I’m impressed with Stan Bowman’s first trade deadline. He is sending away futures at a rapid clip, same as Ken Holland in his time (Peter Chiarelli preferred to bleed talent in summer). The men Bowman brought in this week (Trent Frederic, Max Jones and now Jake Walman) are all appropriate targets for the roster needs.
Ken Holland did that (Mattias Ekholm) but not all the time (Derick Brassard, Nick Bjugstad) and there’s a difference. I am uncertain the deals are done, a No. 4 center was on the list and of course there’s always the idea that another goalie could help. This should be a fun day.
I LOVE THE TRADE. BIGLY
I have mentioned Jake Walman often as a trade target, and he’s a strong addition to this team. He’s so good, I’m not sure we can slot him in as a No. 3 LH defenseman, as Walman can play heavy minutes against elites and has done so for several seasons. I’m not going to pretend I’ve seen him every game this season, but he was used in a demanding spot in the lineup and delivered on a truly horrawful club.
Walman is the top lefty in TOI versus elites in San Jose, and is having a fine season. In all minutes played five-on-five, he owns a 49.4 percent goal share. San Jose is at 39 percent when Walman is off the ice.
That’s a top dead center direct hit for Edmonton’s needs. Walman is going to impress you with his ability to make the right play, and with his offensive intelligence. This isn’t a shutdown defenseman in the traditional sense, but he does in fact suppress opposition sorties by calming the waters with puck movement.
In the last 10 years, the Oilers have rarely (and I mean rarely) addressed defensive needs with trades or free agent signings that hit the nail on the head. Andrej Sekera, Adam Larsson (at an impossible cost), Brett Kulak, Mattias Ekholm and now Jake Walman. I’m very pleased with this deal, and most pleased it came on the heels of acquiring a guy who could become the next Patrick Maroon.
THE NUMBERS
Not much to say here, beyond a fine night by Stuart Skinner and credit to the Oilers for cutting the HDSC against in half compared to recent games. Evan Bouchard had a brilliant game save for an OT shift that saw him do a strange “I’m Tim Conway as the old clock worker on the Carol Burnett Show” act that needs to never return. Max Jones had a terrific night, my goodness he was exactly what Oilers fans have been clamoring for all along. I don’t see Jeff Skinner getting into the lineup again if Jones does that every game. And even if he does, Mattias Janmark (who was Tim Conway as DORF on a breakaway) might be the one to come out of the lineup.
The Glimmer Twins were brilliant, Evan Bouchard cashed for the winner and Corey Perry scored his 14th goal of the season! It was a fun game to watch, and perhaps this is a sign that the team is turning north once again.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN MARCH
- On the road to: CAR (Expected 0-0-1) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: ANA, MTL, DAL (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 1-1-0)
- On the road to: BUF, NJD, NYI, NYR (Expected 2-2-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: UTA, WPG, SEA, DAL (Expected 2-2-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: SEA (Expected 0-0-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: CGY (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected results: 7-5-2, 16 points in 14 games
- March result: 2-1-0
- Oilers in 2024-25: 36-22-4, 76 points in 62 games
I had the Oilers going 2-0-1 through three games this month, they are in fact 2-1-0. As bad as Edmonton has looked recently, a healthy Ekholm and the major life from Jake Walman will help. It’s a promising day in the nation. Don’t forget to thank the God you pray to for Leon Draisaitl.
The Lowdown will be a special edition today, as it is trade deadline! I’ll hit the airwaves early (at 11) and will be joined by Jason Gregor, Sean Brown, Connor Halley and a cast of dozens as we discuss what has happened and what will come. Hold on to your ass!
Glass half full: Bowman added two good NHL players in Walman and Frederic. Walman brings puck moving, possibly to a second pairing that needs it. Frederic brings power forward physicality and middle six scoring to a middle six lacking both. Jones made a positive first impression let’s hope he keeps it up.
Glass half empty: Bowman’s acquisitions are not that different than Broberg and Holloway, who became expensive after the offer sheets. One can argue about the differences between the players lost and acquired, but the basic roles are the same. If the organization would have signed and retained Holloway and Broberg before the sheets, the puzzle would have been different and Bowman may have used assets to bring in other pieces that are missing or not working: top six winger for Draisaitl, right-shot centre, shut-down defender/penalty kill specialist, goaltending depth. As it stands, the PK and goaltending depth are of concern. The PK was crucial to the 2024 run, during which the organization was three NHL goalies deep, while this season it’s only two goalies deep.
Say the Oilers had retained Broberg and traded Ceci for Emberson, who are you suggesting needs replacement with your comment of currently needing a “shut-down defender/penalty kill specialist”: Ekholm, Bouchard, Nurse, Broberg, Kulak or Emberson?
Wouldn’t retaining Holloway address your suggest need of a “top six winger for Draisaitl?
The wants/needs aren’t so much my analysis as the list from fans and analysts.
Rob Brown being quite insistent that a top 6 for Draisaitl is missing, Mac T, Stauffer and Strudwick vocal about a large shut down D to stop the cycle and play on the PK. Jamie McLennan and Staples insistent that goalie depth is a concern. Maybe you disagree. Thats fine.
Emberson has been very good on the PK. Ekholm and Nurse have not been very good this season. Maybe Broberg wohld have stepped up. He has the frame and reach to block lanes. Stetcher and Klingberg would be the first ones I’d be looking to generally replace with a shut down type.
Weird how Vegas did not add a big piece to their roster when Stone is not on LTIR.
Good trade deadline by Stan Bowman, but not great. Expected more if Kane is out till playoffs and Oilers had that magical LTIR room I’ve been hearing about all year.
Frederic is ok as a pick up. Like the truculance, but lacks skill. Ideally a 3rd liner.
Jones is meh. 4th liner. Maybe pressbox?
Excited about Walman and the fact that he’ll be on the team next year. High hopes but we will see.
Klingberg is meh. Ideally 3rd pair. Maybe pressbox?
One thing that is unmistakable is that Vegas and LA ran in place while the Oilers got better. Whoot whoot!
Ultimately how far this team goes will be via internal improvement. So many underwhelming performances on this roster. Knoblauch seemed to have all the right answers last year, but not so much this year. Is the coaches life span in Edmonton 18 months?
After 62 games (big sample size alert!) only Drai, Perry, and Kulak are exceeding expectations.
So far this season:
McDavid – meh compared to what we know he can do
Hyman – ok but mostly meh compared to what he can do
Nuge – what the f is going on here?
JSkinner – seriously, what the f is going on here?
Arvidsson – seems the effort is there but not the results, mostly meh especially considering he plays with Drai
Henrique – meh compared to his own recent past
Janmark – has mostly disappeared this season after a nice start
Brown – has good stretches, but has disappeared for stretches too
Podz – pleasant surprise early but clearly best suited for down the line up
Kapanen – good for his role, see him making good plays all the time, but coach seems not to trust him
Bouchard – far cry from what we know he can be. Prone to absolute brain farts and complete check outs on the defensive side.
Ekholm – seems to have taken a step back this season
Nurse – actually having a great season compared to what most expected from him after the playoffs. Offense seems to have dried up.
Emberson – meeting expectations, fine
Stecher – meeting expectations, fine
SSkinner – absolute yo-yo all year. Can’t predict game to game what kind of game he will have, but mostly well below expectations.
Pickard – ok in role, but nothing special.
Have I missed any one?
That’s a lot of under performance and question marks this late in the season and the runway is running out.
The sky is not falling on this team and I’m still mostly optimistic for this roster, but that’s a lot of underperformance.
Drai better win the Hart after dragging this much underperformance to Top 10 in the league.
But yeah, Vegas and LA are about as good they are going to be. Oilers have a path to a lot of improvement if things click. Here’s hoping.
100% on point
Interesting day with a lot of teams loading up. But only one team gets out of the eastern conference and only one team gets out of the central division. The early rounds of the playoffs will be a bloodbath and there will be a lot of first and second round buyer regrets.
In contrast the western division was pretty quiet with the Oilers making a few moves to fill gaps on defense and bottom six grit. Vegas and LAK didn’t do much. Really important that the team bears down and overtakes Vegas for first place to give us the easiest path to the conference finals possible. WPG coming out of the central and TOR out of the East would be dreamy.
I’d rather play the Kings than the Avs
The play of Cam Dineen has been overshadowed by the trade deadline today.
I thought he played excellent. So did Stetcher. There is some depth right there.
Here here. He played very well last night. Good instincts in the Ozone. Looked to attack. Small sample size alert. Delivered with zero expectations.
Summarizing!
O’Reilly’s heater continued with a goal (#23, just like his jersey) and two assists in a 3-2 win. He had a team-high 5 SOG and was named first star.
Clattenburg had an assist in his return.
Day stopped 31 of 35 in a loss.
Fischer, Berry, Akey, Wakely and Nicholl were denied soup and shall have to subsist on Frosted Flakes in grapefruit juice instead.
Kane/McDavid/Hyman
Podkolzin/Draisaitl/Arvidsson
Frederic/Nuge/Perry
Janmark/Henrique/Brown
Skinner/Kapanen/Jones
Ekholm/Bouchard
Nurse/Spacek..err..Walman
Kulak/Emberson
Klingberg/Stetcher
Skinner
Pickard
Can’t see Knoblauch diverting from some of his established norms, imo the addition of all the banging wingers will have him running Nuge up the middle. Frederic is better then Kostin and Nuge usually does well with those player types.
I don’t think it’s realistic to think the coach won’t be playing the PK duo of Janmark/Brown come April. They provided several momentum turning moments last run and I imagine they’ll be given lots of opportunities to do the same.
Deep forwards, defense is looking great with Kulak in a role to succeed not being asked to do too much.
Will the goaltending hold? is Skinner already making calls to the Kobe whisperer for another spring run?
Oilers are going to be a hard out for anyone.
No other team has what the Oilers have, the Duo
Bowman gave them help
Now it’s up to the players to get their ducks in a row
I think you’re very optimistic with Kane on the first line. After missing this whole season with multiple issues and surgeries, I’ll be mostly happy if he’s a 4th line banger that scores the occasional goal and makes life tough for the other team for 10-12min per night.
For sure, expecting Kane to be a 1st line player after missing the entire season is so unrealistic.
Surprised at all the negativity surrounding the Oilers deadline.
The way I see it is we landed a top 4 D in Walman, Trent Frederic (who has more skill than some folks are giving him credit for), Max Jones, and added a prospect in Petr Hausr in exchange for a 1st, 2nd, 4th, Shane LaChance, and Max Wanner
For our total haul, we paid approximately the same as the Leafs paid for just Brandon Carlo (they paid a 1st, Fraser Minten who was a recent high 2nd round pick and has already played NHL games, and a 4th).
Jfresh has Walman at 83% WAR playing top pair minutes on SJS. For comparison, Jfresh has Carlo at 31% WAR playing 3rd pair minutes on BOS.
No goalies moved except Spencer Knight for Seth Jones (we didn’t have a Seth Jones to part with to land Knight – if you think he was the answer), and Mrazek (a terrible target for multiple reasons)
Today was considered a seller’s market and prices match that belief. I may be in the minority, but I think the Oilers made smart bets on good targets, and didn’t overpay. Overall I’m quite pleased with this deadline.
Completely agree. Also quite pleased, and important to remember the Oilers appeared to improve more than any other team in their division, which isn’t nothing.
A couple other random notes:
Colorado is down to a 4th and a 7th pick in the 2025 draft. Over 86 million committed to 18 players next season
Dallas has over 90 million committed to just 16 players next season.
Florida, Dallas, Colorado, and the Oilers ALL have traded their first round picks in the next two drafts. However, it’s quite likely Florida will also lose their 2027 or 2028 1st when the Brad Marchand condition is met.
Colorado and Dallas will likely meet in the 1st round.
Seems like we could have had Mrazek or Vanacek, as they moved. Czechs at full cap.
Jeff Skinner = Petr Klima c. 1990.
Love it! Redemption!
Playoff Roster – Yes?
Kane – McDavid – Hyman
Frederic – Draisaitl – Podkholzin
RNH – Henrique – Arvidsson
Jones – Philp – Brown
Walman – Ekholm
Nurse – Bouchard
Kulak – Emberson
I’d like to see
RNH – McDavid – Hyman
Kane – Draisaitl – Savoie
Jones – Frederic – Podkholzin
Philp – Henrique – Arvidsson
Walman – Ekholm
Nurse – Bouchard
Kulak – Emberson
Perry?
I don’t think the coaches will even contemplate Ek on his off-side.
Small comment – I’d rather have Ryan back than Philp
And Brown is this years McLeod, if he is asked to get physical, he breaks out in a rash.
Derek Ryan was 2-10 goals at 5 on 5 in the playoffs last season….
Kane at 1LW seems aggressive – we can hope but its probably not likely.
Coach loves Janmark.
Perry will be in the lineup.
I think Kulak will be on the right side more than Kulak (I presume you don’t have Ekholm on his off-side – that’s a non-starter I’m sure).
I realize that I forgot Perry:
RNH – Henrique – Perry
Jones – Philp – Arvidsson
Also, Walman on the right.
So is Evander Kane officially coming back before the playoffs?
What about Frederic?
If both are off till the playoffs, am I correct in assuming that the Oilers left a lot of money under the cap?
Headlines today and yesterday were Frederic out a couple weeks to a month, Kane out until playoffs.
I read Frederic by end of March, Kane will be ready for playoffs.
Kane is officially not coming back until the playoffs – maybe game 1, maybe later, that is not known.
Frederick is likely back before the end of the month.
They have $1MM of cap space – probably used on Savoie/Philp/Ryan at some point.
The biggest mistake I made articulating my theories on this site was that my groups of situation xAVg data must be broken into the 4 Data sets (4th variable) by ZS Vol. that dictated results potential. OZ win% vol, DZ win% vol, Bench chg with puck (Sheltered) & Bench chg without puck.
Thevuse of a common data set is a massive fail.
wallman is bottom 30 def D.
Fredric is a great OFF grab, leagues 25th most shetered D bouchard (low Bchg w/o, & High OZ FO% is #105 evga/60 (Contains Open SH var w 87% +ve ident) most other D to #150. No top 60 Def D.
Cgy on the other hand Has 5 Top 60 def D. If they make the playoffs & make a better cup run than the oilers I will be pissed!
Always good to hear from you Mr Bear.
Good to see you’re still kicking Ricki!
Comeback Player of the Decade Award.
Welcome back!
I like what the Oilers did and didn’t do at the deadline. (Deadline deals are often bad deals.)
But wasn’t the whole verbal about not signing Broberg and Holloway oriented around having lots of money to spend at the deadline? I’ve never quite understood LTIR, so maybe somebody can explain it to me, but it looks to me like we didn’t spend near as much as we could have.
Bowman said it was about fit
Price, what teams were looking for and what he had to sell
It was a good deadline IMO, if not ideal
Seems they have about $1.075M unspent.
Crudely speaking Walman replaces Broberg, Frederic replaces Holloway. Not matching saved just under $3M in 2024-2025 cap. That cap went to Podkolzin, Kapanen, Jones and Klingberg depending on how you want to count the beans.
The moves make us better than before deadline for certain. And if we matched it seems we would have missed on other pieces.
But there is a bit more ceiling to Holloway than Frederic although Frederic has more truculence. I would think at present Walman has more offensive upside and Broberg more defensive acumen. Certainly, Walman has more experience.
Brutal if they left $1m under the cap. If Kane isn’t coming back till the playoffs they had room to make the team better and didn’t.
They didn’t have alot of assets left to peddle.
Cap space would be needed to bring up Philp, Savoie or Ryan (without sending someone down through waivers)
None of those players should be on the roster.
The real tragedy is Jeff Skinner as a $3M healthy scratch,
Very good summary. I think the Fredrich pickup is under stated for this team. Could have used 2 of him.
Friday is Trash day where I live. Bowman must have slept in because the trash in this lineup didn’t get taken to the curb. Not the same team that went to game 7. Can they win a round with this one let alone a Cup?
Agreed. I have a hard time believing that Jeff Skinner is still on this roster. Seemed like Oilers dumping him and he agreeing to waive his NMC would have been a no brain for both sides.
Those are two presumptions and the third presumption is a team willing to take him without being paid for it and, if not, should the Oilers have paid assets to get rid of Skinner and then more assets to acquire something?
They don’t have a ton of valued assets to trade.
I think they did very well at this deadline – prices were insane and they got good pieces, targeted adds.
Were prices insane? Seems they were mostly in line with prior years.
In line with prior years of assets the Oilers do not have.
Well Knobber has a job to do to get some value from the hodge podge of underperformers. Sadly there’s guys st the top of the roster in this category.
100%. Oilers are a cup champion on paper. But from player to player there’s a lot of guys who have been well below what we would have expected at the beginning of the year.
I watch Boston games often and I’ve never been a big fan of Carlo. For his size, he’s always left me wanting more. I’d even say he’s soft at times. I’m happy the Oil didn’t make that trade.
Kinda hurts to use “didn’t make that trade” and “Carlo” in the same post. The 2015 trade that WAS made meant that draft pick #33 wouldn’t be ours to select Carlo.
I’d have been happy if the “Oil didn’t make that trade”, and we could have had Carlo.
Carlo is tall and heavy, Walmart is tallish and a tank, good fancies. And can skate. Like it
Dallas got a lot stronger and we’re coming o. Strong already with great goaltending
Colorado got way stronger
Winnipeg was already strong with the best goalie in the West and added 2 Vet battlers but couldn’t get a 2nd line Cman
Edmonton added some toughness and a D man. With Drai and McD they are game changers, but goalies are a huge ?
Oil will get by LA Who did nothing substantial. Vegas has the advantage in goal for round 2, but if they get by them which I don’t think they do, no way they get by whoever comes out of that other side.
Unless Skinner actually plays A+++++++. Hockey.
I didn’t think we would get by Dallas last year. And we did.
Amid all the negativity, let me point out two things:
1.The Oilers have the guy who, until he got hurt against Vancouver, had the highest career era-adjusted playoff points per game of any player in NHL history.
2.The Oilers also have some guy named Connor McDavid, who broke the NHL playoff record for assists.
No other team has even one of those guys, even after the trade deadline.
We have two.
I think the Oilers are probably weak at C. particularly when the load up the top line. The caveat for me is if they return to form. Especially Skinner, of course every team needs their goalies playing well
Other than the Oilers the Avs probably did the most to fix weaknesses in the West. The Stars added Rantanen, but their D group is iffy and their best D may not come back 100%
Assuming health and back to form, the teams that concern me most are the Jets and Avs. The Knights somehwhat as the know how to shut the Oilers down. The Oilers can have trouble with containing McK and Makar, got bigger and better at C, and the Jets are rolling with a great goalie
The Avs took out the Jets last season, but it was through rush plays that Helly had trouble with, and the Oilers aren’t generating nearly as many as normal
Test games:
Stars 2
Jets 2
Knights 1
It’s ok to be an underdog. Oilers should be ranked 4th in the west. Goalers and team D have them below Win, Veg, Dal
Reads to me like Bowman doesn’t think they can win this year.
Huh?
They barely added anything with name players on the board, roster holes+upgrades needed, and contenders making moves.
That doesn’t scream “I’m going to make sure we have a great shot”.
I mean they added a top 4 dman…
They made targeted adds, including a 2/3D who will be here beyond this season. Given the quantity of tradeable assets they had, this was more than I expected. I am just fine without “a big splash”
If you heard his presser, he was in on a lot of the players that moved, but he said there weren’t deals there for various reasons
He doesn’t take things for granted and mentioned his experience. The main thing that was just because last season went a certain way and players had the seasons they did, it’s not a certainty it stays the same way, he said this at season start as well and was right
He didn’t blow his brains out for one run and added good players that were lacking – this is key, there are lots of runs ahead. He mentioned players picking their games up including goalies – it’s up to the team to play to their potential or no additions would make that much of a difference
He also mentioned he feels adding too many players is another problem and sometimes doesn’t work with only 20 games left
I think he’s a realist and in a laid back way called the team to be better, also that with a bigger roster to stay in the lineup they had to show up for every game or they might be out. I’m pretty happy with all of this
Agreed. I also think Walman was a great add in that he is under contract for another year.
I’m a go for it every chance you get, then reload advocate. So this doesn’t work for me. There isn’t a “long term” or a guarantee that there are any runs ahead, much less a lot of them. Cap league with a volatile contract market means constantly upgrading and changing and reloading or you fall behind.
You can always upgrade – GMs in his head space don’t seem to think that way. They think “spot filled”. I’m not on board with that.
Worst outcome is to get stuck in the Ottawa or SJ spaces from years past, or where Carolina is at now. Giant, pointless, and a waste.
I hear you but one cup isn’t enough for this team
Hoping Wilbur and Rantanen are in town while the fellas and I go to watch tomorrow. Was hoping for a Marchand debut but still should be a great show!
How are the smartest guys in the room doing in Carolina?
I miss being reminded daily how amazing Yzerman and Tulsky are.
Fine? They turned a player who was worth 2 2nds in the summer to 2 1sts and a young plug in player after swinging for a top 5 winger who didn’t sign a fair deal. They still netted value for future moves and didn’t put all their chips on a guy who didn’t want to be there.
Take the gamble, don’t chase losses. That’s pretty smart considering the circumstances. Not all of us are McSorley with the crystal ball and the high horse.
Where are you getting this narrative that the Canes would have moved Necas for two 2nd round picks in the summer from?
The Canes don’t seem to want to pick a lane; are they Cup or bust or still building the foundation? Maybe they saw what Florida did and decided that they can’t compete with them.
The narrative has been said several times by Frank Seravalli.
The Canes have repeatedly said they want sustained excellence, which they’ve achieved. They’ve never been cup or bust. Everything Florida did on deadline day (NOT Jones) was after the Rantanen move. They were in on Rantanen until the end.
It doesn’t seem to me that they made their team better. This is their forward depth chart now:
Jarvis Aho Svech
Martinook Stall Stankoven
Hall Kotkaniemi Blake
Robinson Jankowski Roslovic
Jost
Carrier
Fast LTIR
They do have picks still, but the two 1sts are 2026 2028, the 3rds 2026 2027. Next summer 15 players signed and 37M in cap. Maybe changing things up, didn’t like the roster? They are contending now, those picks are years away from helping and will be low 1st round. Maybe they’ll trade them for more help
They are weaker than they were and have to rebuild depth. Couldn’t sign Guentzel and did a weird deal for Rantanen in that it was secretive, so they didn’t do what the Stars did and made sure they were signing him. That is some bad risky work there to me
They are going nowhere these playoffs with that forward group. They’re going to have to get into free agency, but then Tyler Durden or whomever their owner is doesn’t like to spend. What teams are looking for picks for high end players?
Disagree. Maybe they lose a little in the here and now going from Necas to Stankoven, but Necas didn’t fully buy into Brind’Amour’s system and wasn’t going to re-sign in summer of 2026, so they did well in their return.
Despite the bad luck of Rantanen not wanting to sign, they picked up two 1sts and two 3rds. At deadline day, if you really want to buy high, that’ll buy you Brad Marchand and Brock Nelson, which is pretty good depth.
Carolina has always been too smart to buy high at deadline day (Guentzel was the exception.) So they’ll probably get more than Marchand and Nelson for their four picks, and they’ve already got Stankoven. I’d say that’s a great return for 1.5 years of a defense-optional Necas.
Many teams are looking for picks for players.Contracts they can’t handle. Carolina is not a traditional team, they don’t do business the way you think they should.
They’re always flexible, and always competitive. They turned over half of their dcore this offseason and are still highly competitive. They believe if you go to the dance enough times, you’ll break through. The team isn’t on a strict budget, they’re about creating value repeatedly. Things won’t always work out their way but they aren’t afraid to make moves. Tulsky has also said he’s not afraid to work a problem. Rantanen not wanting to sign means you don’t make the trade? Okay, I personally think there’s no shot Necas would’ve returned that haul. Necas didn’t fit Rod’s system so they did something about it.
Tulsky has done several interviews, I believe he’s gone through Marek’s new pod after the Rantanen deal. Really insightful stuff I encourage you to listen, very different from the GM’s giving up money and picks and sweeteners all the time cause they’re bad at spending. (Cough Holland). Canes don’t have all the answers, but they rarely lose value, and to me that’s your job as a GM
NHL isn’t a competition of who does nice deals made by smart guys
It’s about who wins the Cup. Tall foreheads Tulsky and Dubas leave weakness in their wake
Tulsky has been a GM less than 1 season. Think you might be blowing your load a little early.
Just because you want him to fail doesn’t mean he is.
https://x.com/WaltRuff/status/1898134220591268161
This is his philosophy. He made an aggressive move which seems to be something you wanted Bowman to do so no clue why you hate the guy so much. Dubas isn’t in Erik’s stratosphere.
Bowman does expect Kane back at some point.
Won’t be back in the regular season. Hopefully in the playoffs. Maybe game 1 but they don’t know. If they play long enough, he’ll certainly be back.
Kane, Frederick and Jones – truculence – expects them all there and to make a difference.
I see plenty of depth everywhere but between the pipes.
They only have 3 regular centres, and one is 35 and slow. Bowman said Kap was doing well at C and Frederic could play C, but neither have regularly and in playoffs a different story. Nuge can do it if he has to, but he’s back to wing where he’s better (if he can get his deal together)
I’m seeing Nuge at 3c & Henrique at 4c. I wonder if Philp is a better option than Kapanen for a RH 4c? Or if Ryan is even a consideration? I wish Bowman could have added another center too. It didn’t happen. Freddy can fill in anywhere but is a best on the wing.
Bowman did acknowledge that he looked around trying to find someone that could play with Leon but the right fit never materialized.
I would shed happy tears if they managed to get Alex Tuch.
Bowman said more was made of the trade protection than reality – it wasn’t a big factor.
I don’t think he was looking to move out a ton of cap commitment.
Remember, not a ton of assets to use any more cap space (let alone if they would need to pay to move money out).
Bowman acknowledges the goalies have not been as good recently but looked at the big picture and thought, from Nov through end of Jan it was very good. Acknowledges it has slumped recently and its an important position. “Team game” has escaped them over the last 5-6 weeks and that puts pressure on the goalies. Need to not put pressure on the tenders to “save games”
Jake Walman
67th per. top speed (75th & 88th years prior)
80th per. 32-35 kph (68th & 89th)
95 per. hardest shot (98th & 99th)
83 per. avg shot (91st & 90th)
JFresh’s mircostat breakdown shows him as also being effective at generating offense and reasonably effective at D-zone exits. He struggles mightily at preventing zone entries and generally isn’t a strong defender (how much is coloured by being on SJ . Prone to turnovers and not physical. So Bouchard-lite.
His microstat card from last year in DET holds some positive news for those worried about his entry defense.
Beyond anything I see in the numbers, the deadline additions suggest that management wanted an infusion of spice and skating to the team. All of Frederic, Jones, and Walman are above average skaters in at least one dimension and all of them bring (the dreaded) intangible qualities. Frederic and Jones add the physicality & workman-like pace to a rather vanilla group of forwards while Walman brings a bit of personality to a room that, from an outsider’s view, can be pretty lacking in such.
Collectively, these additions (alongside Kane) should help do what Lucic claimed he would do when he came: add some swagger.
_____________
I’ll reserve any final judgement until I see Walman play a few games as an Oiler, but I’m not keen on the fit.
On the plus side, adding another talented offensive D should help the team’s transition offense and also take some minutes off of Ekholm by taking over PP2 (which I think is a big factor). Further, you never know when or how skilled players will mesh so having more is better. I can think of more than a few ways to deploy 3 pairings capable of contributing to genuine O-zone pressure. He’s also got another year at a very good cap hit.
On the downside, it’s another Dman that’s prone to mistakes on a blueline that already has 3 (Bouch, Nurse, Klingberg) and doesn’t help minimise EDM’s primary weakness. Barring another trade, they seem to be choosing the “live by the sword, die by the sword” approach; maximise your strength in hopes that it overpowers your weakness.
That having been said, I hope they’re right and not me 🙂
Great breakdown
Any stats on Walman and Emberson playing together?
Walman only joined the Sharks this year and Emberson was traded to us in the offseason so no 🙂
…So zero goals against when they are on the ice together. Pretty impressive.
Excuses! Haha
That’s interesting because on the Elite Prospects website he is listed as a defensive defenceman. His highest point production was 21 points in 63 games, both total and points per game.
Maybe he was tasked with being more offensive in SJ, out of his comfort zone.
If I were to guess, that labelling is likely the result of his role in Detroit playing alongside Seider. The lion’s share of his TOI was as his partner on the top pairing and, with little else on that blueline that could help, it ended up making both he and Seider look less skilled than they are. However, I look forward to seeing the truth of the matter!
David Pagnotta
@TheFourthPeriod
#LetsGoOilers release this statement regarding Evander Kane: “After further consultation with team medical staff, it has been determined that forward Evander Kane will not be ready to return to action for the remainder of the 2024-25 regular season. As a result, he will remain on LTIR.”
And be back for game 1 of the playoffs (hopefully after a conditioning stint in the AHL).
There’ll be new leadership team in Boston this off season.
Utah Hockey Club unveil Shea Weber as their new franchise D. Bowman dropped the ball on this one.
Did Bowman do enough? I think not.
Kane may be back…
And he may be impactful…or not.
Kane will be back, so will Frederic and somehow, I have a good feeling about Max Jones. I like Walman. I just hope it’s enough.
Well, the D is undoubtedly stronger and better than several Cup-winning teams.
Evander Kane’s health remains the ultimate wild card. I believe he can be a productive top 9 winger. If he can still wheel well enough to play with McDavid or Drai and throw his weight around, it is an absolute game changer. He could be as good an add as anyone at trade deadline not named Rantanen or Marchand.
Even without Kane, this team has the forward pieces to succeed in the playoffs without a big add. They need to find the answers internally and the coaching staff need to get these lines back to doing what they were as recently as January. And the shooting percentages need to regress towards historic averages.
They have 6 legit defensemen who I sure hope can stay healthy.
I have no issues with what he’s done – in particular with the assets that Oilers had to trade.
I’ve been staunch in my opinion that the improvement from this team comes from within given massive underperformance by many individuals, and as a group.
Won’t say McDavid’s underperformance has been massive but, on the year, he’s well below established norms: not just points but impact on the game and, well, defensive commitment.
This team needs McDavid, Bouchard, Ekholm, Hyman and Nuge to be closer to historical norms.
That, with a solid bottom six truculent scorer and a legit top 4 (low end 2D) plus Kane.
A healthy Frederic down the middle is intriguing. 3C and 4C deployment will be interesting. If Jones could deliver the sort of play he showed last night, that would help. Having more wingers than spots could be a good thing – shuttle guys in and out to keep things fresh
We are mostly aligned on this. Although disagree that McDavid’s under performance has not been massive.
He’s 19 points behind MacKinnon and has only 50% of Drai’s goal total.
For a guy that once scored 64 goals and over 153 points in a season, and had one of the all time great playoff scoring runs just 10 months ago, this season is a far cry from what we are used to seeing. I think even McDavid would admit that.
Can’t really know what he did do, but certainly a top 6 winger or RC would have been nice adds. Tough to do everything with limited assets and limited cap room. Relying on 4-5 players to find their game is risky business.
Yet again there’s going to be some seriously stacked teams in the dance again.
If the Oil want to sip champagne, 3 things are mission critical for the playoffs.
1) Stay healthy obvs
2) Seeding. They need to push up the standings to get a more favourable matchup early.
3) Most importantly, they need some short series wins. The Oil have less depth vs some of the elite teams. They need a quick 4 or 5 game series along the way to arrive at the Final more rested and less banged up.
The Oil need to hit the ground running early in the playoffs and get those first couple of series over quickly. If they’re playing marathons early, they’ll be too spent to win a formidable finals matchup.
All that said, I’m happy with their deadline. I’ve never understood teams that turn over too much of their roster at the deadline. Chemistry is a thing. I like teams that improve around the edges instead of trying to parachute in big names.
This team is famous for slow starts.
I actually want to see Edmonton finish 2nd. No doubt that LAK are going to be tough, maybe the best iteration we will face, but the winner of the Pacific will be playing either Colorado or a Minnesota team that has only been held back from division contenders by their incredible injury struggles, and they should be healthy. Either of these teams are poised to upset Vegas in round 1
Is anyone else seeing rumours that Ekholm has a core muscle injury? I really hope that’s not true.
That would be pretty bad.
Core injuries are the new shoulder injuries for Oilers. So very possible.
I saw that too.
I am very curious what the return is for Carlo. He would have been a nice add.
The Bruins finally blow it up. As bad as the Reinhart trade was for the Oilers, the 2015 draft was even worse for Boston. Imagine if they had drafted Kyle Connor and Chabot over Senyshyn and Zboril. Cup window would still be open.
Minton, apparently
I like both the trades, but it’s an underwhelming deadline on the whole.
That’s a succinct way of putting it and agreed. Should have done more if Kane is out till the playoffs and that LTIR money was available for spending.
Still, I’ll give Stan Bowman a B-
Marchand to Florida is so gross.
Florida has to be the betting favourites to win this year. Oilers missing on Zito is almost as egregious as the Reinhart trade.
I can’t remember – did the Oil hire Holland over Zito?
Sure did
Unless there are a ton of trades in queue, pretty boring deadline. I think the Oilers are likely the most improved team in the west. Maybe Colorado?
You don’t think the Stars adding Rantanen is as big as an improvement as the Oilers adding Walman? I do.
Which Rantanan is Dallas adding? The one in Colorado or the one in Carolina?
Walman w Ceci – 45% xGF – 537 min
Walman w/o Ceci – 55% xGF – 302 min
Ceci w/o Walman – 32% xGF – 436 min
All numbers even strength
Hopefully Ceci Cecis for Dallas in the playoffs.
Ceci is our man on the inside for this years playoffs.
I chose to believe he loves the Oilers so much he agreed to be traded to help them win in this years playoffs.
I think those are numbers we have see see seen before.
The States may try to annex Canada, but Finland has already annexed Dallas:
Rantanen
Heiskanen
Hintz
Granlund
Lindell
Big D should now be known as what Loretta Lynn–or, perhaps in an alternate universe, Lorettä Lynanen–would call Finn City.
These last few managers haven’t figured out the Oilers need a Finn or two to go with the Swedes. It’s tradition, and superstition
Well I guess I forgot Kap, oops
“Do or do not. There is no try.” -).
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
C’mon Stan find a C on the cheap
Trade deadline day is the only day every year I regret deleting twitter.
Coyle for Mittelstadt is strange.
I am shocked Vegas has not made a trade yet.
Bruins need skill the Avs size I suppose
Mark Stone is fit and on the roster, I believe.
My issue with Dallas has not changed. They don’t have enough D.
Harley Lyubushkin
Lindell Ceci
Bischell Dumba
Obviously Heiskanen is injured and should be available for the playoffs. But he got turnstiled by McDavid when healthy, nevermind coming off a serious leg injury.
Lyubushkin does not belong on a top pair. Ceci doesn’t belong in a top 4 anymore. Dumba doesn’t belong in the NHL at this point.
If injury happens in the playoffs, they’ll be calling up Dumba, Petrovic, Lundqvist, Kyrou, or Capobianco. Gross options. I wouldn’t like that at all if I were a stars fan.
They have 6 good NHL D. But generally, you need a lot of D to win in the playoffs. And they just don’t have enough. I don’t trust that D corps and the many question marks surrounding it.
Stankoven is a significant player of value in return. Obviously Rantanen is an upgrade but his fit in Dallas remains to be seen
He’s plucky, but he’s 165lbs and .5 PPG. An NHLer but mid tier as long as he can stay healthy to me
Rantanen was 0.5 ppg on Carolina 😉
Stankoven has only played 83 games in the NHL, so you think the production may be improved.
So what do you think of the Oilers defense?
Deep… Bigly
Haha that’s a fair question. I think a lot of that answer depends on what version of Ekholm we get come playoff time. If we get the tower of power, we have one the best top pairs in the league (can’t forget Bouch’s record setting postseason last year), followed by nurse and either Kulak or Walman. Which I really like. Then you have an seriously good 3rd pair with the remaining of Kulak or Walman with Emberson.
If Ekholm is injured come playoff time, we have trouble.
Extra D as Stetcher, Josh Brown, Dermott, and I guess Dineen? I think I like Stetcher. But he’s small for the playoffs. I don’t know. I think this is where I start missing Vinny and Broberg.
Overall I think our D is big, but not giant, mobile* but that comes with an asterisk of whether Ekholm can move. And I wonder if we have enough good D too. I do like our extras more than Dallas, but the extras still don’t fill me with the warm fuzzies.
And Klingberg… great depth by management
Oh yeah, thank you! I was forgetting about Klingberg. Getting deeper by the minute.
Tulsky turned Necas Drury a 2nd 3rd and 4th into Stankoven Hall Juntorp and two low position 1sts
Not convinced that is good work or smart. Maybe ballsy
Should have got Johnston in that
If I was Carolina, I’d be happy with Rantanen for Wyatt Johnston 1 for 1. Johnston might be as good as Rantanen going forward and he ain’t going to cost $12 million. YMMV.
And a 21 YO tall RS C. Probably is off the table
They were offered 2 2nd for Necas a few months ago. Thats now 2 1sts, 2 3rds, and Logan Stankoven. I dont think theyre done either
They could have also just kept Necas. There was no need to trade him.
Necas wanted to move and they weren’t going to pay the 9+ for him after next year. Rantanen gamble was a solid gamble, didn’t work out.
I am curious what Rantanen’s extension looks like.
The Hurricanes are very very risk averse when allocating cap space. Pretty impressive return for Rat. Lots of trade capital if they want to grab someone.
According to TSN it’s around 12 million. Isn’t that less than the number Colorado was complaining about?
8 x 12. Worth noting Dallas has a better tax situation than Colorado or Carolina. But if you’re an Avs or Canes fan, this one has to sting for sure.
Difference comes out to around 3.5M total at 8×12. Carolina rumoured at 13.25M. No clue what Rantanen and agent were doing but if 3.5 was the diff over 100M you gotta think.
Someone suggested it’s due to Texas’ low taxes… over time could be considerable saving to Rant.
Yes, what I posted was the tax difference over the life of the deal between Carolina and Dallas. I’m estimating but it looks like Carolina more than made up the difference with 13.25M.
All rumours but I think Rantanen just didn’t like the fit.
Oof. That would really hurt for the Canes fans. Gotta be sitting there thinking “what the heck is wrong with us?”
“What to leave in, what to leave out ?”
My dad’s all time fave song. He spent his life running against the wind. Mostly of his own making, I’m sure. Peace, old guy. We miss you.
Walman will continue to wear #96 for the Oilers.
It will be the first time an Oiler has worn that number.
Pretty disrespectful to Connor McDavid, no?
What do you mean?
I think it’s a cheeky shot at those who clutched pearls when JP had the audacity to choose 98.
Ha, ok, I respect a good jab now and then!
I doubt Connor feels that way.
Who will have the courage to be the first to wear #69 for the Oilers?
According to the Google AI Overview, Andy Dorris wore the number 69 for the Oilers from 1977 to 1981, Solomon Freelon from 1972 to 1974, Andy Gallik in 2015 and Christian DiLauro in 2021.
LOL! Google AI is hilarious! 😂
Rantanen to the Stars! Man, the west is going to be a hard road this time around.
I hope Stan can trade Skinner to a contender.
He is a good player. Knobber clearly does not like/trust him.
I imagine Skinner would waive his clause to go to a another contender.
Would be sweet if he could pull a C coming back. I am quite concerned about upgrading there. Henri and Nuge are smaller and don’t have the quickness needed and there is no 4C. Henri’s numbers in the playoffs were bad and not sustainable for outscoring again more than likely
With Savoie back in the minors, Emberson and Podkolzin are the only Oilers born this century.
Kuzmenko returns to the Pacific as Philly phlips him to the Kings for a 3rd.
Guaranteed to increase goals against.
I probably have some form of PTSD over past bleeding of assets at the TDL and everywhere else, but Bowman added 2 quality players that seem like the right fit for need. Maybe 3 if Jones can take a roll and run with it
Another C and perhaps a depth goalie would cover a couple more bases
He also added size that can skate. As opposed to Bjugstad types. I like that he likes that in a player. No more undersized (unless really special like a Point Linseman Peca or Marchand for example), or not fast players, it’s not the true Oilers’ way
So far these adds have been solid and good bets. We will see where these land and hopefully he can sneak in one more surprise here.
Does filling the hole that you had just finished digging constitute productive work?
living in the moment is enlightening.
Bowman has done well with his moves.
I agree It’s time to move on who needs dogshit rubbed in our nose daily. This team has been underperforming yet I still feel it’s the best team since the eighties. No excuses but it’s been the shortest offseason in franchise history. All we need is a tick or two above average joe goaltending and we win our 6th cup.
Walman is perfect. Yzerman lost his mind giving him away to Grier for free.
I’d like them to get a RHC to play on the 4th line.
I was really impressed with Jones last night – he’s a much better fit on the bottom lines that Jeff Skinner. There are now too many wingers on the roster – is Jeff Skinner really OK with sitting on the bench the rest of the way? He’s unlikely to get into a playoff game with all the depth that has been accumulated.
A perfect deadline would be a trade to send Jeff Skinner away for either 4th line RHC or some goalie insurance.
It’s becoming clear that Brisebois was the brains in Tampa, not Steve
That’s part of hit. Also have to wonder if Lalonde was over his ski’s as the head coach given what TMac has done since he got there.
The Walman trade was magical and came out of nowhere. Kane, Skinner & Klingberg could still be on the trade block That’s nearly $10M in cap space potentially available. May the magic continue.
Kane does not represent 5M in space. His LTIR goes with him. Its nothing space.
10M in space truly does represent magic.
I think its assumed that since Bowman has now dipped into those reserves that Kane is staying on LTIR or is being traded for picks. I am guessing from the chatter here that he is staying on LTIR.
Looks like i am wrong. Sportsnet has stated that with the current moves, Kane could still be activated, by sending guys down and hitting a roster size of 20. Interesting.
Not going to happen.