Yesterday the NHL gave the go-ahead for the Edmonton Oilers to hire Mike Babcock, and we’ll see the media avail early next week. I expect we’ll see some trade acitivity and some new free agents land in Edmonton over the course of the next few weeks. What will it look like? Please read this.
What will happen now? I think we’ll see some trades in a quick hurry. Darnell Nurse to the Penguins, a goaltender arriving soonafter, and I think a veteran center or winger following close behind.
I think Babcock will spend his first season in Edmonton getting to know the roster. Uh, no. Signing Babcock is an indication of how urgent the situation is in Edmonton. This could be the final season for the Glimmer Twins as a dynamic duo, and I’ve heard Jagger’s solo records. The dropoff is a cliff.
The roster is pretty much set, man. Oh come on. Babcock is going to have some influence. Maybe we see Fredrik Andersen as a free-agent signing, or an additional defenseman. Before he got to Columbus, the Blue Jackets turned over the defense in adding Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson. I can see the Oilers making a move for some additional help on the blue line.
That’s fine. When you are an aggressive buyer, there’s a tendency to overpay. Added to the fact Oilers general managers often overpay anyway, and it could be a mess.
Kind of like the TML today? That’s fair. Darren Raddysh had never gotten paid, so I’m glad for him. But that contract is going to turn on Chayka, we just don’t know the year. Raddysh is 30, and he had an outlier season. High risk.
Any other obstacles? If we make a list of Stan Bowman acquisitions, I’ll be interested to see how many Babcock features or fades. Vasily Podkolzin, Ty Emberson, Trent Frederic, Tristan Jarry, Jake Walman, Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson if they sign, Colton Dach, Ike Howard. Not all of those names will thrive under Babcock.
Can the Oilers thrive under Babcock? I think so. Bowman needs to make damn good and sure he has the goaltending nailed down, though. The defense is going to be under enormous pressure and the forwards will have to pay attention to the details.
There’s nothing wrong with any of those things. Babcock in his prime was an effective coach who won Stanley. He might be able to do that again. It’s been a long time. Meanwhile, the Oilers roster, as currently constructed, isnt a strong enough group (beyond the top line and pairing) to guarantee success.
What do they need? An out-of-this-world elite goaltender.
Every SC winning team needs that. Carolina won this week without one. No sir. The Oilers are a flawed coverage and possession team. The team doesn’t have depth, especially if 97-29 play togehter five-on-five. Babcock will need a monster goalie. Pretty sure. The Oilers don’t have one. Babcock better get one. Now.
On the Lowdown today, our feature guest will be Steve Lansky. We’ll talk about the end of Hockey Night in Canada and what that means to him, and to the country. We’ll also discuss Canada’s men and the big World Cup soccer win yesterday, plus Elks and Jays. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube.
Why Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl will be key on a Mike Babcock-coached team
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7371596/2026/06/19/edmonton-oilers-mike-babcock-leon-draisaitl/
Draisaitl’s PDO, as you’ve posted for the 2024-25 season (.980), is very interesting. The SV% is very strong at .941, but the SH% is unbelievably low at 3.8 (this in a season when he scored over 50 goals and won the Rocket). The SV% I get: Draisaitl was getting Selke mentions by the end of the season. As many here have said, when these guys play responsibly, goalies (and SV%) look so much better. But 3.8SH%?
Draisaitl
LT’s stats were for Draisaitl against elites. These are?
PDO is traditionally a 5v5 metric. You can expect variance in smaller samples “versus elites”. Those numbers are unlikely to be meaningful.
Additionally PuckIQ shows the numbers vs elites of 24-25 to be:
OiSH% 5.1
OiSv% 92.9
PDO 980
— Get your picks in before Babs is hired making question 1 almost redundant (bit I accept entries until announcement). So sad.
— Im bringing back my “what will the Oilers do this off-season” poll: most right get a PayPal contribution to the fine blog:
1) who is the head coach next year?
2) what team is Nurse on next year? (Bonus if you name player(s) returned)
3) what is the opening day goalie tandem?
4) who is the biggest new acquisition/ free agent signing as measured by AAV, excluding Nurse return
5) Murphy, Dickinson. Henrique, Roslovic and Kapenen: which ones are re-signed ?
6) Who is the Oilers first draft?
7) Is Coffey behind the bench again?
best to just answer :
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
what a crazy off season and next season to come.
1. The Babinator
2. Edmonton Oilers
3. Bobrovsky Jarry Levi
4. Bobrovsky
5. None
6. Ethan Mackenzie
7. Yes
1) Babcock – fired in season
2) TML
3) Demko (Jarry going the other way) Ingram
4) Boone Jenner
5) Murphy
6) A distant bell no one had ever heard of
7) Yes. The owner never sleeps
1 Mike Babcock
2 Flyers for Nick Seeler
3 Jarry, Michael DiPietro
4 Jordan Kyrou
5 Murphy Dickinson
6 Ben Macbeath
7 No
1) Babcock
2) Penguins
3) Demko – Cossa
4) Pettersson
5) Murphy/Oilers have to sign him, no choice.
6) Pick is dealt.
7) Yes
1. Babcock
2. LA (Dumolin/Forsberg)
3. Jarry/Forsberg
4. McMann
5. Murphy & Dickinson
6. Gudmundson
7. Yes
1 Cassidy
2 Pens, Wotherspoon
3 Binnington & Andersen
4 McMann $5.5 million
5 Murphy, Dickinson
6 Maksim Sokolovski
7 No
I see Evan Bouchard out on the golf course today. No idea if he has any remaining effects from the hit at the World Championships but would suggest being able to golf is a very good sign.
That is good news.
Could be. What was his score?
Don’t know how he played today but, from accounts, he’s quite good, best on the team. It appears he’s the top athlete on the team and its not close.
We have no banana’s today.
There are no bananas in Scranton PA.
30,000 POUNDS OF MASHED BANANAS!
My father used to sing that song to me. Also, The Burglarman, (same era).
Just go pay a 2nd rounder and Leppanen and get Cossa.
The goaltending will be a function of how the team plays in front. No goalie would have saved last year’s team but for the 4-5 elite (and maybe not even them).
Next season’s premise is a renewed respect for the regular season and a commitment to playing a strong structured game the new coach implements – from McDavid down to Stastney.
If they actually do that (which they have to), Jarry/Cossa, Jarry/Ingram, Jarry/Skinner, Jarry/Freddie A – they will all be just fine.
Don’t add the $3MM, get the goalie wth top 10 upside and cheap on the cap.
Sounding more and more like Nurse to the Pens. Some interesting options. The Pens have three young RWers they may be trying to make room for in Chinakhov, McGroarty, and Hayes. Plus they have Rust, Rakell, Brazeau, and may try to bring Mantha back. Appears to be a log jam on the right side there while the Oilers have vacancy.
Doubt they move Novak or Acciari as they both huge parts of the Pens success last year. Not to say some of the RWer mentioned above weren’t, but if they’re trying to make space for youth then one of Rust, Rakell, or Brazeau should shake loose.
Rust and Rakell have nearly identical contracts at ~$5M with 2yrs remaining. They’re almost exactly one year apart with Rakell being 1yr younger. Rakell is 6’1 194lbs, Rust is 5’11 202lbs.
Rust has played less games, despite being older, 710 versus 862 GP. Both play 19 to 20 minutes per game all strenghts. Over their careers, Rakell has 0.66pts/g pace, Rust 0.71pts/g.
Zooming in on their last 3 seasons Rakell is 211gp and 0.73 pts/g, Rust is 204gp and 0.91 pts/g. Rakell with 74 goals, Rust with 88 goals. In 2025-2026 at 5v5 Rust with 1.02 g/60, Rakell with 0.94 g/60.
Digging a bit deeper into the fancies I find they have nearly the same oZS% and dZS% at 5v5 and very similar CF%, Rakell 1% higher at 49.8%. For GF% / xGF%, Rakell 55% / 52.2%, Rust 53.6% / 49.9%.
(As an aside Ryan Shea led in GF% at 58%, while Novak led in xGF% at 54%)
In the playoffs, not much to differentiate either. Rakell a 0.43% pt/g, Rust 0.44 pt/g.
The biggest differentiating stat I could find was on the PK. Rust played 115min versus Rakell 35min in 25-26.
Not a lot to choose from between the two. Rust perhaps has a slight edge due to goal scoring and PK.
I just hope Bowman doesn’t convince himself that taking Graves back in this deal is worth it. If he does there better be some draft capital coming back, a 2nd minimum.
Knowing Bowman I can see the deal being Nurse $1.25M retained for Rakell, Graves, and a 2nd.
I hope it’s Nurse $2.25M retained for Rust (would still prefer Rakell instead of the deal above).
So for a Nurse trade, should we be looking at the Seth Jones trade as a template? A first and Spencer knight. I’m thinking we should get at least a middle six winger and a second for Nurse.
To San Jose for Askarov and our first back.
Yeah right.
Good post. Guess we’ll see how good the AGM is.
I would love to have Spencer Knight as our starter instead of Jarry.
CHI retained $2.5MM
Our PK last year was bad 4v5 xGA/60 9.19 ranked 20th, GA/60 9.80 ranked 27th. Obviously a big part of that is D and Goalie but I’m concerned that we need better forwards and a face-off guy. Our top PK guys currently are Nuge and Savoie and both have numbers that are more like second line PK. I think we might want to take a much stronger look at keeping Dickinson and maybe even bringing in Mikheyev. Image having a top PP and top PK. They probably improve 5v5 too.
Here is the list of options for PK forwards. Added Jenner and Mikheyev for context. Dickinson and Mikheyev shine like diamonds and Kapanen has surprisingly decent PK numbers. We need someone to take face-offs though. I would try and keep Dickinson and one of Mikheyev or Kapanen.
OILERS/COMPARISON PLAYERS – FACEOFF & PK STATS (Sorted by FO%)
Player | Season | Faceoffs | FO% v | PK TOI | GA/60 | xGA/60 | HDCA/60
————–|————|————-|———-|————-|———- -|———–|————-
Lazar | 25/26 | 291 | 61.17 | 24:54 | 14.46 | 13.48 | 45.78
Frederic | 25/26 | 156 | 57.05 | – | – | – | –
Draisaitl | 25/26 | 1,103 | 56.94 | 26:46 | 0.00 | 6.74 | 20.17
Henrique | 24/25 | 1,010 | 55.64 | 124:11 | 6.76 | 7.96 | 19.81
Henrique | 25/26 | 605 | 54.05 | 105:30 | 6.82 | 8.48 | 23.89
Jenner | 25/26 | 380 | 52.63 | 95:04 | 7.57 | 9.21 | 31.55
McDavid | 25/26 | 923 | 49.51 | 84:07 | 4.99 | 6.79 | 17.83
Dickinson | 25/26 | 888 | 49.32 | 132:14 | 2.27 | 2.45 | 8.62
RNH | 24/25 | 557 | 48.47 | 128:49 | 8.38 | 8.35 | 21.43
Samanski | 25/26 | 112 | 48.21 | – | – | – | –
RNH | 25/26 | 363 | 47.38 | 88:38 | 11.51 | 10.01 | 27.75
Savoie | 25/26 | 80 | 40.00 | 132:01 | 7.27 | 8.37 | 23.63
Kapanen | 24/25 | 91 | 42.86 | 45:15 | 2.65 | 5.74 | 10.61
Kapanen | 25/26 | 3 | 0.00 | 40:53 | 7.34 | 7.68 | 23.48
Janmark | 24/25 | 239 | 40.59 | 125:12 | 8.15 | 6.96 | 17.73
Janmark | 25/26 | 19 | 36.84 | 64:19 | 9.33 | 10.90 | 40.11
Podkolzin | 24/25 | 57 | 24.56 | 59:28 | 5.04 | 5.30 | 16.14
Podkolzin | 25/26 | 65 | 32.31 | 51:23 | 10.51 | 11.10 | 38.53
Mikheyev | 25/26 | 9 | 22.22 | 194:34 | 1.23 | 0.86 | 3.08
If they get JD back Mikheyev would be a nice compliment. But, the Canucks over paid him, he was at 4.75M and his highest points total was 36. He gets goals, but that’s still too much cap for the Oilers. And they would have to move someone out. Kap would be better value, if he plays well all the time
I wonder what’s up with Berezkin?
Copied from elsewhere on the interwebs, in a discussion about trading Nurse ($3M retained) + Berezkin + 2nd + 2nd to Philadelphia for Owen Tippett:
The top-9 here has got to be one of the fastest in the NHL. Here’s how each of them ranked in top speed last season.
McDavid: 99th percentile (39.61 km/h)
Tippett: 99th (38.58 km/h)
Kapanen: 98th (38.50 km/h)
Draisaitl: 92nd (37.46 km/h)
Podkolzin: 88th (37.20 km/h)
Hyman: 87th (37.11 km/h)
Howard: 85th (37.07 km/h)
Nugent-Hopkins: 76th (36.64 km/h)
Savoie: 76th (36.62 km/h)
I think I see the strategy here.
If we’re adding Brezkin and two 2nds, I’d drop that retention to $1M
yes…trade for another player who cannot pass a physical on the day of the trade.
He’s not playing on the day of the trade
I get you, but it seems Bowman is willing to wait for certain players that are hard types to get. If you can get you do. Big fast tough hitting shooters at his age aren’t always available, if he is
Wasn’t that what they thought Frederic was?
He’s a ginger licking his chops with Leon spoon-feeding him.
Almost all these players were on the team last year and in aggregate they played so sssssslllllllooooooooowwwwww
Now that the Babcock hiring is inevitable, my only request is that McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman and whoever else was part of the leadership group that grilled Babcock and ultimatelygave their thumbs up to the hire, are in attendance and answering questions from the press.
They wanted him. They signed off on it. It’s only fair we hear from the horses mouths as to how the process went down and how they arrived at that decision.
This isn’t to call them out or grill them, but if they were a major part of this controvertial decision, we deserve to know what happened.
At this point, and henceforth, I’ll be happy to hear that they’re being leaders for their teammates and staff. It’s the actions, not their words, that’ll mean something in the long run.
— they are simply stooges providing cover IMO
—. Which is another reason to not like the hiring :”hey don’t blame us it was the players call”
— this is such an unprecedented coaching hiring: guy kicked out of hockey. Won a cup 20 years ago. Lost in playoffs or didn’t make last 7 seasons of coaching Been out of hockey 6 seasons. Had nothing when the Leafs canned him.
I can where you are getting the “stooges” take but I can’t see how McDavid and a grumpy Draisaitl would allow themselves to be used like that.
I think you will be disappointed, can’t imagine other players at the press conference.
Oh I have no doubt that they won’t be there. That doesn’t change the fact that they should be there.
Its not a fact that they should be there, its an option and I, for one, don’t share it.
Why should they have to answer questions on this during the summer?
What did they really do? I mean, I don’t think Connor and Leon identified Babcock and forced ownership and management to hire him. I believe it was manaement/ownership that identified Babcock and decided they needed sign-off from Connor and Leon at the very lease and perhaps even involved in futher in meetings with Babcock.
Connor and Leon obliged during their summer and gave the go-ahead.
These are hockey players not seasoned politicians.
so Darnell’s 6m bonus is paid July 1st?…I am assuming that would be why we wait until deadline day for the Pittsburg deal?…
No – Friedman said that he gets paid out his bonus in 3 instalments during the regular season.
not this year though I think…but I could be wrong…
sorry, I am wrong…then what’s the hold up?
I thought the same, based on Puckpedia stating it was payable July 1 every year. They have since corrected that to be consistent with what Friedman reported. With that said, whether it’s a trade with the Pens or any other team, there could be signing bonuses, waiving NMC’s or other factors to consider for the players coming to the Oilers. Or perhaps the Oilers want to get the coaching hire over with first.
What’s the hold up? Its been like a week, there is a week until the draft and its not that easy to make trades, in particular with big contracts.
I wouldn’t have expected any trade to be done yet.
It is paid in three 2m disbursements… Nov, Dec and Feb I think I read somewhere…
Yep maybe the deal is already in place. I hope it’s a package deal and the return is Tippett in Philly.
Bowman needs to trade for Curtis Joseph! If he fails to trade for Curtis Joseph he is incompetent and should be fired immediately!
They might be considering Montembeault. Curtis Joseph is 59 years old .
Isn’t Curtis Joseph a free agent right now?
Curtis Joseph hasn’t played since 2008-9. I think he might mean Cam Talbot who is only 37 and still playing. But you never know Curtis Joseph might make a come back?
He’s still better then the last guy we had.
You’re right. Too rich.
My sincere hope is the coaching staff convinces bowman not to trade Nurse.
Does Raddysh’s contract gives me hope for the market on Nurse. Yikes.
I hope so that is one heck of deal by Toronto which should drive up Nurse value
After 10 years, the Leafs finally find their Dion Phanuf replacement.
Usually a new G.M tries to make a splash.
With the term and dollars the GM handed out, it might be more of a splatter than a splash.
Chayka has stated his priority is rebuilding his D.
Its almost certain Morgan Rielly and his $7.5 million cap hit will be moved.
Along with the Raddysh trade he acquired 25 year old LD Emil Andre in the Woll trade to the Flyers.
Andre had a 62.1% goal share in 61GP last season
More to come I’m sure as moving Rielly leaves Toronto with $25 million in cap space.
‘Dion’ Raddysh until he’s 38 and a 5’9 tweener. Chayka is working some magic!
This is the issue with being too stats driven. His PuckIQ is very good. Imagine their surprise when he gets owned by Tampa or florida in playoffs
I don’t know why you’re wasting your time posting about Raddysh and Toronto. From a “trolling” perspective there is no pay off, unless you have a humiliation fetish and want people to mock you for being a hypocrite in supporting this kind of contract.
Two questions:
1. Which organization is more of a tire fire? TOR for hiring Chayka? Or EDM for the Bowman and Babcock hires?
2. How much has the game changed in the last 5 to 10 years, from a coaching perspective? That’s one thing I think about when it comes to Babcock. There have been threshold shifts in tactics, analytics, video coaching, player, nutrition and management. Complex cap issues. These were sort of starting to manifest even more as Babcock left the show. Is he too much of a dinosaur to thrive?
I wish it was Joel Quenneville getting hired instead of Babcock. The mob was a little more proactive a few years ago.
IMHO Edmonton is way better off.
What stands out for me in your article today is that the defense will be under extreme pressure and the forwards will have to pay attention to details. I think Babcock will need to have a veteran line up. I can’t see him having any time what so ever for any youth on the roster.
Which leads me to wonder about Ike Howard specifically, Savoie & Samanski might be ok with their two-way games but Howard could become a target. He might rue the day he decided to come to Edmonton.
The defense will be a veteran group that will need to make life easy for the goaltenders becuase they certainly won’t be able to afford an elite tender.
The other thing is Connor & Leon have stuck their necks out for this coach and will need to toe the line because they could have vetoed this coaching hire in the first place.
Issac Howard was a plus 2-way player in Bako the last third of last season.
He’s not a stupid person – he understood what he needed to work on and worked his ass off.
He’s not going to be out there as a defensive specialist but his 2-way game should not be any issue for a coach if he looks able to make an impact in the top 9, which he does going in to the season.
We’ll see how Babcock is with a rookie. Coach him up and let him work the kinks out, he’ll be all in. He’s also not timid and they can always use more guys with drive and jam
Boone Jenner never stays healthy but Id much rather the Oilers pursue him than Dickinson if he makes it to July.
-Likes Babcock
-Hits, blocks, wins draws
-Posts even strength offense
-Provides better coverage for the team when they load up.
Drai/McD/Hyman
Podz/Jenner/Savoie
Howard/Nuge/Kane
Dach/Samanski/Goose
Savoie/McDavid/Hyman
Podz/Drai/Howard
Nuge/Jenner/Kane
Dach/Samanski/Goose
Jenner acquisition gives Howard a fair better shot at success, a loaded up top line not as much stress, 3 scoring lines, yadda yadda.
I added Kane as faint reports of Kapanens ask has him leaving town most likely with Kane’s agent saying nice things about Drill Sargent Babcock combined with his mostly successful run with the Oilers. 1yr cheap deal.
Boone Jenner wasn’t he the captain in Columbus? Do you think he will want to come to Edmonton and be coached by Babcock?
Boone Jenner talked glowingly about Babcock.
Did not know that.
Per the Blue Jackets NHL page:
News Feed
Columbus Blue Jackets statements
statement
By
Blue Jackets Staff
BlueJackets.com
September 12, 2023
Columbus Blue Jackets Head Coach Mike Babcock and center Boone Jenner released the following statements regarding comments made earlier today on a hockey podcast.
MIKE BABCOCK
“While meeting with our players and staff I asked them to share, off their phones, family pictures as part of the process of getting to know them better. There was absolutely nothing more to it than that.
“The way this was portrayed on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast was a gross misrepresentation of those meetings and extremely offensive.
“These meetings have been very important and beneficial, not only for me but for our players and staff as well, and to have them depicted like this is irresponsible and completely inaccurate.”
BOONE JENNER
“While meeting with Babs he asked me about my family and where I’m from, my upcoming wedding and hockey-related stuff. He then asked if I had pictures of my family and I was happy to share some with him. He showed me pictures of his family.
“I thought it was a great first meeting and good way for us to start to build a relationship. To have this blown out of proportion is truly disappointing.”
Apparently Seravelli is saying the Leafs are showing interest in Jenner. He sure would be a fit in Edmonton if he could stay healthy,otherwise Dickinson would be fine if he gets signed to a reasonable contract.
If Kapanen wisely chases the cash I would sign Kane if it’s for cheap money. Kane is 34 lots of hard miles yet he still can get off that hard shot in the kill zone. Kane and Babcock might be a marriage made in heaven.
Kane is in the Milan Lucic stage of his career, meaning he needs to retire. Some team may give him a training camp invite, but I doubt that’s even going to happen
Had over 100hits wuth over 30pts in a 3rd line role last season on a broken team.
He’ll be in the league hitting and scoring next year.
Yes you’re probably right. Kane unlike Lucic did score some big goals for us and he’s always been able to skate. If all it takes is a million I would take a flyer on Evander.
Lucic’s last 30pt season was at 30yrs of age as an Oiler on a pretty good team.
Kanes last 30pt season was at 34yrs of age on a basement team, with much better previous seasons then Lucic’s record.
A one year deal for Evander is nothing like signing a Lucic in any scenario.
I’m not worried about the regular season it’s what Kame can bring to the table come playoff time. Anaheim was prancing around the neutral zone without a care in the world. If Kane lands a Emberson type of hit on Gauthier-Carlsson-Granlund it could have very well been the difference. Remember when Raffi Torres laid the boom on that poor San Jose player. The legal hit by Torres instantly flipped the script against a talented San Jose group.
Kane has been scoring as many goals in a season or more then Lucic was providing in total points. Hits, fights, can actually skate.
Its wild that folks think this is some sort of honest comparison imo.
yup
I’m only signing Kane for a cheap 1yr contract.
Kane is a one way player. Not the droid, were trying to go past that
Kane plays a straight line game, can still change a game with hits or goals.
Is currently better then the entire 4th line.
Oilers aren’t going to be icing 12 two way players.
To me they can’t win trying to outscore being leaky. They have to get to where they are icing 12 F that can get the job done. Or at least most of them
My head went immediately to Patrick Kane. lol
I’ve wanted to see Patrick Kane for a long time, I can’t see there being any way that happens.
If only we didn’t come back from a 2-0 deficit halfway through the 2nd against Calgary on the road in the final game of the year. We would have finished behind Chicago who ends up winning the draft. The Kane pick instead of Sammy Gagner would have altered the universe especially for Chicago.
That is simply not how the draft lottery work and it would have remained a long shot for the Oilers to have won that lottery.
Jenner isn’t going to be your 2C. He’s been a LWer for most of the past 2 years in Columbus. Like Nuge I’m sure he can spot in at center still, but you can’t go into the season with him penciled in at 2C or probably even 3C.
He’s not a fast player, and that will be a problem playing for Babcock, and he’s only going to get slower. His PuckIQ is pretty good though
We could have had the feisty Jenner at 31 pick overall. Instead we go with David Musil the dependable-steady-stay at home-can’t miss D who scraped and clawed 4 career NHL games
With the Nurse trade this may be the end of the core. If Connor wants to move on the trade needs to happen next offseason.
I would suggest Nurse isn’t a big peice of the core. He probably wants to skip town before Babcock gets a hold of him.
Hold on a second: McD advocated for this coach; regardless of other changes, this is the ship of which he’s the Capt.
He might just leave Leon in charge if things don’t work out.
I don’t know what to say.
Anybody in here willing to give Bobrovsky 7m X 6 years?
What I should have added is that if he wins you Stanley next year is it worth the next 5 years?
I’d do 2x $11M, see if he would bite.
They need to move Jarry. We are still paying over 2 million for Campbell. We also need a cheap back-up if they sign Bob
Agreed. I would hope that Ingram could get another look, but I think there are some up and comers in the org who imo could play back up to Bob.
Unfortunately, not a chance. He might be worth it for a year, if we’re lucky to the extreme, maybe 4.
But since the 70s, once goaltending drastically changed and has become much more difficult on the joints, the oldest goalies have been:
And I think most would agree, the last year for most of these goalies was far below their career averages or expectations. If we’re extremely lucky, Bob makes it to 42, but not even Hasek or Brodeur could defeat father time.
2 years for $7Mil? I might have some time for, but even at that….
I’m not sure he was really any better than Jarry last season…..
If they move out Nurse, it seems impossible they don’t add one more dman (in addition to Murphy).
Ekholm-Bouchard
Walman-Murphy
Stastney-Emberson
Carfagna or Leppanen
Play to the deadline. The worry I have is Walman. He’s going to be under a microscope with Babcock as coach.
What makes you think this about Walman? You’ve post this a few times.
Because the signing of Walman makes his man Nurse expendable.
Id like to see the Oilers bring Vinny back for some variety in the 3rd and 4th pairings. A big body pk muncher is missing from that group.
Would love him on the PK but Ty Emberson has his 5 on 5 spot and I’m not sure they can afford an apx $2MM 7D and are we risking Statsney on waivers to have Vinny sit in the press box?
I don’t have the thought of Vinny but don’t see the fit.
I’m thinking the blueline will be blown up and there won’t be very many survivors.
They might as well trade Lepannen, he won’t be appreciated by the new HC
We have no idea that’s true, or if Lepannen is even able to handle the bigs regardless of who the coach is.
Maybe they can get a D that seems more likely to be used if necessary. Only Regula and Carfagna are even close, both have issues
Trade him for what? A tablecloth?
Bako needs good players too.
They might need one? I was thinking ‘if’ there is a player a team would move, maybe a little less bat and a little bigger with more glove
I’m fine with the group of 6 but any injury in the top 4 is trouble, in particular on the left side (where its more likely than not).
I am not worried about Walman’s ability to be a very solid 2LD when healthy – its the “when healthy” that I have concern about.
There are a few posters here that should consider applying for PR roles with professional hockey teams.
Well, we do have DDF with the FTSMSNN (ForTheSimpleMindedSportsNewsNetwork) updates so anything is possible.
And an even more that could/should start an “I hate Charlie Sheen” website.
lol.
My post was initially a reference to DSF waxing poetic about how Raddysh is an undervalued asset. Sure. And pigs can fly.
People could watch Babcock slap a player on the bench and they would still be saying
“He “allegedly” hit that player. It’s just rumour and hearsay. You don’t know what the player really said. Maybe he deserved it. The players teammates all said the player said or did nothing wrong but, there are 2 sides to every story. Babcock won with lethbridge in the 90s and one of those former players said Babs would never do something like that. I mean, he’s an asshole – so what. So are other coaches, you know”
It’s pure coping.
Hardly, by carry on I guess.
It’s not impossible, and I’m wrong on plenty, but that would be a very surprising scenario to me. I don’t imagine McDavid isn’t here for length let alone the second year of his contract.
I imagine there’s a long line of GM callers wanting to talk to Chayka this morning.
What an utterly dumb move. Time to rob him blind.
And Raddysh will be wealthy, but he’s going to hate having signed that deal from a hockey perspective.
He will get “Nursed”, eventually
“Eventually” being 2/3 of the way through the season when he regresses to be a 30 point PP specialist earning #2 dollars?
Love the article but I don’t agree with the Oilers not having depth.
While the facts are the bottom 6 got caved in the regular season, I think that is due to underperformance more than quality of players. For a team like the Oilers, the biggest thing to measure is playoffs and back to back years the bottom 6 has been a huge net positive.
Looking at the below lineup, Howard is the only forward arguably placed above his pay grade but he is likely a good bet to be successful there. You have $14M to fill the rest and $23M once Nurse is out (and if you need to retain you’re likely getting a roster solution back). So you need a 2RW which typically can be done on the cheap b/c of Drai’s ability to float players, 3RW, 2LD, 2RD, and some sort of goalie. $7M up front, $3M in net and $12M to your D, and $2M to your extras builds a solid team with depth.
McDavid/Hyman/Savoie
Podz/Drai/***
Howard/RNH/***
Dach/Samanski/Fred
Ekholm-Bouch
Nurse-***
Walman-Emberson
I don’t see any elite goalies on the market other than Helley and do they have the pieces for that? Anderson is good, so is Stolarz, neither can stay healthy. The point of hiring Babcock is so that they aren’t a team that ignores the details when they lose interest, he won’t let them
If you hire a coach like that, you also have to get the right players. Might not be able to happen right away, but the guys who don’t like to work hard each shift, or can’t remember the plan, need to be changed out
Like the panthers and Canes do it
Spot on
i’ve been kinda squinting at this and that wondering if Oil could make a move for Helly if available
He has indicated he wants to play in the U.S. and has a full NMC meaning he can pick his destination.
Latest scuttlebutt has him being traded to Florida for Anton Lundell, Mackie Samoskevich and Florida’s 1st round pick in the upcoming draft. (9th overall)
He would love the tax free status in Florida and Winnipeg needs an infusion of youth since they are the oldest team in the NHL.
After moving Lundell, the Panthers would have more than $20 million in cap space so could easily absorb his cap hit.
The Oilers should not spend big on a goalie as, aside from he 4-5 elite goalies in the league the HUGE 40 goalie tier are essentially all highly susceptible to team play.
If the team does not materially increase structure with puck management and better gap cotnrol/rush defence and net front play, no goalie will help this team more than the goalies did last season.
If they play the way I expect them to play next season, and the way they’ve talked about since their last game, and respect the regular season, Tristan Jarry will be just fine with a 1B that can play 30 games – be it Connor Ingram or a higher pedigree NHL ready player like Cossa.
Jarry has a long history of above league average goaltending well over .900 – including his 14 games as a Pen last season. He will be just fine behind a more structured group.
Agreed, and even the Russian goalies couldn’t save their teams if they weren’t playing well in the end
Does Babcock line-match? That was an issue with Knobby.
Would certainly seem to. For comparison’s sake this year, McDavid played 38% of his TOI against elite competition, and Leon 35%, according to WoodMoney.
In 2014-15 (the first year PuckIQ’s site tracks), Datsyuk and Zetterberg each took on around 30-36% of their ice time against elites. They were among the leaders for ice time against the Elites, with only Justin Abdelkader joining them, before a fairly even split and decline through the lineup. this would make some sense with star, 2-way forwards like Datsyuk and Zetterberg.
Year 1 in Toronto, Michael Grabner, Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov evidently formed a shutdown line, and played between 46-47% of their TOI against elites.
in 2016-17, Kadri and Komarov again formed the basis of a shutdown line, and played 45% of their TOI against elites, alongside Connor Brown who played 37% of his time against elites as well. Rookies Nylander, Matthews and Marner got some clean air and played 33, 31 and 28% of their time against Elites respectively. Marner got 28% of his time against bottom competition, and Matthews and Nylander got close as well.
2017-18, Marleau joined Kadri (47% TOI vs elites) on the shutdown line, 45% of his time was against elites. Komarov was reduced t0 40%, but interestingly, Hyman and MAtthews also chipped in 40% of their ice time against elite players.
2018-19 is fascinating for a few reasons. First of all, Kadri clearly had landed in the doghouse, and only played 25% of his time against elites this year, which is a massive shift. Komarov was no longer on the team, and so the new ‘shutdown’ line was:
Marner, Tavares and Hyman, who played 47-50% of their TOI against elite players. This did allow for much more clean air for the rest of the team, notably Matthews (33%), and Nylander (24%).
So he does line match, and I think thats likely indicative that Dickinson might be staying, and a shutdown line forming.
Having 3 lines that can play against good players seems to be a hallmark of Cup teams. When you get deep it’s hard to shelter two lines. Be it a scoring or shut down 3rd. Scoring would be nice but unless you have young guys or cheaper vets it would be expensive, and too much so for a top heavy team
It’s probably been brought up by LT in the past, but I’d be fine with Podzy-Leon-Kap being used in the shutdown role. They’re all big, can win tons of battles, and likely hold their own as far as outscoring most lines. Get Leon that Selke.
I’m not sure they are going to keep Kap – I mean some speculation of $3MM X 4 which, isn’t egregious but, in my opinion, too much by close to a million for that term given his inconsistencies and injuries. Doing it is “probably fine” but if you do a similar overpay with Dickinson to stack on and then maybe one with Murphy and, well……
“Rogers Place is a kind and respectful place”…so they tell me on the monitors every few minutes.
hiring Babcock is a travesty. would love to see reporters boycott the press conference – i.e. why legitimize the hiring…
Better to have reporters show up to ask tough questions about how this hire reflects the team’s culture and further speak truth to power.
Agreed.
We have all had our opportunity to make our views heard. The organization is making its choice. Whether MB is a good choice, or not, that’s now in his hands. It will be up to the media to ask hard questions, and up to the team leadership (McD and his lieutenants) to keep their eyes and ears open in service to the more vulnerable members of the team.
Sports offers opportunities for redemption stories. I was not in favour of this hiring, but as a fan of the Oilers and as a fan of people learning and growing and redeeming themselves, I hope that the MB chapter is a positive one for Oilerville. A Cup would be a nice thing. The main win here, however, is if MB proves us doubters wrong, that he can be a decent human being, and especially with those most vulnerable and most marginal (ie. staff) to the core of the team. Fingers crossed.
I think Gregor is going to ask tough questions and to him
Gregor had been on about talking to an agent that has players that have issues with it – of course, not one that is willing to state anything publicly it seems.
Gregor then had an Oiler player on his show (Colton Dach) for 40 minutes and didn’t ask him a single thing about it – a player that has an agent that has now publicly endorsed Babcock and said none of his players have (or have had) any issue with Babcock.
So Gregor had the direct ability to hear the other side of the story but chose to stay silent.
He clearly only wants to criticize and not do any real media/journalism on it.
He’ll bring the pre-eminent Babcock hater in Commodore on his show to talk about it but all stay silent with a current player with a different view.
The proof will be in the pudding, we’ll see Tuesday
Babcock is allegedly a bully with major boundary issues.
But saying the reporters should boycott the press conference makes no sense for two reasons:
The operative word in this discussion is “allegedly.” All based on rumours and innuendo.
Just rumours and innuendo? Really? Fine… I’ll refer to what the media reported…
https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/nhl-reinstates-bowman-quenneville-after-being-banned-for-their-role-in-blackhawks-assault-scandal-1.2143120
“For more than the last two and a half years, these individuals [Quenneville, Bowman, MacIsaac] have been ineligible to work for any NHL team as a result of their inadequate response upon being informed in 2010 of allegations that Blackhawks’ player Kyle Beach had been assaulted by the club’s video coach,” the league said, “While it is clear that, at the time, their responses were unacceptable, each of these three individuals … has acknowledged that and used his time away from the game to engage in activities which not only demonstrate sincere remorse for what happened, but also evidence greater awareness of the responsibilities that all NHL personnel have, particularly personnel who are in positions of leadership”
Just rumours and innuendo? That’s why Bowman had to demonstrate sincere remorse for what happened?
Okay then.
Hey dcsj,
I just realized I used the word allegedly twice, so apologies if I responded the wrong way… I assumed in your response that you mean that what happened in Chicago was alleged, but you may have meant that what Babcock did was alleged in which case my response is moot.
Right. I was talking about Babcock
The difference between Bowman and Babcock is that Bowman was not involved personally. Babcock was and was very cruel to certain people, to the point of breaking Franzen
I just read up on what happened with Franzen and it’s terrible. I’ve dealt with post-concussion life and anxiety disorder, and they’re really serious issues.
However, I also just read a write-up from the Toronto Star about the fall out from Chicago, and it’s heartbreaking to read what happened when the video coach moved on to work at a high school in part because of Bowman’s inaction.
I don’t want to get into a competition with you regarding which of Bowman or Babcock was worse (they both seem to have caused terrible things) – I don’t want to accidentally cross a line that our host may have. But I guess my point remains if the media showed up to Bowman’s press conference, they should do the same for Babcock’s.
I agree they should ask some straight questions to Babcock
I am also not interested deciding who is worse. Both situations were and are not good. I find the harsh reactions to Bowman over the top. I agree, and Bowman has said, he referred it up and was told it would be handled, and should have done more. If it wasn’t happening, he could have resigned in protest. He wasn’t in control of what happened, as for the tragic LOR we also don’t know the details around that, and it matters if you want to assign blame
Something nobody seems to consider is that Beach was a 20 year old adult at the time, and involved in that lifestyle. It was 16 years ago, things have changed a lot since then, it would have been less than clear cut, not as it is now. I reserve my harshest judgment for the creep first, then the owner and the president who were in charge of the situation as they said they would handle it. The owner died, the president isn’t in the league anymore, the others have done the required work and are, and Bowman has made public amends
If the reporters don’t want to do what they’re paid to do then fire them and hire people that are interested in covering my Oilers.
No, I also think the reporters should attend the press conference and do their jobs. I think we agree on this.
because he’s legitimately being hired and is a highly qualified NHL head coach.
There is a difference between “legitimate” and ethical.
And Babcock has not won a playoff round since 2013 despite coaching a star-studded lineup.
Again, honesty and integrity…and lack their of.
You’ve got no problem with Quenneville coaching one of your favorited 23 teams, but the Oilers and Babcock is an “ethical” matter.
Piss of you troll and hypocrite.
A few weeks back when Vegas decided not to let Cassidy interview, I said something like “Hell, interview Babcock”. At the time I didn’t think it would actually happen. However, at one time I highly respected him as a coach, mostly with Team Canada. Then, not so much. I was only reading about the rumours surrounding the cell phones etc. Regardless, he does seem like our guy now so best to forget and forgive, in that order. I hope I can respect our new coach this coming season, even more paramount is the players. As LT pointed out today, there’s a lot on the line, the biggest, oh captain my captain, our franchise player.
“He had nasty reputation as a cruel dude, they said he was ruthless, said he was crude”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR07Jku_MA4
I don’t know whether to face palm emoji or shoulder shrug emoji 🙂
I see nothing to do other than accept it and move forward with cautious optimism. They are hiring a coach that undoubtably knows the game of hockey, knows how to implement structure, knows how to inspire his players to commit to it and knows how to win.
Maybe this blows up. Maybe they win Stanley.
Two player agents, one with a top 5 book, providing full endorsement and indicating no player they have had have any issue with Babcock. No agent that has another view or experience has gone public……
Let’s get on with the off-season. Sign those incumbent UFAs they want (within reason), get that Nurse trade done early enough to ensure the ability to backfill and spend with the full picture of roster and cap space.
Connor, Leon, Zack, Ryan, Mattias and the rest, continue to enjoy the hell out of your summer, recharge and, when it’s time, ramp up that training and mindset.
Let’s Go!
Babcock’s process did NOT involve “to know how to inspire his players to commit”. It was more like “to play mind games with his players to get them to commit”. We are talking an old school authoritarian coach…
No agent who has anything bad to say is going to say it publicly.
Bullies last because they have friends in high places.
Well said godot, just because media is reporting items to make light of the situation, doesn’t mean it isn’t a bad one.
Similar to why players didn’t speak up publicly while Babcock was their coach, why would people do so now? Hockey is a small world, there is fear and recycling of old heads is of a high quantity. People like to keep jobs, not lose them. Fear.
Every post OP makes about Babcock is like he is convincing himself this isn’t a bad hire, no actual dick and balls opinion on the matter.
There has been a lot of opinions expressed and lots against him from players and others. Also some typically reasonable people with no issues with it, that have no skin it directly. I think it’s more likely to go sideways than not, but the league didn’t find anything bad enough to bar him, and I imagine they’d prefer he had stayed retired to avoid negative publicity
Feel free to be all doom and gloom based, at least partially on, incomplete information and implications based on that.
I am cautiously optimistic – a very good hockey mind – I’m excited to see how this team can perform next season.
I’m 100% depleted of cautious optimism.
I honestly, almost, feel bad for the TML.
JFreshHockey
Raddysh’s contract with TOR comes to 8x$8.5M.
Once, that was #1 defenceman money; not anymore.
For sure that cap hit is not bad for 22 G and 70 points. The risk of course is one season like that. 8.5M for a 30ish point guy is not value
Matt Larkin:
Some rising-cap perspective:
By year 2 of Raddysh deal, cap will be $113.5 million.
By that point an $8.5 million AAV will be the equivalent of $6.59 million last season when cap was $88 million
That is all true. It’s still a bad contract.
What happened to not signing 30 year old players to 8 year deals?
Remember the Oilers have that horrendous Draisaitl contract on the books for an aging player.
Oh that’s right, but this is a contract signed by one of the other 31 teams, so it must be ok.
While there is certainly risk involved, let’s remember that Draisaitl’s cap hit is $6.5 million higher.
lol, comparing Draisaitl to Raddysh. You never cease to amaze…and embarrass yourself.
This is likely a better contract than the Walman contract.
How do you figure?
Sure
The Oilers provide more drama than Big Brother.
What is the likelihood Babcock gets canned before training camp haha?
I mentioned this yesterday if Vegas releases Cassidy this weekend Oilers should fire Babcock and hire Cassidy. If Vegas is going to play high stakes poker we need to ante up and get in the hand.
Vegas is paying Cassidy not to coach and will only ok teams to interview him on a case to case basis. Doesn’t look like Vegas will allow Edmonton access to Cassidy while he’s under contract with them.
Vegas is setting a precedent for all coaches right now.
You know if it all goes to Hell, Draisaitl’s got a Talk is Cheap up his sleeve if he needs it.