We are less than a week away now from the trade deadline and the pool of talent is increasing. It was predicted to be a buyer’s market a few weeks ago and we’re seeing it now. The Columbus Blue Jackets would love to put defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov on the Oilers plane after the game, but only if a first-round selection is part of the payment. I think the Oilers will trade the 2023 first-round pick, but not for Gavrikov. Who is both available and worth that pick?
THE ATHLETIC!
- New DNB: Inside Brad Holland’s scouting process
- Lowetide: 5 Oilers prospects with the most value ahead of NHL trade deadline
- DNB: 15 Oilers targets ahead of the NHL trade deadline
- Lowetide: What’s going on with Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl?
- DNB: Oilers captain Connor McDavid surpasses 800 career points
- Lowetide: Revisiting Oilers’ choice of Philip Broberg at the 2019 NHL Draft
- Lowetide: Oilers have an emerging prospect in Noah Philp
- Lowetide: Oilers centre Ryan McLeod’s comparables and career trajectory
- DNB: The Ben Stelter Fund is a legacy his family, Connor McDavid and the Oilers will proudly carry
- Lowetide: Is Edmonton Oilers’ 7-11 alignment here to stay?
- Lowetide: The Oilers’ asset cost in an Erik Karlsson trade and why it’s worth it
- DNB: What I’m hearing about Oilers’ interest in trading for Sharks’ Erik Karlsson
- Lowetide: Will Oilers prospect Phil Kemp have an NHL career?
- Lowetide: Connor McDavid’s top Oilers linemates and what it could mean for trade plans
- DNB: Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland NHL trade deadline Q&A
- Lowetide: How the Oilers finally found the key to five-on-five outscoring
- DNB: With Kailer Yamamoto nearing a return, which Oilers could be salary-cap casualties?
- Lowetide: Oilers prospect Raphael Lavoie turns a corner, now NHL-ready
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers are about to start a major makeover at right wing
- Lowetide: Is Edmonton Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft saving another season?
- DNB: Why Ryan Nugent-Hopkins matters more to the Oilers now than ever before
- Lowetide: 3 trades that could help the Oilers this season and beyond
- Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects, winter 2022
WHAT TO EXPECT IN FEBRUARY
- On the road to: DET, PHI, OTT, MTL (Expected 3-1-0) (Actual 2-1-1)
- At home to: DET, NYR (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-2)
- On the road to: COL (Expected 0-0-1) (Actual 0-0-1)
- At home to: PHI (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: PIT, CBJ (Expected 1-0-1) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: BOS (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- February expected result: 6-3-2, 14 points in 11 games
- February actual result: 4-1-4, 12 points in nine games
- January actual result: 8-2-2, 18 points in 12 games
- December results: 7-6-2, 16 points in 15 games
- November results: 7-7-0, 14 points in 14 games
- October results: 6-3-0, 12 points in 9 games
- Oilers in 2022-23: 32-19-8, 72 points in 59 games
A win today puts Edmonton on a 101-point trajectory, and make my prediction for the month true no matter what happens in the Boston game. Since the new year, the Oilers are 12-3-6, 30 points in 21 games.
I see the earth moving under the feet of the roster at this time. I’m uncertain there are more than four defensemen worth trading for at the deadline, and one of them won’t waive his NTC to become an Oiler and the other is playing for a team in the playoff race out east.
I think forwards may be the attraction for Edmonton, and Leon Draisaitl’s struggles at center may mean a pivot will be the main piece procured. Who is it? My goodness that’s a tough question. Here’s my list, probably the last one before the deadline.
LOWETIDE TRADE LIST
- RD Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks. He’s the best available fit.
- LD Jakob Chychrun, Arizona Coyotes. Fans are divided on him, this blog endorses the acqusition.
- RW Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks. I don’t think it’s realistic, but you never know.
- LD Jake McCabe, Chicago Blackhawks. Edmonton is on his no-fly list but he’s worthy.
- RW Brock Boeser, Vancouver Canucks. He could soar with Edmonton’s centers.
- RD Radko Gudas, Florida Panthers. He’s tough as nails.
- RD Nick Jensen, Washington Capitals. A solid second-pairing RH blue. Worthy acquisition.
- RC Colton Sissons, Nashville Predators. A nice fit for a team that needs faceoff help.
- LD Shayne Gostisbehere, Arizona Coyotes. Chaos blue, but rel numbers five-on-five are back to black.
- RW Ivan Barbashev, St. Louis Blues. Versatile and has enough offense to move up at times.
- RC Nick Bjugstad, Arizona Coyotes. Inexpensive RHC having a good year.
- LW Gustav Nyquist, Columbus Blue Jackets. He’s on LTIR, won’t be ready for playoffs. Has appeal.
- LW Tanner Jeannot, Nashville Predators. Agitator who can play.
- LW Max Domi, Chicago Blackhawks. Suspect he signs with Chicago, but he’s an option.
- LC Lars Eller, Washington Capitals. Veteran center could help on PK and bottom-six suppression.
- RW Taylor Raddysh, Chicago Blackhawks. Big winger emerging.
- LD Dmitri Kulikov, Anaheim Ducks. Veteran offers depth.
- LD Vladislav Gavrikov, Columbus Blue Jackets. He isn’t the defensemen they’re looking for.
- LW Sam Lafferty, Chicago Blackhawks. Bob loves him, good rel numbers. Not worth a 2nd. I’d pass.
Who on this list is worth using the 2023 first-round selection as part of the trade? I’ll say Karlsson, Chychrun, Kane, McCabe and Boeser. What could the team look like after the deadline? Any guesses?
NEW for The Athletic: Oilers signing Vincent Desharnais, James Hamblin proving innovative, effective one year later
https://theathletic.com/4250022/2023/02/25/oilers-vincent-desharnais-james-hamblin/
Just saw this now and thought I’d bring it here to respond to the poster for information:
1) There is no way to put him on LTIR for the remainder of the season unless he is legit injured (or sick) for term. There is no real wait to “fudge the rules” for this period of time without both the NHL and likely the NHLPA intervening.
2) Max cap relief for sending a player to the AHL is $1.125MM so Campbell would still count against the cap by almost $4MM – it would be net cap savings of a few hundred grand by bringing up Pickard.
Of note: Pickard does have a career save percentage in the NHL over .900.
I had a thought. I leave it to some of the fine minds on this blog to tell me how realistic this is.
How much would it cost to trade Campbell, to a team trying to “win” the Bedard sweepstakes, for a reasonable backup making about a million to replace him? My thought was Korpisalo because they just played him and Columbus is definitely in the Bedard territory. Could you get it done for two second round picks, for instance? Too much, too little? How much might a rebuilding team might value bad Jack Campbell now and possibly good Jack Campbell later if he turns things around eventually?
Now, part of the thought is that it clears about four million dollars in cap space, which means that if you include Barrie in the deal, you suddenly have enough space with San Jose only doing 15-20% retention to afford Karlsson. Two first round picks, Barrie, Bourgault, is that enough then?
The end result is you replace Campbell with a more competent short term goalie, and Barrie with Erik Karlsson, but you pay a heavy price in futures. But you still have Holloway, Bouchard, Broberg and all of your core pieces plus Karlsson on a contract that means more than a rental.
So essentially, there are two questions. One, is this realistic? Two, would you do it? I won’t answer the first question, but as to the second, I would in a heartbeat.
We keep Campbell, he plays better and maybe we trade him or we buy him out, those are the options. No one is trading for a sub .900 goalie at 5M x 4.
Isn’t the accusation against Ken Holland that he is not creative enough? The thing is, if you paid enough futures, someone will take a bad contract off your hands. But maybe a GM of a teamwork doesn’t have to win immediately looks at Campbell’s overall track record and figures he can get some good years out of him eventually. My thought is that one rebuilding team would take Campbell and send a low-cost back-up, even if it’s their number three guy, if we package enough futures. Wold it take a first, a second and a third to do it? Does it take two firsts? I guess all I am saying is I would want to know what this tactic would cost in terms of assets before I rule it out as being a poor way to proceed.
One factor that others have pointed out, the Campbell contract may not be hugely onerous to buy out. So maybe a rebuilding team that has cash to burn as a destination for Campbell?
Calgary loses again and the spread between in and out grows.
Oilers need to keep their wits about them in the next two weeks and the playoffs should be counted on.
Don’t care where they finish so long as it’s in. They have until then to figure out the goalie.
Summarizing!
Like last night, the CHL prospects were the only ones to deliver offence.
Schaefer scored his 23rd of the season in a Seattle win. For the second game in a row, he was named 1st star.
Petrov and Chiasson each scored, their 25th and 18th respectively.
No soup for Lachance, Münzenberger, Määttä, or Brind’Amour.
Mazura was once again a scratch.
MacDermid – Lucic fight! Linesmen had to let them go. MacDermid was winning to the last blow.
We are witnessing the evolution of Jack Campbell “Soup” to Jack Campbell “ate soup out of a dented can and playing like he’s riddled with botulism” now.
Friggin Vegas draws first blood. Have to admit, Stars are having trouble handling them.
But the Stars quickly tie it up
Flames seem to be having a bit of trouble with the Avs as well. Ha!
Nice! We’re going to intermission so I’m flipping
Colorado is just relentless.
Missing Landeskog, Makar, Johnson and Francouz and they’re just overpowering.
I’m not even mad.
Oilers have been enduring slapstick goalies ever since Tommy Salo let in the Olympic howler in front of the world.
Right now they have gone 13 6 6 according to my season in a season that I started right after they whipped Seattle 7-2 beatdown.
Only 6 more games left, and Oilers now face Boston twice, Toronto, Winnipeg twice. And new playoff team in the East Buffalo Sabres who will play Oilers as hard as possible.
If they go 4-2 I’ll be more than happy. Who knows? They could go 2-4 just as easily. This team.
Knights outshoot Stars 15-5 in the 1st, including killing a four minute penalty, a powerplay of their own to end the period, and come away 0-0.
Petrov, Chiasson, and Schaefer have all scored so far tonight.
I know this will get downvoted to oblivion…but I’m a devil’s advocate, worst case scenario kind of guy.
Campbell only has $1M in signing bonus remaining, which makes the last 4 years of his contract buyout friendly whatever that means…
Cap hits would be $1.5,$1.1,$2.3,$2.6,$1.5,$1.5,$1.5,$1.5
Sending him to the minors only knocks off $1.25M? So It will be tempting to clear and additional $2.3 and $2.7M for the next two years.
Even if we only replace that money with an avg backup it would be a net positive.
Gord help us.
I know Campbell hasn’t played well at all, but honestly unless Ken Holland gets fired Campbell would need to do this for another calendar year (through end February 2024) for any kind of movement on this player. Holland committed, he has another year on his deal. I don’t see a scenario where Campbell gets dealt or bought out for the next 12 months. jmo.
Nope.
This might hurt a little bit.
Do you think he will ride Campbell to the bottom?
No, Skinner was one of the players who had that bug, suspect we’ll see more of the rookie down the stretch.
I think Holland has to figure a way to get Campbell on LTIR for the remainder of this season. He’s done. He’s gone full “Steve Sax” for this year.
Or put him waivers in order to send him to the Bake. Bring Pickard up or sign someone else. Admittedly I don’t know how that affects the Cap.
That should be a retirement contract for two people
Anyone involved should get the pipe
It was such a risky bet and so poorly executed I don’t see how they can claim to be experts, which by definition they should be, right?
Of all the things to pooch. Can’t win without tending
Linus Ullmark scores an empty net goal for the Bruins.
Pity you weren’t much of a Boston fan earlier in the season.
Would that somehow change the scoring play on the goal?
No, but we would not need to put up with you BS endlessly.
Ha ha ha ha
Patrick Marleau at his jersey retirement ceremony in San Jose calls out Jay Woodcroft as a a special influence on his career.
Nice.
There’s hope for you yet. Credit where due, thank you.
There is no hope for me…at all.
If Campbell gets sent to AHL for conditioning, and Pickard comes up, the only issue I see is when Oilers send Pickard back down, he could get claimed.
… time to sent Campbell down
Not very likely unless he is absolutely lights out in the NHL.
Most teams are set in goal going into the playoffs.
Thanks for enforcing the point I’m to make
Well he can’t play in the NHL in this state
Watching Canada Winter Games Hockey Finals,ON v SK
This is a big U16 tourney, and there are a couple Saskie kids WHL drafted last May that I had heard about, so when we got home I tuned into this rather than watching the Oil eff up[ on delay.
Game was just starting OT when I tuned in. Twenty minutes up on the clock, and three skaters from each team step on the ice. Like WTF? Yup, 20 minutes of 3-on-3 overtime… and what a treat it was! Multiple breakaways and oddman breaks each way (as you can imagine) and both goalies stood on their heads, making spectacular glove and kick saves.
So three on three for 20 minutes and now we’re going to double overtime. Both coaches ran short benches too in the first OT, curious to see how they’ll manage that from here.
PBP guy is pretty good. On one spectacular save he pulled a “HOLY SHI-I–NNY!” saving it at the last possible beat. You can find it at onhockey or possibly vimeo.
Matt Shaefer 15yo Dman for Ontario is going to be an NHL all-star btw. He’s like Makar fast.
And it’s over after 28 minutes of 3-on-3 overtime. 3-2 Ontario wins… the aforementioned Schaefer on a dash up the center of the ice blows by all three Saskatchewan players, lunges and redirects a shot-pass from the point behind the Saskie goalie, who had been otherworldly to this point.
I think Schaefer played half of overtime himself.
I don’t know what the shots on net were but they should just give both goalies MVP awards and call it a day.
First Finals appearance by Saskatchewan in 28 years, when Patrick Marleau scored the game winner for the flatlanders.
Wow. Found Speeds on a young Willis Twitter thread!
https://mobile.twitter.com/hockeysymposium
Lavoie tries to go full McDavid/Thompson again – beats the d-man to get in all alone but stuffed.
Defensive zone face-off lost, puck in back of net less than 3 seconds later – its like I’ve seen this movie before.
Savoie, who didn’t play much last night, a late scratch tonight, unable to go.
A bit disappointing that they brought him back clearly not 100%.
Players aren’t always honest when they want to be in the line-up. That might possibly be a conversation in itself with the coach in the near future.
Don’t want to keep harping on today’s lackluster effort, but I just watched McDavid’s postgame presser. I feel for the guy, he seems very frustrated and called the game “embarrassing” twice. When you consider how McDavid essentially singlehandedly got his team back in the game with his 2nd period heroics, think how he must feel to go from willing his team to what should have been a victory, and then being let down by shoddy defensive play and below replacement level goaltending.
On Nurse, I know he is important to this team, and a part of the McDrai-Nurse triangle, but why is it every time I watch him play I see him bad? Perhaps I am already looking for his poor plays and more prone to ignoring his good ones. Or perhaps because his mistakes are huge and stand out more than his good little plays. I suppose that is what analytics are for, but his atrocious first period play set the tone for a horrible Oilers start.
On the trade front, what exactly is Holland waiting for? All we ever hear from him is that it’s “dollar in and dollar out”, and “trades are hard”, yet other teams with cap constraints (Leafs and Rangers for example) have found creative ways to make significant adds. Holland says he’s waiting for prices to come down, but there’s huge risk in that in that the good options may be all gone by then – certainly they are disappearing by the day.
I guess we’ll see if Dutch’s patience pays off, but if this is not a year to go for it, then when will it ever be? It seems every year there’s some reason or excuse to save the ammo and try again next year. But next year never seems to come for the Oil. Before we know it, the best player in the game today may be gone from our humble town.
Re nurse: cognitive bias?
If not certain – make two columns good thing/bad thing
Check each during game really focusing.
Do that a few games.
See if you might be overlooking a lot of shifts where right play is made.
Put stars beside pk ones.
Realize there’s no need to have symbol for pp.
If you want to go even more obvious make symbols for offensive zone vs defensive zone.
Or just realize he’s in least ideal utilization scenario for any errors to really stand out.
High elites
High defensive zone starts
High pk minutes
Easy to see some bads glaring.
It would help if McDavid and Draisaitl led by example on forwards defending hard.
Particularly on a team with only one legit proven top 4D.
You’re seeing things right
Players of Nurse’s experience and cap hit aren’t supposed to constantly make mistakes and weak plays. The good plays don’t offset that
Every player makes mistakes and poor plays, the question is how many, and when. The cream get the job done especially when the chips are down, and typically their teams benefit where it counts
Only lineup change for the Condors is Kemp back in (suspended last game) for Keilb.
Pickard goes back to back and gets the start.
Tuning in to watch the likes of Philp, Tulio and Lavoie develop in real time is so much fun – they are supported by the likes of Griffith, Bailey, Hamblin, Benson, etc.
Condors have been rolling since Pickard came back from injury.
Is Holty throwing this out there at this point purposes or coincidence?
Ryan Holt
@CondorsHolty
·
5m
Since returning from injury, Calvin Pickard is 10-5-0, has played the 2nd most mins of any AHL goalie (960) and has the second best save percentage .926. #Condorstown
I would absolutely drop Jack Campbell to the minors to shake him up. This whole season has been handicapped by him, they went about it the nice/respectable/veteran way….but no more time for that shit.
This is what LAK did with Cal Peterson when he shit the bed early in the season and he is slowly coming around in the AHL.
TBH, bringing up the top goalie in Bakersfield has to be better than playing Campbell over and over.
We agree! I’m going to buy a lottery ticket 😉
At this point, why not? Campbell has struggled mightily, is not playing up to his abilities.
It could also be cathartic. The team may look at itself and recognize that it has to play better in front of the goalies as well.
I mean, can Pickard do any worse?
To me every GM does some good things. That’s a really low bar. For the worlds best league
It’s the glaring mistakes and cap killers that harm teams. It seems at times Holland relies on other teams analytics, even after they move on. As in Leafs
Like all pro athletes Campbell has the skills. It’s obvious to me his head is the problem, not establishing before his gift Oiler contract
Holland is as prone to big F ups as good deals. His little ones are almost always better than his big ones
There isn’t time for this anymore. Move upstairs and promote your son. Which is in itself bizarre. I hate the management sometimes
Reading lots today that the Oilers did not come out ready to play today. That may very well be true but when you give up 12 shots or whatever it was and it’s 4-0 is beyond unacceptable. Jack Campbell regardless of his wins against losses has been terrible all year. I believe it’s an off year as he is clearly a good goalie. But skinner has to be the guy from now on as we cannot afford waste these points. I don’t know if analytics have a stat for games blown vs. games stolen but Campbell would be in a major negative I would imagine.
Both TML and LAK moved on from Campbell because in both locations he had stretches of horrid play interspersed with above average work.
Most smart GMs, as Ryan has shown repeatedly, are making short term bets on goaltenders who provide consistent performance at or above league average.
The track record of teams that make long term bets on aging goaltenders is not very good.
This article isn’t long and it measures exactly what you are referring to for Campbell vs. Skinner:
https://oilingoal.substack.com/p/quantifying-the-impact-of-goaltending?sd=pf
Highly recommend it.
Thanks for that OP. About what I expected. I believe more than ever it’s time to ride Skinner. Start Campbell only on back to backs. The race is too tight to give away points. I realize Campbell contract would say he’s the guy but that needs to be deferred to next year if he can earn it.
For sure its time to ride Skinner and that it looks like that is already what is starting to happen with Skinner getting consecutive starts prior to today. Of course he can’t play every game and needs to get the odd game off in addition to back to backs.
Today was a no-brainer strart for the back-up, Skinner having started two in a row, a bottom team up and then BOS and TOR coming up for Stu.
Unfortunately, Jack couldn’t even give Stu a full rest….
The Campbell situation has an interesting wrinkle. He’s basically unplayable, but given his cap hit, the only way you can bring in a better backup goalie is if he goes on LTIR.
Of course, LTIR is not an option for healthy players……
Not to defend Cambell’s play, as they could have/should have won all those games but the Oilers did get 3 points in the those 4 games.
Of heinous note: Cambell still has not suffered a regulation loss in like forever as Skinner gets tagged this aft.
Hey Cody and Vinnie – check out this great crease-clearing D by Marc Andre Bergeron…
Campbell is not injured . . . but . . . I know a guy . . .
I know a guy … who reads MRIs. Send him to Leadfarmer.
Is it possible for a goalie to be ‘basically unplayable’ and also have a 9-1-3 record in his last 14 appearances?
When the team scores four or more goal in every single stat, I guess so.
The Oilers have scored 4 or more goals in every game Jack Campbell has started this season.
You mean in 2023? Cause that’s damn sure not true on the entire season.
He has let in 4 goals in each of his last 4 starts, but he allowed 3 or fewer in 10 of 10 starts prior to that.
Ironically, while Skinner got somewhat unfairly saddled with the loss today, Campbell’s only loss of 2023 came in a basically identical situation after Skinner was pulled vs LA (the Oilers never tied that game, but scored a couple of goals to let Skinner off the hook for the loss).
May be too hopeful. But I look at the Skinner Campbell tandem like Boston last year with Swayman and Ullmark.
Ullmark struggled last year. Swayman took over. This year its a split and they are two of the best in the game. Yes Boston is better defensively. I think of it more that Campbell, like Ullmark, struggled first year. 2nd year Ullmark has excelled.
I posted this a couple of games ago – I’ve given up on Campbell helping the team on a playoff run this season but I haven’t given up on the next 4 necessarily. Yes, I’m demoralized and highly concerned but many a goalie have had a season long struggle with a new org before finding their games so I do have some hope for Jack going forward (but not this season).
As an aside: I wish Campbell struggled to 40 plus games and a .917 like Ullmark last season……
Given that G has been a problematic position since Roloson, is it too much to ask the org to consider a change for the position coach?
I’m not saying Dustin can’t coach the position from a technique and conditioning pov. But I’m wondering if it might not be beneficial to have a former NHL pro who’s actually played in the league and would understand the mental preparation and distraction challenges unique to playing in a high pressure market.
Despite numerous red flags which were excused as the Leafs overworking him, we’re committed to Campbell for better or worse. The Oilers need to figure this out asap.
Plus for pro scouting with Hyman. Negative for Campbell. Is that fair or are we just going to chalk this up to the position being voodoo? That seems like a free pass for Holland
I’ve delved into this at length multiple times previously.
The issue was the contract from day 1 in terms of the risk Holland incurred (5 years x $5m). Modern NHL management go to great lengths to mitigate risk of goalie contracts even so far as choosing to spend assets to avoid taking on contract term. They also generally avoid term on goalies north of 30.
When Sakic outbid Holland for Kuemper, they had different objectives. For Sakic the one year term on his contract was a feature not a bug. Holland would have extended Kuemper.
Last summer, Holland painted himself into a corner with Campbell. He had to spend so much to rid himself of the Kassian contract, that he didn’t have the picks to trade for Husso or Georgiev.
It’s a classic one problem creates another scenario.
Now that Nashville has unfurled the white flag, I wonder if they might be willing to move Saros for the right deal.
They have Askarov in the AHL so perhaps might moving off the 2X$5 owed to Sarios while they retool.
I would give up a ton to get Saros. He would be perfect.
Saros would be great.
You’d have to waive Campbell and there’s no chance he’d get claimed. That would effectively bring Saros’ cap hit to just under $9m.
A Saros deal would have to wait until the offseason. He’d cost a King’s ransom in trade.
There is some chatter that Arizona might move Vejmelka and his $2.75 million as part of a Chychrun trade to LAK.
Considering they still might need to add cap even after taking on Shea Weber’s contract they might be interested in taking on Campbell for the right incentives.
Oiler Alert
@OilerAlert
·
9m
Jeff Marek on 32 Thoughts says everyone in Nashville is on the table except Saros, Forsberg and Josi #LetsGoOiler
Honestly, the buyout calculator on Campbell is not terrible. I think buyout is a real option.
I am not opposed to a change in goalie coach.
Oilers goalies are a hot mess.
I did not like Mike Smith, but he put up seasons of .902, .923, and .915 as an Oiler. Pretty respectable IMO.
Talbot was also successful as an Oiler. He was played into the dust.
To me, the biggest problems with goaltending are inconsistent scouting and bizarre contracts. Campbell was not a terrible bet but the contract was brutal. Koski was also a decent bet but the contract was heinous.
https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1629598388374106114?s=61&t=97xbHTIxUalszIFNrSqXsA
Waiting on confirmation, but sounds like a 2024 2nd Round Pick from #nhljets to #preds for Nino Niederreiter.
Nino is a great depth guy. 20 Goal / 40 point guy that can play up and down the lineup.
2nd seems fair.
Looks like Nashville is waiving the white flag.
I expect we’ll see a couple more moves from them.
Shit I was going to propose this exact deal as solid RW option. Figuring it likely be a 2nd round pick type deal.
$4 million cap hit so Holland would have had to move money to make it work while Winnipeg still has more than $4 million in deadline cap space available if they want to make another addition.
With Campbell being such a tire fire and Stuey being a rookie, although the west is wide open is now really the time to swing for the fences? Boston is stacked and having a historically good season, Canes excellent too. Does it make more sense to go the Bjugstad, Jensen route and then swing for EK in the summer when you know you’ll be out of LTIR next season? Ya “you never know” in the playoffs, but come on – are Campbell and Skinner bringing a parade down Whyte Ave? I don’t think so
Have to agree with you. Keep the 1st. Get what you can with the 2nd and / or 3rd and PULU // FOGGY etc …
Next year Kenny has some wiggle room. He can also use a pick to offload Neil’s buyout ($1.9 Mil) this summer. Then he can bring in a goalie that can win the Cup. And Make a splash at next years Deadline …
who is the goalie “he can bring in”
That I don’t know. But nobody is going to win the Cup with Jack as the starter. So we need somebody else, or Skinner becomes the starter with 1 year experience under his belt.
It’s been done i.e. having a rookie-ish G win a cup (Dryden, Roy, Murray, Ward *spits*)
Canucks acquire Vitali Kravstov from the Rangers for Will Lockwood (former 4th round pick) and pocket lint (a 7th round pick in 2026.
NYR clearing cap space for Kane.
VCR adds to its Russian brigade.
https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-acquire-vitali-kravstov-from-new-york-rangers-in-exchange-for-william-lockwood-draft-pick
Not sure I have said anything all year about Nurse but he set the tone for this game on his first shift with a triple blunder. Terrible attempted cross ice outlet pass that went off of a skate when he had a man wide open for an easy 10 foot pass. Then he tried to change after that even though it was turned over. Then he left a man in front of the net for a tap in.
Thought Broberg and Vinny struggled today. Maybe a bit of a wakeup call to Holland that he needs another Veteran on the back end. Don’t think having Bouchard, Broberg and Vinny in the lineup is going to cut it in the playoffs.
Drives me nuts when the D especially Nurse can’t execute a 10 foot pass. You practice pretty much 25 years of your life almost every day yet you can’t make a pass. No wonder people get on him one minute he looks like a minute munching Chris Pronger next shift he looks like a panicked Rookie.
Yeah exactly. It’s the inconsistency of a veteran that gets awfully frustrating.
9.25 M Sugar Plums dancin’ in his head!
Time to bring in Schenn for a pick,and Chykrun for first plus!
Jesus Christ himself would have a sub .900 behind this team.
The answer can’t always be get a better goalie. The answer is play a committed defensive game that allows our goalies to succeed.
If the goal is a bunch of Art Ross trophies and
6-5 losses, carry on.
If the goal is to win, stop blaming the goalies and tighten the fuck up.
Stuart Skinner must be a god.
One of the Oilers goalies has a .912 and one has a .884 (numbers do not include today’s game).
I would be more inclined to buy the defence narrative if the goalie numbers were similar.
Can the Oilers tighten up in the Dzone? Yes.
Is poor Dzone play the primary driver of GA? No.
This is 100% spot on. The team defensive numbers and the goalie numbers tell this exact story. For some reason I think people expect zero mistakes defensively from their own team. All other teams make defensive mistakes as well.
Campbell for Markstrom.
GAME 60 in the books. Updated 10 game splits for BATMAN & ROBIN.
MCDAVID
1-10 11 G 11 A 22 PTS
11-20 5 G 8 A 13 PTS
21-30 10 G 14 A 24 PTS
31-40 7 G 9 A 16 PTS
41-50 8 G 9 A 17 PTS
51-60 7 G 14 A 21 PTS
113 POINTS. On pace for 154 POINTS.
DRAISATL
1-10 6 G 15 A 21 PTS
11-20 5 G 5 A 10 PTS
21-30 10 G 10 A 20 PTS
31-40 2 G 7 A 9 PTS
41-50 6 G 10 A 16 PTS
51-60 7 G 5 A 12 PTS
88 POINTS. On pace for 121 POINTS. **Leon missed 2 games in the 4th segment**
Ranked #1 & #2 in Scoring. We don’t need more offense. We need some defense 🙂
The Oilers outshot the Jackets 47-26. They scored five goals. HDCF 15-9 in favour of the Oilers. Not sure what else the skaters could do to win the game.
If the team limits shots on net to under thirty and your goalie lets in six goals, you have a goalie problem.
This one is on the goalies.
They’ll need to shoot for under 20 shots allowed per game FFS
The forwards had no commitment to the defensive side of the game tonight. Nada.
Maybe they can defend? Defense is a team effort as well.
A few things today:
1) The team obviously didn’t come to play until they were 4 down
2) This team plays much better against tougher rather than inferior competition
3) The Nurse and Campbell contracts will be albatrosses forever. You “accept” Nurse’s deal as a favour towards keeping Connor and Leon around, however, Campbell’s needs to be moved out one way or another.
I’ve been talking about the Campbell contract problem for a long time now. I was told he’d come around.
The thing is… there’s no trading that contract. There’s four more years left.
You have to buy it out during the summer. It’s a $1.54 and $1.14 million dollar cap hit for the last two years of 29’s contract.
And them shoots over $2 million for a couple of seasons.
How much is the buyout broken down year by year if it happens this summer.
https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout-calculator/jack-campbell
I was quite critical of ryan earlier in the season for his assessment of Campbell. I stated the sample size was too small to make any real judgements. Egg on my face.
Campbell has given up 4+ goals 12 times this season.
I think there is a non-zero chance he gets bought out this off-season.
It would not be an Oilers season without a goalie controversy.
Gibson for Campbell?
I rhino sane term more expensive.
This jack surely improves lottery odds for cheaper…
*I think same term just more expensive….this phone kills me.
Well you bought Woodguy’s phone, that’s on you!
Game reminded me of that song we sang when we were kids.
“Campbell’s soup
Makes me poop
Down my leg
And in my boot.”
LOL accurate.
Korpisalo comes up huge for the Jackets. Don’t over react people.
Jack Campbell’s last 5:
.897
.826
.895
.857
.714 today (from @NHL_Watcher
Also, don’t under-react. He’s been bad for a calendar year and the other guy’s a rookie.
The goal is to win a cup NOW. Can they do it with a rookie G while paying one of the league’s worst $5M?
Disgraceful. Ken needs to waive Campbell now. Best case some team picks him up and his cap hit goes away (not happening obviously lol), otherwise he can work on his “game” in the Minors. Call up Pickard he looks competent.
Oilers should be ashamed considering how many games they have blown this year against the worst teams in the league. Two losses to Columbus in the last couple weeks, gross!
I think Louie mentioned the Jackets have only scored five goals in a game twice since November.
The Oilers are usually compassionate to struggling teams.
Not to make an excuse for the goaltending, but we have to frame this game in the context of a 10:30am start time. We should have expected a sluggish game from the Oilers.
Hi many losses could you pin on the goaltending this year? 10-12? How many wins have been because of our goaltending? 3-4? Not sure the exact numbers but it’s not even close either way.
Seems about right.
Well, the 6D (Broberg) and the 7D (Deharnais) both struggled today (and Deharnais is coming back down to earth a bit generally) showing that, yes, a D upgrade would be useful
Broberg HAS to play in the playoffs but he can be 7D and that’s good depth.
Agree that there needs to be at least 1 upgrade on defense, 2 if we want to do any damage in the playoffs. Broberg to 7D is the right call. He doesn’t have the experience yet. The same for Bouchard, if we’re being honest.
Bouchard has over 160 NHL games plus 16 playoff games last season. That’s over 2 seasons worth of games so while he may not be “experienced” he’s not a raw rookie either and at this stage he should be able to be counted on.
Except Broberg is already better than Bouchard. Broberg didn’t have much forward support today.
I’m going to stop short of making that outright statement of “better”.
Both will play ever game presuming they go 11/7.
I keep reading/hearing that Broberg can play both sides even though his experience doing that in the NHL is highly limited (although he’s had success in those limited minutes).
If Broberg is “7D” and he’s playing better than Bouchard, well, that’s for Manson to use his eyes for deployment adjustments.
Warren Foegele earned his -3 today. If his value is high right now, please move him.
Yeah that go ahead goal where he carried it well then dumped followed in hard in center route but was gassed after floating for change…really stood out. No one was really along for ride and probably supposed to change when it was coming out of zone.
Somewhere between center peeling off wrong direction and not supporting his wing or fact he should be coming in on his wing not leaving side completely open he’s supposed to be on.
But that break out quickly back other way and in net was primarily due to odd rush attempt and no back support on his side.
Munny, no regrets for you. Your time was better spent at your parents’ place today.
Terrible defense & goaltending once again. Oilers need to outscore their mistakes every 2nd game, it seems, to have a chance to win.
I’ve tried to be optimistic this year, but I see a first round exit, no matter who they play. Can’t continually be giving up numerous scoring chances with weak defensive play and expect to win in the playoffs. Their only hope to win a series is if Stu stands on his head…
I didn’t think the d was that bad today. NHL goalies have to make NHL saves. Campbell can’t seem to do it anymore
Sure they had a few breakdowns that ended up in the net today. But it’s not the defensive play. Even the best teams in the league have the odd breakdown. The problem with this team is they end up in the back of the net a higher percentage of times than most teams. Our even strength expected goals against today was 1.93 yet we gave up 5 goals at even strength. That screams goaltending as being by far the primary culprit. The stats have been similar in most games we’ve lost since Christmas.
I agree that Campbell has been putrid, for the most part this season, but the commitment to team defensive play hasn’t been good all year either.
I saw lots of rims around and missed stretch passes again today by the D. That tells me that forwards are not coming back to help out and/or the D-men we have just are not good at breaking the puck out of the D-zone. It’s pretty rare to see a structured breakout with this group. Can’t win with chaos all the time…
The forwards didn’t show up to play any defense coverage this morning.
I agree that the forwards didn’t show up with D zone coverage, once again.
That being said though, do you think this team can win in the playoffs with this D core? Too much chaos, imo
Thinking I would send Campbell to the minors.