Evan Bouchard is about to sign a two-year deal with the Edmonton Oilers, with an AAV of $3.9 million. I saw Elliotte Friedman’s tweet first, I take it as gospel. No official word yet, but that means the team has one of its best players (and the best young player) under contract for two more seasons. After that? He’s going to land somewhere near Nurse’s station in life, and that’s a good place.
THE ATHLETIC!
- Lowetide: Is trading Philip Broberg in the Oilers’ future?
- Lowetide: Unpacking Oilers’ decision to hire Rick Pracey, part ways with Tyler Wright
- Lowetide: 9 bold Edmonton Oilers predictions for 2023-24
- Lowetide: The NHL offseason’s 5 most risky moves and what they mean for 2023-24
- Lowetide: USHL has produced some of NHL’s top talent. Is it hockey’s best junior league?
- Lowetide: The Edmonton Oilers and their dilemma at centre
- Lowetide: NHL teams that are best positioned to take advantage of the 2024 free-agent watershed
- Lowetide: New Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson promises innovation. What will it look like?
- Lowetide: For Oilers in 2023-24, a more aggressive in-season approach is likely
- Lowetide: Why skating ability has such an impact on NHL Draft scouting and success
- Lowetide: What Oilers’ Jeff Jackson hire could mean for front-office’s future
- Lowetide: Oilers sign forward Ryan McLeod to 2-year extension: What it means for Edmonton
- Lowetide: Connor McDavid, the Art Ross and challenging Wayne Gretzky’s record
- Lowetide: How Oilers’ pro scouting upgrade helped elevate team in 2022-23
- Lowetide: Projecting Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard’s points for 2023-24
- Lowetide: Oilers’ graduate a strong group of prospects to pro this fall
- Lowetide: How Oilers’ veteran roster, cap issues could impact Raphael Lavoie
- Lowetide: What the Oilers are getting in 2023 NHL Draft pick Beau Akey
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers top 20 prospects, summer 2023
- DNB: 10 questions with director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright
This is a quick look at the roster, and I’m sure you have your own opinion. I have Raphael Lavoie on the roster because if he shows anything at all it’s likely Edmonton keeps him away from the waiver wire. Lane Pederson is a call away, and Edmonton will deploy at least 10 players who took one dozen or more faceoffs for the team one year ago.
I think Evan Bouchard could build a Hall of Fame career from here. If the Oilers win a Stanley in the next couple of years, and the glimmer twins stay, then Bouchard is one of several players on this roster who will be famous by the end of this decade.
Others who could make the Hall after McDavid and Draisaitl go in? I’ll say Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse both have a chance. These men are going to land with outrageous career totals in games played, total points (Nuge) and even-strength points by a defenceman (Nurse).
After that? For men like Mattias Ekholm, Evander Kane and Zach Hyman, several Stanleys and several productive years would be required.
I’m comfortable saying Bouchard has the potential to be the third man elected to the Hall from this team.
I had an actual blast at the last garage sale, this time it’s same location but over two days. I am currently getting things ready, so if you attended last time there will be new items for sale. Hope to see you!
RICK PRACEY
A few of you reached out to me via dm and asked for specific information on Rick Pracey. Let me tell you why I don’t think anecdotal information is valuable in this case. Pracey has been in the NHL as a scout for two decades. That’s the most impressive thing about his resume. People value his opinion and he’s had enough hits to stay on the charts for about as long as Neil Sedaka. That’s impressive.
Now, in the days to come, we’re going to see Pracey’s reputation elevated by various verbal. By this time next week he’ll be the MacGyver of scouts. Someone will see he is from Hamilton, that he joined the Flyers in time to help the 2015 draft. That individual will then list the OHL kids drafted since then (Travis Konecny, Morgan Frost, Isaac Ratcliffe, Tyson Foerster, Zayde Wisdom, Oliver Bonk) and assign him credit. This is not an approach that nets thoughtful conversation.
We’ll also hear about what Tyler Wright didn’t do well. I think the first-round picks were too safe, but have a hard time saying that’s enough to get him fired. I expect the reasons will find their way out eventually. I think it’s possible the die was cast with Staios as part of the management group and Pracey was the target, but that’s the kind of speculation I discouraged in the last paragraph. It’s nonsense really. All of it.
We don’t know what we don’t know. If I wanted to, I could write a book called “Luck is the only thing that matters at the NHL draft” and do it credibly. I don’t believe it to be completely true, but did see Doug Lunch evaporate before our very eyes, turning what could have been an outstanding start to the 2001 draft (Hemsky, Lynch) into something less than hoped for at the time.
I said at the time that the Dylan Holloway selection by Tyler Wright had risk due to lack of offense. I wrote about him here and about Wright’s preference for that type of player (and predicting Holloway as a strong option) here. He should have chosen Dawson Mercer. My rudimentary draft list indicated Mercer as best man available and it has come to fruition. I’m not sure Wright ever drafted best man available in the first round, although Reid Schaefer was a strong option in 2022.
Oiler Alert@oileralert
When discussing the Pracey hire, Stauffer alluded to:
1. EDM establishing a bigger presence in the OHL market
2. Jeff Jackson putting his first stamp on the team
3. Potential repercussions of Wright’s involvement in the AA deal and drafting Bourgault over Wyatt Johnson?
Oiler Alert@oileralert
Another interesting note: Paul Coffey coached Wyatt Johnston* for 4 years and was consulted by Dallas before they made the pick. We know now that Coffey/Jackson have gained significant pull in the organization. Was Coffey pulling for Pracey as well?
https://x.com/oileralert/status/1694969502214291786?s=46&t=yOjgX7Dc1NV_ZnMv2aFPKQ
Nuge is a Daddy.
https://dailyhive.com/edmonton/oilers-ryan-nugent-hopkins-wife-birth-first-child
When you think about changes at the draft, one thing is apparent is that there are far less suckers sitting at the table.
Post lockout, we had the Vancouver Canucks that were probably the worst drafting team. At one time, far worse than eve a potato. Suddenly one of the worst scouting teams is hitting on picks like Hughes, Peterson, and Hoglander.
Our Oilers… Our gracious host spent years educating us and trying to educate the Oilers that no, you do not select a Mitch Moroz with a high second round pick, under any circumstances. Somehow LT could convey that drafting like this absolutely moronic, but phrasing it in the nicest way possible. “Going walk about” or “leaving value on the table” are phrases that spring to mind.
So the question, can an Al Murray or Rick
Pracey ever recapitulate their past draft successes if given the opportunity, or is the playing field too level now?
Is Hoglander a hit? He spend most of last season in the AHL did he not?
Peterson was a big win and they did reach for him a couple of spots ahead of where he was ranked.
Hughes fell to their laps.
Plenty of busts in the same era, namely Juolevi and Podkolzin is arriving slower than Broberg (and is a winger).
I wasn’t necessarily trying to argue that the Canucks are the smartest team at the draft table, rather just that they’re no longer the Pakleds.
Yeah, they skipped over Valardi and Mittlestadt to draft Petterssen.
No. Hughes was actually ranked 8th on McKenzie’s list. Dobson and Bouchard were both still available and ranked higher on McKenzie’s list.
Hoglander is small, but he’s trending reasonably well for a second round pick.
Yep and basic premise is I believe true. The NHL is getting smarter across the board. Maybe they’ll get their heads out of their asses about protecting stars and letting the “gotta pay your dues” bullshit die one day soon?
We wait.
When the player on the cover of NHL 24 got concussed last season by a high hit on the blindside from Jeff Carter and Carter didn’t get any punishment, we know we’ve got a long way to go.
Parros is doing a brutal job as the head of DOPS.
Interesting tidbit, the Red Wings haven’t drafted a goalie that has played more than 3 NHL games since the lockout.
I’m not sure if that explains Holland’s trepidation at drafting Wallstedt.
Wheeler wrote an article at the Athletic in 2021 ranking different drafting teams. No surprises that the Caps are the goalie factory and our Oilers are terrible drafting outside of the first round. He ranked us last in that category.
Would be interesting to see that article updated.
Dallas in particular has been hitting it out of the park.
I think his model needs some calibration.
For drafting outside of the first round, he actually ranked Detroit ahead of Ottawa. Prior to 2014, Detroit hit on quite a few ‘meh’ players outside of the first who’ve amassed a large number of games played like Darren Helm or Justin Abdelkader.
Ottawa did far better on impact players. Thomas Tatar is probably the best player Detroit drafted outside of the first round. Meanwhile Ottawa drafted Mark Stone, Gabriel Pageau, Mike Hoffman, and Robin Lehner,
He also ranked Detroit ahead of Ottawa both with or without adjustment for draft picks available. No sane person would take Detroit’s post lockout picks over Ottawa’s. It’s not even close.
Karlsson, Zbanejad, Chabot, Stone, Hoffman, Lehner, and Silferberg over Thomas Tatar, Nyquist, and Larkin and pile of meh players.
Mrazek
Ha. Now I know why I felt uneasy writing that without fact checking it myself.
That was from the Yahoo Sports article.
Never trust Yahoo, I guess.
If I’m not mistaken, back in his Wing days, Holland expressed the opinion that, unless you have one of the elite (apx top 5) goalies in the league, he didn’t think it was prudent to spend on tending as there isn’t much to choose among the next tiers.
Perhaps his philosophy extends to drafting goalies.
I’ve often wondered that myself. Goalies take forever to develop and if you have a surplus, teams never seem to get a tremendous return in trade. On the other hand, if you can draft a Hellebuyck or Vasilevski, you’ve won the lotto. These players are rarely available otherwise.
My takeaway from LT today
Nuge’s first 50pt season makes him a lock for the HOF. RNH first inductee into the new Dave Keon wing. Post career endorsement deal with Swiss Army Knives likely.
I loved Keon.
Ballard sure didn’t. Harold had to be the craziest and hardest ass owner in any sport all-time.
I’m excited now for the you can’t afford Bouchard to the you overpayed Bouchard U-turn
Bouchard is awesome value at $3.9 millions. He’s going to be zooming those points.
I think he’ll make gains on the defensive side as well. Smart players tend to improve and he’s got the brains.
So, with the Bouchard number confirmed Cap Friendly shows the Oilers $391K over the cap with a 22 man roster.
However, that roster has Neimelainin not Broberg who is $100K more expensive.
How do the Oilers become cap compliant?
We’ve known for a long time that the Oilers are going to run with a 12F and 21 player roster.
Niemo will be in the AHL and Borberg on the roster.
The forwards are locked except for 12F which is a battle among, as of now, Lavoie, Pederson and Sutter.
Injuries notwithstanding.
They just need to run a 21 man roster. Pretty easy.
What happens in the event of a non LTIR injury?
Read the CBA or Capfriendly’s summary of it. It is all pretty straight forward.
They still have 20 roster player if they have one non LTIR injury so they are fine.
IF they have another injury then this rule applies: (e) Roster Emergency Exception. In the event that (i) a Club has Payroll Room less than the sum of the Minimum Paragraph 1 NHL Salary and $100,000 (i.e., that Club’s Averaged Club Salary is greater than the Upper Limit minus the Minimum Paragraph 1 NHL Salary minus $100,000); (ii) a Player on such Club becomes unfit or unable to play (i.e., is injured, ill or disabled and unable to perform his duties as a hockey Player) or is suspended; (iii) such Club is unable to sign and/or Recall a Player with an Averaged Amount equal to the Minimum Paragraph 1 NHL Salary plus $100,000 under the Bona Fide Long-Term Injury/Illness Exception; (iv) as a result of such Player being unfit or unable to play or suspended and the Club having Payroll Room less than the sum of the Minimum Paragraph 1 NHL Salary and $100,000, the Club has fewer than eighteen (18) skaters and two (2) goalies (“18 and 2”) on its Playing Roster (pursuant to Section 16.4(c)); and (v) the Club played its previous game with fewer than 18 and 2 (a “Roster Emergency”), then such Club may, beginning with the second game and continuing with all subsequent games and without any charge to the Club’s Averaged Club Salary for the duration of such Roster Emergency, add to its Playing Roster the requisite number of “emergency replacement” Player(s), provided, however, that (i) each such Player may not have an Averaged Amount that is more than the then-applicable Minimum Paragraph 1 NHL Salary plus $100,000 (e.g., $625,000 in 2012-13); and (ii) each such Player may only remain on that Club’s Active Roster during the period of the “Roster Emergency.”
And they are still fine.
Thanks.
>How do the Oilers become cap compliant?
I doubt they have even thought of this. Great question!!
An elite weapon for $3.9 mill per year? Excellent.
So with that small amount of cap available it looks like another year of cap out to get anything in. Unless injuries pile up into LTIR.
Injuries notwithstanding, they should be able to accrue some cap space through the season to bank which will help but, if they are looking to acquire a player over $2MM then, yes, cap likely needs to go out.
We can definitely “discuss” all three of the first round picks for drafts that Wright was a part of. None of them are slam dunks as “the right pick” as I type today but there is still miles to go on all of them.
With that said, from some/many accounts, the 1st round pick is mostly on the GM and the scouts have much great impact on the “day 2 picks” in particular the later rounds.
This lines up with some of the video on Oilers Plus from this past draft where Holland was literally asking Wright to “give him a name” for the late round picks.
Of course, none of Wright’s later round picks have hit but it wouldn’t’ be expected at this point. There are massive up arrows on the likes of Petrov, Wanner, Yeseyev, Tulio and Berezkin and, if even one of those guys hits for impact, well, Wright will have done his job well, I would say.
So Auston Matthews sets the new bar at $13.25M / season.
That implies the Oilers can sign Draisaitl for $14M & McDavid around $15M. Both will be value contracts the moment they’re signed.
Its official now
Edmonton Oilers
@EdmontonOilers
https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f5e3.svg BOOOOOUUUUUCCCCHHHHHH
The #Oilers have signed defenceman Evan Bouchard to a two-year contract with an AAV of $3.9 million.
@Bob_Stauffer
·
2m
Bouchard is a big part of the @EdmontonOilers
future!
He finished the regular season with 5-14-19/+12 in his final 21 GP and led all NHL D with 4-13-17 in the Playoffs.
Wouldn’t surprise me if he had a 20-40-60 season in one of the next 2 years.
I’m a bit more hesitant to run wild with goal scoring predictions but I can damn near guarantee that assist total is too low. The A’s will land in the 60 range now that he’s on PP1.
Depends I suppose if you trust the playoff numbers or the regular season numbers.
In the regular season, Bouchard had a 5.1% shooting percentage which is close to average.
In the playoffs, it was 13.8% which is almost certainly unsustainable.
https://theathletic.com/4793580/2023/08/22/los-angeles-kings-nhl-prospect-pipeline-rankings/
Hmm, thought Brandt would take it to the top 2 at least.
He’s ranked the 10th best prospect in all of hockey.
https://theathletic.com/4665381/2023/07/18/nhl-top-prospects-rankings-connor-bedard/?source=user_shared_article
LA is dropping overall as they move into win now mode with some prospects graduating and others being used as trade capital as we saw with Durzi and the trio that went to Winnipeg in the PLD trade.
Worth noting the Oilers top prospect is Dylan Holloway ranked 49th in the top 50.
Well that playoffs look like a heater yes. But in March and April he also ran a 13.9%.
If we look back to his OHL days and then his lone season in the AHL its clear he’s an attacker as well as a distributor. Once he gets used to the speed he starts creating a bit more. He has a very good wrist shot and he can get it off quick. His playoff goals are at a very high pace, but all of those goals were of the confident type.
This year he’ll get to throw confidence building Bouch Bombs on the PP and he going to be a frequent trailer or high slot receiver of those Draisaitl spin-o-rama, behind the back passes.
I think you should look at Makar’s shooting percentage and add/subtract from there but it’ll be close.
I don’t quite no what his ceiling is with this current Oilers team. Like LT I think he’s the right player, with the right skills at the right time. He’s going to explode.
He’s going to be in the race for the highest scoring defensemen this year.
He’s no Ty Smith
“Harpers Hair
Reply to Faustkarz
March 23, 2021 8:09 pm
Ty Smith..drafted 17th overall in 2018 played 23:30 tonight (2nd among Devils D) in a 4-3 win over the Flyers.
He now has 17 points in 30 games which pro-rates to 45 points in an 82 game season.
He’s 6 months younger than Bouchard.
Do you think the Devils are screwing up his development?”
“Hey look mom! I’m on T.V!”
This is the million dollar question, Faustkarz. Do you think the Devils screwed up Ty Smith’s development?
Be careful in how you answer though because keep in mind, Ty Smith is 6 months younger than Bouchard. He could still pop.
It appears they did.
Choosing between you and the Devils on who screwed up, I would say it is well above 50% probability that you were the one who got things wrong.
Lowetide too.
He had Smith ranked higher.
good thing your above post was close to 3 years after he was drafted though right?
It takes a while for prospects to develop.
Some do, some don’t.
funny cause I thought Elite D always arrive early
must’ve heard that elsewhere
They do.
In that particular draft there were two elite defensemen.
Quinn Hughes 283 GP 241P
Rasmus Dahlin 355 GP 233P
As is common for players drafted out if the NCAA, Hughes played another season of college hockey so has fewer games played but would likely go 1st overall in a re-draft.
damn, guess Brandt Clarke can’t possibly be elite
or Elite D are never prospects since “It takes a while for prospects to develop. Some do, some don’t.”
quite the headscratcher
Of course he can.
He’s 20.
I’ll make sure to note draft+3 season is still early for you
Make sure you do.
Luke Hughes, Simon Edvisson and Clarke are about to pop.
nah I’d rather goad you into setting your goalposts to minimum draft+3 season as still being early for the next “Elite D arrive early” comment
also by “pop” I’m assuming you mean “play any games whatsoever” as a combined 20 games from these 3 players has nothing to do with “about to pop”
Elite d-man Quinn Hughes has 58 points at 5 on 5 over the last two season, Evan Bouchard has 56.
I didn’t think it needed to be said but, considering that Bouchard has proven to be a high end offensive producer at 5 on 5 is now going to be the PP1 d-man, a spot he has shown to provide elite, top of league, production on, if Quinn Hughes, with his sheltered 5 on 5 minutes is elite, I shudder to think of the term that likely described Bouchard in a year from now.
P/GP in the past two seasons.
Hughes .94
Bouchard .51
Bouchard plays on a higher scoring team.
counterpoint:
G/GP in the past two seasons.
Hughes 0.097
Bouchard 0.123
PP TOI/GP
Hughes 3:48
Bouchard 1:48
Hughes plays much more powerplay (which will reverse this season)
anyhow, context (all of these are meaningless)
Assists last season.
Hughes 69
Bouchard 32
Someone is making a lot of dreamy passes.
I am pretty sure after watching 22/23, Dahlin would be back ahead of Hughes. Dahlin received a total of 262 voting points for this year’s Norris trophy to Hughes 101. He now scores as well as Hughes and is a better all around defenseman. I doubt Buffalo would prefer Hughes right now and who is number 1 from 2018 is their choice not yours. And many teams would take Brady Tkachuk over Hughes as well. Hughes is currently higher than his original 7 but he will not likely be the best player from that draft over their careers.
Being a buck eighty screwed up his development
He’s small for a forward. Only works for the elite players as I see it. A few small D carve a career out, because they can stay healthy enough. Most of them are like Barrie and are expensive one way players, not my type
Its still not official but it really is as we are even getting the yearly breakdown – Puckpedia has it as $3.5MM and $4.3MM for the two years which leads to a $4.3MM qualifying offer.
I’m sure we can all agree that the QO is almost certainly going to be a non-factor – his 3rd contract could double that (as LT alludes to).
————————
What a massive value contract this is going to be for 2-years. $3.9MM for a d-man that very well could go point per game and play 22 minutes per night.
Yes, it would be nice to get him signed long term as, of course, he’s is going to be very very very expensive.
At the same time, do we even know what it would take to get him locked in for close to 8 years? Would he sign for $7MM X 8 – he very well may not.
Yes, Holland could have made moves to find the money to get it done. He could have moved the likes of Kulak/Ceci and Foegle and bought out Jack Campbell.
Yes, he could have got him signed long term and made the team worse for the next two years – end stop.
Moving out Foegele and Kulak on the premise of Holloway and Broberg makes the team worse – end stop. That brings the likes of Niemelainen and Caggiula in to the equation and just depletes depth and makes the team worse – end stop.
The current goal is the Stanley Cup and the 2-year deal will be a massive value deal and helps the team compete for the cup for the next two years.
Negotiating Bouchard’s third contract will be less painful with a cup or two in the bank.
Bridge was the only option.
Also, Bouchard still has defensive weaknesses. I think we need to see 100 strong games of him in a top-4 role before he gets the Monopoly Man contract.
Agreed. A 22 min/game all states dman who can run a PP is in a very different pay bracket than a guy who can run a PP but needs to be sheltered.
I’m with you. I want to see it for a full season at least.
Diring the Playoffs a few years back when Bouchard was sitting in Motel 6 watching Debbie does Dallas. Bear was meanwhile coughing up the puck at will he was also on the wrong side of the opponent in front of the net on many occasions. Even then I predicted Bouchard will score 20 Goals on a few occasions in his career. I think I low-balled him with the way the PP is and if they allow him to join the rush more look out. When it comes to PP the opponents can’t give the McDavid side any room especially that shot by Leon down low they also can’t give too much room to RNH as he can finally after many years hit the net with his snapshot. This leaves Bouchard in the middle of the ice 6 feet or more in from the blueline ready for the Sheldon Souray one-timer. 25 plus Goals is not out of the realm. Boook it……
People who “only” expect 30% from this PP are in for a treat. I think they break their modern record, again. Too fast, too creative, too accurate, too dynamic. Playoffs last year were a sign, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they come in at 40% for the year. No defence can adjust with a man down. We saw that even against a playoff team that had six or seven games to adjust. This team will eat the Anaheims of the league for breakfast.
They are effectively turning the PP into their version of Golden States’ 3 point line, and it ought to be enough for a string of Cups. Alas, officiating will punish them again for their skill and limit their opportunities. I predict they transgress anyway. But it will be frustrating.
The nearest PP to the Oilers has to be the Penguins 30 some years ago they trotted over the course of a few years Mario-Coffey-Brown-Jagr-Francis-Stevens-Murphy they had a deadly PP when they wanted and needed to score. Oilers are going to be fun to watch this year on the PP. In saying that this bullshit of the Refs has to stop, they let so many penalties against the Oilers when their winning by 1 or tied because of how deadly are PP is. Holland and Woody never say mum maybe Jackson 5 will mention this in passing to keep the Zebras honest.
Alan. I was listening to CBC this morning when your tweet was read out. Have you printed that story here before?
share please
My roster prediction? hope? after the trade deadline:
E Kane / McDavid / Brown
Nugent-Hopkins / Draisaitl / Hyman
Janmark / Toews ($388k) / P Kane ($388k) – 50% retained on league minimum signed with Chicago right before the trade deadline
Holloway / McLeod / Lavoie
Pederson
Nurse / Bouchard ($3.934m)
Ekholm / Ceci
Broberg / Dumba ($1.950m, 50% retained)
Kulak / Desharnais
Skinner
Campbell
23 player roster with about $380,000 cap space for stretch drive.
Players and picks sent out: Foegele, Bourgault, 2nd, and 3rd.
Ryan is missing, not sure that was intentional.
I also feel like Bourgault, 2nd, 3rd is a bit rich for a Dumba rental plus a total of $775k (post deadline, so like $200k total in actual money) retained for Toews/Kane.
I’d certainly be more than happy if those 3 players were added for the playoff run though.
Oops re: Ryan. I’d put him in Pederson’s place. This is assuming Lavoie impresses, otherwise that spot is Ryan’s.
Yeah, you’re probably right about it being a bit rich on price.
I’m not sure where Ceci, Bouchard, and Dumba slot? I think any one of them could be 1RD, 2RD, or 3RD.
Yeah those 3 RD could slot in any order. Probably would depend on what pairs work the best.
Ekholm-Bouchard have been excellent to this point so I wouldn’t mess with that if they keep playing at a high level. I’m very optimistic about Nurse-Ceci too, with both healthy and in easier minutes than they’ve ever gotten (ie – running a ‘top 4’ rather than a hard minutes 1st pair).
3 cups and 4 HOFers would right about land this generation of Oilers shoulder to shoulder with the 80s teams, era adjusted. Unreasonable expectation, I think. But thats why one is a fan.
Holloway’s Draft+1 in a league full of adults was pretty spectacular, and I think he surpassed Mercer at that time (Holloway NHLe=42 in Big-10, Mercer NHLe=36 in Q). Since then, there have been injuries and COVID issues that may have hampered his progress.If Holloway was trying to crack the NJD roster in 2021-22, he may have instantly been a top 6 forward and scored 49 points. Plus, he has the size and speed to stick for a long time. I still believe that Holloway may come out as the better player.
PuckPedia@PuckPedia·20m
When Evan Bouchard’s contract is completed (expected later today), his 2 year $3.9M Cap Hit Deal will be:
Year 1 $3.5M
Year 2 $4.3M
On expiry, he’ll be RFA w/ Arb rights & $4.3M Qualifying Offer, 2 years from UFA Rep’d by Dave Gagner @wassermanhockey
https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2023/08/edmonton-oilers-expected-to-sign-evan-bouchard.html
Oh yeah… Why is it they haven’t yet made the Bouchard signing official yet???
Doesn’t the Friedman tweet make it official? The exact same thing has been reported for about 2 weeks but now that Elliot tweeted it we’re seeing the everybody parrot it.
For some reason I can’t edit my post. When I edit and hit save a red banner comes up that says “you’re posting too quickly, slow down!”
Its been like that for quite a while now.
Yeah, it did the same to me the other day. I tried a few times after waiting, and then I waited too long and it gave me a message about the post being too old to edit. Haha. Oh well.
Kane McDavid Hyman
Holloway Draisaitl Brown
Foegele McLeod Ryan
Lavoie Nugent-Hopkins Janmark
Use four lines more. Cut down on McDavid’s and Draisaitl’s ice time. In this alignment, my plan would to try using Draisaitl and way Vegas used Eichel. Find matchups where his line cannot be effectively matched. If one has two effective third lines with defensive chops, this should be possible.
Maybe Lavoie pops.
Kane McDavid Hyman
Holloway Draisaitl Lavoie
Janmark Nugent-Hopkins Brown
Foegele McLeod Ryan
And of course, everyone knows by how how I would deploy the defense.
Commit to four lines. Commit to Broberg with Nurse.
I think the great thing about this roster as currently constructed is the versatility and options it gives Woody for line combos. You could deploy who you laid it out or multiple other ways.
The one thing I think we are still missing though is a true sniper. I know that Connor and Leon would be considered goal scorers now, but both are primary setup men who would benefit from a trigger man. The wingers we have all the way down are hardworking guys, who get goals in various ways but none as a one touch scorer
Kane was that at one point, but not sure about full recovery post injury. Maybe Lavoie is that some day, but in time for a serious Cup run this year?
I think reports of Kane’s demise are premature.
Even with the injury he had 15 even strength goals last year in 41 games (plus 1SH and 0 PP).
In a full season that’s 30 EV goals, which would have been tied for #9 in the league.
He had 17 EV goals in his 43 games last season too, so the pace was almost identical.
Even if you cut him zero slack for the time missed due to injury he’s top 50 in the league since he originally signed with the Oilers.
Agreed, in the last 2 seasons at 5-on-5, for players with 1200 minutes or more, Kane is 25th in Goals/60 (1.18). McDavid is 16th (1.23), and Draisaitl is 52nd (1.01). Hyman is 95th (.88), Ryan is 106th (.85), Foegele is 161st (.73), And Nugent-Hopkins, Yamamoto, and McLeod all tied for 179th with .69 goals/60.
Drai may be passing wizard, but by any standard he’s a sniper. McD announced himself last season ihmo.
But yeah. Could always use another cannon.
If three lines is unicorns what do you call this thing, the four horsemen? 😂
These are objectively terrible lines.
A coach wouldn’t do this because it would cost his team games and piss off literally everyone on the roster.
2nd line minutes for a guy who’s never played an NHL game? Burying McLeod on the 4th effing line? Setting McDavid up with literally the two worst players he could play with?
Holy smokes what a half baked plan.
Yup
Since when is Nuge a fourth liner. LOL. They might use him occasionally as a 3c, if Macleod is unavailable. But there’s no doubt he will play in the top six. Holloway will not displace the Nuge for a few years yet. And Lavoie, at best might see the third line if he pops. As Prime time mentioned Woodie has plenty of options regarding line combos.
Here’s my nutty ideas.
Nuge-Mcdavid-Hyman
Kane-Draisaitl-Brown
Foegele-MacLeod-Lavoie
Janmark-Holloway-Ryan
It all fits together line a puzzle.
But there’s still the possibility we might see Pederson or Sutter in the 4c slot. I do like the thought of Holloway & Lavoie both making the team ahead of Pederson & Sutter. that would say something about the Oilers player development.
Definitely should try and reduce McDavid and Drai’s minutes by 1-2 per game – mostly at 5 on 5.
Of course, we know there is all but no chance that Nuge centers a 4th line. Sure, we could discuss the merits but we know its not going to happen, nor should it. We talk about Nuge making hey on the PP, and he does, but he was also 56th in the NHL last year in 5 on 5 points – 53rd among forwards tied with Gaudreau and Fiala and Eichel.
Nuge produced at 1st line rates at 5 on 5 last season – big time.
Its on the coach but McLeod/Foegele were becoming such a good duo last season that they should be able to take regular 3rd line minutes, be it with Holloway or Ryan and take some real tough comp minutes away from the Drai line.
McDavid and Drai can have their 5 on 5 minutes cut simply by Woody committing to not shortening his bench so early and so often and allowing his 3rd line and bottom 6 to play.
If you reduced McDavid and Leon’s Even strength TOI by 2 minutes, they would drop down to 50th in the league in that category among forwards. At their 17.1 minutes per game last season, they were already 4th and 5th behind MacKinnon, Rantanen and Kaprizov. Even dropping a minute would drop them to the 20 range in the league.
If the other forwards stay healthier than last season and the Oilers don’t put themselves in a standings hole in the early going, maybe their time comes down a smidge, but these are the best and maybe 2nd or 3rd best forwards in the league. What coach wouldn’t have them right near the top of that category.
Considering their volume of minutes on the PP and the both PK (McDavid more than Drai these days) and Drai is used for many high leverage faceoffs, they play with the goalie pulled and against the goalie pulled, etc., etc., etc., I’m OK with that.
Of course, I’m not sure an opinion that it would be nice to have their minutes reduced by 1-2 requires a fulsome analysis of where a 2-minute reduction would put them in the league but, if you want to “debate” the merits of a 28 second reduction vs. a 47 second reduction vs. a 70 second reduction vs. a 112 second reduction, have at er…..