For a team like the Edmonton Oilers, jealous of all the wonderful young players who can move the needle at the NHL level, yesterday’s list of rfas not qualified had to be an ‘aha’! moment. Surely the idea of signing Matias Maccelli for only money brought a smile to Stan Bowman’s face. Right? Please read this.
I’m not certain Stan Bowman is looking in that direction, but he should. Maccelli scored 2.14 points-60 at five-on-five last season, ranking No. 2 (behind William Nylander) among Toronto Maple Leafs forwards. He is 25, 5.11, 187 pounds and the TML walked him. Pure skill, great passer who can cash (14-25-39 in 71 games last season). Puck IQ has him playing 33 percent of his time versus elites and performing at eight percent above average relative to his fellow Leafs.
The Oilers should sign him if he’ll play for a reasonable dollar. He would add to the top-six options and could play with a skill center. Macelli struggled when playing with John Tavares as his center (40 percent goal share) while the duo also posted a 56 percent expected share (via Natural Stat Trick). His max foot speed is 75 percentile and his hardest shot lasr season 80th percentile.
Other players who were not qualified include Bobby Brink (68, 15-15-30) for two teams. His foot speed is 93rd percentile and he can play a strong possession game despite being just 5.08, 169. His expected goal share has been over 50 percent the last two seasons. He posted 1.53 points-60 at five-on-five last season with Philadelphia, just 0.76 in 13 games with the Minnesota Wild.
Jonatan Berggren also played for two teams (Detroit and St. Louis) with combined boxcars (51, 8-14-22) that look pedestrian. He posted 1.83 points-60 at five-on-five with the Red Wings, 1.69 points-60 with the Blues. He is 5.11, 195 and his max speed is 71st percentile.
Philipp Kurashev is listed as a center but really only plays wing. He delivered 1.88 points-60 for the San Jose Sharks last season, where he was 51 percent goal share five-on-five (but only 42 percent expected). He is 6.0, 190 and 26 years old.
Arthur Kaliyev scored 40 goals in the minors last season, but his foot speed is below average. He had 256 shots to score those 40 goals, that’s a 15 percent shooting percentage and 3.66 shots per game. For a player in his prime to score 40 goals and not see the NHL, that’s some slow boots and suspect defensive play. Too bad.
Kevin Paul Dupont at the Boston Globe sent out a tweet that suggests Nurse to the Bruins for Mason Lohrei could work, with the Oilers retaining close to $2.8 million of Nurse’s deal. So that’s a choice between a $9.25 million Nurse and a $6 million Lohrei? As someone who watches Bruins games often, I would think there might be a better deal out there.
You’re saving three million but Lohrei didn’t play much versus elites and as much as his size (6.05, 218) and speed (66th percentile on the max) have appeal, he doesn’t impact the game as much as you’d hope physically. He can pass the puck. His his five-on-five goal share last season (61 percent) was tempered by 45 percent expected share.
On the Lowdown today, we’ll talk about the Nurse situation, free agency, the World Cup, Jays, Elks and more. It’s the round table so there will be blood. Join me, Declan Krueger, Donovan Paulson and Josh Fenwick noon to 2pm on Sports 1440 and You Tube.
Why Edmonton Oilers must be especially careful entering July 1 free agency
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7403869/2026/06/30/edmonton-oilers-free-agents-targets-darnell-nurse-trade/
Love all of this, especially the take of keeping the powder dry on the Nurse trade. Bowman has his faults but fans can’t rip simultaneously for not moving Nurse right away but also overpaying for the likes of Jarry. Nurse has value, if the trade isn’t there don’t make it. You also can’t afford the reputation of the “one who gives in” each time
This is true. I would add that while the common narrative is Jarry was an overpay, I say it was an indication of how much Oiler fans over valued Skinner and Kulak. They usually do the opposite and under value like with Nurse
When a national broadcaster former goalie’s evaluation was ‘at least Jarry doesn’t fall on his face when he moves side to side’, I think that should be a good litmus test to how the wider world saw it. And Kulak for whatever reason was playing awfully when he was traded. He was also a cap dump, and we are now seeing step 2 in better cap deployment in the D corp
No, fans of other teams reacted the same way to that trade. Plus Colorado paid up for Kulak just a few months later, which gives us some idea of how the league valued him. It was a bad deal.
The UFA list I posted earlier has Skinner’s projected new contract at 2 X $4.4 million
Most fan’s opinions are not based on assessment but emotion. At the time Kulak was playing terribly for whatever reason. He was in Edmonton a 3rd pair making 2.75M and a pending UFA. SB is restructuring the cap allocation (thus Nurse now) and knew he would have to either lose Kulak for nothing or pay him like the Avs did – Kulak has never held down a 2 pair role and will be 33 this season
Jarry had a solid season going, and was fine until he got injured. Per Fibonnaci’s response, the Oilers would have had to pay Stu more than a team will now because he was in house, Cup finals etc, he’s not worth 5M+. He was also a pending UFA, and the team had no NHL goalie with term. Everyone who talks goalies thinks Jarry has a higher ceiling
The logic is clear to me. And Jarry might still outperform Stu moving forward. It’s too bad it didn’t turn out last season, but regardless nothing was going to save it anyway
The initial reaction from fans of other teams was shock and disbelief that the Pens were able to trade Jarry without retaining cap on his contract.
He had two buyout-proof years left to run on that contract.
I had noted at the time of the trade that Jarry had been injured and missed games for the Pens even before the trade.
Basically, what had happened is the Oilers doubled down on an aged Pickard, who additionally had a lower body injury during the previous playoffs. This mistake led to overplaying Skinner which eroded his stats and value.
Even when Pickard had faltered, who was then already 33, the Oilers were initially loathe to lose him on waivers and carried 3 goalies.
The Oilers also had let Dipietro sale through waivers early last season.
It was very on-brand for the Oilers.
Make a bad bet on Pickard because he’s good in the room and had past success. When he is unsurprisingly unplayable, they get forced into making a move when goalie prices are at their highest and make another bad bet.
I have posted extensively here on this, but “initial reactions” as you claim to be were not justified based on valuation of Jarry.
More accurately, though, these negative reactions were justifiable based on the timing of the trade at the nadir for Kulak and in a state of goaltender disarray on one side with unsustainably high PIT actual G performances on the other side, when neither had to be the case at the time of a trade.
I am not going to dig it up again, but there was no statistical evidence whatsoever that a) Jarry was going to play this terribly or unreliably, b) that Skinner was a consistent or reliable goaltender in regular season or playoffs (backed up in PIT), or c) that it was a bad idea to get a cost-controlled established starter at under 6/season when Skinner’s past team success and awesome streaks had all the potential for overvaluation in the subsequent offseason.
In prior posts, I have backed this assertion with data around really bad start%, QS%, GSAE/60, both by season and career, and looked extensively at Skinner vs. Jarry. I also included Pickard, who by this data, gave Edmonton one of the best backup goaltending seasons in the history of the team in the 24-25 season.
At the time of the trade, the price was right. This is the part I most object to from the online backlash, as the origin of the outrage was in the wrong source.
This may be splitting hairs. But Jarry had a longer successful track record and was seemingly on track again throughout the year 2025 over the 2 seasons, and it was reasonable to think he would give a far better 2026 than what Edmonton had been seeing in its Skinner/Pickard tandem.
This distinction is actually important, because if you believe and understand that, you can also appreciate that Jarry has the ability to bounce back, which I believe is possible based on reviewing the career as a whole. I cannot speak to character, etc. but if he is the same player he was, and doesn’t deal with injury and/or poor coaching/team structure, he could be a capable and athletic starting goalie.
The real mistake, as you alluded to, was a) waiting until December to a point of desperation for a trade, and I will add b) permitting KK and his coaching nonsense to make Kulak seem pedestrian before selling him at his nadir, while not adapting D to support either goalie (although neither would have ever fetched a reasonable return)
You noted a third possible reason for scorn – c) Ingram not getting to start earlier – You may be right that SB was wrong to send Pickard down, although that’s like blaming Stuart Skinner for not getting past VGK when Campbell was supposed to be the starter that year. And also, it has to be noted that Ingram was being decisively outperformed at the time in the AHL by Tomkins, so that call-up was also a bit out of desperation and payed off.
So in summary, SB’s biggest mistake was not the trade for Jarry, but it was the decision to trade for Jarry 2 months into the season rather than in the summer of 2025, also at which point we knew that Skinner had a 50 GP playoff sample size with established level of subaverage performance in this setting, with streaks in the regular season varying from elite to below replacement level with very little in between. Meanwhile, in the summer of 2025, Jarry had already rebounded towards the end of the 2024-2025 season and was an ideal buy low candidate. Instead, they bought high and sold low (for Kulak at minimum)
Therefore, in summer 2025, the reaction would have understandably disappointed if Jarry was traded without retention, or with The Oilers getting a pick or prospect and a roster D as the throw in. However in Dec 2025, that reaction was not justified on the basis of the data at the time, even if we now have the benefit of hindsight and claim we should have known better about Jarry.
I’ve seen a lot of other goalies “fall on their face,” etc — it was open season on Skinner, and especially by those who missed the fact that F group was not interested in supporting D or G all of Oct, most of Nov.
Yes, but this isn’t addressing what I was talking about. Not Oiler fan opinion, but a guy paid to be a broadcaster that has insight into goaltending because he was an NHL goalie. And Woodley who does it for a living
I’ve commented that I also think the main goalie issue with the Oilers was team D play. Stu is a decent goalie, Pickard I see as a more marginal NHLer. But Tretiak couldn’t save the team with the kinds of breakdowns they had – hence Babcock
My apologies. I should have been clearer: Skinner was setup to be the fall guy for Oilers failings —across the league, not just in Oilerville. It was a convenient shorthand (“goalie sucks, falls on his face”) for people who couldn’t understand how this talented team couldn’t a) win a Cup in 2024, 2025, and/or was flailing early season 2025-26. That includes goalies who’ve become pundits. What seemed so obvious to some (that until McD and his lieutenants had their “Yzerman moment,” no Cup, no “good” goalies) was crystallized this post season, as you put it “—hence Babcock.” Now it’s the gospel.
I’ve heard Woodley on Skinner, many times. He’s one of the voices outside of Oilerville who understood both the poor stylistic fit, and the terrible defensive environment Skinner faced. (I’d love to hear his opinion on Tretiak as a fit for last season’s Oilers!)
Skinner will be picked as a cheap back-up. You only get so many chances to fail. It’s a cruel world especially for NHL Goalies that don’t seize the moments.
In the NHL the opportunities for goalies to fail is only limited by how well or poorly your peers are doing. The recent playoffs saw virtual nobodies become saviours, average goalies become great, then awful, and everything in between. It’s why I say, beyond basic athletic and positional competence, a goalie’s greatest skill or talent is a combination of self-confidence, a thick skin, a short memory.
To my mind, a smart GM has a stock of relatively cheap goalies in rotation through their highs and lows. When they get expensive, move on. The good luck runs out, and it’s failure time. Again. Until the next time.
Chasing goalie excellence is, largely, a fool’s errand. The elite goalies are out there. But how much of your Cap budget are they really worth?
Building a consistent defensive environment, however, is something a GM and coach have more control over. In that environment, average goalies will experience more success, less failure.
Jarry may still be good value. (Though the cost of losing Skinner —and Kulak— was, IMO, too high.)
“Bowman shouldn’t spend a dime on a goaltender because the gap from worst to best isn’t large, and NHL teams have proven time and again they can’t predict who is about to have a strong season.”
Agreed.
As for the Dec 12, 2025 goalie trade… I’m waiting to see a healthy, confident Jarry behind a defensively consistent team before I have an opinion on him.
I still think Skinner was good value and performed well —when the team in front of him was bothered to play 200 ft. He had to go, because someone had to pay for that awful start, and because fans and pundits —owner?— said so; ugh.
I also like the “tryouts via waiver wire” approach.
Keep the f’ing powder dry.
In the absence of someone taking Jarry’s full contract this summer, I think it makes some sense to keep him vs. paying for him to move on. That being said, I think it’s very important for the Oilers to have someone solid for the starting role and would suggest Jarry as the backup while also acquiring a third option (Young G looking for opportunity or cheap Older G). The Oilers biggest issue has been getting scored on and they really, really, really need to make sure they have a G that can perform.
What does “solid” look like?
Is it …
Goalie 1 five games Nov 14-25: .850SV% 5v5
or
Goalie 2: five games Nov 26-Dec 11: .943SV% 5v5 ?
Same guy. Did he have an epiphany Nov 26?
Or did his team play like 200 ft matters? Given that the Nov 26-Dec 25 stretch was one of the few good stretches for the team, and all goalies looked good, I’m thinking it was the latter.
I’m not in the “goalies are voodoo” camp. I am in the “defensive environment plus confidence matter” camp.
The interesting thing about this goalie is he didn’t appear to get rattled by bad games (or, games where he was abandoned). Some said he had a remarkable record for coming back strong after a poor showing. He had one of the franchise’s winningest records.
In my books, “solid” looks like that: doesn’t take a shelling or his team playing poorly in front of him, personally. Wins. I think Ingram may be that kind of solid. He’s gone through stuff. Has mental toughness. Jarry? I don’t know. But he’s shown that he doesn’t like it when he’s abandoned. Maybe that’s a good thing?
I don’t think you can look at it like that. Taking 5 game samples isn’t going to show you anything but you already knew that.
There’s a reason you chose an extremely small sample size to make your point, the smaller the sample the larger the potential variance. You need to look at larger samples.
For instance, if you were to look at Goalies the last three seasons that have played 50 games or more, the top ten from that list would be Stolarz, Hellebuyck, Greaves, Vasilevskiy, Wedgewood, Thompson, Shesterkin, Hofer, Sorokin and Demko.
If you want to look at the same set of goalies and the percentage of games started with a .900 or better, the top ten is Greaves, Hellebuyck, Wedgewood, Thompson, Vladar, Vasilevskiy, Shesterkin, Swayman, Dobes and Blackwood.
Switch to Even Strength Save percentage and you get Stolarz, Hellebuyck, Wedgewood, Hofer, Greaves, Thompson, Daccord, Sorokin, Shesterkin, DeSmith.
The best goalies show us they are the best goalies.
Look at say, PP save percentage, and we get kind of a weird list Vasilevskiy, Kochetkov, Quick, Silovs, Lindgren, Stolarz, Tarasov, Blackwood, Andersen, Oettinger
And the same thing for SH save percentage Lankinen, Ullmark, DeSmith, Greaves, Binnington, Saros, Dobes, Wolf, Forsberg, Nedeljkovic.
Solid is looking for consistency over time, filtering out the noise, making sure your guy isn’t injured, and avoiding small sample sizes. Also, don’t pay too much or for too long.
“Solid is looking for consistency over time, filtering out the noise, making sure your guy isn’t injured, and avoiding small sample sizes. Also, don’t pay too much or for too long.”
Agreed.
So what to do, b/c most of your “best goalies” are either already expensive or going to be expensive. And if they’re injured or have a bad year, most/all of the goalie budget is spent.
I may be living in la la land, but it would seem to make sense to draft for talent/skill, then develop in a farm system where minor league coaches and teams are playing the same systems as the parent club. But for that to work would, at very least, require HCs to be in place more than two years…
Or, keep test driving cheap, young goalies via waiver wire and have a stable of them on hand…
3-team trade proposal
EDM: Hellebuyck, retain 2/season for Nurse
WPG: Lindholm, EDM 1st 2028, Isaac Howard
BOS: Nurse at 7.2/season
Edmonton loses 1.5 in cap space overall but fills major need.
WPG fills 2C while awaiting draft pick to fill void, adds scoring forward and 1st rd pick
BOS fills top 4D at ~market value while opening 0.5/season cap space to help get cheaper/younger at 2C
Lindholm would have to waive NMC, which would be the big hurdle, as well as it might be enough for WPG or BOS but not far fetched.
EDM would be paying >16 mil/season on goalies (including Campbell buyout) next season
Does the Peg need Jarry?
Neither of Florida’s moves today are ones a smart GM would defend as being correct.
The only thing worse than trading for UFA rights for 36 y/o pugilist Gudas would be signing him to a deal that is longer than 0 years when you have a more than capable 5-6 D on the roster. I suppose he may take a sunshine state discount, but there is a reason ANA was not interested after also losing Carlsson while expressing interest in more capable D like Nurse.
Lost 3 regular forwards who were key contributors on SC champ teams.
Undoubtedly worse in G than they were during either run.
Call it the Tkachuk effect
And Marchand’s contract is buyout proof until 2031, age 43. Not sure how they are going to collude with Gary to get out of that one…
DSB
@DSB_hockey
Some tidbits ahead of NHL Free Agency opening tomorrow:
– Elvis and #Oilers is a real possibility
Another player connected to Edmonton is Mikheyev along with Mason Marchment and Michael Bunting.They are after a guy to play middle 6 with speed and skill to be able to jump into top 6 if need be.
– Mason Shaw is a name I heard for #Flames would be a two-way deal if it happens, gonna be a quieter free agency for the team
– Expecting #Leafs to be one of the more active teams with goals to have a bounce back year
– Boone Jenner will have lots of attention on the market, CBJ, LAK, MTL among teams interested
– Stuart Skinner has interest from OTT, ANA to name a few spots
Bowman is looking in all the wrong places if those are the players he’s after.
Mikheyev has ties to Bowman through Chicago and Babcock through the leafs. Stauffer was foreshadowing this move today on the radio.
I head Babcock likes big goalies. Maybe that means Merzlikins. Serevalli was pretty bullish on Edmonton acquiring him this week. But oddly, Merzlikins was on the Columbus team when things blew up with Babcock. But also his agent is Jerry Johannson who lives in Edmonton and drinks 7up with Stauffer. I could see it happening.
But I also think a Jarry-Merzlikins duo is a terrible idea. I see zero evidence to support that a sagging 32 year old Merzlikins will magically turn it around because of Babs.
Yeah, let’s get some more young, unproven players while McD and Drai are looking for a cup.
If Savoie or Howard get’s you a bona-fide, mature 2 way winger, go for it.
Stankoven was a an anomaly, not a new precedent. I expect Florida would put him in his place in short order.
David Pagnotta
@TheFourthPeriod
Following up on
@reporterchris
&
@DarrenDreger
… scuttlebutt tonight is Werenski rejected a trade to Dallas, in a deal that is believed to have included Harley. Tampa Bay remains engaged in talks here. Philly was in mix too, but seems like TB is Werenski’s top choice right now.
If only Werenski read your Stars posts on this Oilers blog he would have packed his bags yesterday and would be begging to join the Perennial (non)Cup Winning Team.
4M x 6 years for Jeremy Lauzon in Vegas. He was 4GF, 11GA in playoffs for them this year at 5v5. He hasn’t been close to even in goals in a season since 2020-2021, i like this a lot for us
Smart GM’ing. Troll stamp of approval incoming I’m sure.
No way in H-E double hockey sticks would I trade Nurse at 9.25 for any meh D at 3 mil retention. Nurse at 6 mil/season x 4 has significant value. That should get back way more than a bottom 4 D
https://x.com/JFreshHockey/status/2065136788948054400?lang=en
Bad year but still 25%ile playing top 4 minutes.
In the proposed Lohrei swap (and I’m attaching Nurse’s retention – deal with it)
https://blackngoldhockey.com/2026/05/what-should-the-bruins-do-with-mason-lohrei/ WAR 9%, terrible D, and strength (PP) is well-covered
No thanks – immediate firing for this
In the proposed Seeler swap, similar problems. He’s a better return, cost-controlled for 2 years at slightly more affordable 2.7 (5.7), but still very bad deal if retention in that range…
These trades become a question of do you want 9 mil/season for a 2nd pair D (with Walman a ?) or 6 mil/season for a 3rd pair D (for 1-2 years, with 3/season added to books in search of subsequent D)? I would certainly rather the former for next year.
Therefore, to me, if that is all you are getting, and Nurse won’t wave to Pacific, the trade should shift to having a useful F in return with Soucy or comparable a free agent target, a riff on this: https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-free-agency-focus-third-pair-carson-soucy-darnell-nurse-replacement
Liked the idea of the Rust trade with PIT when it was floated. Who knows if it was real. But that’s the kind of deal you take retention on Nurse, to address a need and to improve in the short-term, with the price paid down the road when Rust is no longer with the team and you are still paying for Nurse to play against you. 1-2 mil retention, so that they address an actual need and have 2-3 in savings to go after a goalie or D on the FA/trade market
Tyler Yaremchuk brought up Bjorkstrand as a guy who might take a 1-year “show-me” at lower dollars to play with a strong team.
OB was a 20-goal scorer for several seasons until last year when he had his minutes cut.
Keep Nurse and add the Dane?
$4.25MM x 4 for Greer.
Ya, tomorrow will be too expensive.
For a 4th line winger.
3rd liner and a very good one.
Yikes!
With all these 5’11” players not tendered offers and signings like this (and trades for guys like Gudas), I think the value deals are going to be out there for smaller skill guys. GMs are seemingly infatuated with size at the moment. Maybe we can get a good deal for Frederic!
Contract is still too much but wow, Greer had 28 5v5 points last year. Third on their (much diminished) team
With an unsustainable shooting %
and almost doubling his prior career high – likely a career outlier.
Grier is not expected to be a high scoring winger.
He’s part of the Ducks effort to build a big fast team.
At 6’3 207, he is just an average part of a roster than now has 9 forwards and 6 defensemen who are well above 6 ft. and 200 pounds.
They will soon be joined by 6’6″ 200 C Roger McQueen, 6’3″ 227 Nathan Gaucher and 6’2″ 205 D Stian Solberg who are all first round picks.
He’ll fit right in.
Apologize if I missed the conversation and this is tardy…
But as a father of two girls, I appreciate Bowman inviting the three ladies to participate in the Development Camp. I was surprised it’s never been done before.
With his work and relationships post Chicago, with the likes of Beach and Kennedy, and now this… my opinion is softening on the GM.
Now if he could just win a trade or two. And Jarry/Freddy have great second years and we can praise his decisions…
Who’s downvoting this?
I really think the right move for Stan is hold firm with Nurse & no retention. Wait 4 days and see what his contract looks like then in comparison. He is or will be worth more than $6M/year. If he really wants to leave Edm. then tell him to expand his list or eat his Wheaties and see you in Sept. Let’s get out of the buyout/retention loop
Agreed, no need to trade Nurse with any materials retention. The one exception is if they have a deal worked out with a UFA top 6 winger that requires Nurse’s cap.
Just send Nurse to the Flyers for Seelers , that’s what he wants and retain whatever it is between $2.6M & $3M which should be
$2.8M and be done with it. They’ll have just over $11M in cap space. Bowman will have to work on a budget and that’s where he does his best work.
I was going to say dream in color and somehow get Tippett back as he’s like a dog on a bone on the forecheck. That was until I read how serious his injury was. I heard of the sports hernia but didn’t know of the internal bleeding he played through as well in that 1st round playoff. Hockey players are tough cookies they know it’s such a short window to win a Cup.
If Nurse was a UFA this off-season, he would get a much bigger deal than $6.25MM X 4. Shit, AJ Greer just signed for over $4MM X 4.
If they remain $3MM, they should get an impact player back as they are trading a value contract.
Michael Russo
@RussoHockey
#mnwild closing in on re-signing Bobby Brink to a one-year, $2.75 M contract. Have to hand it to Brink. Could have been UFA tomorrow, but the MN native clearly played ball because he sees a big opportunity next season. Bet on himself hoping to break out.
Nice arrows for US prospects Asher Barnett and newly drafted Ryan Cameron, both being named to the WJ Summer Showcase team this summer.
I like LT mentioning Mavrik Bouque and this fellow Regenda. But i don’t know who is best, I just want to get some exciting players in to fill out this roster. Players with high motors and committed to playing all out and filling their roles within the system.
What do you like about Regenda? He’s new to me.
Maccelli, Howard, Roslovic, and Savoie are not similar players at all other than height.
They don’t have to audition for the same roles, and competition among roles is good.
All score in the national league (except Howard tbd). It is not a development league. Scoring is good. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
The NHL is a league where you can take a young player who has succeeded at the levels underneath and put him on the second line. It’s how you hit home runs with home grown talent.
And if he doesn’t this year are you gonna tell Mcdavid there’s no backup plan?
Let Ike tell us who he is. Last year, that was overwhelmed. Which is okay. Because there was Roslovic.
Last year Howard got NHL experience (I actually liked what I saw more than most here it seems) which means he won’t be shocked by what the level is and knows what he needs to improve. Then he went down to the AHL and was dominant. Now he gets another full offseason to train.
The Oilers have very limited assets to trade. Free Agency is where teams take on terrible contracts for aging players. The Oilers are against the cap. Give Howard 20 games to see what he can do this year and if you need to upgrade, hopefully you are accruing cap space, in part because
Howard is cheap.
If Howard hits, you can use the assets and space upgrading where you need it elsewhere.
Why can’t you sign Macelli as insurance and trade him if Howard eats his lunch?
So did Nurse actually ask for a trade?
It was announced that he asked for a trade – then put in 3 teams he could be traded to. That doesn’t sound like a guy who wants to go anywhere.
That sounds like management manipulation to me as I suspect they asked for him to provide his list. Im not over the Babcock thing, it irritates me that the players were brought in as cover for the decision. “Nurse asked for a trade” sounds like the management are the good guys and trying to Darnell a favor but now he becomes the bad guy because he just wont expand his trade list.
It will take a while to know for certain.
“Darnell Nurse has requested a trade from the Edmonton Oilers after spending his entire 12-year NHL career with the team, league sources told The Athletic on Thursday.
The veteran defenseman believes it’s time for a change of scenery and will have some say in where he ends up courtesy of a no-movement clause in his contract that runs until summer of 2027.
Nurse informed the Oilers of his desire to be moved last week and submitted a short list of desired destinations at that point, according to a league source.”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7352247/2026/06/11/darnell-nurse-oilers-trade-request/
Sounds like Nurse asked for it as it seems to be coming from league sources and not just the Oilers.
All parties are upset the news got out. Management hates it because they lose bargaining power. Nurse gets pressured to expand his list to places he may not want to go and may have to face a locker room where he asked to leave.
Van traded Hughes before word spread. Same with B Tkachuk. Yzerman is griping publically because his star wants out.
Everyone looks bad.
I don’t think they’re looking for bad or good guys. News just gets out in good ole our town.
Nurse is ruthlessly asserting rights Holland blundered into giving him.
His “rights” are killing the Oilers, and have for years.
I’m sure the only reason he asked for a trade was because of all the leaks from
mngt. I highly doubt he has an issue with any of the players or coaches. I don’t believe in coincidences like this.
He lives in a heavy hockey town where everyone knows your name. He cant handle the pressure his contract puts on him and he playes worse or tries to do more than he can. Fans get harder on him. He needs a change
I’m not sure I buy this. It’s not like he was getting death threats like Mitch Marner and people putting his address on social media. Maybe it’s true. I can buy the argument he tries to do too much, but good coaching and a better partner like Murphy can help with they.
Yeah he asked for a trade right after this Spector article came out https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/darnell-nurses-time-with-oilers-running-out/
seems like he is kind of being forced out because management doesn’t want him. This article says he wants to stay
It was reported that he did, so I have to assume that’s correct since nobody on either side has come out and corrected the report.
My guess is, the request probably came in an effort to have more control over his destination than next year when his contract goes from full no-move to a 10 team trade list. If there are 3 teams he would be happy to go to, why not request one of those now instead of waiting until next offseason and potentially being traded to one of 7 other teams that you wouldn’t?
Not only that, but it also gives him a better idea which teams to keep off his list next year if this process brings out the fact that teams X, Y, and Z had more interest than the rest. If he truly doesn’t want to leave, then he knows not to have Anaheim and SJS on his 10 team list next year
He asked, I don’t think he would have wanted to if Bowman hadn’t approached him already, and I imagine all of the reports they wanted to move him got tiring. Plus losing power when trade protection eases
It seems that everyone has landed on the fact that the Oilers must play better defensive hockey and I do agree, but we are forgetting one thing. You need some size.
Another less than optimal part of the Oilers game is they have not had enough size or bite in thier game. This can emerge in losing puck battles, getting out muscled in corners or just not enough aggression on the forecheck.
And it does not mean everybody has to be 6’4″. There is some truth about “the size of fight in the dog” Its about applying ferocity when needed.
I would not pass on some of the skill suggested if opportunity knocks, but if I was putting out a lot of cap dollars I would keep in mind that Oilers will need some size.
“And it does not mean everybody has to be 6’4″. There is some truth about “the size of fight in the dog” Its about applying ferocity when needed.”
Sorta contradicted the rest of your point there. Logan Stankoven has the dawg in him. He is a pipsqueak. The Carolina Hurricanes have proven the inefficiency in size over substance. You kinda covered all your bases tho so I’d vote for you if you wanted to run for mayor.
Happy Canada Day.
I’ve been thinking about the effect of having an alpha dog behind the bench setting the emotional tone for the team. A coach who is engaged and a bit fiery, and what that does to the team. FLA, TB, VGK, Canes: all successful teams run by coaches on the verge of detonation.
As much as I don’t like the hire of B-cock, I’m looking forward to seeing if we play with that bite we’ve been missing. We don’t need to collect every psychopath in the league like Florida has, we just need to be more team tough and not just when Connor gets gets hit. Make it an every game occurrence.
Lots of chatter around the Oilers signing Mikheyev in free agency. Not saying it’s a bad move, and will have to see the contract if it happens to form an opinion, but am I the only one questioning the wisdom of loading up on Chicago players as a winning strategy? Has there been a worse team in the NHL over the last five seasons?
I think the strategy was to load up with players from the #1 PK in the NHL by adding 3 of their 4 top PK group and hopefully improve the Oilers from the #20 PK
Yeah, that’s fair
The most important part of the PK is the goalie. Get the goalie right and the PK “imporves”.
For a while in the DoD the players we hated got out of the bad situation and thrived. There can be good players on bad hockey teams. Slot them in a good lineup appropriately.
Dubnyk and Schultz off the top of my head.
Is there any appetite for Anthony Mantha? He’s a dangerous bet coming off a career season and an absurdly high shooting percentage but he’s been a goal scorer since his junior days, put up a lot of the points last year at ES, and is a large mammal.
Savoie-McDavid-Hyman
Podz-Drai-Mantha
Nuge-Dickinson-Fred
Howard-Samanski-Hutson
Dach/Lazar/Janmark
I think Nurse would have to leave as basically a cap dump to make the math math.
Wth respect, this is one of the last players I’d give a $5.5MM for term contract to.
OP, would you do a 5.5-6.5 to mason marchment? That is what he will get likely… i am not sure i would but maybe at 3-yrs… I think he would fit in a few spots. I really feel that player type is needed.
I dunno – that’s probably a fine number but he’s 31 and and I can see him hurt a lot going forward. Doesn’t feel like I’d like it.
dont disagree it would have to be 3 years max but he will be looking for 5-7 yrs likely… to finish off his career….
I don’t disagree with either of you. However I like to think that dach could do most of what mason could given the same opportunity. Certainly a stretch but how many more goals do the oil need? If dach can get 15-20 compared to masons 20-25 on the oilers is that not a better use of cap? I don’t pretend to know just throwing out there.
I would like to see Max Jones added to your roster. Jones can bring the high motor energy and he has size so bring him. He also suffers from lack of consistency so swap him out with another similar sprinter every 10 games.
Seems like the Knights are gearing up to expend Rasmus Andersson and I think, as a rival, I’m going to love this re-signing.
Agreed. we wasn’t great in the playoffs.
One of the most overrated players in the league from my viewings.
Wow!! I thought allowing more teams into the World Cup would water it down. Instead 5 down to the wire matches to begin the playoff. Soccer is picking up viewership in North America like no tomorrow. The NFL has a commercial every 5 minutes I don’t like the hydration timeout but we all know they needed one in Qatar last World Cup.
Soccer is low-scoring enough that lots of crazy things can happen. The FA Cup & League cups in England are interesting to watch for that reason. Every once in awhile a team several leagues below beats a team like Manchester United https://www.espn.in/football/story/_/id/46093270/is-grimsby-defeat-man-united-biggest-upset-league-cup-history
Stands to reason viewership is up with North America hosting. This is the first time I’ve really watched soccer and there’s a lot to like. The diving and sometimes slow pace of play are obvious flaws, but man is it nice to see a game start on time and 90 minutes of play takes under 2 hours. Do you follow any other soccer? My son loves the game and wants to watch it some, we’ve been watching a bit of CPL. It’s not the best product with such a small league and lower quality play, but maybe the success of this world cup sees it improve
@DarrenDreger
Korczak traded by VGK to Pittsburgh for Parker Wotherspoon at 50% retention.
@frank_seravalli
We had talked about Korczak as a buyout candidate, obviously preferable to get him off the books entirely if possible. He is set to begin a new four-year deal at $3.25 million.
How does Vegas get a good defenseman back, at 50% retained, for a buy out candidate? Weren’t Oiler fans hoping to snag Witherspoon in a Nurse trade? Come on Stan!
McCrimmon is a very smart cookie.
He identified a team in need of a RD and traded one about to begin a hefty contract for a depth D and acquired a serviceable LD who, after retention, will only be a $500K hit on the cap.
McCrimmon adds almost $3 million to his available cap space, likely to help pay fir a Rasmus Andersson extension.
Perhaps he should have bartered with oak, seems like a better trade off.
The Vegas-Panthers-Lightning-Av’s-Minny GM’s don’t sit on their thumbs they do what it takes. All we hear is how nobody want’s Nurse boo-hoo.
They’re the cool kids on the block. Life is easy for them.
Not too bad for $500K cap hit.
Wotherspoon, 28, earned career high in Pittsburgh last season with 80 games played and 30 points (3G, 27A). Wotherspoon’s +17 rating last season ranked second for the Penguins, while his 112 blocked shots and average shorthanded time on ice of 2:22 led the club. In his career, the blueliner has appeared in 188 NHL games with 46 career points (4G, 42A) and a +18 rating while playing for Pittsburgh, the Boston Bruins, and the New York Islanders. Wotherspoon has also seen action in 16 postseason contests with the Penguins and Bruins.
https://www.nhl.com/goldenknights/news/golden-knights-acquire-parker-wotherspoon-from-penguins-for-kaedan-korczak
David Pagnotta
@TheFourthPeriod
Vegas is now up to $7.375M in salary cap space (+$8.8M when Pietrangelo is placed on SELTIR).
I don’t think he was actually a buy out candidate. He has had great results there for like 4 years and 3.25M is cheap. He played almost 16 mins/game last season. I think Andersson just took his spot
I don’t know the player well, but according to Seravelli, he is a buy out candidate. I linked his tweet above
Yeah Im disagreeing with Seravalli I guess. Korzack didnt have a bad year at all, it would have been a very strange buyout
Im pretty sure a lot of people are confusing Kaedan Korzack with Keegan Kolesar, who makes a lot more sense as a buyout candidate (4thliner making 2.5M for 2 more years)
Pittsburg looks awfully shallow at LD now …
True, Nurse for Rakell would work for me
Dubas is most likely working on a bigger deal for a LD.
$36 million in cap space…more than enough to absorb the nurse cap hit.
If you’re implying that he’s going after Werenski, the Pens do not have the assets to make that deal. They do have the cap space to absorb Nurse’s contract without retention though … with Silovs and Murashov in net for them, I’d be asking for Blomqvist.
Rakell is a pipedream.
I wasn’t implying that at all…read the entire post.
I did – its pretty short on details though … care to stick your neck out and elaborate?
Or do you prefer to be cryptic unless you are ripping off/retweeting someone else’s opinion?
Dubas is waiting for Bowman to get desparate and snooker him again. The thing is there are a lot of overpaid 30 something left D that are available (see LA, Rielly in Tor, for example), and Dubas is just waiting for a desparate GM to fleece.
And are you suggesting suffering another season with Nurse is tolerable?
Addition through subtraction.
I am Nurse’s biggest supporter in the Oilogosphere.
Sometimes it gets to the point where “free free set them free” is the best option for the player.
Pull the trigger Bowman! We all know the cost of getting rid of Nurse will be taking back an iffy contract and Howard who needs PP time which he’ll never receive in Edmonton. We’re still paying for Campell don’t need another 3 million retention on Nurse for 4 years.
Gästrin was not selected in today’s CHL Import Draft.
Assuming Nicholl is AHL-bound, this is the undectet of NAmateurs as it stands for the fall:
CHL Saskatoon (Lewandowski)
CHL Windsor (Robinson, Harvey)
USHL Muskegon (Berzkalns)
USHL Sioux Falls (Cameron)
NCAA Michigan (Barnett, Park)
NCAA Notre Dame (Fischer)
NCAA St. Thomas (Berry)
NCAA UMass-Lowell (Wakely)
NCAA Western Michigan (Lafreniere)
Prospecting begins anew on Friday, Sept. 18.
Speaking of the draft, Flint drafted a fellow named Tom(as) Selic. No word on whether he is mustachioed.
Too bad he wasn’t drafted by Charlottetown, ‘coz he could be called Magnum P.E.I.
The rights to pending UFA and former Oiler Noah Philp traded from CAR to ANA for RHD ECHLer Kyle Masters.
The same Kyle Masters that CAR had traded to ANA for the rights to John Carlson 3 days ago.
It won’t matter, Masters is also a pending UFA in 1 day and Philp has signed with HV71 in the SHL. Paper transactions to facilitate NHL dealmaking.
I kept hearing Philp was going to be the perfect 4-C for us. Journeyman players drafted in late rounds need a lot of luck before they get a sniff. That’s why at 20 the Connor Clattenburg call-up was such a long shot and amazing story. If you can skate you hang around the NHL fringes. Philp just didn’t have the Wheels or the physicality. Another Oiler prospect off to Europe.
Frank Seravalli
@frank_seravalli
Sebastian Cossa’s new deal with Mammoth: 2 years x $2 million.
They’ve paid twice now: the first round pick was more than most presumed (including the top insiders) and that contract for a player with one NHL game……. I’m believe it will turn out to be a very fine contract but he’s yet to play in the league (one poor game).
Was Sunny Mehta the actual brain in Florida? He just suckered his former boss into taking Markstrom off of his hands.
Marksrom of course was drafted by Florida and will now be working with his original goalie coach.
“Robb Tallas has served as goaltending coach of the Panthers since the 2009-10 season and has coached and trained goaltenders including Sergei Bobrovsky, Roberto Luongo, Tomas Vokoun and Jose Theodore.”
https://www.nhl.com/panthers/info/rob-tallas
It’s not a bad bet by the Panthers considering they sent almost $5 million in cap the other way making the effective cost of Markstrom a list;e over $1 million for 2 years.
When you typed “sent almost $5MM in cap the other way” did you really mean, traded out a good player on a good contract and weakened the skater group to get the goalie that has been up and down and all over the place?
No WC team is going to be scared of Markstrom. They made him their bitch in the CGY-EDM series, and it definitely affected his swagger and confidence from there on out.
Florida will not represent the East in the finals with Markstrom as their starter, very impressed with this development.
That’s a very bold statement considering goaltending performance is so dependent on team play and systems play.
While he (and Florida) both had downbeats last season, the Devils and Panthers were among the stingiest defensive teams the prior season,
Now that Florida will have Barkov back healthy, it is highly likely they will resume their parsimonious ways…he’s like the preeminent C in the entire league.
Markstrom has been cooked since McDavid sent your Sutter Flames into a decade of darkness.
McDavid and Draisaitl have no fear of Markstrom. They know, unlike with Bobrovsky, that they can destroy him.
The Oilers only have the small problem of making the Stanley Cup finals now! -).
Schmid and Markstrom as their two goalies is a a lot of risk.
Florida will run the Oilers template for winning the cup and hope that their forward group can outscore their goalies mistakes.
They will just bully there way to another final. Lightning will probably be the only team to stop them from another Cup.
Dear Stan and Mike,
Isaac Howard is the player you are looking for. No need to spend assets trying to acquire a player who will give you what Howard will and whose salary will be much greater.
Honestly if they can’t move out Nurse they won’t be signing any UFA’s. I’d love to see Mykeyev signed but they probably settle for Kapanen instead. I can see a couple trades, one for a top six forward and another for a goalie but that’s about it. So this is what I’m seeing from the verbal I’m hearing.
Rakell-McDavid-Hyman
Podz-Leon-Savoie
Nuge-Dickinson-Kapanen
Dach-Samanski-Frederic
Janmark
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Murphy
Walman-Emberson
Stastney
Elvis & Tristan
I know it’s disappointing, but it’s somewhere to start. I haven’t done the math but that roster would be spending close to cap, if not slightly over. The Blue Jackets would need to retain salary on Elvis the goalie.
if we’re taking a flyer on UFA goalies I’d rather try Tarasov. A bit younger, a bit bigger, decent underlying numbers (HDSV%, etc), and a lot less mercurial than Elvis.
If you keep Nurse, that’s over the cap. Rakell is $5M and they have $7.4M in space while needing to sign Dach & Stastney.
Yeah your right. Oh well back to the drawing board. We’ve established Nurse has to go with no retention then. That’s all there is to it.
Could Issac Howard reasonably produce those box-cars? I certainly think so. I mean Matt Savoie had more goals and I think 2 less points and Howard was a more substantial offensive player in the AHL at the same age. Put him with Drai and he very well could outperform that (I said “COULD”).
I’m not against looking in to that player but would be careful of blocking internal options that likely have a higher ceiling and are on their ELCs and done everything one tier down to prove ready for the opportunity.
I would prefer to go with Howard – I understand adding options but lets not block and lose this player.
Agreed. They don’t need smallish players to fill out the 4th line. Because they signed Dickinson, the 3rd line I expect will be Nuge JD Frederic
It’s always difficult with a Howard-type player. If he’s on the opening night roster, you have filled a spot for cheap but don’t necessarily have a good call-up option but if you fill a spot with an established player, you have Howard as a great replacement option but you’re paying more for a player and that impedes your ability to fix other holes.
I suspect Howard makes the team but only plays 50 or so games if the full roster is relatively healthy.
You have high hopes for Ike Howard. So do I, but not as an Oiler LOL.
You don’t need binoculars and a gallon of kool-aid to see Howard going out the door as one of the sweeteners with Nurse.
I suspect there is almost no chance of that.
The Oil took a run at Maccelli last year. Could fit the Roslovic mold.
Why not.
I think I like Savoie better.
Savoie is under contract. No run needs to be taken.
I just think they should spend their money more wisely.
Why?
A playoff non-entity.
Because of Issac Howard.
If the focus is as narrow as ‘small skill redundant’ then let me widen it to ‘player scores and that’s good and there are 12 spots in the lineup’. If they can get the squeeze on MM like they did Ros that could be a value contract.
Value contracts are good.
I suspect Issac Howard will be a larger value contract….
Why not both…………
I don’t think the best roster construction has both those guys on it (in addition to Savoie). I guess, sure, Howard can be sent down and it creates depth for injuries but it also creates the possibility of starting to lose Howard, presuming he picks up where his development left off. The kid worked his ass off last season in Bako and has earned an opportunity – just don’t know the need to put a player like that in front of him.
Aren’t injuries with little guys the precise reason it may be good to have both? I’d rather Frederic riding the pine, he’s a sunk cost
All of the players the sheets are tying to the Oilers make me want to puke.
I thought they hired analytics guys, was it just for show? There’s no way the numbers are popping out names like Elvis or Jake Debrusk, who scored the same amount of even strength goals that Frederic did, 4.
Burn the numbers, they’re sick.
“…trust math. As in Matics, Math E. First-order predicate logic. Never fail you. Quantities and their relation. Rates of change. The vital statistics of God or equivalent. When all else fails. When the boulder’s slid all the way back to the bottom. When the headless are blaming.
When you do not know your way about. You can fall back and regroup around math. Whose truth is deductive truth. Independent of sense or emotionality. The syllogism. The identity. Modus Tollens. Transitivity. Heaven’s theme song. The nightlight on life’s dark wall, late at night. Heaven’s recipe book. The hydrogen spiral. The methane, ammonia, H2O. Nucleic acids. A and G, T and C. The creeping inevibatility. Caius is mortal. Math is not mortal. What it is is: listen: it’s true.
’[…]
The axiom. The lemma. Listen: “If two different sets of parametric equations represent the same curve J, but the curve is traced in opposite directions in the two cases, then the two sets of equations produce values for a line integral over J that are negatives of each other.” Not “If thus-and-such.” Not “unless a gladhanding commercial realtor from Boardman MN in $400 Banfi loafers changes his mind.”
Always and ever. As in puts the a in a priori. An honest lamp in the inkiest black…”
-Infinite Jest, footnote #324, DF Wallace
That brings back some serious “Fog Of Warts” vibes… I like it!
The problem isn’t math, it’s the people trying to interpret it
Always take rumours with a grain of salt. “Debrusk has been talked about”> Well, yeah. Vancouver has been offering him around for awhile and Matheson has a serious love for the guy. Does that mean the Oilers will take him? Probably not because they already would have. Vancouver would surely have taken a first and Mangiapane for Debrusk and they’d likely have taken a second rounder for him this summer. Is there talk, yes? Does it mean anything, often no.
Matheson hasn’t been the only one, just the loudest perhaps.
And yes always take rumors with the grain of salt, yet all the salty rumors are of over paid back 9 players.
What analytics do you think the Oilers use?
I keep asking this because I personally have no idea but what I do know is the Oilers are committed material resources, financial and other, to analytics. The have a department that includes those with backgrounds in numbers, etc.
I don’t know that they are looking at or what they do with it but I’m confident it has very little resemblance to the common folk like myself person NST and PuckIQ and looking at expected goals and WOWY numbers or even the next their of SportLogic stats.
If Buffalo gets Hellebuyck, that makes UPL expendable. I’d be all over that (he could be part of a Helly trade, of course).
May I ask why?
He had a .910 this year but he’s been up and down and all over his entire career to a tune of a .900 for his career. Is he not just another of the 40 goalie tier mushy middle that would cost assets and comes with a material cap commitment?
if im the oilers i am taking a run at mike benning.
local kid. stand up guy. hard working. undersized but unreal puck skills/passing talent.
probably needs to work on his skating a bit but definitely something the team could help him with as they did huge work with both drat and bouche and both have improved dramatically.
He wouldn’t cost more than league minimum and could probably be stashed in the AHL. I like it.
This should have nothing to do with who the Oilers pursue.
Chris Johnston
@reporterchris
The #stlblues have placed Jonathan Drouin on unconditional waivers to buy out the final year of his contract.
He’s the first NHL player bought out during the first buyout period this summer. That window closes at 5 p.m. ET today.
Panthers acquire Jacob Markstrom from the Devils.
Pierre LeBrun
@PierreVLeBrun
There are other small parts to this Jacob Markstrom-Evan Rodrigues trade. New Jersey did not retain salary on Markstrom, whose two-year extension ($6M AAV) kicks in next season.
Fantastic. Choker with an obvious weak spot. No more FLA garbage.
Pierre LeBrun
@PierreVLeBrun
Evan Rodriques, Jesper Boqvist and Ben Steeves to NJ in exchange for Jacob Marktsrom and Angus Crookshank.
That’s the full Panthers-Devils deal.
If you’re looking at just the next year or two, I don’t make the Lorhei trade. But without the gun to their head, Lorhei’s contract is up at the end of the season. They might be able to flip him at the deadline for a 3rd round pick. The primary goal should be to get out of the Nurse contract. I actually don’t mind Lorhei/Emberson on the third pairing for a year. DiPietro would be gravy. My opinion is sort of biased because I don’t think there’s any real favourable deal out there for Nurse without retaining at least $2M. Hopefully they prove me wrong.
Looking at that list of names not qualified, it’s like GMs saw Florida load up on more size and decided that smaller skill forwards won’t do.
Retaining on Nurse, especially to the tune of almost $3M would be a non-starter for me unless we’re getting serious value for him. Mason Lohrei would not qualify as value. At $3.2M himself, I would look at his contract as negative value with the only upside being that he comes off the books next offseason. He’s simply no more than a 3rd pairing guy, and we could get Vinny D back for less than that if we want a 3rd pair giant. At least Desharnais can kill penalties.
They will need a LD if Nurse gets moved
They have one in Stastny. If they retain $2.8M on Nurse and get Lohrei, they are paying $6M for their 3LD this year. If they upgrade him next year or he gets a raise, we’re adding $2.8M to whoever we get to fill that spot for another 3 years after this one. For what? To get a little bit of relief for this upcoming year?
The Bruins has even less cap space than the Oilers. I can’t see any deal with the Bruins as being realistic in anyway. It’s looking like Nurse has to suck it up and either go with either the Sharks or the Ducks.
Keep him, trade him East next season if the Oilers dont win the cup.
If they can work something out with the Sharks or Ducks with no retention and Nurses approval it should be a done deal. I can see Mike Grier getting it done.
I want them to add Patrick Kane on a bonus laden contract. C’mon Bowman it’s almost time to pick up your Chicago phone and give him a call.
Some chatter he will head home to Buffalo.
Much to the chagrin of local taxi drivers.
He had a $3MM base last year but got $2.5MM for 10 games played.
I doubt this player has any interest in coming to Canada without a massive overpay and he’s likely to get a contract like last year without an overpay – no thank you for me.
Top 50 UFAs with salary projections:
https://www.hockey247.com/2026/06/30/frank-seravalli-top-50-free-agents-patrick-kane-home-buffalo-sabres
Lohrei is that player that you watch and you see some flashes… after some time in though you think he should just be better than the actual. I likely wouldn’t do that trade though paused for a quick moment.
He seems like the kind of high pedigree, buy low candidate that could blossom in another organization. But there should be no retention of Nurse’s contract if we have to take on the additional contract.
This would be ideal. I was hoping for zellweger but lohrei may fit as well. The oil don’t need more sure thing players.
Taking no risk is a big risk.
Lohrei is far from a perfect player. Makes lots of questionable decisions especially defensively and plays with little physicality for a big dude.
If he figures it out he’ll be a good second pair klinberg type.
You don’t have to be physical to be good defensively; you need to be in good position in your own zone, and have a good stick. A bigger guy like Lorei will have a longer reach, and be more likely to become solid defensively, than a shorter guy like Zellweger. From all accounts Lorei skates well too.
Seem like the perfect 3LD, making current day 3LD dollars.
DiPietro should be part of the package; no retention on Nurse’s contract.
“Lohrei is far from a perfect player. Makes lots of questionable decisions especially defensively and plays with little physicality for a big dude.”
Sounds like trading Nurse for Nurse. No thanks.
A version of Nurse that is 6 years younger, and 6 million cheaper, properly slotted as a 3LD, making 3 LD money, and making Stastney a 7D.
Oilers with a dearth of under 26 players who can potentially move the needle meet the unqualified RFAs. I can’t see any of them hitting it big this summer but likely looking for opportunity instead. Here’s hoping they can get a good deal on one of Brink, Macelli, or Breggren. Would also have time for Regenda
Regenda seems like the guy to get in my opinion. Tell him to stick to Hyman like a shadow. I can’t think of a better mentor for a big-bodied winger trying to uncover a knack for tap-ins in his mid-twenties.
I like Maccelli, but the fact that the Oilers didn’t pursue him when the asking price was a conditional 3rd and the directive was “get younger” makes me think I have more interest than Bowman.
I rarely hold size against a player, but I’d be a bit reluctant to dress all 3 of Savoie, Howard, and Brink against a team like the Ducks. I think Brink makes sense if we’re planning to make one of the existing shorter men available. A smart team might use this as a way gain value.
To be honest, I would think all of the unqualified players would look elsewhere before coming to Edmonton. Were I a young player who was recently released, I’d be looking for playing time and opportunity.
If under sized is an average player look elsewhere. Unless they are Kucherov or Marchand they don’t contribute as much as a typical sized player. Can’t hit in a way anyone cares about, can’t fight in a way anyone cares about, probably need protecting, often find the perimeter when the going gets tough. It wasn’t Stankoven that won the Conn Smythe it was Stahl
And nobody seems to recall they don’t have a lot of room for forwards. Right now the only hole is goalie 2 once they sign Dach, and if Kap doesn’t get a big haul he’ll be back
Signing Dach and Kapanen and promoting Howard brings us to 13 forwards. I’d be keen to bring in one or two of these young guys to provide competition for forward spots 11-14. Promising players of the past have taught me to use pencil (not ink) for the names of sophomores on the team sheet, and that may apply to vets like Janmark as well.
I’m assuming that we’re not getting an Owen Tippet for Nurse.
There’s been talk Edmonton is interested in Rickard Rakell. He’s RW/C that could fit in beside either of McDavid or Leon. It would mean Bowman would have to figure out some kind of deal with Dubas which isn’t an easy thing to do. But I like the possibility. He’s a cap hit of $5M and will be UFA next season.
If the Pens lose Mantha as a UFA, I doubt that they’ll be willing to part with Rakell. I’m going to take and educated guess that most of the talk about Rakell is being generated by Edmonton fans/media.
Mantha might be an option if Edmonton has the ability to sign any UFA’s. I guess we’ll see.
I don’t go anywhere near Mantha for a contract I suspect he’s looking for ($5.5MM or so for term).
Pens have some young RWers they may be looking to make space for in Chinakhov, McGroarty, Koivunen, and Hayes. In addition to Brazeau and Rust
Retaining that much I would just keep Nurse. If they can’t good a fair deal them why trade him. Keep Nurse for another year, I would rather trade Walman.
Agreed, retaining that much and taking back that much of a lesser player doesn’t do much for the Oilers.