The massive sport quarry the Edmonton Oilers are loading up for this low season: 9 Issues

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Printed Jun 04, 2023  •  Final up to date Jun 04, 2023  •  5 minute learn

Edmonton Oilers common supervisor Ken Holland. Picture by Shaughn Butts /Postmedia

The Edmonton Oilers can have one eye on the Stanley Cup last this week. However the different shall be on a essential interval which is able to kick in 48 hours after the Cup is awarded.

As one workforce takes the step that the Oilers hoped to take themselves this season, Edmonton’s mind belief shall be gearing up for a course correction.

It might take no various refined strikes, on the roster and on the ice, in an effort to accomplish that purpose.

However that doesn’t imply you must rule out one thing significantly extra provocative.

That and extra on this version of…

9 Issues

9. I shall be watching the Boston Bruins with curiosity this low season, partially due to two gamers with Edmonton ties that I believe could possibly be in play in Beantown: Jake DeBrusk and Taylor Corridor.

8. Prospect Phil Kemp has a 2-year extension with the Oilers. That was an vital piece of enterprise to get don. The group shouldn’t be wealthy in blueline depth. Gamers like RHS Kemp and LHS Markus Niemelainen stay an harm away from significant NHL minutes.

7. Previous to the Stanley Cup Closing Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner nonetheless had the 5th most saves of any goaltender within the 2022-23 postseason at 287. All of us agree Skinner didn’t in the end give Edmonton all of the stops they wanted. However he additionally confronted a whole lot of rubber. His teammates will must be higher in entrance of him subsequent season.

6. Pending UFA Nick Bjugstad earned $900k final yr. He made the Oilers higher and is an efficient Backside-6 NHL participant. His limitations, nevertheless, confirmed when he was elevated past that. Bjugstad will possible receives a commission at the very least 50% extra in 2023-24. He has earned that and I positive don’t maintain that in opposition to him. However Edmonton ought to ensure that it’s not by them.

5. Kailer Yamamoto is listed at #16 in Day by day Faceoff’s Commerce Targets checklist. That can not be a shock to anybody together with the participant. While you watch again tape on #56 it’s clear that whereas the trouble stays, Yamamoto’s offensive instincts haven’t been clicking the best way now we have seen prior to now. I don’t assume Yamamoto simply forgot do all that. However the drop-off displayed all of the indicators of harm that has impaired his hand-eye talents. How long-term that scenario could also be is anybody’s guess. In consequence? Hazard, Will Robinson.

4. Jayden Grubbe has been acquired by the Oilers from the New York Rangers in trade for a 2023 5th Spherical choose. Edmonton then inked him to a 3-year ELC. Grubbe’s type and skill fill an organizational want: A giant, robust, gritty RHS Heart who performs the sport the fitting method with out the puck. Grubbe additionally has offensive up-side. The Oilers had been in on Jayden Grubbe for a really very long time. However I imagine they set the worth they had been keen to pay for him early within the course of after which caught arduous to their weapons.

3. NHL Commissioner Bary Bettman commented on Saturday that the league’s wage cap will stay at a $1m improve. A way more substantial elevation ought to arrives in 2024. I don’t assume that Ken Holland anticipated a lot completely different. However it cements the truth that Holland might want to create his personal cap house in an effort to enhance the roster for 2023-24. And I anticipate that he’ll. However Edmonton shall be managing its cap enterprise in a a lot completely different method than they needed to over the previous few years. There doesn’t look like any candidates for LTIR going ahead. The lone buyout nonetheless on the books shall be $1.9m for James Neal.

2. In a roundabout method, the wage cap information will assist the Oilers within the quick run with one pending RFA contract: Evan Bouchard’s. I discussed in my final column that I anticipated the Oilers to bridge Bouchard. There isn’t a query the participant deserves a wholesome increase. However I can’t think about agent Dave Gagner negotiating a longer-term deal whereas the cap is caught in near-neutral. His shopper stand
s to earn far more sooner or later in the event that they wait on the house run swing till it’s clearer what the cap will appear to be going ahead. You might argue that this tactic is simply kicking the issue down the highway. And you wouldn’t be solely incorrect. However till the cap does shift, a bridge it’s not simply the good play for either side…it’s the solely play.

1.I don’t assume that Ken Holland is planning to go large sport looking this low season. However simply because I don’t assume that shall be his over-arching technique, that doesn’t imply that the Normal Supervisor won’t take a shot at an actual catch occurs to be there. There exists a transparent window which Holland finds himself in proper now, between the time remaining on the Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl contacts and the standing of some older veterans who could start to see their expertise erode in that very same time-frame. In reality, Elliotte Friedman on Bob Stauffer’s Oilers Now program this previous Friday stated these phrases:

“I actually do assume that there’s an total feeling in your (Edmonton’s) group to be daring as a result of your window is now. I undoubtedly assume that’s there. I completely imagine in that. Like…you guys are in go-for-it mode. And if there’s something on the market (and) you guys assume even when it’s, I don’t know if dangerous is the fitting phrase, however its large however you guys assume it’ll assist I…I don’t assume you’re gonna be afraid to do it, I believe you’re loading up for the following couple of years”.

There may be some appreciable weight behind Friedman’s phrases due to how well-plugged in he’s across the league. I additionally know that Friedman cares about his good status and is subsequently accountable with the phrases he chooses to explain conditions with.

My interpretation of all that’s there could also be a transfer on the market for Edmonton that on the skin could appear anyplace from a protracted shot to inconceivable. It’s most likely not a selected transfer that Friedman refers to, moderately a mindset which the Oilers have adopted stepping into.

As I watch this summer season’s occasions unfold, I cannot be making many assumptions on the Oilers roster besides that I don’t anticipate Holland to play it protected.

You might want to undertake the identical philosophy.

Discover me on Twitter @KurtLeavins, on Instagram at LeavinsOnHockey, and now on Mastodon at KurtLeavins@mstdn.social

Not too long ago, at The Cult…

STAPLES: An Oilers insider on what different organizations are saying concerning the Edmonton Oilers

McCURDY: Rising younger pivot represents a difficult little bit of enterprise for the Oilers

STAPLES: Who could seize the essential Oilers depth ahead roles?

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