With two games left until the midway point of the 82-game season, the Oilers are playing about .750 hockey but still can’t close ground on Vegas in the Pacific.
There are holes to fill like with every team but they have four losses in regulation in their last 20 games, so there’s not a lot of angst. That said, you have questions, so here you go.
Q:Do you think Taylor Hall will be one of the players Oilers target at the trade deadline? (Jeffsidian).
A: Would be a nice reunion and his best days apart from his Hart trophy season in New Jersey, were here. The Oilers could use Hall’s north-south speed, but he has eight goals (21 points) in 39 games so he’s not lighting it up in Chicago. Unless Hawks are eating half of his $6m cap hit, I don’t see it. Plus, they are loaded on left wing already with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evander Kane returning whenever, Vasily Podkolzin, Jeff Skinner and Mattias Janmark (if not playing fourth line centre).
There’s a better chance Oilers kick some tires on Hawks’ making-a-comeback story C Jonathan Toews, even if Toews hasn’t played in almost two years and turns 37 in April, with the Oiler GM Stan Bowman’s history with him in Chicago. But that might be quixotic stuff, too.
Q:What’s the deal with Knobs and (Jeff) Skinner? Seems like they were born to feud. (Dunda).
A: I don’t think there’s a feud, at all. Kris Knoblauch just isn’t a big fan like, say, he is with fellow left winger Janmark’s two-way game, when the Swede isn’t playing fourth-line centre. Coaches like to say there’s no doghouses that players tumble into but Jeff Skinner, if he isn’t in Knoblauch’s, then his leash is shorter than most Oilers forwards.
That said, his play in the last two games on a fourth line has been just fine (nice assist to Darnell Nurse for a goal against Anaheim and a nice tuck in Seattle for his 364th career goal).
He’s tough to take the puck off around the net. He’s competing and he’s not complaining. One thing to notice though. Still under 10 minutes in those games on nights with very little special teams play to eat into his 5-on-5 ice-time. He’s played fewer than 10 minutes in five of his last seven games.
At practice in Boston Monday, Skinner was on the third line with Adam Henrique and Zach Hyman so a reward for his improved play.
Q:Why do we lack grit and always seem to the pins instead of the ball? No agitator, or players who drive you nuts on the 3rd or 4th line. Sure we have the 9 million Nurse or coming off abdominal surgery Kane. Yup you want them doing the dirty work. Tired of watching liberties taken on 29 and 97. (Daniel)
A: This is a multi-ask situation. So you want a 2025 version of the late, great Dave Semenko to police the neighbourhood for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl as Sammy did with Wayne Gretzky? Nobody did it better. And Glen Sather always made sure he had heavyweights (Marty McSorley, Dave Brown) to ride the range and give his stars some comfort. Not sure that’s where the NHL is these days, though. The bodyguards don’t play much as the games get more important.
I haven’t seen teams taking undue liberties with Draisaitl. He’s a big boy, gives as much as he takes with his style. Teams do play McDavid physically, trying to get in his face, as they should. We’ve seen that in three straight Kings-Oilers playoff series. But, I don’t think it’s way overboard on the best player in the game. I seem to recall Neil Sheehy bugging the bejeebers out of Gretzky, too, but he played through the discomfort.
You are right that Nurse and Kane can look out for trouble, and have a don’t-mess-with-me attitude, but there is no spit disturber on this team in the bottom six to brings the hate factor. Could they use a Ryan Lomberg type. Yeah, probably. Or a latter-day Matthew Barnaby or a Darcy Tucker. But, they do have Corey Perry, who got his first night off this season in Seattle. He’s made a history of getting people mad at him.
Q:What would it cost the Oilers to go out and acquire (Matthieu) Olivier out of Columbus? (Dalton)
A: The cost? Probably a third-round pick. He’s UFA and on many trade boards because he can fight and he can play. He’s having a career season (nine goals), playing third line and on the penalty kill. It may just be a one-off contract year stats burst but Jackets GM Don Waddell has said they want to re-sign him. Conservatively he’s $1.75m-$2m on a three-year deal. He’s popular with his teammates (of course he sticks up for them) and the fan base. But if they can’t be the trade deadline, he could be in play.
He would be a welcome fourth-line tough guy here (there’s your grit add), a top-five fighter in this league, only 27, and a right-winger who can skate and contribute. But there’s no sense trading for him unless you can also resign this player.
Q:Any update on Evander Kane? (Oilers4Cup, 2025)
A: Short answer to a short question. No.
Us media folk have seen Kane in the press box or dressing room after games, hanging out with the players, smiling, joking, walking just fine. But is he anywhere close to skating with the team? No he’s not. The extensive abdominal surgery was done in New York three and a half months ago. Doctors said his recovery was a minimum of five months and Kane and his $5.124 million cap hit are currently on Long-Term-Injury-Reserve.
Right now, the projected cap space for the Oilers at the March trade deadline is almost $3.5 million as they look for a veteran D (right or left shot) and maybe a bigger, right-shot fourth-line centre. Clearly, they need some clarity on a Kane return date before the deadline because his hit would go back on the team cap.
Q:Will Kane have a positive impact when he returns? Will one of Skinner or Henrique be moved? Who or what type of D will be the target? (Den Pollard)
A: You’re cheating. Too many questions.
Kane’s add will be like a trade deadline acquisition, although how long he takes to get up to NHL game speed after no camp and no action for months is a serious question. They do miss his intimidating style, also his ability to score. Whether he immediately slots in a second-line left wing role with Draisaitl is open for debate because Leon likes Vasily Podkolzin’s ability to dig pucks out the corner on the second line. But Podkolzin, who has tons of defensive awareness for a young player (sturdy stick check on Jaden Schwartz in Seattle to prevent a goal in the slot), could easily slide back in the line-up with his PK ability and his dogged ability along the wall.
Will Jeff Skinner and Adam Henrique be moved? Not a chance with both currently playing on the same line with Kasperi Kapanen. Henrique’s offence has dried up, for sure, (three goals), but he’s still the third-line centre, on one of the PK units with Nugent-Hopkins, and while his foot-speed isn’t great at 34, he remains a smart 5-on-5 player. Plus the coach likes him. Skinner, as we all know, is miscast outside the Top 6 but didn’t do enough to be there. He has a no-move clause and he’s likely not waving it when he longs to finally get a playoff game.
What type of D will be the Oiler trade target? Used to be a righty to play with Nurse. Now? Maybe it doesn’t matter, right or left shot. Lots of names out there: Marcus Petttersson in Pittsburgh, Ivan Provorov in Columbus (both UFA rentals). If it’s a D with time left on his contract, it would cost a lot more. Basically they need a defenceman who can be a 4-5 like Brett Kulak, who has done a very nice job with Nurse in the second pair, playing his off side regularly for the first time.
The trade target would ideally be a veteran of 600 plus games, a large body because that works best in the playoffs, with an edge to his game, somebody like a Luke Schenn. The Oilers have to give the Philadelphia Flyers their 2025 first-round pick (trading up to take Sam O’Reilly last June) so that’s not in play. But they do have a second and a third-round pick. Frankly, it’s time they kept some of their draft picks because the cupboard’s a tad bare when it comes to good prospects.
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