This in from the Edmonton Oilers: “The Oilers have released forward Mike Hoffman from his professional tryout.”
And Tony Brar of Oilers TV reports about tonight’s game: “Players not in the lineup tonight (non-game roster is skating this morning): Nugent-Hopkins, Hyman, Ryan, Philp, Bouchard, Ekholm, Kemp, Akey, Nurse, Delia.”
Based on Brar’s report, we can expect the Oilers line-up for tonight’s game against Vancouver to be something like:
Skinner Draisaitl Arvidsson
Janmark Henrique Brown
Podkolzin Ryan Perry
Lavoie Pederson/Hamblin Caggiula
McDavid (possible)
Kulak Emberson
Dermott Brown
Gleason Stecher
Skinner
Rodrigue
Finally, a few on-line hockey sites reported with a straight face that the Edmonton Oilers might be interested in trading for Seth Jones of Chicago, with ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski as the source. In fact, if you read Wyshynski’s post, he never suggested such a thing, he merely joked about it, noting it was current Oilers GM Stan Bowman who handed Jones his massive current contract.
Said Wyshynski of Seth Jones, whom he predicts will be traded this year: “The NHL isn’t populated with 29-year-old defensemen who can skate top-pairing minutes (25:29 per game on average for Jones last season). His contract looks less elephantine with each passing season. This could be the season where Jones gets moved if the right situation presents itself to GM Kyle Davidson, who is not the GM who traded for and signed Jones to that contract. Funny enough, the general manager who did is now running the Edmonton Oilers, a team that has a much maligned 26-year-old defenseman making $9.25 million against the cap through 2029-30. Seth Jones-Stan Bowman reunion, when?”
My take
1. Even if Wyshynski had not been joking about the Oilers trading for Seth Jones, the idea is a non-starter. There is zero chance the Oilers can afford another left shot d-man making more than $9 million per. The Oil already have Darnell Nurse at $9.25 million, Mattias Ekholm at $6.0 million per and Brett Kulak at $2.75 million per. They have blown the bank paying for left shot d-men. Jones makes $9.5 million per year.
2. Mike Hoffman has scored 228 goals in 745 NHL games, but he only got 10 in 66 games last year in San Jose. He’s 34 and may well scored his last NHL goal. He looked OK in pre-season games with the Oilers, and got some power play time with Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard, so he’s got forever bragging rights on that.
At the Cult of Hockey
McCURDY: Oilers move out five players
LEAVINS: Oilers are gambling on this key player — 9 Things
STAPLES: Feisty veteran D-man makes a bid for one of the Oilers final roster spots
McCURDY: A tale of two pre-seasons for the Edmonton Oilers