On the day Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson were flying to Edmonton (February 10, 2022), things weren’t looking too good for Bakersfield Condors defenseman Dmitri Samorukov. His NHL debut was a 2:28 disaster, and his performance in the AHL (27 games, 1-6-7, 45 percent even strength goal differential) trailed fellow prospects Philip Broberg and Markus Niemelainen by some margin.
Adding insult to injury, Broberg spent 15 games in the NHL after Woodcroft’s hiring (1-1-2, and a five-on-five goal differential of 8-8), while Niemelainen played 13 games with Woodcroft as coach (0-1-1, five-on-five goal differential 5-8).
What happened next? Samorukov flourished in the AHL under new head coach Colin Chaulk. In 24 games, he scored 2-9-11 and posted a 29-13 goal differential at even strength. Of course, he also hurt his shoulder (not the same shoulder as the one he hurt during his KHL season in 2020-21), so not everything finished perfectly. Still, it was a strong recovery, and Samorukov remains a quality NHL prospect.
Connor McDavid can post crooked numbers with anyone, there are no younger challengers who have emerged yet, and he is healthy. The captain has four Art Ross trophies, how many more? https://t.co/zGSY1e7Heb
Lowetide: Oilers’ pivotal summer and what fans want to see from Ken Holland
DNB: What if Edmonton Oilers trade Jesse Puljujarvi? The case for and against
DMITRI SAMORUKOV
I saw him in the NHL, he was poor. Why are we talking about him? I remain flummoxed by the decision to bench him after 2:28. Jordan Kyrou, an emerging talent, beat him twice.
Samorukov was awful! The first goal, Evan Bouchard was interfered with at the St. Louis blue line, Samorukov was just shy of getting to the puck along the wall at center ice, and that’s all she wrote. Robert Thomas scored from Tarasenko and Kyrou. Can you name three GD players a rookie in his first game shouldn’t be on the ice against at five on bleeding five??
Such hyperbole. Second goal was worse! Yes, Samorukov slowed and then Kyrou blew past him. Not a great look, but you run the kid out against the fourth line a few times later in the game.
Oh well, we’ll never hear from him again! If he can stay healthy, Samorukov could be a valuable player for years. He has a real edge, you could call him filthy, and his KHL season was outstanding. He did struggle for half of his AHL season in 2021-22 but he was also recovering from a broken jaw.
Is this guy Super Dave Osborne? Jesus. Well, there is some bad luck for sure, but he has real range and mobility. There is a player here.
Is he close? Oh yeah. Ken Holland a few weeks ago: “He understands this is a very, very big season in his career.” I think he has enough promise to win an NHL job if he has a consistent training camp.
What kind of offense? His NHL equivalencies over the last three seasons (8.5, 11.0, 14.1) are stronger than Markus Niemelainen’s (4.7, 11.4, 9.4), or at least trending in a better direction.
Who cares? Philip Broberg is better! True, Broberg’s NHLE’s over the last three seasons (8.7, 14.4, 29.6) suggest he will play in the top-four as an NHL player. Samorukov and Niemelainen may fight it out for the third pairing job.
We’re well into this and you haven’t mentioned waivers. Are you ill? Samorukov is waiver-eligible this fall, so that is a consideration.
You always cry wolf on this crap and the Oilers never lose anyone on waivers! Anton Forsberg says hello.
One guy in 25 years and now you’ll roll that out for the next 25. You can downplay it all you want, but there is danger and good players are lost every year to waivers.
Name five players of any real value who have been waived by Edmonton!! Tyler Ennis, William Lagesson, Alex Chiasson, Anton Forsberg, Laurent Brossoit.
Where is Samorukov on the depth chart? I think he’s No. 7 defenseman currently, the club may add a veteran and that could push him down. As of this instant, he’s on the roster opening night.
Do defensemen every get exposed to waivers and return to play for the Oilers? Sure. You mean unclaimed waivers? Greg De Vries was on waivers in 1996, went unclaimed and then was dealt a couple of years later. Norm MacIver was exposed, lost to the Ottawa Senators and had a strong offensive season for the fledgling Sens.
No I mean claimed on waivers, plays for another team, then returns. It’s rare. Ralph Intranuovo was claimed in the mid-90’s by the Toronto Maple Leafs, waived and Edmonton put in a claim, and he played a few games for the Oilers. Brandon Davidson was traded and then returned on waivers.
Back to Samorukov. Will he make it? Yes. I don’t know if it’s with Edmonton. He might be a deadline asset heading out ala William Lagesson, although I do think Samorukov is a better player.
If he clears thewaiver wire, what would he be inBakersfield? Top LH defenseman if Philip Broberg isn’t there.
How many games for the Oilers this year and for the Condors? 42 and 0. If he plays in the AHL, it’ll be with another team.
I get paid over $85 per hour working from home with 2 kids at home. I never thought I’d be able to do it but my best friend earns over 10k a month doing this and she convinced me to try. The potential with this is endless.
Here’s what I’ve been doing… http://www.Jobs234.com
Last edited 2 years ago by sagic7
OriginalPouzar
July 29, 2022 5:43 pm
Jim Rutherford is clear his team needs to trade for a right shot D and, of course, given their cap situation, money needs to go out.
Is there anything that can be done around Tanner Pearson and Barrie? Of course, Foegele would need to go in a seperate transaction and the Oilers would need to back-fill with a Subban signing.
Ya, that’s too many moving pieces and I’m not sure it makes the team much better (although I do think PK would do very well in a depth role).
Vancouver is looking for a young shutdown type D to pair with Quinn Hughes.
I doubt they would have much interest in Barrie and I suspect JT Miller is the bait not Garland although his name has been mentioned in trade rumours.
It makes sense. Teams can control the entire enterprise by going in-house. Gives the sales department more ammo too, you could sell season ticket packages around ad campaigns running on you tube channel or (more likely) package the entire broadcast for networks at a price that includes a piece of the advertising buy. There are dollars there for teams, and more control. Win win.
Oil website was top notch for timely highlights and news updates before NHL assimilated it. I’m all for EDM taking back reins for any part of its media.
pretty simple
Theres a reason Klinbergs NTC lasts until Jan. He wanted a paycheck, they want a warm body for season and flip him for a first rounder at trade deadline in what is supposed to be a very good draft.
Vatrano is a depth signing and someone to give their prospects more time.
Strome is a perfect guy for them as he can take the hard minutes away from their young guys and by the time they are ready for the heavies he’s gonna be paid the price of a 3rd line center in the league
While David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period tweets that the Blackhawks have engaged in trade discussions regarding Kane and lists the Dallas Stars as one of the teams with recent interest, Mark Lazerus of The Athletic has thrown cold water on any speculation. Lazerus has been informed by a source that there have been no trade talks so far, though admits that teams are likely “sniffing around” on the superstar forward.
Yup. I expect he will be a TD target for a number of teams and he will chose the one he likes at that time. Toews may retire if he has been paid all of his bonus money but $2.9M is still a lot to walk away from.
DevilsLettuce
July 29, 2022 1:20 pm
Kane McDavid Kane is going to be bananas.
Bulging Twine
July 29, 2022 1:13 pm
Is there going to be another Friday afternoon news (transactions) dump?
I do want to fix this a bit. Contract hasn’t been officially signed but an agreement was reached. Final details being done. Shouldn’t say it’s $7M but figure will come in around that.
OriginalPouzar
July 29, 2022 12:43 pm
How many games for the Oilers this year and for the Condors? 42 and 0. If he plays in the AHL, it’ll be with another team.
I would think that would likely be after cleaning waivers and a trade. If the player gets claimed on waivers, the claiming team has to keep him on the NHL roster or re-expose him to waivers. I don’t see the Oilers not re-claiming the player if given the option.
As I posted earlier, I do think that Sammy makes the team on merit (if he stays healthy through camp and exhibition).
With that said, if he is exposed to waivers, he likely slides through – I know there has been interest in him in the past but, given where we are (largely due to injuries hi-jacking his seasons beginnings and ends), I think he might clear. I mean, more famous names than Dimitri Samorukov clear waivers daily in the days leading up to the season, right?
I’m not sure they’d risk it, and I don’t think I would either and, frankly, I think he makes it a non-question with his performance.
OriginalPouzar
July 29, 2022 12:38 pm
Samorukov’s NHL sip of coffee was not good, we all know that.
He got beat twice being aggressive at the defensive blueline.
This is not surprising, nor is it something I’m worried about.
In his senior year in Guelph, I’ve never seen a player so aggressive defending the zone entry and stepping up at the defensive blue and the in the neutral zone. Sammy was absolutely elite in this area and a massive presence.
When he was a rookie in the AHL, he continued to play that style and it did not go well – whether it was advanced scouting or simply faster players or more skilled players or a combo, he got beat early and often.
Sammy had to scale it back and learn to pick his spots a bit better and, of course, work on timing and angles, etc. with the bigger and faster and more skilled players. He really came on in this regard half way through his rookie year (until his season went side-ways via the facial injury).
Again, Sammy continued to be great at this at the AHL level and tried to play “his game” during his NHL sip of coffee. It did not go well.
I presume something similar will happen as he develops at the NHL level – the extra size, speed and skill, and advanced scouting, will require the player (and his coaches) to scale back this aggressiveness, learn, develop, etc.
In time, he will be a monster in this area like he was in junior and like he has been in the AHL.
OriginalPouzar
July 29, 2022 12:03 pm
Listening to Tyler on the show today and he mentioned McLellan saved Chiarelli by refusing to play Bouchard more in his draft plus 1 and forcing a return to Junior before burning that first year.
I have long said that burning that first year isn’t always a bad thing and can sometimes have some benefits as the 2nd contract comes sooner, when the player is less established, and can lead to a cheaper 2nd contract.
How would we feel if Bouch was up for renewal now?
Let’s take away the fact that it would behoove management to try and get the extension done this off-season or early in the coming season.
If he was an RFA now, we’d probably be looking at a significant raise but a lesser raise then he’s going to get after playing this coming season.
It would cause cap issues today but would be cheaper over the next few years, presumably.
They could of used Bouchard in the Play-in against the Hawks when Kelfbom shouldn’t have been the QB on the PP with literally one arm in a sling. They also could of used him down the stretch 2 years ago and more importantly against Winnipeg which we lost 3OT games where a Bouch Bomb could of changed the series. Why did they play Bear who wasn’t in the Oiler plans over the man with pedigree and a Core piece of the team for the next 7-10 years. Tippett should of been fired after the Winnipeg series the way he deployed his players was baffling.
Sure it does. Bouchard should of been developed differently which would of eaten up a year of his eligibility. Why are you bringing this up you were all gung ho on him not getting into any games because Bear was to good to take out are rest. He should of been giving the Dobson treatment (pedigree) instead he was giving a 3rd 89 pick treatment. Do you think Bouchard isn’t going to remember this come contract time?
Nothing to do with a conversation related to contract terms as an RFA now vs. next year.
Also, nope, as you always do, you misconstrue positions as i was NEVER in favor of Buchard not getting more games and posted as such at the time and since.
Also, Dobson, the Dobson that was healthy scratched for half of his first NHL season?
How much better would Bouchard be with the 58 games Dobson has on him. Out of the three drafted in 2018 Ty Smith 114 games Noah Dobson 160 games and Evan Bouchard 102 games. Evan was supposedly the most NHL ready. Why has he played the least amount?
Feel free to start a thread about the topic you want to talk about.
I created this post to talk about burning ELC years and contract implications with Bouchard as an example.
Bag of Pucks
July 29, 2022 11:57 am
When I think of “power forwards,” I think of players like Cam Neely, Jarome Iginla and Mark Messier. Evander Kane is cut from the same cloth imo and Oiler fans are going to love this player more with every passing game.
The Oilers haven’t had a ton of true power forwards in their history. They are rare after all. I would count Mess, Draisaitl, Guerin, and Big Rig as the best. Kovalenko and Grier had power forward bodies but obviously didn’t produce at elite levels nor did they bring the nasty edge you’d like from a true PF. When they have a dash of mean like Messier or Iginla or Kane, that’s the perfect recipe.
Who was/is your favourite Oiler power forward. Who am I missing? McCurdy!
LT could do a great post on how the Oilers chased this player type for years in the draft. From Joe Hulbig to Mitch Moroz, the Oilers were buying coke machines like Joe Rogan buys creatine.
Players like Kane are the true alphas in the league. They skate into a scrum and you immediately see which opposing players are contenders and which are pretenders.
People joke about Tkachuk fleeing for Florida. I actually think there could be something to that. Legit power forwards completely neutralize turtles who are all talk and no walk. Kane could’ve made Tkachuk miserable for years.
There’s players who start fights and players who end fights. Kane is definitely the latter. Love it!
Oilersnation has a FB post up from a couple hrs ago showing a quote and pic of Tkachuk via twitter from his Panthers presser taking about how he’s there to change their fortunes re: winning.
ON highlighted a reply from Kane (verified twitter acct) that was simply: Lol.
I had to look into this. According to hockeyfights.com The only of eight fights Kane has clearly lost in the last five years are against Reaves and Chara. Clearly he is not a heavyweight, but is even happy to throw with them. Dangerous fella on this team.
No matter what has happened, or will happen with Evander Kane over the course of his Oilers career and his life, I will always respect him for one thing: Kane obliterated Matt Cooke, with one punch in a fight, making him answer for an elbow. It was the beginning of the end for Cooke.
Why do you think Tkachuk was stifled. Tkachuk was shitting bricks and rightfully so that his face would get caved in. Why do you think Kadri didn’t say boo after Kane nailed him Kadri is smart he knows when to keep his yap shut. We have Kane for the rest of Leon’s and Connor’s contract. Kane in Kassian out Holland deserves a A+
That right cross was a thing of beauty. Sweet justice. Cooke on Savard was one of the dirtiest plays in NHL history. Like Evander even more now!!
Mayan Oil
July 29, 2022 11:46 am
Silly Thought… we know Ken the Pen is not scared by older players, so how about 1 yr league minimum for Zdeno Chara? Another mentor type who might be serviceable on third pair/7th D?
I know he’s 45, but still is a usable player in a limited role, I think. Or am I dreaming in color?
Not sure who cast the down vote but I didn’t respond initially because this was discussed a fair amount last off season and early in this summer with the consensus being that Chara has no interest in the WC due to the travel. I forget which media guy initially said this but it seemed to be a deal breaker and not just for the OIlers.
The point is to get all the young guys “at-bats”. Desharnais needs at bats also.
One can always sign Russell in January.
It is pointless to sign a million dollar guy, who is only going to take away transition time for the young D, and who will have no effect on the decision about the need to acquire a D at the trade deadline.
The Oilers need to get all of the young guys up-to-speed and transitioning.
Broberg, Samorukov, Desharnais, and Niemelainen. The one who is struggling the most at any point in time gets uber ice time in Bakersfield, while the other three are in Edmonton working the transition from 7-8 minutes to 12-14 minutes. Two in the lineup on any given night in a 7-11 deployment.
Sorry, I don’t put Deharnais in that category and the only reason he’s in any sort of conversation about NHL games is because he’s a right shot and the lack thereof in the org.
For sure. “Sorry” in your comment served to degrade the other individual’s opinion. Expressing oneself doesn’t need to involve marginalizing another opinion.
I’ve watched alot of Condors over the last few years and that includes Vinny Deharnais – my goodness what progression he has shown from where he started and over the course of two seasons in the AHL.
I don’t have alot of confidence that his game will translate smoothly to the NHL level and my preference, going in to this season, is to ensure the team is covered with a legit option for right side D injury cover as opposed to seeing ensuring at bats for the org’s current 10D (in addition to at bats for Broberg, Niemelainen and Samorukov).
The coach may think otherwise but that is my opinion on the thread topic and in response to another post within it.
OriginalPouzar
July 29, 2022 11:38 am
I’ve been opining for the entire off-season then Samorukov will be in the opening night roster, not because of his waiver eligibility, but on merit.
Let’s not forget, this player was a serious contender to break camp with the team last season before he was injured in camp.
Once he was re-assigned to the Condors last season, after his sip of coffee (less than a cup), he was the Condor’s best dman. He was up to the top pairing and thrives in big even strength and PK minutes.
Of course, he will need to prove it in NHL regular season games but he’s NHL ready and he has the skill set the team needs.
Lots are looking for Niemo due to “truculence” but let’s not forget that Sammy is a big and aggressive defender. No, he’a bit the hunter that Niemo is but he’s mean in the defensive zone (crease clearer and cycle breaker) and a very aggressive zone entry denier. It’ll take some time to get his timing at the NHL level but, once settled, he’ll have the opposition keeping their heads up in the neutral zone on the rush.
Sammy is simply a “better player” than the likes of Niemo and Deharnais – much better with the puck, better puck mover, better defender, better shot, etc.
He’s ready and the only think holding him back now has been the inability to stay healthy.
I would like to learn more about this raft of bacon. Is it a normal raft lined with bacon? Is it a raft you make out of crossweaved bacon? Do you eat it while sitting in it on the water? Or while on land?
Randle McMurphy
July 29, 2022 10:50 am
So…as a matter of process….has Ken Holland thoroughly shopped Dimitri in anticipation of a possible waivers situation?
Give him wingers that drive to net and have soft hands as well more PP opportunities and he’ll pop 150 this year. How many points do Leon and Connor lose on being able to point when the opposition pulls there Goalie. Kane’s a stone cold killer when it come to getting a freebie Goal while the net is empty.
Running the Kane-McDavid-Draisaitl line would put a lot of pressure on opposing teams
Using the Vollman Sledgehammer, I have been wondering if you could run Hyman-McLeod-Puljujarvi and Foegele-Nuge-Yamamoto as middle 6 lines. The Hyman-Puljujarvi lines for tougher assignments (or heavier D-zone draws) and the Foegele-Nuge-Yamamoto line for easier, O-zone draws.
Keep 11 forwards per game and run the 4 centers with Janmark and Derek Ryan as wingers. If Foegele gets traded, you run Holloway in his spot
This is correct. And Nuge centreing the third line means that line is not giving up what the first two give.
Last edited 2 years ago by defmn
teddyturnbuckle
July 29, 2022 10:33 am
I hope Sammy makes the team this fall but if he gets sent down I’m not sure he gets claimed just like Benson didn’t last year. Every team has 4 or 5 AHL tweeners whose fan base overrates. Sammy will have to stay healthy and beat out Broberg for his spot. No way the Oilers can run Bouchard, Broberg and Sammy on opening night. I predict Sammy will get his shot as first or second recall after he clears waivers. I also believe Holland will sign a few more D men on bargain contracts that can easily be buried in the minors which will further block Sammy and Broberg from the NHL. The Oilers are going for the cup this year and if Holland can sign a veteran for 1 million who is a better option than Sammy then he has to do it.
Benson didn’t hit waivers until March, after he’d ‘proven’ himself with a 29 1-1-2 set of boxcars.
My guess is Samorukov gets similar track with the big club to see if he can establish himself. Barring injury he’ll be 7D so it’s not likely all of he, Bouchard and Broberg will be in the opening night lineup.
Can’t see him getting claimed unless a team has a rash full of injuries to start the year. Every team has 4 or 5 Sammy’s in there system he’s not special. Any G.M that saw his first and only shifts would have to be Masochist to claim Sammy
Do you judge him, and his potential, based solely off his one NHL game? Do you think Woody and Manson do. Or Holland? League GMs?
That was a bad game.
It is of zero consequence now (except it likely showed the player just how fast the NHL game is and how much work he needs on his aggressive step-up game).
Only one of Broberg or Samorukov will be in the lineup till they both demonstrate that they are better than Barrie or Kulak.
Randle McMurphy
July 29, 2022 10:28 am
Ken Holland is on the record as saying that the youth/prospects HAVE TO BE part of the winning equation in Edmonton. He has made specific reference to MANY of them.
SO far, all of his actions align with his words… imo
I will be mildly surprised if he adds a veteran D to the mix this summer. ( Unless some very useful grizzled veteran choses to come here at league minimum in an attempt to peruse Lord Stanley’s Cup)
Bag of Pucks
July 29, 2022 10:15 am
19 consecutive posts without mention of a certain Finnish winger.
“Who cares? Philip Broberg is better! Samorukov and Niemelainen may fight it out for the third pairing job. We’re well into this and you haven’t mentioned waivers. Are you ill? Samorukov is waiver-eligible this fall, so that is a consideration. You always cry wolf on this crap and the Oilers never lose anyone on waivers! Anton Forsberg says hello. One guy in 25 years and now you’ll roll that out for the next 25. You can downplay it all you want, but there is danger and good players are lost every year to waivers”.
Somewhere in this grouping of Q&A lies the dilemma of player development.
Assuming:
A) Competition is VERY HEALTHY; Could be considered a necessity
B) There is some number in the “lost to waivers” category that is acceptable/inevitable ( I would argue “by design” as a part of the league wide policy of parity.)
What is the league average for players lost to waivers? What is a percentage above below which we say this is normal/to be expected, VS. what percentage is above average and cause for concern regarding our process for player development?
More importantly, Should this affect the way we draft? Is it proper to draft in a manner that creates a “Leftorium”?
Is BPA “always” more important than “positional distribution”? OR alternatively, is BPA best reserved for 1st (and early 2nd round picks) ?
Further to the “positional distribution” question lies the consideration of “which positions are more critical” relative to the marketplace?
Is there a priority order? RHD, Centers, LHD, Goalies?
Under the premise that it is next to impossible to trade for a legit top pairing RHD…etc
Alternatively, do you just leave it to chance that over a 5-7 year stretch these things will even themselves out positionally speaking?
If you’re team desperately needs a 1RW, and there is a very good RHD available when it’s your turn to pick, AND there is a very good RW (1st line potential) available but ranked 5 spots later; Do you pick the D or the W?
Keeping in mind that there is some research out there that suggests that many athletes never reach there true potential as a result of either “lack of opportunity” or “being blocked”….and that this phenomenon is greatly underestimated and under reported.
You’re walking into a HH trap. He will list a bunch of RHD trades and hype them up to be a top pairing D and will explain how totally reasonable and cheap they were to acquire. He may even throw in some LHD too, only because he doesn’t know they are LHD.
“Off the top of my head.” = “I googled it for half an hour and could come up with only these 5 that happened within the last 5 years. I hope no one presses me further on the topic”
How did you get this video of early morning Randle???
(early morning = pre-second breakfast)
Last edited 2 years ago by Randle McMurphy
SayItAin'tSo, Gretz, SayItAin'tSo!
July 29, 2022 9:55 am
Love the Athletic article LT! Contemplating the awesomeness of McDavid is fun.
After Art Ross my favorite thing to track is the quest to 1,000 and how fast it can be done.
At his current pace McD hits 1,000 points in game 700 so 213 games from now. That pace will rank him 5th fastest all time, ahead of Kurri but behind Stastny. Can he pick it up and beat Stastny? What about catching Bossy?
If you catch Bossy you’re in the pantheon of the Greats. That would require 303 points in 169 games so a 1.793ppg pace which is 147 over an 82 game season.
Could you imagine Mcdavid playing in that era? His point totals would have been gross.
TruthHurts98
July 29, 2022 9:55 am
I can’t help but think that Ken Holland is going to add a veteran LD before the season starts. If injuries happen (they always do) then Broberg and Sammy will see NHL action. History says so, but KH is evolving and fired a coach mid season for the first time. So what do I know? I wouldn’t be surprised if Sammy is part of a trade to bring in a bottom pairing LD.
We’ve been running a top2 bottom4 rotation. Kulak and Barrie were good together and can maybe handle more. In the worst case we run Broberg Bouchard in sheltered minutes but doubt it comes to that.
Bouchard, Broberg and Niemalainen were in the lineup together for quite a few games last year (under both coaches).
These guys are all a year older, and in a healthy 12/6 lineup only 2 of them would be playing anyway. I don’t think it’s an issue, at least through the regular season.
It is Bouchard’s 3rdish season with a deep playoff run under his belt. He doesn’t need babysitting anymore. Heiskanen was a first pairing D the stepped on NA ice. It is a reasonable expectation that Bouchard should be a top 4D in his 3rd season, without qualification.
The Kulak/Barrie pairing was really good – yes, 3rd pairing comp but, really, I’m not sure their deployment was much different than the Keith/Bouch pairing – they may be just fine as the 2nd pairing.
Broberg/Bouch seems like a bit much to ask unless its really really soft minutes so your deployment somewhat evens out the pairs.
With that said, I think the coaching staff probably has the tough minutes pair of Nurse/Ceci pencilled in going in to camp.
jonrmcleod
July 29, 2022 9:34 am
These conversations are like the ones I do in my head in which I win every argument. Why can’t this imaginary Oilers fan ever win? 🙂
In order to have a socratic dialogue, you need a wrong person asking the right questions. Might sound like a thankless job, but it’s been like 2600 years and we still remember Euthyphro’s name (haha and spell check does too).
SayItAin'tSo, Gretz, SayItAin'tSo!
July 29, 2022 9:17 am
So mulling over a few things lately something keeps tripping me up. Preface, I’m not a cap savant and I know LTIR can be a tricky wicket so maybe I’m missing something obvious.
Playing around with Cap Friendly it seems quite easy to keep all of Foegele, Yamo, McLeod and JP with that $6.367 million space created when Smith and Klef are put on LTIR. I’ve also got this feeling that Kook might hit LTIR but that’s a feeling. This is assuming you get Yamamoto at or under $3 million and McLeod around $900k.
Yes I know in order to maximize LTIR you should be as close as possible to cap without exceeding. But if you sign up to the max space allowed by Smith/Klef contracts that would open up a similar amount of LTIR relief wouldn’t it?
Yes you are dollar in dollar out at that point but that was always going to be the case this season. I know the bonus issues would pop up with all of say Bouch, Bro and Holloway, but those can be swallowed up with the Looch/Sek space that emerges after next season.
Not the most efficient way to go about things but does seem like a way to keep the entire forward group together no?
The Oilers have a cap penalty this season of $896K due to performance bonuses being hit last season ($850K of that was Bouchard).
This will be an issue for next season as well. If healthy, Bouch will hit four sched A bonuses for $850K and both Holloway (apx $300K) and Broberg (apx $500K) have potential sched A bonuses.
CAN’T WAIT to get out of LTIR hell.
Koekkoek could simply be waived and assigned and his cap hit would disappear compeltely.
Bouch’s bonuses doesn’t impact the actual total cap does it?
Meaning the Oilers are still able to sign folks up to $82.5 million its just Bouch’s overage pulls down the available amount to $81.35 right off the start.
This doesn’t really matter if you decide to fully max LTIR by going directly over on opening day by the $6.367 from Smith/Klef contracts?
What I think I’m suggesting is different from what we’ve done the last two years. The idea for this year isn’t even trying to get cap compliant from day once its trying to get as close as possible to the Smith/Klef total overage on day one so you can maximize the LTIR room that way.
I’m not sure I understand the overall question but, to your initial point, this year’s potential bonuses don’t impact that cap this year (well, there is an exception) but, as you point out, the performance bonuses hit from last year are creating a cap penalty of just under $900K – its simply dead cap, just like a buyout or retained money.
This year’s potential performance bonuses (Bouch at $850K, Holloway at apx $300K, Broberg at apx $500K and Bourgault with a tiny amount) won’t impact the cap at all this year except to the extent that any of them are not on the opening night roster and are called up during the season.
If any of them are not on the roster to start the season, when called up, their bonuses will hit their cap hits and increase their hit. All three will assuredly be on the opening night roster due to this – they likely would in any event, on merit, but this solidifies it. If they do want Holloway to play AHL games, I would think he’ll be on the opening night roster and then assigned.
This year will be the same as last year, they will use off-season LTIR to get compliant – in order to maximize they will want their opening night cap to be as close to $82.5MM plus $4.167MM plus $2.2M as it sets their artificially inflated cap number (subject to additional LTIR placements during the year).
Yea overages is where I sorta get tripped up. From my reading bonus overages are not something that accrues immediately cause some/most of them you don’t earn immediately so its unknown if they will vest at the beginning of a season. Where they bite is at the end of the season when you calculate the full cap for the year.
LTIR can be used to build a bonus pool if the player on LTIR has bonuses. In season you need to have a combo of both Cap and Bonus pools open if you want to avoid the overages. But you can run the risk of playing everyone and just having to pay out the bonuses as an overage next year. The players most likely to hit bonuses are Bouch, Bro and Holloway. None of which are more than $850K and if they all vested you’d be looking at a 23/24 cap hit of $2.25 which just so happens to be the exact amount coming off the books next year with Looch and Sekera… its coincidental enough that you have to wonder if Kenny pulled out the calculator a few years back.
Kook on LTIR is just a hunch. The fact that he disappeared mid year and then sorta out of the blue right after the season was over “oh yea we see Kook playing games next year.” I have no intel at all, just something felt “off” about having to say it out loud.
Anyway, there are scenarios – trading Kook and Shore, maybe Janmark and a 5th, or something like that can also open the space needed.
Just thinking out loud cause of all the angst and focus on trading someone like Barrie or JP instead of two or more of the not so useful players who populate the roster.
I’m sure the Oilers’ capologist is having many sleepless nights wrestling with this exact issue. 😉
Somebody off of the roster is going to be moved or there will be a convenient injury during TC that will allow the decision to be pushed a little into the future but however you slice it there is too much season for too little money the way things stand right now.
— this was my understanding as well. I always assumed the “need” to shed salary was much ado about nothing but every mid-summer article talks about the need to shed fogerle or barrie. I thought LRIT takes care of this based on reasonable contracts. I guess we are wrong?
Yea I’m not sure. It seems pretty straightforward so maybe we’re missing something. Utilizing LTIR in this way no doubt puts pressure on the roster to deliver and stay healthy but… so what?
Unfortunately I think you’re mistaken. I’ll take a stab at showing how/why.
If you look at the Oilers roster on Capfriendly right now, there 2.93M over the cap ($85.43M vs. $82.5M cap) with 19 players on the roster. That includes bonus overages from last year and the dead cap from Lucic/Sekera/Neal.
For some reason Capfriendly includes LTIR players on IR, but not LTIR in the summer (they’re not on LTIR yet I guess). Their cap hit is included in the $85.43M number Capfriendly shows, but they aren’t counted in the 19 roster players.
Put them on LTIR and the Oilers have $3.4M in cap space (with 19 warm bodies).
I’ve been expecting McLeod to sign at $1M and Yamamoto at $3M ($4M total), so I’ll use those numbers for now. That would immediately put the team $600k over the cap, and with 21 players on the roster (12F, 7D, 2G).
Given that Bakersfield is about 2500 kms from Edmonton, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the team to go through the season without carrying at least one extra F and one extra D. (I think even running a 22-man roster, without enough cap space to call someone up unless they go on LTIR, is unlikely. But we’ll proceed for now).
So you add Holloway to the roster. Now you have 22 players (13F, 7D, 2G) and the team is $1.5M (and change) over the cap.
Holland would need to sign McLeod and Yamamoto for $2.5M total ($900k and $1.6M?) in order to get cap compliant (and again, if someone got injured in this scenario, the team can’t call up a replacement unless the injured player goes on LTIR).
The most popular solution if trading Foegele and replacing him with someone cheaper. If he’s traded and replaced with a league minimum player ($750k) that saves $2M.
That gets the team compliant with McLeod and Yamamoto at plausible cap hits and with $500k-ish to spare. The team would still only be able to have a 22-man roster, and the 500k wouldn’t be enough to call up a players, so whether Holland will run things that close to the edge we don’t know.
I hope that’s slightly clearer.
Edit: And bonus overages from last season are affecting this season. The ones that will accrue this season (because the team will be in LTIR) will affect available cap for 23-24, but do not affect this years roster/cap.
Last edited 2 years ago by jp
LMHF#1
July 29, 2022 9:13 am
#80’s got a better NHL game at the moment (and yes, there’s a difference), but hopefully they both leap off the page and give the team difficult choices from fall to spring. That’d be an excellent outcome.
Is it though? Nemo is not very good with the puck and he also got lit up (6-11 gf-ga 5v5). He is physical, which is great, but otherwise, his game needs some polish.
The amount of times the context of when he played and the minutes he was given is being left out by people acting like he got lit up is rather hilarious at this point. If you watched those games, you know he wasn’t creating some hole out there.
And are we really going to start acting like 17 whole goals worth of activity just stand on their own as a stat? I’m certainly not about that.
The man is underrated and did really solid work in the position he was placed. And in addition he flat out blew up at least one person per game. That’s worth a bunch.
The amount of times the context of when he played and the minutes he was given is being left out by people acting like he got lit up is rather hilarious at this point. If you watched those games, you know he wasn’t creating some hole out there.
With respect, big time disagree – over his last number of games, he was absolutely leaking scoring chances (and goals) against, with direct culpability.
The man is underrated and did really solid work in the position he was placed. And in addition he flat out blew up at least one person per game. That’s worth a bunch.
I believe he’s over-rated at the NHL level and, you somewhat nailed it, he became a fan favourite for blowing up a guy a game – I mean, blow up Dustin Brown and you will have a cult following. I like it, he has a presence, but it creates him being over-rated as it doesn’t come close to making up for the defensive mistakes and culpability on scoring chances against.
im curious why you think niemo has a better NHL game?
I love his physicality and size but samorukov is more mobile and much better at passing. I look forward to him getting a FULL training camp and showing his capability. Unfortuantely last year he blew up his jaw early and was done.
Primarily because in addition to the physicality, he’s shown himself to be a strong skater (you don’t land big hits in the NHL without whiffing if you’re not a strong skater) and has very good positional instincts at this level. Also – for a guy who does what he does he’s just fine with the puck. There was almost zero of the Kris Russell fire it around the boards and give it away garbage to his game. That’s a big check mark on a team with the Oilers’ firepower.
#80’s got a better NHL game at the moment (and yes, there’s a difference), but hopefully they both leap off the page and give the team difficult choices from fall to spring. That’d be an excellent outcome.
I disagree vehemently on this.
If anything, Niemo showed his puck skill aren’t good enough yet and he needs to work on them. Niemo started strong but, as we saw, he would be directly responsible for at least 1 or 2 high danger chances against per game – he was leaking big time in his last 5-7 games.
Sure, Sammy had that terrible start but, overall, Sammy is simply a better defender than Niemo and has the better skill-set – skater, shot, puck-play, transition play, etc.
VanIsleOil
July 29, 2022 9:11 am
LT, your question and answer sections are the best!!
Schultz has 2 Stanley Cup rings. The problem with Schultz was Dallas Eakins and Craig (he will win the Norris) MacT.
Eakins has Anaheim dementoring along just like he did in Edmonton. And he was handed a team with real experienced players in all the key positions in Anaheim
He had the case of being overly-aggresive trying to step up at the defensive blue. An elite part of his game where he’s struggled at the start of each new step – in time, he will be a beast at the NHL level defending zone entires.
That was the first step of learning at the NHL level (he had a similar start, for a run of games, as a rookie in the AHL).
DBO
July 29, 2022 8:49 am
I think Samorukov will be the surprise of camp. i expect he plays ahead of Broberg to start, as he is better suited to play alongside either Bouchard or Barrie, as more of a physical stay at home type (has offense, and yes he is nasty). He will thrive as a 3rd pairing guy.
I actually like the idea of Samorukov and a minimum salary vet and Broberg in the minors to start. I expect with injuries you see Broberg back within a month or so and he never goes back down.
He’s the guy I’ll be cheering the hardest for. I was afraid he was going to be traded this summer but it looks now like he will at least make it to camp.
I’m not sure if he plays ahead of Broberg but I do think he makes the team on merit.
I could see the Oilers signing Russell for league min (saves a couple hundred grand over Koekkoek and, frankly, I like Russell better in the room and often on the ice) and running with 8D and 13F to start the season (Russell and Sammy as 7/8D).
fishman
July 29, 2022 8:47 am
Fairly certain Sammy gets NHL games this year. As it is always stated a team needs 8-10 D men during a season.
I get paid over $85 per hour working from home with 2 kids at home. I never thought I’d be able to do it but my best friend earns over 10k a month doing this and she convinced me to try. The potential with this is endless.
Here’s what I’ve been doing… http://www.Jobs234.com
Jim Rutherford is clear his team needs to trade for a right shot D and, of course, given their cap situation, money needs to go out.
Is there anything that can be done around Tanner Pearson and Barrie? Of course, Foegele would need to go in a seperate transaction and the Oilers would need to back-fill with a Subban signing.
Ya, that’s too many moving pieces and I’m not sure it makes the team much better (although I do think PK would do very well in a depth role).
Tanner Pearson is a no for me.. Connor Garland, on the other hand…
Vancouver is looking for a young shutdown type D to pair with Quinn Hughes.
I doubt they would have much interest in Barrie and I suspect JT Miller is the bait not Garland although his name has been mentioned in trade rumours.
Don’t think a rental winger is gonna get you a young cost controlled defenseman in this market
Would have to be a contract extension in place.
Not looking likely.
Woody (and Manson) coached the Oilers for 38 regular season games. In those games, Jesse Puljujarvi was 1.86 P/60.
This was 6th among regulars (Ryan was in there) and well ahead of the likes of Nuge, McLeod, Foegele and a bit ahead of Yamamoto.
He only played in 23 of those 38 games.
NHL Watcher
@NHL_Watcher
Friedman on Kadri (32TP): “I think the Isles are in it, I thought Colorado was out of it but someone said to me, don’t be so fast”
“If I had to guess, and believe me this is a guess, and I would like to stress that it’s a guess, I think COL and NYI are probably the favourites”
Remember when Ty Rattie was on the top line.
Hahahahaha.
So happy this team is finally competitive and has somewhat competent management.
#blessed.
almost as bad as JF Jacques
How many teams in the entire league would Bouchard be on PP 1? <19>.
Hailey Salvian
@hailey_salvian
Really excited to build something with our women’s hockey coverage at The Athletic — and still work in the NHL vertical.
Calgary, I’ll still be around this summer for whatever happens next with the Flames.
Interesting developments in sports radio.
SeanFitz_Gerald
@SeanFitz_Gerald
Why a Canadian Football League team joined a trend and took over its own radio rights https://theathletic.com/3457974/2022/07/29/canadian-football-league-hamilton-radio/
Adam Seaborn
@AHBSeaborn
Won’t be surprised if the Canucks, Flames and Oilers bring their audio rights in house and control the production and stream
No market for team radio rights anymore
It makes sense. Teams can control the entire enterprise by going in-house. Gives the sales department more ammo too, you could sell season ticket packages around ad campaigns running on you tube channel or (more likely) package the entire broadcast for networks at a price that includes a piece of the advertising buy. There are dollars there for teams, and more control. Win win.
Yeah…I think so too.
Pretty much what MSG Network has been doing.
Oil website was top notch for timely highlights and news updates before NHL assimilated it. I’m all for EDM taking back reins for any part of its media.
The market for John Klingberg this offseason never did materialize as he had hoped, so it appears he may try again next summer. The free agent defenseman is closing in on a one-year contract worth around $7MM with the Anaheim Ducks, according to Kevin Weekes of ESPN. Eric Stephens of The Athletic confirms the deal
Curious about what Verbeek is up to this offseason considering his signings.
Klingberg
Strome
Vatrano
After signing Klingberg they still have almost $20 million in cap space left.
I wonder if he is considering making a playoff push given all three of those signings are pushing 30.
They gave Klinberg money to flip him at deadline
Good catch.
Perhaps…but not a very cost effective way to get another pick. They already have 9.
How do you explain the Strome and Vatrano signings?
Both are multiple years.
Explain singnings…. hmmmm maybe they needed players to fill roles and roster spots?
Fancy that.
Put puck in net…. then date a Ukrainian tennis player.
Rebuilding teams don’t often sign 29 year old centres to 5 year contracts especially when they have Trevor Zebras and Mason McTavish on the way.
They also needed to get to the cap floor.
You don’t need to sign a players to a 5 year deal to solve a 1 year problem.
pretty simple
Theres a reason Klinbergs NTC lasts until Jan. He wanted a paycheck, they want a warm body for season and flip him for a first rounder at trade deadline in what is supposed to be a very good draft.
Vatrano is a depth signing and someone to give their prospects more time.
Strome is a perfect guy for them as he can take the hard minutes away from their young guys and by the time they are ready for the heavies he’s gonna be paid the price of a 3rd line center in the league
David Pagnotta
@TheFourthPeriod
·
30m
Hearing the Blackhawks have been engaged in trade discussions with teams about Patrick Kane. Dallas among the teams most recently interested.
Might want to consider signing Robertson and otter first
They could likely pull it off if they moved Gurianov and Faksa.
A 25yr and 28yr old return is not going to win the day lol.
No one suggested they would be part of a Kane trade.
They could could be moved to other teams to free up cap space for Kane.
because cap hits are so easy to move?
Even Faksa 5 team no trade list could be turned into a full no trade list with just a little thought
While David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period tweets that the Blackhawks have engaged in trade discussions regarding Kane and lists the Dallas Stars as one of the teams with recent interest, Mark Lazerus of The Athletic has thrown cold water on any speculation. Lazerus has been informed by a source that there have been no trade talks so far, though admits that teams are likely “sniffing around” on the superstar forward.
Kane said recently that he wants to see how season goes
Yup. I expect he will be a TD target for a number of teams and he will chose the one he likes at that time. Toews may retire if he has been paid all of his bonus money but $2.9M is still a lot to walk away from.
Kane McDavid Kane is going to be bananas.
Is there going to be another Friday afternoon news (transactions) dump?
Eric Stephens
@icemancometh
Can confirm @KevinWeekes
report of #NHLDucks signing defenseman John Klingberg to one-year deal worth $7 million.
Eric Stephens
@icemancometh
I do want to fix this a bit. Contract hasn’t been officially signed but an agreement was reached. Final details being done. Shouldn’t say it’s $7M but figure will come in around that.
I would think that would likely be after cleaning waivers and a trade. If the player gets claimed on waivers, the claiming team has to keep him on the NHL roster or re-expose him to waivers. I don’t see the Oilers not re-claiming the player if given the option.
As I posted earlier, I do think that Sammy makes the team on merit (if he stays healthy through camp and exhibition).
With that said, if he is exposed to waivers, he likely slides through – I know there has been interest in him in the past but, given where we are (largely due to injuries hi-jacking his seasons beginnings and ends), I think he might clear. I mean, more famous names than Dimitri Samorukov clear waivers daily in the days leading up to the season, right?
I’m not sure they’d risk it, and I don’t think I would either and, frankly, I think he makes it a non-question with his performance.
Samorukov’s NHL sip of coffee was not good, we all know that.
He got beat twice being aggressive at the defensive blueline.
This is not surprising, nor is it something I’m worried about.
In his senior year in Guelph, I’ve never seen a player so aggressive defending the zone entry and stepping up at the defensive blue and the in the neutral zone. Sammy was absolutely elite in this area and a massive presence.
When he was a rookie in the AHL, he continued to play that style and it did not go well – whether it was advanced scouting or simply faster players or more skilled players or a combo, he got beat early and often.
Sammy had to scale it back and learn to pick his spots a bit better and, of course, work on timing and angles, etc. with the bigger and faster and more skilled players. He really came on in this regard half way through his rookie year (until his season went side-ways via the facial injury).
Again, Sammy continued to be great at this at the AHL level and tried to play “his game” during his NHL sip of coffee. It did not go well.
I presume something similar will happen as he develops at the NHL level – the extra size, speed and skill, and advanced scouting, will require the player (and his coaches) to scale back this aggressiveness, learn, develop, etc.
In time, he will be a monster in this area like he was in junior and like he has been in the AHL.
Listening to Tyler on the show today and he mentioned McLellan saved Chiarelli by refusing to play Bouchard more in his draft plus 1 and forcing a return to Junior before burning that first year.
I have long said that burning that first year isn’t always a bad thing and can sometimes have some benefits as the 2nd contract comes sooner, when the player is less established, and can lead to a cheaper 2nd contract.
How would we feel if Bouch was up for renewal now?
Let’s take away the fact that it would behoove management to try and get the extension done this off-season or early in the coming season.
If he was an RFA now, we’d probably be looking at a significant raise but a lesser raise then he’s going to get after playing this coming season.
It would cause cap issues today but would be cheaper over the next few years, presumably.
Anyways, just something on my mind.
They could of used Bouchard in the Play-in against the Hawks when Kelfbom shouldn’t have been the QB on the PP with literally one arm in a sling. They also could of used him down the stretch 2 years ago and more importantly against Winnipeg which we lost 3OT games where a Bouch Bomb could of changed the series. Why did they play Bear who wasn’t in the Oiler plans over the man with pedigree and a Core piece of the team for the next 7-10 years. Tippett should of been fired after the Winnipeg series the way he deployed his players was baffling.
That’s nice – nothing to do with the post mind you.
Sure it does. Bouchard should of been developed differently which would of eaten up a year of his eligibility. Why are you bringing this up you were all gung ho on him not getting into any games because Bear was to good to take out are rest. He should of been giving the Dobson treatment (pedigree) instead he was giving a 3rd 89 pick treatment. Do you think Bouchard isn’t going to remember this come contract time?
Nothing to do with a conversation related to contract terms as an RFA now vs. next year.
Also, nope, as you always do, you misconstrue positions as i was NEVER in favor of Buchard not getting more games and posted as such at the time and since.
Also, Dobson, the Dobson that was healthy scratched for half of his first NHL season?
How much better would Bouchard be with the 58 games Dobson has on him. Out of the three drafted in 2018 Ty Smith 114 games Noah Dobson 160 games and Evan Bouchard 102 games. Evan was supposedly the most NHL ready. Why has he played the least amount?
Feel free to start a thread about the topic you want to talk about.
I created this post to talk about burning ELC years and contract implications with Bouchard as an example.
When I think of “power forwards,” I think of players like Cam Neely, Jarome Iginla and Mark Messier. Evander Kane is cut from the same cloth imo and Oiler fans are going to love this player more with every passing game.
The Oilers haven’t had a ton of true power forwards in their history. They are rare after all. I would count Mess, Draisaitl, Guerin, and Big Rig as the best. Kovalenko and Grier had power forward bodies but obviously didn’t produce at elite levels nor did they bring the nasty edge you’d like from a true PF. When they have a dash of mean like Messier or Iginla or Kane, that’s the perfect recipe.
Who was/is your favourite Oiler power forward. Who am I missing? McCurdy!
LT could do a great post on how the Oilers chased this player type for years in the draft. From Joe Hulbig to Mitch Moroz, the Oilers were buying coke machines like Joe Rogan buys creatine.
I think LT alluded to this when Kane signed. Something like “this is the player the Oilers hoped they were getting when they signed Lucic”.
Also, teams HATE Kane. It is actually hilarious.
Players like Kane are the true alphas in the league. They skate into a scrum and you immediately see which opposing players are contenders and which are pretenders.
People joke about Tkachuk fleeing for Florida. I actually think there could be something to that. Legit power forwards completely neutralize turtles who are all talk and no walk. Kane could’ve made Tkachuk miserable for years.
There’s players who start fights and players who end fights. Kane is definitely the latter. Love it!
Also, Kane is such a distraction. If other teams are focused on Kane they are paying less attention to Drai and McD.
I love it.
Kane changes the entire complexion of the team.
Oilersnation has a FB post up from a couple hrs ago showing a quote and pic of Tkachuk via twitter from his Panthers presser taking about how he’s there to change their fortunes re: winning.
ON highlighted a reply from Kane (verified twitter acct) that was simply: Lol.
Hilarious indeed.
Amazing.
Jason Arnott
It’s a shame that because they were traded for each other, he never got to play with Bill Guerin.
Nobody could’ve handled that duo.
Arnott needed to leave town Sather made it happen
That is true.
Jason Arnott Adam Graves after he left Edmonton kudos to Joe Murphy. How about 20 goal scorer in 1992 Kelly Buchberger.
I had to look into this. According to hockeyfights.com The only of eight fights Kane has clearly lost in the last five years are against Reaves and Chara. Clearly he is not a heavyweight, but is even happy to throw with them. Dangerous fella on this team.
Arnott and Graves. Good call guys. Both were legit PFs.
If Evander and Leon play on the same line at some point, I’m dubbing them ‘The Bruise Brothers!’ TM ☺
No matter what has happened, or will happen with Evander Kane over the course of his Oilers career and his life, I will always respect him for one thing: Kane obliterated Matt Cooke, with one punch in a fight, making him answer for an elbow. It was the beginning of the end for Cooke.
https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/94177
Why do you think Tkachuk was stifled. Tkachuk was shitting bricks and rightfully so that his face would get caved in. Why do you think Kadri didn’t say boo after Kane nailed him Kadri is smart he knows when to keep his yap shut. We have Kane for the rest of Leon’s and Connor’s contract. Kane in Kassian out Holland deserves a A+
That right cross was a thing of beauty. Sweet justice. Cooke on Savard was one of the dirtiest plays in NHL history. Like Evander even more now!!
Silly Thought… we know Ken the Pen is not scared by older players, so how about 1 yr league minimum for Zdeno Chara? Another mentor type who might be serviceable on third pair/7th D?
I know he’s 45, but still is a usable player in a limited role, I think. Or am I dreaming in color?
Appreciate the vote, even as a down vote. What is your reasoning please?
Someone is grumpy, that’s my guess about the downvote. I voted up, or will, because signing Zdeno Chara is ALWAYS a good idea.
Someone’s giving out downvotes like Oprah gives out new cars.
Looks like bacon is the only subject that avoided wrath!
How dare you.
lol
Anybody has trouble with bacon, they have trouble with me!
Not sure who cast the down vote but I didn’t respond initially because this was discussed a fair amount last off season and early in this summer with the consensus being that Chara has no interest in the WC due to the travel. I forget which media guy initially said this but it seemed to be a deal breaker and not just for the OIlers.
I was the 2nd down vote. I am fine with Chara at the deadline, but the team needs to play Broberg and Samorukov.to find out what they got.
I think the Oilers actually run 8D and 13F, and do a lot of 7D 11F in games.
Broberg, Samorukov, and Desharnais.
I agree with 8D, Broberg, Samorukov, Russell.
The point is to get all the young guys “at-bats”. Desharnais needs at bats also.
One can always sign Russell in January.
It is pointless to sign a million dollar guy, who is only going to take away transition time for the young D, and who will have no effect on the decision about the need to acquire a D at the trade deadline.
The Oilers need to get all of the young guys up-to-speed and transitioning.
Broberg, Samorukov, Desharnais, and Niemelainen. The one who is struggling the most at any point in time gets uber ice time in Bakersfield, while the other three are in Edmonton working the transition from 7-8 minutes to 12-14 minutes. Two in the lineup on any given night in a 7-11 deployment.
Sorry, I don’t put Deharnais in that category and the only reason he’s in any sort of conversation about NHL games is because he’s a right shot and the lack thereof in the org.
No need to be sorry, but you’ll forgive us if we wait to see what the coaching staff thinks this fall.
Of course, the coaching staff will make the call.
In the interim, I would like to be able to post my opinion on such matters……
For sure. “Sorry” in your comment served to degrade the other individual’s opinion. Expressing oneself doesn’t need to involve marginalizing another opinion.
The word “sorry” was not meant to degrade anybody or anything.
Sorry is a difficult word in this context. I think, despite your intent, it reads that way for many.
I’ve watched alot of Condors over the last few years and that includes Vinny Deharnais – my goodness what progression he has shown from where he started and over the course of two seasons in the AHL.
I don’t have alot of confidence that his game will translate smoothly to the NHL level and my preference, going in to this season, is to ensure the team is covered with a legit option for right side D injury cover as opposed to seeing ensuring at bats for the org’s current 10D (in addition to at bats for Broberg, Niemelainen and Samorukov).
The coach may think otherwise but that is my opinion on the thread topic and in response to another post within it.
I’ve been opining for the entire off-season then Samorukov will be in the opening night roster, not because of his waiver eligibility, but on merit.
Let’s not forget, this player was a serious contender to break camp with the team last season before he was injured in camp.
Once he was re-assigned to the Condors last season, after his sip of coffee (less than a cup), he was the Condor’s best dman. He was up to the top pairing and thrives in big even strength and PK minutes.
Of course, he will need to prove it in NHL regular season games but he’s NHL ready and he has the skill set the team needs.
Lots are looking for Niemo due to “truculence” but let’s not forget that Sammy is a big and aggressive defender. No, he’a bit the hunter that Niemo is but he’s mean in the defensive zone (crease clearer and cycle breaker) and a very aggressive zone entry denier. It’ll take some time to get his timing at the NHL level but, once settled, he’ll have the opposition keeping their heads up in the neutral zone on the rush.
Sammy is simply a “better player” than the likes of Niemo and Deharnais – much better with the puck, better puck mover, better defender, better shot, etc.
He’s ready and the only think holding him back now has been the inability to stay healthy.
I am torn between… “more Summer please!”
and…”DROP THE #$%$#% PUCK!!!”
Peace Out…..
#2ndBreakfast
Was busy scoffing down a raft of bacon and just couldn’t get this out of my head.
Ken Holland talking to a certain young prospect….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEB-OoUrNuk
Particularly like the visual of the Oilers “war-room” and the reference to something potentially going wrong with the “Bouch-bomb”
Gotta run….Bacon disappears in a damn hurry in our house.
I would like to learn more about this raft of bacon. Is it a normal raft lined with bacon? Is it a raft you make out of crossweaved bacon? Do you eat it while sitting in it on the water? Or while on land?
So…as a matter of process….has Ken Holland thoroughly shopped Dimitri in anticipation of a possible waivers situation?
#InformationIsPower
Why? Samorukov has top four potential with mobility and a physical edge and likely to be affordable for a long while because of a lack of boxcars.
Samorukov fills a need that neither Barrie nor Kulak (nor Ceci) provides.
LT, loved the Art Ross article.
I believe McD will hit 150 at least once.
Every time I think he has peaked he just gets better, e.g., the past playoffs.
Thanks! He’s kind of incredible.
Give him wingers that drive to net and have soft hands as well more PP opportunities and he’ll pop 150 this year. How many points do Leon and Connor lose on being able to point when the opposition pulls there Goalie. Kane’s a stone cold killer when it come to getting a freebie Goal while the net is empty.
Part of me wants to see Kane-McD-Drai all season just for the guide and record book entries.
Or trade for P. Kane. Kane-McD- Kane.
Running the Kane-McDavid-Draisaitl line would put a lot of pressure on opposing teams
Using the Vollman Sledgehammer, I have been wondering if you could run Hyman-McLeod-Puljujarvi and Foegele-Nuge-Yamamoto as middle 6 lines. The Hyman-Puljujarvi lines for tougher assignments (or heavier D-zone draws) and the Foegele-Nuge-Yamamoto line for easier, O-zone draws.
Keep 11 forwards per game and run the 4 centers with Janmark and Derek Ryan as wingers. If Foegele gets traded, you run Holloway in his spot
Less is more. Draisaitl and Hyman driving the 2nd line will make it easier for Kane and McDavid.
You are probably right but I have heat stroke.
This is correct. And Nuge centreing the third line means that line is not giving up what the first two give.
I hope Sammy makes the team this fall but if he gets sent down I’m not sure he gets claimed just like Benson didn’t last year. Every team has 4 or 5 AHL tweeners whose fan base overrates. Sammy will have to stay healthy and beat out Broberg for his spot. No way the Oilers can run Bouchard, Broberg and Sammy on opening night. I predict Sammy will get his shot as first or second recall after he clears waivers. I also believe Holland will sign a few more D men on bargain contracts that can easily be buried in the minors which will further block Sammy and Broberg from the NHL. The Oilers are going for the cup this year and if Holland can sign a veteran for 1 million who is a better option than Sammy then he has to do it.
Benson didn’t hit waivers until March, after he’d ‘proven’ himself with a 29 1-1-2 set of boxcars.
My guess is Samorukov gets similar track with the big club to see if he can establish himself. Barring injury he’ll be 7D so it’s not likely all of he, Bouchard and Broberg will be in the opening night lineup.
Can’t see him getting claimed unless a team has a rash full of injuries to start the year. Every team has 4 or 5 Sammy’s in there system he’s not special. Any G.M that saw his first and only shifts would have to be Masochist to claim Sammy
Do you judge him, and his potential, based solely off his one NHL game? Do you think Woody and Manson do. Or Holland? League GMs?
That was a bad game.
It is of zero consequence now (except it likely showed the player just how fast the NHL game is and how much work he needs on his aggressive step-up game).
Bouchard is now a grizzled vet.
Only one of Broberg or Samorukov will be in the lineup till they both demonstrate that they are better than Barrie or Kulak.
Ken Holland is on the record as saying that the youth/prospects HAVE TO BE part of the winning equation in Edmonton. He has made specific reference to MANY of them.
SO far, all of his actions align with his words… imo
I will be mildly surprised if he adds a veteran D to the mix this summer. ( Unless some very useful grizzled veteran choses to come here at league minimum in an attempt to peruse Lord Stanley’s Cup)
19 consecutive posts without mention of a certain Finnish winger.
“It’s gonna be a good day tater.”
1.Granlund. 14.Neimelainen.
2.Haakana. 15.Ninimaa.
3.Hagman. 16.Pakarinen.
4.Hartikainen 17.Petrell.
5.Jalo. 18.Pitkanen.
6.Jalonen. 19.Rita.
7.Joensuu. 20.Ruotsalainen.
8.Jokinen. 21.Salmelainen.
9.Korpikoski. 22.Siltanen.
10.Koskinen. 23.Sumanen.
11.Kurri. 24.Takko.
12.Luoma. 25.Tikkanen.
13.Markkanen 26.Tuomainen.
Shit disturber 😄
“Who cares? Philip Broberg is better! Samorukov and Niemelainen may fight it out for the third pairing job.
We’re well into this and you haven’t mentioned waivers. Are you ill? Samorukov is waiver-eligible this fall, so that is a consideration.
You always cry wolf on this crap and the Oilers never lose anyone on waivers! Anton Forsberg says hello.
One guy in 25 years and now you’ll roll that out for the next 25. You can downplay it all you want, but there is danger and good players are lost every year to waivers”.
Somewhere in this grouping of Q&A lies the dilemma of player development.
Assuming:
A) Competition is VERY HEALTHY; Could be considered a necessity
B) There is some number in the “lost to waivers” category that is acceptable/inevitable ( I would argue “by design” as a part of the league wide policy of parity.)
What is the league average for players lost to waivers? What is a percentage above below which we say this is normal/to be expected, VS. what percentage is above average and cause for concern regarding our process for player development?
More importantly, Should this affect the way we draft? Is it proper to draft in a manner that creates a “Leftorium”?
Is BPA “always” more important than “positional distribution”? OR alternatively, is BPA best reserved for 1st (and early 2nd round picks) ?
Ray Whitney also says hi. That one still stings.
That decision was pure OBC.
I should have prefaced all of this with “stick boys not included” 😉
Further to the “positional distribution” question lies the consideration of “which positions are more critical” relative to the marketplace?
Is there a priority order? RHD, Centers, LHD, Goalies?
Under the premise that it is next to impossible to trade for a legit top pairing RHD…etc
Alternatively, do you just leave it to chance that over a 5-7 year stretch these things will even themselves out positionally speaking?
If you’re team desperately needs a 1RW, and there is a very good RHD available when it’s your turn to pick, AND there is a very good RW (1st line potential) available but ranked 5 spots later; Do you pick the D or the W?
How did we end up with a leftorium and why?
Keeping in mind that there is some research out there that suggests that many athletes never reach there true potential as a result of either “lack of opportunity” or “being blocked”….and that this phenomenon is greatly underestimated and under reported.
“Under the premise that it is next to impossible to trade for a legit top pairing RHD…etc”
This is demonstrably false.
Care to provide examples for once?
You’re walking into a HH trap. He will list a bunch of RHD trades and hype them up to be a top pairing D and will explain how totally reasonable and cheap they were to acquire. He may even throw in some LHD too, only because he doesn’t know they are LHD.
Dougie Hamilton
Adam Fox
PK Subban
Erki Karlson
Brent Burns
Just off the top of my head.
lol the same Erik Karlson that was listed in the “Worst 10 contracts in the league” article you posted yesterday?
“Off the top of my head.” = “I googled it for half an hour and could come up with only these 5 that happened within the last 5 years. I hope no one presses me further on the topic”
Hall for Larsson 😉
Flyers sign Owen Tippet 2X$1.5 million.
How did you get this video of early morning Randle???
(early morning = pre-second breakfast)
Love the Athletic article LT! Contemplating the awesomeness of McDavid is fun.
After Art Ross my favorite thing to track is the quest to 1,000 and how fast it can be done.
At his current pace McD hits 1,000 points in game 700 so 213 games from now. That pace will rank him 5th fastest all time, ahead of Kurri but behind Stastny. Can he pick it up and beat Stastny? What about catching Bossy?
If you catch Bossy you’re in the pantheon of the Greats. That would require 303 points in 169 games so a 1.793ppg pace which is 147 over an 82 game season.
Is that possible?
Nah it can’t be. Can it?
It can Sir. It most certainly can.
Could you imagine Mcdavid playing in that era? His point totals would have been gross.
I can’t help but think that Ken Holland is going to add a veteran LD before the season starts. If injuries happen (they always do) then Broberg and Sammy will see NHL action. History says so, but KH is evolving and fired a coach mid season for the first time. So what do I know? I wouldn’t be surprised if Sammy is part of a trade to bring in a bottom pairing LD.
I don’t think a veteran D will be added now but we can rest assured that at least one veteran D will be acquired as we head in to the stretch run.
The left D will come at the deadline if needed. I think Manson is fine with his kids.
It is going to be tough for a NHL coach to have Bouchard, Broberg and Sammy all in the line up at the same time for and NHL game.
We’ve been running a top2 bottom4 rotation. Kulak and Barrie were good together and can maybe handle more. In the worst case we run Broberg Bouchard in sheltered minutes but doubt it comes to that.
I expect that by the playoffs, but I expect Kulak Bouchard and Broberg Barrie to start.
And then Broberg and Bouchard rocking-n-rolling through the playoffs.after they start playing together in February.
Rotation and injuries.
Bouchard, Broberg and Niemalainen were in the lineup together for quite a few games last year (under both coaches).
These guys are all a year older, and in a healthy 12/6 lineup only 2 of them would be playing anyway. I don’t think it’s an issue, at least through the regular season.
It is Bouchard’s 3rdish season with a deep playoff run under his belt. He doesn’t need babysitting anymore. Heiskanen was a first pairing D the stepped on NA ice. It is a reasonable expectation that Bouchard should be a top 4D in his 3rd season, without qualification.
I’d start games off…
Nurse/Bouchard
Kulak/Barrie
Broberg or Sammy/Ceci
Bouchard can be pushed to be better against elites. If it doesnt work that game you trade Ceci and Bouchard and off ya go.
I’ve thought about this as well.
The Kulak/Barrie pairing was really good – yes, 3rd pairing comp but, really, I’m not sure their deployment was much different than the Keith/Bouch pairing – they may be just fine as the 2nd pairing.
Broberg/Bouch seems like a bit much to ask unless its really really soft minutes so your deployment somewhat evens out the pairs.
With that said, I think the coaching staff probably has the tough minutes pair of Nurse/Ceci pencilled in going in to camp.
These conversations are like the ones I do in my head in which I win every argument. Why can’t this imaginary Oilers fan ever win? 🙂
Looks like someone gave a thumbs down to (almost) every comment! I blame HH.
I think it’s the $75 dollar an hour dude, who is likely a Flames fan.
In order to have a socratic dialogue, you need a wrong person asking the right questions. Might sound like a thankless job, but it’s been like 2600 years and we still remember Euthyphro’s name (haha and spell check does too).
So mulling over a few things lately something keeps tripping me up. Preface, I’m not a cap savant and I know LTIR can be a tricky wicket so maybe I’m missing something obvious.
Playing around with Cap Friendly it seems quite easy to keep all of Foegele, Yamo, McLeod and JP with that $6.367 million space created when Smith and Klef are put on LTIR. I’ve also got this feeling that Kook might hit LTIR but that’s a feeling. This is assuming you get Yamamoto at or under $3 million and McLeod around $900k.
Yes I know in order to maximize LTIR you should be as close as possible to cap without exceeding. But if you sign up to the max space allowed by Smith/Klef contracts that would open up a similar amount of LTIR relief wouldn’t it?
Yes you are dollar in dollar out at that point but that was always going to be the case this season. I know the bonus issues would pop up with all of say Bouch, Bro and Holloway, but those can be swallowed up with the Looch/Sek space that emerges after next season.
Not the most efficient way to go about things but does seem like a way to keep the entire forward group together no?
I’m not sure what your capfriendly chart looks like but I don’t think your scenario is possible. You need to have at least 21 players on the team.
You can make it work depending on the final values of Yamo and McLeod.
You need one of Yamo or McLeod to be a shade ($13,500 to be exact) under $2.9 and $900k respectively.
Opening roster has – McKegg, Malone and Niemelianan up along with all of the usual suspects on F, D and G.
Down are Holloway, Sammy and Bro
LTIR – Kook, Smith, Klef
Bonus overages will be a thing for sure but that can be dealt with next year.
It is my understanding that bonus overages count this year unless the players are on the opening night roster.
How did you get Koekoek on LTIR?
The Oilers have a cap penalty this season of $896K due to performance bonuses being hit last season ($850K of that was Bouchard).
This will be an issue for next season as well. If healthy, Bouch will hit four sched A bonuses for $850K and both Holloway (apx $300K) and Broberg (apx $500K) have potential sched A bonuses.
CAN’T WAIT to get out of LTIR hell.
Koekkoek could simply be waived and assigned and his cap hit would disappear compeltely.
You should really try to direct your responses to the person asking the questions. It would help everybody.
I did.
Your post didn’t seem to speak to bonus overages being an issue this season.
Thank you for your advise and input – feel free to talk substance of topic with me in the future.
Holy Hell man, maybe take a step back and maybe don’t call other’s names.
Its a sports blog/comments community…. relax (well, that would be my advise as it seems giving other’s advise is what we are doing today).
Ah here’s the guy I was hoping would respond.
Bouch’s bonuses doesn’t impact the actual total cap does it?
Meaning the Oilers are still able to sign folks up to $82.5 million its just Bouch’s overage pulls down the available amount to $81.35 right off the start.
This doesn’t really matter if you decide to fully max LTIR by going directly over on opening day by the $6.367 from Smith/Klef contracts?
What I think I’m suggesting is different from what we’ve done the last two years. The idea for this year isn’t even trying to get cap compliant from day once its trying to get as close as possible to the Smith/Klef total overage on day one so you can maximize the LTIR room that way.
I’m not sure I understand the overall question but, to your initial point, this year’s potential bonuses don’t impact that cap this year (well, there is an exception) but, as you point out, the performance bonuses hit from last year are creating a cap penalty of just under $900K – its simply dead cap, just like a buyout or retained money.
This year’s potential performance bonuses (Bouch at $850K, Holloway at apx $300K, Broberg at apx $500K and Bourgault with a tiny amount) won’t impact the cap at all this year except to the extent that any of them are not on the opening night roster and are called up during the season.
If any of them are not on the roster to start the season, when called up, their bonuses will hit their cap hits and increase their hit. All three will assuredly be on the opening night roster due to this – they likely would in any event, on merit, but this solidifies it. If they do want Holloway to play AHL games, I would think he’ll be on the opening night roster and then assigned.
This year will be the same as last year, they will use off-season LTIR to get compliant – in order to maximize they will want their opening night cap to be as close to $82.5MM plus $4.167MM plus $2.2M as it sets their artificially inflated cap number (subject to additional LTIR placements during the year).
Yea overages is where I sorta get tripped up. From my reading bonus overages are not something that accrues immediately cause some/most of them you don’t earn immediately so its unknown if they will vest at the beginning of a season. Where they bite is at the end of the season when you calculate the full cap for the year.
LTIR can be used to build a bonus pool if the player on LTIR has bonuses. In season you need to have a combo of both Cap and Bonus pools open if you want to avoid the overages. But you can run the risk of playing everyone and just having to pay out the bonuses as an overage next year. The players most likely to hit bonuses are Bouch, Bro and Holloway. None of which are more than $850K and if they all vested you’d be looking at a 23/24 cap hit of $2.25 which just so happens to be the exact amount coming off the books next year with Looch and Sekera… its coincidental enough that you have to wonder if Kenny pulled out the calculator a few years back.
Kook on LTIR is just a hunch. The fact that he disappeared mid year and then sorta out of the blue right after the season was over “oh yea we see Kook playing games next year.” I have no intel at all, just something felt “off” about having to say it out loud.
Anyway, there are scenarios – trading Kook and Shore, maybe Janmark and a 5th, or something like that can also open the space needed.
Just thinking out loud cause of all the angst and focus on trading someone like Barrie or JP instead of two or more of the not so useful players who populate the roster.
I’m sure the Oilers’ capologist is having many sleepless nights wrestling with this exact issue. 😉
Somebody off of the roster is going to be moved or there will be a convenient injury during TC that will allow the decision to be pushed a little into the future but however you slice it there is too much season for too little money the way things stand right now.
— this was my understanding as well. I always assumed the “need” to shed salary was much ado about nothing but every mid-summer article talks about the need to shed fogerle or barrie. I thought LRIT takes care of this based on reasonable contracts. I guess we are wrong?
Yea I’m not sure. It seems pretty straightforward so maybe we’re missing something. Utilizing LTIR in this way no doubt puts pressure on the roster to deliver and stay healthy but… so what?
You can do it, I wrote about it the other day. 21 players, squeeze McLeod and Yamamoto and it’s there. I don’t know that it’s smart, but it’s there.
https://lowetide.ca/2022/07/27/its-a-constaninou-battle/
The Oilers “artificial cap” will be close to $88.8M but this number will always include those players on LTIR – Klef and Smith will always count.
Including Yamo and McLeod, the Oilers don’t have enough cap space currently for a full 23 man roster (plus the two on LTIR)
Unfortunately I think you’re mistaken. I’ll take a stab at showing how/why.
If you look at the Oilers roster on Capfriendly right now, there 2.93M over the cap ($85.43M vs. $82.5M cap) with 19 players on the roster. That includes bonus overages from last year and the dead cap from Lucic/Sekera/Neal.
For some reason Capfriendly includes LTIR players on IR, but not LTIR in the summer (they’re not on LTIR yet I guess). Their cap hit is included in the $85.43M number Capfriendly shows, but they aren’t counted in the 19 roster players.
Put them on LTIR and the Oilers have $3.4M in cap space (with 19 warm bodies).
I’ve been expecting McLeod to sign at $1M and Yamamoto at $3M ($4M total), so I’ll use those numbers for now. That would immediately put the team $600k over the cap, and with 21 players on the roster (12F, 7D, 2G).
Given that Bakersfield is about 2500 kms from Edmonton, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the team to go through the season without carrying at least one extra F and one extra D. (I think even running a 22-man roster, without enough cap space to call someone up unless they go on LTIR, is unlikely. But we’ll proceed for now).
So you add Holloway to the roster. Now you have 22 players (13F, 7D, 2G) and the team is $1.5M (and change) over the cap.
Holland would need to sign McLeod and Yamamoto for $2.5M total ($900k and $1.6M?) in order to get cap compliant (and again, if someone got injured in this scenario, the team can’t call up a replacement unless the injured player goes on LTIR).
The most popular solution if trading Foegele and replacing him with someone cheaper. If he’s traded and replaced with a league minimum player ($750k) that saves $2M.
That gets the team compliant with McLeod and Yamamoto at plausible cap hits and with $500k-ish to spare. The team would still only be able to have a 22-man roster, and the 500k wouldn’t be enough to call up a players, so whether Holland will run things that close to the edge we don’t know.
I hope that’s slightly clearer.
Edit: And bonus overages from last season are affecting this season. The ones that will accrue this season (because the team will be in LTIR) will affect available cap for 23-24, but do not affect this years roster/cap.
#80’s got a better NHL game at the moment (and yes, there’s a difference), but hopefully they both leap off the page and give the team difficult choices from fall to spring. That’d be an excellent outcome.
Is it though? Nemo is not very good with the puck and he also got lit up (6-11 gf-ga 5v5). He is physical, which is great, but otherwise, his game needs some polish.
The amount of times the context of when he played and the minutes he was given is being left out by people acting like he got lit up is rather hilarious at this point. If you watched those games, you know he wasn’t creating some hole out there.
And are we really going to start acting like 17 whole goals worth of activity just stand on their own as a stat? I’m certainly not about that.
The man is underrated and did really solid work in the position he was placed. And in addition he flat out blew up at least one person per game. That’s worth a bunch.
With respect, big time disagree – over his last number of games, he was absolutely leaking scoring chances (and goals) against, with direct culpability.
I believe he’s over-rated at the NHL level and, you somewhat nailed it, he became a fan favourite for blowing up a guy a game – I mean, blow up Dustin Brown and you will have a cult following. I like it, he has a presence, but it creates him being over-rated as it doesn’t come close to making up for the defensive mistakes and culpability on scoring chances against.
im curious why you think niemo has a better NHL game?
I love his physicality and size but samorukov is more mobile and much better at passing. I look forward to him getting a FULL training camp and showing his capability. Unfortuantely last year he blew up his jaw early and was done.
Primarily because in addition to the physicality, he’s shown himself to be a strong skater (you don’t land big hits in the NHL without whiffing if you’re not a strong skater) and has very good positional instincts at this level. Also – for a guy who does what he does he’s just fine with the puck. There was almost zero of the Kris Russell fire it around the boards and give it away garbage to his game. That’s a big check mark on a team with the Oilers’ firepower.
I disagree vehemently on this.
If anything, Niemo showed his puck skill aren’t good enough yet and he needs to work on them. Niemo started strong but, as we saw, he would be directly responsible for at least 1 or 2 high danger chances against per game – he was leaking big time in his last 5-7 games.
Sure, Sammy had that terrible start but, overall, Sammy is simply a better defender than Niemo and has the better skill-set – skater, shot, puck-play, transition play, etc.
LT, your question and answer sections are the best!!
Thanks!
Did he have a case of the yips with his NHL debut? I’m not sure I can recall an Oilers rookie with a tougher debut.
You’re right. He didn’t get recalled.
Justin Schultz debut was not as severe…but lasted a very long time.
Schultz has 2 Stanley Cup rings. The problem with Schultz was Dallas Eakins and Craig (he will win the Norris) MacT.
Eakins has Anaheim dementoring along just like he did in Edmonton. And he was handed a team with real experienced players in all the key positions in Anaheim
MacT never said he’d win the Norris, he said he had Norris potential.
Given Shultz has received Norris votes in his career…..
He had the case of being overly-aggresive trying to step up at the defensive blue. An elite part of his game where he’s struggled at the start of each new step – in time, he will be a beast at the NHL level defending zone entires.
That was the first step of learning at the NHL level (he had a similar start, for a run of games, as a rookie in the AHL).
I think Samorukov will be the surprise of camp. i expect he plays ahead of Broberg to start, as he is better suited to play alongside either Bouchard or Barrie, as more of a physical stay at home type (has offense, and yes he is nasty). He will thrive as a 3rd pairing guy.
I actually like the idea of Samorukov and a minimum salary vet and Broberg in the minors to start. I expect with injuries you see Broberg back within a month or so and he never goes back down.
He’s the guy I’ll be cheering the hardest for. I was afraid he was going to be traded this summer but it looks now like he will at least make it to camp.
I’m not sure if he plays ahead of Broberg but I do think he makes the team on merit.
I could see the Oilers signing Russell for league min (saves a couple hundred grand over Koekkoek and, frankly, I like Russell better in the room and often on the ice) and running with 8D and 13F to start the season (Russell and Sammy as 7/8D).
Fairly certain Sammy gets NHL games this year. As it is always stated a team needs 8-10 D men during a season.
He’s also, drafted, developed and NHL ready and, almost assuredly, 7th on the NHL depth chart, in my opinion.
The only thing that’s holding Samorukov back is his inability to stay healthy – he keeps missing the beginning and end of seasons.