2021-22 Game 61: Sabres at Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers waived Tyler Benson yesterday, we’ll find out if he clears around noon today. Benson was a high second-round pick with plenty of talent still on the board, and much of the talent passed over has found its way to the NHL.

Opinions varied of course, but I think most people hope Benson gets an NHL chance, either on waivers or at some point with the Oilers. Plenty of “waive Josh Archibald and keep Benson” opinion, but that isn’t the job Benson was applying for with the big club. He adjusted his game, but the things he does best haven’t yet seen the clear light of day in the NHL. We have seen hints, and that’s what I’d like to talk about today.

THE ATHLETIC!

• Lowetide: Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci emerging as top pair for Oilers
• Lowetide: Ryan McLeod’s case for a spot on Oilers’ skill lines
• DNB: Oilers’ recent play only underscores that upcoming trade deadline must be a time to act
• Lowetide: Revisiting the Oilers’ choice of Evan Bouchard in the 2018 draft
• DNB: Markus Niemelainen collecting catchy nicknames as his surprise breakout accelerates
• Lowetide: Why Stuart Skinner should be starting games for the Oilers right now
• Lowetide: How much do the Oilers miss Jesse Puljujarvi?
• DNB and Lowetide: Who says no? Evaluating 25 Oilers trades
• Lowetide: Could Philip Broberg be Oilers’ answer for problem defence?
• DNB: Leon Draisaitl postgame Q&A
• Lowetide: Oilers fans still adjusting to Ken Holland’s management style
• DNB: Ken Holland Q&A
• Lowetide: Positive early returns on Oilers’ 2021 draft class, but there are miles to go
• Lowetide: 3 trade targets that could help Oilers this season and beyond
• DNB: Oilers trade deadline expectations? Mailbag
• Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects, winter 2021

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM MARCH

• On the road to: PHI, CHI (Expected 1-0-1) (Actual 1-0-1)
• At home to: MON (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
• On the road to: CAL (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
• At home to: WAS, TBAY, DET, BUF, NJD (Expected 3-1-1) (Actual 3-0-0)
• On the road to: COL, DAL (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
• At home to: SJS (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
• On the road to: CAL (Expected 0-1-0) Actual 0-0-0)
• At home to: ARI, LAK (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
• Overall expected result: 8-5-2, 18 points from 15 games
• Actual March results: 4-2-1, 9 points in 7 games
• Oilers in 2021-22: 33-23-4, 70 points in 60 games

A win tonight puts Edmonton on a trajectory for 97 points, and that should be the magic number or beyond it. Now, there’s many miles to go, but the 10-5-1 run by Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson has been outstanding. I still see the big problem with this team on the roster, but the new coaching staff has done a wonderful job on the five-on-five. Can they fix the special teams? I can’t tell you. It’ll have to come to us. Can this team beat the Sabres? The last time Edmonton beat them at home was January 14, 2019. Milan Lucic and Zack Kassian scored twice.

THE BENSON CASE

I learned so much about team building by watching Whitey Herzog construct the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals. Herzog had special circumstances (his ballpark had an outfield the size of the Pacific Ocean) and he took advantage of that fact by finding outfielders who could run like the wind. You see, Whitey took what was not valued, and put it to use. He found a centerfielder (Willie McGee) in the Yankees system and got him for very little. McGee helped the Cards win the 1982 WS, and take the 1985 and 1987 WS to seven games. McGee never hit 15 home runs in a season, but he won an MVP and was a feared player at the plate, on the base paths and in the field.

The Yankees focused on what McGee couldn’t do, Whitey concerned himself only with the things he could do and how those skills could be applied to the cavernous outfield in St. Louis.

In this story, Benson is McGee (although not the same calibre player) and the Oilers are the Yankees. The things Benson can do well (pass the puck, find seams to send it) are obvious (he had over 50 assists in his first AHL season) but untapped during his NHL time. Benson has two NHL assists, and they’re gorgeous. One is the cover photo and the other is the photo on the front of this blog that rotates through when this article pops up.

I don’t know what Benson would have done with 40 games on a skill line. I think Cooper Marody is the more talented player. As it turns out, both could exit the system during the calendar year 2022 without getting a full shot at an NHL job.

Tyler Benson has played 25 minutes at five-on-five with Connor McDavid in his NHL career. He has a goal. 59 percent expected goals. I think he earned a full shot. For years now, since 2016 really, I’ve read comments from both sides, each in a hurry to be right about Benson’s career story. I’ve never really cared about the ‘being right’ part, because at some level I’d be cheering against someone’s success. I cheer for a full shot, 500 at-bats. Tyler Benson has yet to receive those 500 at-bats, that full opportunity, and if he gets claimed today, that will be my wish for him.

WHAT HAPPENED?

After his impressive rookie season in 2018-19, the Oilers depth chart (May 2019, as Ken Holland arrived) had Leon Draisaitl, Milan Lucic, RFA’s Tobias Rieder and Jujhar Khaira, Benson and Joe Gambardella as options. Holland had much work to do, so in that first summer added pieces like Joakim Nygard, James Neal (for Milan Lucic), Markus Granlund and Tomas Jurco. All of them played ahead of Benson. He would add (at various points) Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Ennis, Dominik Kahun, Zach Hyman, Warren Foegele, Evander Kane.

For me, there had to be a window in there somewhere. In the offseason, Holland added Hyman and Foegele, plus Kane mid-season, and that’s all she wrote. What do we know today? Benson isn’t going to replace Kane, Hyman, Foegele and with all of the veterans returning Benson is odd man out.

All of this to say Tyler Benson has skill and giving him 40 games (or more) with a reasonable facsimile for a skill center was an option. Good teams don’t waste talent. Edmonton has a fine LW depth chart today, but a value contract who could play with skill would have value next season. Maybe Benson clears and fights another day. Maybe he lands in Seattle. Either way, when the next kid arrives and scores close to a point-per-game at age 20, we’re going to compare his audition with that of Benson. I think the kid didn’t get a fair shake, come what may at noon today.

HOLLAND’S TRADE DEADLINE

Ken Holland traded for Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Ennis and Mike Green at his first deadline, then Dmitri Kulikov at the 2021 deadline. Elliotte Friedman’s comments in the latest 31 Thoughts suggests a defenseman is likely, a goaltender isn’t coming and there’s a chance at a depth forward.

This runs counter to what Edmonton could use (goalie, shutdown blue). I don’t see a need for another forward, the Oilers have all kinds of depth there when completely healthy. A Tyson Barrie for shutdown defender deal might not be out there, and goalies are hard to find, but James Reimer and Mark Pysyk shouldn’t cost the moon. Dmitri Samorukov isn’t more valuable than a strong playoff run in the McDavid/Draisaitl era. It’s go time. I thought everyone agreed about that last October.

LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE

A busy morning on TSN1260. Chris Johnston, TSN Insider will discuss yesterday’s trade and what the market looks like as we head into trade deadline weekend. We’ll also have Crossfire! (pew! pew!) and talk about NFL free agency. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio at 10 this morning!