Should the Oilers inquire about Zdeno Chara? Could they pursue Mike Richards? Check out the latest collection of Oilers speculation
Should the Oilers blow up their core and start over?
EDMONTON JOURNAL: David Staples commented on TSN analyst Craig Button’s suggestion that it’s time for the Edmonton Oilers to start moving out players who’ve been “instrumental in helping them be one of the worst teams in the league for the last half-dozen years.” While Button didn’t name specific players, Staples believes he’s referring to Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Anton Lander, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov and Justin Schultz. Staples analyzes their respective strengths and weaknesses, but believes management must remain patient.
Staples also noted Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman recently claiming the Los Angeles Kings attempted to shop Mike Richards to the Oilers or Calgary Flames last season by packaging him with two or three prospects. Staples doubts the Oilers will pursue Richards now that he’s a free agent, citing the improvement of Anton Lander and the offseason signing of Mark Letestu.
Regarding the recent Zdeno Chara rumors and Friedman’s recent musing over whether Oilers general manager (and former Boston Bruins GM) Peter Chiarelli might have interest, Staples suggests it might be worthwhile for Chiarelli to investigate the possibility. He feels the market for Chara, a once-great but now-aging defenseman who’s on the decline and carrying a big contract, could be smaller than the Bruins might wish.
TSN (VIA TODAY’S SLAPSHOT): Pierre LeBrun doesn’t believe Chiarelli will making any knee-jerk reactions to improve the Oilers, though he feels the blueline could be an area of concern throughout this season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: If the Oilers were a legitimate playoff contender seeking experienced depth to push them into Stanley Cup contention this season, then I could see the sense of them pursuing Chara and/or Richards. But they’re very obviously not a playoff contender, so going after either of those guys makes no sense.
Richards’ performance was in obvious decline before the Kings terminated his contract. Whether it’s the physical demands of his two-way style, possible substance-abuse issues or both taking a toll on his performance, Richards is not a player who can help the Oilers now.
If Chara is willing to waive his movement clause to join the Oilers, they’ll be taking on an expensive, steadily declining asset who won’t help them over the long term. While I don’t doubt Chiarelli loves Chara, I don’t see him making a pitch for the big Bruins captain.
I also don’t believe Chiarelli will panic and start shipping out some of those younger core players. He’ll want to evaluate this club over the course of the season before deciding on bigger moves. If he does ship out a young player or two this season, I expect it’ll be Schultz or Yakupov. He won’t touch the core guys like Eberle, Hall or Nugent-Hopkins.
If we’re to believe anything from the oilers management it’s that they don’t need to improve as they’re already a good team. The “last” management team is still a part of the organization and is probably whispering in Katz’s ear:
The oilers need to stay the course, they’ve been “visually better” and their corsi numbers are amazing…wins, losses and points don’t matter anymore. The oilers will eventually have a complete lineup of first overall picks and the best corsi stats in the league!
The oilers need to gut their roster and start from over. RHN is a good young player and has a bright future and McDavid is a star in the making. They should keep those 2 players and try to trade the rest and have an actual NHL line up that can compete. Trading for guys like Chara would set them back even further.
I just wonder if the league will step in at some point and change the rules on draft picks so that a team can only draft so many first overall pics or top 10 picks or something.
The NHL draft is a reward for consistent mediocrity.
The oilers haven’t been “mediocre” in years. The draft has rewarded failure and the oilers have failed their way to first overall pick after first overall pick. Other GM’s in the league are getting tired of it and you could tell by Bettman’s face that when the oilers got the first overall pick, he was mad too. I don’t think I’ve seen McDavid smile since April 18th when the oilers won the lottery.
… and WHY did the Oilers retain the services of probably THE most mediocre GM in the history of the NHL – MacTavish??? This guy once fired a coach via Skype rather than face to face and continued the Edmonton tradition of repeatedly making the wrong choices with their first picks, completely ignoring the tried and true adage that you build winners from the back end out. In 2009, picking 10th, they chose Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson. Taken after him were D Dmitri Kulikov (Fla), Tyler Ennis (Buf) and Nick Leddy (Minn), and F Chris Kreider (NYR) and Marcus Johansson (Wash). In 2010 Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin were rated 1/2 “flip ’em” – BUT Seguin was a C – one of THE most difficult position to fill and should have been a no-brainer choice. In 2011 they took Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and after him went D Adam Larsson (NJ), Dougie Hamilton (Bos), Jonas Brodin (Minn), and F Gabriel Landeskog (Col) and Jonathan Huberdeau (Fla), as well as C Ryan Strome (NYI), Mika Zibanejad (Ott) and Mark Scheifele (wpg). In 2012 they took F Nail Yakupov. After him went C Alex Galchenyuk (Mtl) and Filip Forsberg (Wash), as well as D Morgan Rielly (Tor), Hampus Lindholm (Ana) and Mathew Dumba (Minn). In 2013 they appeared to have finally realised their need was D and took Darnel Nurse 7th – but after him went C Max Domi (Ariz) and Bo Horvat (Van).
I know hindsight is .10 cents a pound, but you can’t help but wonder how they’d be doing today had they chosen Kulikov, Seguin, Larsson or Hamilton, Forsberg, and either Domi or Horvat.
What if , what if, what if.
What if the Oilers drafted differently and they still turned out the same.
Whats to say Kulikov, Seguin, Larsson or Hamilton. Forsberg, Domi and Horvat went to the Oil and sucked ?
What if MPS, Hall, RNH, Yakupov and Nurse went somewhere else and excelled ?
You cant live on what ifs.
Read it again. I ADMITTED hindsight is .10 cents a pound. But you can spin-doctor their incompetence any way you like. The final analysis shows that those were the wrong picks – time after time after time. As others have said. You don’t need to be an expert to know that ANY team re-build starts from the back end out.
I have read it and re read it. My point is any one who they picked may have or may not have worked out. In Edmonton or anywhere.
Hindsight is indeed 20/20 and your point about them making the wrong picks is invalid. What if the Leafs ddidnt trade for Kurvers, etc. What if the leafs etc. , etc..
I do agree you need to build from the back end out.
“I do agree you need to build from the back end out.”
And THAT was the entire thrust of my post – “… completely ignoring the tried and true adage that you build winners from the back end out.”
Jaysus man.
Really ? I thought it was all about hindsight.
Jaysus indeed.
Well, we know one thing for sure – the approach they took hasn’t worked. Or perhaps you’re still claiming it’s “too early to tell.”
WHAT ??? I AGREE WITH YOU ??
CHECK THE COLOR OF THE MOON ?
Finally someone identifies the Edmonton problem !!!! Good call George.
MacTavish is at the heart of it.
And Lowe.
I’m not a Oiler fan but I’m sure it won’t be long before Chiarelli’s patience starts to wear thin. He has to change the losing culture some players have become accustomed to. He mentioned at the time of his hiring he won’t hesitate to move some of the young guys.
It has become obvious the mix of players they do have isn’t working. ?I agree with previous comment, build around 2 or 3 young guns & move out the rest over time.
McDavid does not touch the puck at all, at this point besides tape of him in jr I haven’t seen much from this kid. The only 3 on 2 rush I seen him on he passed to Pouliet about 5 feet from the blue line. Whats with this kid he seems to have no push or desire 4 games in.
At this point the Oilers need to do something ASAP knee jerk may be the only reaction left.
Taylor Hall seems to have emotion and be a potential leader and RNH plays hard every shift (that back check last night was amazing). Eberle, Yaks, Shultz this years first and ever else that isnt named Nurse Kelfbom Hall McDavid RNH or to some degree Talbot should be open to trade.
We have now seen these horrible starts and the no knee jerk reaction speech for how many years now, this team needs something bold to happen….. Chara might at the very least bring some accountability to that locker room ..
I think Chara is exactly what the Oil should be looking at for not only the reason you mention (accountability) but what guys like Nurse Klefbolm and Shultz would learn about being NHL blueliners, what would guys like Hall and the young forwards would learn about commitment. The ccontract is a big one in terms of cap hit, but actual dollars not so much and the term left would be enough time to really build towards something. Chara doesnt only make the D better he makes the team better and the value of that outweighs his lost step imo.
Now it all depends on what the Bruins were looking at in terms of a return of course and how the Oilers could clear so e space themselves, but just basing this on terms of fit I think its just about a no brainer that Chara helps the Oilers.
what defenseman wouldn’t help the oilers tho? if chara would waive his nmc to edm(highly doubtful)I cant see edm giving up much for a dman of that age and injury problems
Well so far over the past couple years Id say there have been quite a few D men who havennt really helped the Oilers if you had been paying attention. Fayne Nikitin Sekera Petry Ferrance…Chara is way above and beyond the quality8f guy that they have brought in in the past and I think people are being a little over the top with his issues. Still a good player and a guy who would help a blueline like Edmonton, not surehe would waive to go there but…
I agree 100% the Oilers should atleast be kicking tires, I would honestly dangle Justin Schultz and a 3rd. That might seem like an over payment for some.
I think PC missed the boat, wasn’t willing to throw Nurse in the deal for Dougie Hamilton. I know they offered similar package as Calgary but it didn’t get it done. Maybe he didn’t think Boston would trade him and he would simply sign him to an offer sheet. It remains to be seen if it was the right decision to hang onto Nurse. Oiler need to get some D and Yak seems to be the right one to trade but not sure what his value is at as of now.
You think so? You think yak will get them some D? Maybe a struggling top 4 guy yeah….
It’s been the constant talk in Edmonton for the past 5 years. They don’t want to part with any decent pieces of the puzzle so they try and dangle guys no one wants. It’s the reason no one has wanted to tango with Edmonton. Not to count that there’s a looser culture established in the minds of those players. And that devalues them quite a bit.
If Edmonton wants any reward that will help them on the back end its going to start with Taylor hall or Eberle. I know they won’t move Hall because they’re scarred that will hit them in the face but a decent move could be addressed with Eberle. Of course they might make a move for a player that just looks like a patch job but they won’t get anything significant back unless they are willing to part with valuable assets.
Now with Voynov off the books & Richards’ settlement done: http://lakingsinsider.com/2015/10/16/richards-figures-reported-effect-on-kings-cap-revealed/ I look for Lombardi to start shaping the Kings back into a contender.
The game I saw the only players that sttod out in the loss were McDavid, RNH and Talbot. Hall had his moments but overall wasnt impressive.Shultz wasnt bad.
The others absolutely refused to go into the corners or stand in the slot. They were playing scared. I sensed a selfishness as they all seem to want to show off their skills but not heart.
Ference is done, he looked terrible, so much so he turned over the puck to avoid a hit.
It aint pretty folks.
How can you say that Schultz is anything but garbage? Jonathan Willis tweeted a perfect example where it shows Schultz at the point when the oilers were in the blues zone then the blues got the puck and went to the oilers zone and Korpikoski (who was deep in the blues zone) beat Schultz back to the oilers zone. That team does not know defense. At all.
The problem in Edmonton is too many skilled one way players.
They need some grinder type two way guys like Bergeron.
Not saying trade Bergeron just using him as a example.
Guys who backcheck,throw a hit,can drop the gloves,can kill penalties.
Need a second line that can shut down the other teams top line.
Chara would help but only short term they should have made the deal for Hamilton even if Nurse went the other way.
Isnt Nurse exactly the type of d man they need ? I admit Hamilton is good but isnt Nurse tougher ?
I agree with Yankees fan on Nurse. I seen him in the WJCs. Nurse is built like a Slim Jim and still hits everything that moves. When he grows into his body look out. Hamilton to me is still overrated. He has potential he leaves much to be desired defensively. I would rather wait out Nurse for 2 years. He has the potential to be a real impact dman that other teams will not want to play against.
agreed…nurse is a stud and will be a top d in the future (if oilers don’t stunt his growth and kill his confidence)
Nurse, hasn’t played a season in the NHL and Hamilton is in his 4th. Made the bruins as and 18th, yet Oiler fans still think he is better then Dougie. I don’t get it.
http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=783483 looks like tomas isnt going anywhere anytime soon
Yeah well I’ve been on the Oilers side for some time. Although I think knee jerk moves are not needed and that as I stated last year they should do exactly what they did and then use this year to evaluate the roster I think 20 games is a good point to come to a conclusion. Give or take a few games.
I think bold moves should very well be on the table at this point. Yet if they do it after a few games then that would be Knee Jerk. Yet when I watch this team play I see a team which lacks confidence. Plays the boards poorly, weak on their sticks, and fail to protect the puck with their bodies. I see a defensive unit that lacks a PP quarter back and some real nasty physicality.
At this point as I evaluate them McDavid, Hall, Nurse and Talbot are the ones that won’t be moved. Quite frankly depending on the return any of the others can be moved. But stay the coarse for now. Allow the new system to gel. Allow the new coach to coach. But at the 1/4 mark if bold can be done bold is called for.
By the 1/4 mark if they are still spinning their wheels and the warts on their roster are even more evident – move who where? They’d be lucky to get a plugged nickel for some of them once their weaknesses are even more exposed. Certainly nothing in return that is going to help them in the foreseeable future. Since you say McDavid, Hall, Nurse and Talbot won’t be moved I assume all the rest are fair game. Eberle is a cap hit of $6 mil to 2018-19; Nugent-Hopkins is a cap hit of $6 mil to 2020-21; Pouliot is a cap hit of $4 to 2018-19; Yakupov is a cap hit of $2.5 to 2016-17; Sekera is a cap hit of $5.5 mil to 2020-21; and Klefborn a cap hit of $4,167,000 to 2022-23! Good luck trying to find takers at that point of the season for so many with hefty cap hits and long terms if they are still dragging their butts.
There are always stuggeling teams that will look to pick up players. RNH, Eberle and Yakupov will have value.
If they are showing to “have value” by the 1/34 mark – maybe. But then why would Edmonton deal them if that were the case? If they are not showing anything by the 1/4 mark what idiot GM would take on those salaries and terms at that stage of a season?
I would take RNH even though he is overpaid. Yak is good value at 2.5 but I would not give up much for him right now. On the flip side his contract only runs to 16/17. Dont know about Eberle.
They have a lot of work to do still in Edmonton.
Good thing for the owners there aren’t any GMs out there with your instincts.
I think youve forgotten more then just hockey knowledge.
Say what?
The Chara talk should stop, hes not going anywhere because the Bruins wouldnt trade him anyways. Although expensive, hes a great mentor for their young d core. He still a good player, knows what it takes to win,is a true leader, and you wont read about him sleeping in and missing practice.
While I’m not much of an Oilers fan, I have to admit, some patience should be used here. You just got a new GM, a new coach, and while you have a potential generational talent in McDavid, remember, he’s still very much a kid. Give this team some time to play together, to build some type of chemistry. If 30 games in you’re not seeing any improvement, THEN start looking into shipping some of the floaters out and bring in a few heart-and-soul type guys.
In the recent past the Oilers problem has been no secret, it has been goaltending and defence. Now I have been saying this for about the last year. There are more teams in the NHL then there are number 1 defence men. The teams who have these number 1 defence men are not prepared to trade them away cause, as we have seen in the recent past, you can not win a Stanley Cup without them. Talbot has seemed to have cured the goaltending problem and Chara will not fix the defence as he is no longer the number 1 defence men that he used to be.
There is a reason that Al Button is a former GM and not a current GM, just have a look at the flames in the 90’s to see why. Ederle, Hall, Lander, RNH, and Yakupov (now is starting to look good with McDavid) have not been the problem, the problem was with the former GM and coaches. It is going to take time for Chiarelli and McLellan to fix things. It was naive to think that these guys would have fixed things in one offseason. Yeah the Oilers are 0-4, but how many other teams would be 0-4 when there first 4 games where against The Blues x2, Preds, and Stars?
I agree, the oilers need to show more patience….if they can get _______ in the draft this year, he’ll fix everything!
I found this posted 4 years ago and it still works perfectly, all you have to do is write the top prospects name and it’s true. How can you say they need more time? This is essentially the same team and group of players who’s biggest achievement is winning the draft lottery. The oilers are a bad hockey team, they don’t need more time they need new players. They’ll be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs again by US Thanksgiving and call it “a learning year” for McDavid and then the same thing next year for Matthewes and the year after that for whoever. The only players of value on that team have bad contracts that other teams will have a hard time taking so they’re pretty much stuck with this team. If they want any kind of success or respect from the hockey world, they have to do some of those “bold moves” that MacT talked about years ago, until then they’ll remain one of (if not the) worst teams in professional sports. And since someone will come to the rescue of the oilers, name another team in professional sports that has finished that bad for that long and has 4 first overall picks in 6 years.
I disagree with your comment. Mathews or any other top prospect will not help this team. The Oilers have the defence men in the system that will help in the names of Rienhart, Kleffbomb, and Nurse. The only player that they have that I wouldn’t mind being moved out to maybe get some sort of help would be Schultz, but that wouldn’t really be considered a bold move.
You mean the Rienhart who’s the islanders couldn’t wait to get rid of? The guy who’s looked out of place in the NHL? If he was good, the islanders would have kept him, he doesn’t have a big contract and he’s not an RFA, they just thought he was bad. Kelffbomb is decent but he’s a second pairing guy at best. Nurse is the oilers only hope on D and how can anyone say Talbot has looked even ok? If you honestly think the team now is good enough, you need to lay off the Koolaid.
You are sadly misinformed about Rienhart. After the Islanders acquired Boycheck and Leddy there was no room for Rienhart in NY. If you would watch some of the Oiler games you would see that he has developed into good young defence men. Would not surprise me if he turns into a Robin Regehr type d man.
That is mind bottling. Why would the islanders get rid of Rienhart if he was good? They have no room on their back end for good young defensemen on entry level contracts??? I know Snow isn’t the best GM but do you think he honestly said “wow Rienhart is just too good to be on our second pairing, let’s trade him for a late first round pick” Come on, seriously?? And he’s not developing into a good young defender, he looks slow and out of position most of the time and he’s one of the reasons their D is so bad.
It’s called trading a piece away where your have strength to add to a place where you are weak in. It’s what teams do all the time to get better.
As for your opinion on Rienhart I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.
@Kevjam, there was still room for Reinhart after aquiring Leddy and Boychuk. Reinhart just wasn’t playing well and Pulock and Mayfield passed him on the depth chart. He had no sense of urgency to his game and wasn’t even good in Bridgeport. He was like a -18 in the AHL. That is not to say that he will be a bust but he just wasn’t progressing as expected. He never once looked like the shut down, physical dman that was advertised when he was drafted. Also, he has played 4 NHL games so it’s a little early to talk about what type of dman he has turned into.
@Paul, you indicated that Snow is not a good GM? Please back up your dumb statement. Other than keeping Capuano (which is probably an ownership decison) and trading for Vanek what has he done that is so bad? Tavares is on one of the best contracts in the NHL, he brought Leddy and Boychuk here for nothing and got them signed, doesn’t currently have one bad, untradeable contract on the team and has stock piled the farm system with talent. Stop parroting everything you read. If they didn’t collapse because of their crappy coach at the end of the season Snow would have been a finalist for GM of the year.
What the oilers should try and do is move ference, nikitin, Purcell and draisaitl and a pick or two in a deal to the leafs for dion and jvr, the go with
Hall-rnh-eberle
Jvr-mcjesus-yakupov
Pouliot-lander-korpikoski
Hendricks-letestu-gazdic
Dion-sekera
Klefbom-Shultz
Reinhart-fayne
1st of all Dion and JVR are not worth Draisaitl a loan. 2nd, in no way shape or form would Phuffy improve the Oilers defence. He has proven he is no better then a number 3 or 4 defence men, and the Oilers have enough of them.
I know leaf fans are terrible for over rating their players but if the oil could get JVR and Dion for Drysaddle, they should jump at that. JVR (and I’m not a leafs fan) is really good and a great age for a young team like the oil. Dion is a really good second pairing guy, he just gets paid too much. Draisaitl looked out of place in the NHL and even though he looks good against kids in the WHL, he just doesn’t look like he can compete in the NHL. If the oil could get a top line winger like JVR and a top 4 defender like dion for Draisaitl alone, they would have by now.
No one is going to want Ferrance or Nikitin unless the oil take back an equally bad contract. Those 2 are terribad and have bad contracts.
“It’s called trading a piece away where your have strength to add to a place where you are weak in. It’s what teams do all the time to get better.”
So in your eyes, the islanders gave away such a good young defender on an entry level contract because they have too many good defencemen, for a first round pick which they used on a smaller centre that won’t be on the team for a few years? Even you have to see the hole in your logic. Winning teams build from the back end forward, why would the islanders get rid of a good defender? Unless you’re saying he wasn’t good enough to make the islanders top 6 but he’s good enough to be on the oilers which I guess makes some sense but that means guys like 38 year old Marik Zidlicky is who the islanders would want on their back end over Rienhart?
Look, I get your an oiler fan and you want to stand up for your team but Rienhart is mediocre at best, to say he’s anything more is just homerism.
@ Atomic Biscuit, Snow has made a ton of bad moves over his tenure. He’s given out terrible contract after terrible contract and giving up a first rounder for Moulson was really bad. Drafting Tavares was a no brainer as he was clearly the top guy so picking him doesn’t show that he’s good. It’s like saying Chiarelli is a good GM because he took McDavid. In the past few years though, Snow has improved a lot and has slowly earned back a lot of respect. He’s still not one of the best though so stop parroting everything you read lol.
I agree but he has made better moves lately.
The law of averages has to kick in somewhere sometime – even for Snow.
Been waiting since 67 for it to kick in for the Leafs. Maybe this time they will do it right. Alas I’ve been saying that too since 67.
It’s been over 100 years since the Chicago Cubs won a world series. Some teams in the Major Leagues, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL have NEVER won a title. Location and fan devotion add up to zero in terms of having a winner. They’re all waiting for the law of average to kick in. C’est la vie.
Again, back up your argument. What are his ton of bad moves? He gave up a first rounder for Matt Moulson? Really? When did this happen?
I didn’t credit him for drafting Tavares or call him one of the best GMs. Don’t make up stuff that I said.
Please, enlighten me about his ton of bad moves. The Dipietro deal was Wang’s doing. Everyone knows that. Even so, tell me about the bad contract after bad contract that Snow given out.
He became GM, with no experience, and has drafted Lee, Strome, Pulock, Hamonic, Czikas, Dal Colle, Ho-Sang, Barzal and Mayfield.
He took over a team with no money and that free agents wouldn’t come to even when he threw money at him. I think he has done pretty well under the circumstances.
I believe McDavid and Draistl will become a good 1-2 centre line. Hall is too good to be traded.
That leaves RNH, Yakupov and Eberle as trade baits for two very good D-men. OEL and Noah Hanifin should be the men Edmonton looks for.
McDavid for Chara!!