk Raptors, MLB, Oilers and SC playoffs. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!

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jp

Ryan: I guess that it’s 20/20 hindsight in the sort of way that many posters here were clamoring for a Burakovsky trade before Sakic got him…. Meanwhile, no one here, to my recollection, proposed an AA trade before it happened.

In that way, calling it 20/20 is disingenuous.

I still don’t think it was a completely terrible trade at the time.

In fairness, Sakic paid a 2nd and a 3rd, not two 2nd round picks. AA was playing poorly… had the green jacket on and even without COVID-19, there was still the looming issue of the qualifying offer situation.

Also Burakovsky was younger when the Avs traded for him. He’s a first rounder from 2013 while AA is a 4rth from 2012.

Well part of the clamor was that Burakovsky was being shopped more than AA. And the QO situation ($3.25M) was also present with Burakovsky as it is with AA.

I was not among those hoping for Burakovsky at the time so maybe that bias is still there. I still do believe the general feelings (maybe not yours) on the trades are being strongly colored by the results since.

Tragikomix

Also, sign RNH this offseason.

Ryan

Ryan,

Also, in terms of scoring you’re using boxcars to compare a guy who played 10 minutes and change per game with no power play time vs a guy who played over 13 at evens and over two minutes on the power play.

Ryan

jp:
Isn’t this mostly hindsight being 20/20 though (Burakovsky being a good acquisition vs AA being a bad one?).
Similar acquisition cost. Similar age and salary. Similar historical production (the nod would go to AA on that one IMO).
The one Holland added was in the midst of a terrible year (goal differential mainly, and not trying to minimize it) but AA actually scored more than Burakovsky (76-12-13-25) prior to the trades.

Burakovsky worked out as well as could be hoped. AA still could but early returns are obviously not promising.

I have a really hard time faulting Holland on the move though.

I guess that it’s 20/20 hindsight in the sort of way that many posters here were clamoring for a Burakovsky trade before Sakic got him…. Meanwhile, no one here, to my recollection, proposed an AA trade before it happened.

In that way, calling it 20/20 is disingenuous.

I still don’t think it was a completely terrible trade at the time.

In fairness, Sakic paid a 2nd and a 3rd, not two 2nd round picks. AA was playing poorly… had the green jacket on and even without COVID-19, there was still the looming issue of the qualifying offer situation.

Also Burakovsky was younger when the Avs traded for him. He’s a first rounder from 2013 while AA is a 4rth from 2012.

Tragikomix

who: I don’t see Larrson as a big risk next year.And IF he develops chronic back issues I love the fact that his contract is up after next year.
If you are trying to recoup an asset before he walks I understand your position.But the asset needs to make the team better before I do the deal. Any move that weakens the defense, especially the righty defense, probably doesn’t make the team better.
It would be different if this team was in rebuild mode, but I don’t think we are there. This was a playoff team, as constructed, before covid hit. I see no reason to tear it down based on a 5 game series after a 4 month layoff.

Exactly.

Tragikomix

jp:
Isn’t this mostly hindsight being 20/20 though (Burakovsky being a good acquisition vs AA being a bad one?).

Similar acquisition cost. Similar age and salary. Similar historical production (the nod would go to AA on that one IMO).

The one Holland added was in the midst of a terrible year (goal differential mainly, and not trying to minimize it) but AA actually scored more than Burakovsky (76-12-13-25) prior to the trades.

Burakovsky worked out as well as could be hoped. AA still could but early returns are obviously not promising.

I have a really hard time faulting Holland on the move though.

+1

Ribs

Loving the recent Silfverberg push, LT. One of my very favourite players in this league.

I think he may be one of those expensive things that help you out in so many ways that it becomes more than worth it when you add everything up. He could possibly be more valuable to this team than Taylor Hall would be (and Taylor Hall is great). What would it take to get him? I am not sure. Anaheim looks a little lost. Maybe they do something bold/possibly stupid very soon, and he becomes available for a smaller price than imaginable.

Here’s hoping.

Genjutsu

Rondo:
godot10,

I agree would not trade for #14. Herd immunity can be reached at 15% – %20 infected BTW

For COVID 19?

Wiki has the threshold at hit at 50 to 83%

Where are you getting your numbers?

Munny

Shutout. By Talbot, of course.

Just one story in the bestselling tome A Thousand and One Cautionary Tales.by the Edmonton Oilers.

Munny

How does Seguin not score there?

Munny

Munny:
Stars really deserve a goal in this game but no luck so far.

Cursed them. 2-0 Flames.

Munny

Stars really deserve a goal in this game but no luck so far.

Munny

Seksy gonna be seein that one on repeat later tonight

Munny

Eventually having to go from Dallas to Calgary on a B2B is going to start catching up with these guys…

Benign Bone

OriginalPouzar: Slotting Russell in to 2RD simply cannot be an option any longer – it just can’t……

Honestly, I would sooner rely on one more year of Nurse-Russell than rely on one more year of Klefbom-Larsson.

Klefbom-Larsson in 1714:45mins from 2017-20:
FF%: 51.0
GF%: 39.4 (!!!)
SCF%: 48.9
HDCF%: 52.1

At some point, I think we need to accept that these two aren’t a fit together. Bad luck can only explain so much and injuries don’t strike me as enough given they’re still winning chance shares. Something they’re doing is just fundamentally wrong as it’s not impacting the other pairings. A change to that pairing is necessary.

I don’t know what each would bring in return, but I imagine Klef would garner more in a trade and I think he would also be easier to replace. There are a lot of Dmen in the league who can produce above a 39% goal share in a top-4 role and his place on the PP may not be far from being taken away.

Assuming we’re stuck with Russell, maybe a 1-year bandaid solution where we trade Klefbom for F help, sign a guy like Jon Merrill, and then balance out the minutes given to each pairing Nurse-Russell/Benning, Merrill-Bear, Jones-Larsson to avoid overburdening as much as possible. I have no idea if this would work, but I don’t think any of those pairings would be hard-pressed to best a 39% goal share- hard to know for certain, though.

Of course, trading Larsson is also an option but I don’t imagine he brings back more than a Johnsson or maybe a Jarnkrok (Fabbro showed some wobble so insulation might be of interest to Poile).

Munny

So apparently The Turtle is “unfit to play”.

Could’ve told the NHL this a long time ago.

Munny

godot10: I am only trading Larsson for a proven player of legitimate need…like Anderssen.

Yes. We call this “whack-a-mole” around these parts.

And is Starting Goalie a legitimate need? Enough of one to play some risky whack-a-mole?

I can maybe get behind it if you have a plan for divesting Kokkinen and replacing Larsson’s elite minutes, but you don’t seem to have any such plan.

Sunnyboy

Dal and Cal underway, hope from here Cal does as well as Van this aft. If the slack ass Oilers need some fire under their butts for motivation, maybe their geographic rivals will provide them a dose of encouragement.

JimmyV1965

OriginalPouzar: Yup, one more year of really tight cap issues and then starting to see some relief – as long as Holland doesn’t make any more Kassian type mistakes and doesn’t buyout players out of panic for immediate need.

I think an upgrade as 1B goalie (even Casey DeSmith is an upgrade for me while cheaper, but potentially Khudobin or Griess or Dell) and Russell for a similar contract at center or wing is about as much as we can hope for for external improvements this off-season.

Incremental improvements plus internal (i.e Jones replacing Russell, Bouchard eventually replacing Benning, Benson replacing Ennis/AA).

K. I’m trying to understand. In a hypothetical world, would you favour trading let’s say Larsson and some other asset for Domi? This has the same expansion draft implications as if we traded the 14OV. Or am I missing something here?

And again, in my original comment I said I had no idea if we could do the Domi trade as far as it relates to the cap.

Scungilli Slushy

Harpers Hair: The odds of getting a “high end skilled forward prospect” at #15 in the draft is less than 50%,

And even if an average hit, his impact on team success is likely 3-5 years away.

Holland should be looking for the next JT Miller.

Connor won’t wait forever.

Also that it’s not like when the Oilers needed elite players, an entire D corp and two goalies.

There are only a few pieces missing now. Poor Holland had his plans squahed by Covid I’m sure – a flat cap and lottery draft make a weak trade market worse.

Still, as the foundation of this stats blog instructs, there are value players that aren’t yet widely seen. Find them.

For me, I wonder if Mr McLeod has any idea how close he is to his wildest NHL dreams. If he could play two ways, win enough faceoffs, and finish enough of the chances he would get, hmmmmmm.

That size and speed, and that he’s a naturally responsible player, pay his cover charge.

Harpers Hair

OriginalPouzar: No, I’m saying the GM should only trade high value expansion draft exempt assets for non-exempt assets with great diligence and with the expansion draft parameters in mind.

A trade of the 14th overall for Domi, not only is a massive $5M plus hit to the cap and the loss of a high end skilled forward prospect that is cost-controlled for a number of years but has signifigant expansion draft ramifications, as I’ve laid out. Its not a trade I would be in favor of and the expansion draft is one of a few reasons (which I laid out).

The odds of getting a “high end skilled forward prospect” at #15 in the draft is less than 50%,

And even if an average hit, his impact on team success is likely 3-5 years away.

Holland should be looking for the next JT Miller.

Connor won’t wait forever.

Reja

Harpers Hair: Quite the playoff coming out party for Bo.

I thought he had a girlfriend.

who

who: I don’t see a lot of changes coming this off season. The cap just won’t allow it, and moving salary out seems harder to do than ever.
But we have to remember this team finished comfortably in a playoff spot with the current roster. Give this group another year of development and we should be at least as good next year.
Next summer Poulliot is off the books, Sekera’s buyout drops by a million, Russell’s contract expires, and so does Larrsons. There will definitely be some cap space available.

Chiasson contract expires after next year as well. And Neal will be bought out at some point. Lots of cap room available after next season.

who

godot10:
The OIlers cap stiuation is pretty hopeless.I had to buyout Neal, and walk away from Athanasiou, and about the only move I could make was underpay Granlund on a free agent offer.

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/1843857

The Oilers really need a Kris Russell for Derek Ryan or Brandon Sutter swap.

It is basically impossible to get Granlund with a Neal for Turris swap, even with Nashville retaining $1 million to make up for the extra year.

I don’t see a lot of changes coming this off season. The cap just won’t allow it, and moving salary out seems harder to do than ever.
But we have to remember this team finished comfortably in a playoff spot with the current roster. Give this group another year of development and we should be at least as good next year.
Next summer Poulliot is off the books, Sekera’s buyout drops by a million, Russell’s contract expires, and so does Larrsons. There will definitely be some cap space available.

OriginalPouzar

RT26:
How I would improve the Oilers in 3 moves:

1) Trade Larsson, Lagesson & Chiassonto Toronto for Andersson and Kerfoot or Johnson.Leafs get $2M in cap relief this year, a young talent and cap Flexibility in 2021-22.We get a 1a goalie and some forward depth

2) Trade Puljujarvi and Russell to Ottawa for the rights to Connor Brown

3) Sign Benning to a 1 year deal, and sign a Cody Ceci type FA for 1 year to buy time until cap space re- emerges

Brown. McDavid.Kassian
Nuge. Draisaitl.Yamamoto
Neal. Kerfoot. Archibald
Nygard. Haas. Russell/ cheap FA

Nurse.Ceci
Klefbom.Bear
Jones. Benning

Andersson
Koskinen

Main problem is that first trade is highly unrealistic in my opinion.

That asset package likely doesn’t get Andersson let alone Kerfoot or AJ with him.

OriginalPouzar

godot10:
The OIlers cap stiuation is pretty hopeless.I had to buyout Neal, and walk away from Athanasiou, and about the only move I could make was underpay Granlund on a free agent offer.

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/1843857

The Oilers really need a Kris Russell for Derek Ryan or Brandon Sutter swap.

It is basically impossible to get Granlund with a Neal for Turris swap, even with Nashville retaining $1 million to make up for the extra year.

Yup, one more year of really tight cap issues and then starting to see some relief – as long as Holland doesn’t make any more Kassian type mistakes and doesn’t buyout players out of panic for immediate need.

I think an upgrade as 1B goalie (even Casey DeSmith is an upgrade for me while cheaper, but potentially Khudobin or Griess or Dell) and Russell for a similar contract at center or wing is about as much as we can hope for for external improvements this off-season.

Incremental improvements plus internal (i.e Jones replacing Russell, Bouchard eventually replacing Benning, Benson replacing Ennis/AA).

OriginalPouzar

JimmyV1965: You’re driving me nuts here. So in your opinion the GM should restrict any asset acquisition to players that are worse than Jones?

No, I’m saying the GM should only trade high value expansion draft exempt assets for non-exempt assets with great diligence and with the expansion draft parameters in mind.

A trade of the 14th overall for Domi, not only is a massive $5M plus hit to the cap and the loss of a high end skilled forward prospect that is cost-controlled for a number of years but has signifigant expansion draft ramifications, as I’ve laid out. Its not a trade I would be in favor of and the expansion draft is one of a few reasons (which I laid out).

Scungilli Slushy

Quinn Hughes just showed why defenseman HAVE to be able to pass effectively.

And defend of course. He’s learning, rapidly, as high end players do.

The question is a tough one for Holland around the Oilers D. He has the luxury of a full squad of NHL quality. Some recent GMs didn’t, but that’s partly on them for not finding them or valuing the wrong abilities.

You have to me Klefbom, who is the most rounded, but has only played 2/3rds of the last 3 seasons. He also has not become a reliable defender. Which is partly why Nurse plays more toughs. I would say only because he’s tougher, more of a problem for other top lines.

You have Nurse, who has been healthy and looks like the prototype of an NHL D, but has defensive read issues and is not a good passer or decision maker. He’s getting points, but plays a lot with the best forwards.

You have Bear who is taking his chance and running away with it. Rounded player.

You have Russell who is a game rooster, versatile, too small and not fast enough to compensate like Hughes. Plays both sides, can’t pass, misses coverage, has trouble with breaking cycles, and does nothing with the puck when he skates it out. Nough said.

Benning who seems to run great stats, is a game rooster, similar to Bear. BUT has has a coconut that hasn’t had a nice time. He can pass, shoot and has crust.

Larsson gives his all. He puts up top stats for the group, outside of points. He’s an enigma because he can move the puck, can make plays but can’t or won’t or is coached not to. I mentioned several years ago I was worried he would develop chronic back problems because of how he plays. Poor technique. The only hard D stopper on the team.

No easy choices here. If as media says Larsson is widely valued, the GM has to take that seriously. There is risk both ways, trade or keep, because of the wildcard of a troubled back. That is not going away. Until he retires.

He is also a mentor of how to play your own end properly. Poor Ken.

barry.moore23

Seriously these teams are so good. Love the Oil but not even close to the same level. It’s OK. Enjoy the show.

Harpers Hair

OriginalPouzar:
God damn Horvat – great pass by Hughes.

Quite the playoff coming out party for Bo.

Faustkarz

Won’t players be taking a haircut for 1 year deals this year (and next), given the pandemic?

there is not a lot of money in the league to go around so how would a massive 1 year deal even be feasible? if they go long term, the value would be far less given this year factored into the equation as well

Seems most players would take a big haircut this year and next to score a bigger long term afterwards

OriginalPouzar

God damn Horvat – great pass by Hughes.

OriginalPouzar

Nice to see the Blues finally realize they are in a playoff series.

Blues with some sensational chances in OT – unlucky that the series isn’t tied right now.

RT26

How I would improve the Oilers in 3 moves:

1) Trade Larsson, Lagesson & Chiasson to Toronto for Andersson and Kerfoot or Johnson. Leafs get $2M in cap relief this year, a young talent and cap Flexibility in 2021-22. We get a 1a goalie and some forward depth

2) Trade Puljujarvi and Russell to Ottawa for the rights to Connor Brown

3) Sign Benning to a 1 year deal, and sign a Cody Ceci type FA for 1 year to buy time until cap space re- emerges

Brown. McDavid. Kassian
Nuge. Draisaitl. Yamamoto
Neal. Kerfoot. Archibald
Nygard. Haas. Russell/ cheap FA

Nurse. Ceci
Klefbom. Bear
Jones. Benning

Andersson
Koskinen

jp

Ryan: Well, he schooled his mentor on that AA trade.

Ryan: Ah, that’s right. It was the panic signing.

Everyone here was clamoring for a Burakovsky trade. I think Leadfarmer was a fan IIRC.

Connolly gave Edmonton the nod to gain leverage in his contract negotiations.

Then Holland panicked and gave Chiasson a fistful of dollars after Connolly signed with Florida.

Yeah, I don’t think that the market for Chiasson was as good as Chiasson’s agent acted.

Isn’t this mostly hindsight being 20/20 though (Burakovsky being a good acquisition vs AA being a bad one?).

Similar acquisition cost. Similar age and salary. Similar historical production (the nod would go to AA on that one IMO).

The one Holland added was in the midst of a terrible year (goal differential mainly, and not trying to minimize it) but AA actually scored more than Burakovsky (76-12-13-25) prior to the trades.

Burakovsky worked out as well as could be hoped. AA still could but early returns are obviously not promising.

I have a really hard time faulting Holland on the move though.

OriginalPouzar

Goal stands!

OT coming up.

OriginalPouzar

Its waived off on the ice – it’ll be reviewed.

Its really really close.

OriginalPouzar

Blues tied it up with under 6 seconds left.

May review

OriginalPouzar

JimmyV1965: I’d be thrilled to get Domi, but I have no idea what the cap implications would be and said so in my original post. The expansion draft red herring drives my a little crazy though. The only way a trade impacts the expansion draft is if you go from exposing zero good players to exposing one good player. What’s the difference if you expose three good players or four good players?

The issue isn’t how many good players are exposed but the value of the extra player being exposed.

As of right now, they could go 4-4-1 and expose forwards of the ilk of AA, Kassian, Puljujarvi, Benson.

Add Domi and he’s a must protect so, unless you want to not protect Domi, Yamamoto, Nuge, McDavid or Connor you are forced to going 7-3-1 and, if Jones develops as expected one of Jones, Klef, Nurse or Bear are exposed.

The value of the player lost is vastly increased in this scenario (or a trade of one of those 4 D is forced).

OriginalPouzar

godot10:
I’ve fooled around with CapFriendly for the OIlers for the first time.The Oilers situation is pretty dire.It is basically impossible to bring in an established winger for Connor and a mid-tier goaltender.

The Kassian contract is a killer.I don’t understand why Holland felt he had to do it before the end of the season.

The Oilers’ cap situation being dire is news to you?

This is why its imperative that Holland needs to find a way to dispose of that Rusty contract without retaining – without that $4M there is no external upgrade. There may not even be enough cash to re-sign the incumbent skates (Benning, Bear, AA) and a goalie.

Either Rusty needs to be disposed of clean or he needs to be flipped for a similar contract at a position of needs – Sutter, Bjorkstad, etc.

OriginalPouzar

Reja: It was so obvious the Oilers needed a 3C that can win a fuking faceoff when it counts this 3C must also be able to penalty kill. I liked the AA trade andI think he scores 20 next year but for the life of me I can’t understand why he didn’t pick one up. This should be Holland’s hard target this fall he’s got the trade chips use them, times a ticking on Leon,Connor and myself.

Sheahan was over 64% of the dot in the playoffs – 34-20.

A 3C has been needed for years (except for the month that Strome played it) but faceoffs by the 3C in this year’s playoffs weren’t a main issue.

godot10

The OIlers cap stiuation is pretty hopeless. I had to buyout Neal, and walk away from Athanasiou, and about the only move I could make was underpay Granlund on a free agent offer.

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/1843857

The Oilers really need a Kris Russell for Derek Ryan or Brandon Sutter swap.

It is basically impossible to get Granlund with a Neal for Turris swap, even with Nashville retaining $1 million to make up for the extra year.

BONE207

FakePouzar

Seems dishonest to use the play-in round to asses others.

Godot likes to compare everything to asses. It’s his best frame of reference when speaking to people

OriginalPouzar

MADOIL: Well, OP if you read my original post you’ll see that I was bringing in the RW for McDavid and the 3rd line center fby way of trades (Russell and Larsson) and though I did not improve the goalie position, one can get a good back up (Khoddobin) from the UFA pool.
Having a top pair RHD with a wonky back is recipe for disaster IMHO but YMMV.
Bottom line, would love to have a legit Ist pair D on our team

I can’t imagine getting Khudobin, a legit 3C, a 1RW and Pieterangelo by divesting of Russell, Larson, not qualifying AA and buying out Neal.

Pieterangelo, especially on a short 3 year deal, would costs Drai money.

OriginalPouzar

Eh Team: Hard to see the LEafs making that trade,1 year of Larsson for 3 years of Johnsson?Not going to happen

Leafs have a year to extend Larsson or, perhaps, the organization allows the Leafs to talk extension with Larsson prior to the deal.

OriginalPouzar

Bling: Turris is in decline and would be a bottom six guy here with no PP time. This is worse than the role he is currently struggling with in Nashville.

The guy to go for in Nash is Granlund — if he comes cheap, which he may.

Turris isn’t the player he was half a decade ago but he had a bounce-back year this year as compared to the prior season and had almost double the points of James Neal at evens and scored at 1.64 P/60 at evens.

Neal is an asset on the PK, however, if Chiasson is still on the team and Yamamoto is an option on PP1 as well.

That trade would be FAR from ideal but Turris is a serviceable 3C right now and the cap change, for the next 3 seasons is nominal.

I’d prefer Craig Smith out of Nashville, personally.

OriginalPouzar

godot10: Strange that all the Nurse haters argue that Jones can replace Nurse easily, but somehow Larsson is irreplaceable and it is impossible for Jones to replace him.

Trevor van Riemsdyk. Radko Kudas,and Mark Pysyk UFA’s, one of whom could be signed to provide insurance at RD.And I haven’t even begun to look hard.

Vatanen and Hamonic are free agents.Justin Schultz.Tyson Barrie.Cough…Cody Ceci…cough. Chris Tanev, Dylan Demelo

Tampa has Shattenkirk and Bogosian.

Lots of UFA RD looking for jobs.

Jones should not be considered an option to replace a top 4 RD.

Not surprising, he is proving how much better he is on his natural left side – as most d-men are. There is a material difference between being able to play the off-side in the AHL and NHL – speed of decision making is, of course, the key.

Lets allow Jones to be successful and play him in the position that maximizes his skills and helps the team the most – the left side of the defence.

I’d be surprised if Gudas isn’t a Leaf next year but, yes, you list some decent options – can’t say if many are “better than Larsson” but, if the trade return for Larsson is high and the replacement is someone in line….

JimmyV1965

OriginalPouzar: I’m working on the assumption that Nugent-Hopkins will be re-signed prior to the expansion draft as I think that is the likely scenario.

Given that, a trade of an exempt asset like the 1st round pick for a must-protect forward would essentially lock this team in to 7-3-1 as there would be five must protect forwards (including Yamamoto).This may be the case in any event if someone like Benson pops, Puljujarvi returns and shows good progress, AA recovers to 20-25 goals, etc.

With that said, those are good things that we hope happen and make the expansion draft decision hard.

Trading a valuable asset (14th) or another (Domi) that locks us in to 7-3-1 and essentially forces a trade of Jones, Klef or Nurse (assuming progression by Jones), is not smart future looking move in my opinion.

You’re driving me nuts here. So in your opinion the GM should restrict any asset acquisition to players that are worse than Jones?

OriginalPouzar

Bling:
Stay away from Pietrangelo. That contract will be cap hell.

Shout out to my boy Benning: +32 in his NHL career, and has never been a minus player. I know it’s an imperfect stat and doesn’t take usage into account.

It’s a term that’s fallen out of usage but Benning is a genuine gamer.

Zero justification to move on from this gem of a player.

Things that surprise you about Matt Benning: the quality of his shot (pace plus accuracy), the sneakiness of his physicality, and how hard he battles in front of the net to clear intruders.

No slouch at passing the puck, either!

He will win no awards, but the man deserves a ribbon.

I 100% agree.

If he is overpaid at his required QO of $2M, its marginal and I don’t agree with many that its the right place to look for cap savings. Not with a sophomore Bear and and inconsistent (and potentially degrading) Larsson as the only other NHL-proven right show D in the org.

Benning is about to reach that age where d-man really settle in and he should provide some good minutes for this team over the next number of years and will be great injury cover when Bear, Larsson (or replacement) and Bouch are the main 3RD – give or take a Berglund.

OriginalPouzar

buck yoakam:
I wonder how the T-dot fans feel about trading Kadri…I cringed when that went down knowing we would see more of him in the western conference…now thats the grit they are looking for …kinda similar to Big E trading players for doughnuts…draft good players and for christ sake keep good players…the grass always seems greener…thank god we have a GM who really has nothing to prove but is invested and wants to create a contender

I was SO HAPPY when Kadri nixed the trade to Calgary.

Kadri would have been perfect for this team as I was stating at the time.