Who will be the Edmonton Oilers’ top-three right wingers next season? The current options are Jesse Puljujarvi, Anton Slepyshev, Pontus Aberg, Ty Rattie and Kailer Yamamoto. They have a combined 30 NHL goals in 284 NHL games played. Slepyshev has played 93 games with nine goals, Puljujarvi has 12 goals in 83 games, Aberg has three goals in 60 games, Rattie has six in 39 games and Yamamoto has no goals in nine games.
Rattie has been the most productive as far as goals per game, but tonight is only his 40th NHL game. Maybe he is a late bloomer at 25 years of age, similar to Yanni Gourde who has 24 goals as a 26-year-old in Tampa after only playing 22 NHL games prior to this season. Gourde is an outlier and if Rattie emerges he’d be in the same boat.
Puljujarvi and Yamamoto are both only 19 years young, and are the team’s best prospects, but can the Oilers enter next season with three of these five wingers on the right side?
It would be a major risk, without question, and I suspect Peter Chiarelli will try to sign an unrestricted veteran right winger, on a cap-friendly contract with a track record of producing.
Could they sign Rick Nash to an Eric Staal-like contract for three years? If you could get Nash for three years at $3.5 million per year, would you do it? Would he?
James Van Riemsdyk has scored a career-high 31 goals in Toronto. He will be 29 in May and makes $5 million this year. I suspect he will be looking for a long-term deal and try to cash in, so he’s likely out of the Oilers price range.
Michael Grabner can fly and he has 27 goals this year after scoring 27 last season. He only makes $.1625 million this season. He doesn’t produce many assists, with only 13 last year and seven this season, but he can kill penalties and produce at 5×5. On a two-year deal, I’d strongly consider him.
Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli can’t go into next season with no right wingers with more than 103 games of NHL experience. Slepyshev, Puljujarvi, Aberg and Rattie will use the final ten games this season to make a good impression, but there should only be two spots available on the right wing next season. Chiarelli must find a proven veteran right winger to play with either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.
LINEUP…
Oilers
RNH-McDavid-Rattie
Caggiula-Draisaitl-Aberg
Lucic-Strome-Puljujarvi
Slepyshev-Khaira-Pakarinen
Nurse-Larsson
Russell-Bear
Auvitu-Benning
I think it is clear Anton Slepyshev isn’t someone Todd McLellan trusts. Actions speak louder than words and Slepyshev has dropped out of the top nine fairly easily. The challenge for Slepyshev is that he doesn’t make many plays. He skates up and down his wing, uses his shot fairly frequently, but doesn’t make a lot of plays. If you look at his shots/EV TOI he gets the puck on net quite frequently.
Player 5×5 min Shots Goals S/60 SH%
McDavid 1162 181 24 9.37 13.26
Draisaitl 975 113 11 6.95 9.73
Lucic 974 107 7 6.59 6.54
Strome 852 94 7 6.61 7.45
RNH 714 83 8 6.97 9.64
Puljujarvi 682 110 9 9.68 8.18
Kassian 668 77 7 6.91 9.09
Caggiula 644 73 7 6.80 9.59
Khaira 618 59 9 5.72 15.25
Cammalleri 575 69 2 7.02 2.9
Slepyshev 469 59 5 7.55 8.47
Pakarinen 293 34 2 6.96 5.88
Aberg 107 14 0 7.86 0
Rattie 48 11 1 13.75 9.09
It is a small sample size for Aberg, but Slepyshev shoots as often as he does, but scores much more. I have yet to see any signs from Aberg that he can be a finisher in the NHL. Again, it is only eight games in Edmonton, but in 60 NHL games, he has three goals. I see nothing that says he is a better finisher than Slepyshev, but the coaches must see something in Aberg they like better. He moves the puck quicker, so maybe it is that, but it interesting to note Slepyshev’s ability to get shots on goal.
You will notice Puljujarvi gets a lot of shots on net as well, but we’ve seen him take many long shots from the boards with no one in front. I’m not a huge fan of those shots. I’d like to see him take a few extra strides, get closer to the net and then shoot. A wrist shot with no screen, and no one driving the net, is often a wasted shot in today’s NHL.
And it is only a few games, but Rattie has shown an ability to get the puck on net. He has played 23 minutes with McDavid/RNH and 21 with Draisaitl/Cammalleri. His sample size is extremely small, but when’s he been on the ice he gets the puck on net. I’d honestly try him ahead of anyone else on the PP right now. They need another right-handed shooter and I’d try him.
Hurricanes
Aho-Staal-Teravainen
McGinn-Lindholm-Williams
Skinner-Ryan-Stempniak
Zykov-Rask-Di Giuseppe
Slavin-Pesce
Dahlbeck-Faulk
Fleury-Van Riemsdyk
Darling
Scott Darling’s first season in Carolina has not gone well. He has a league-worst .889sv% among starting goalies. He lost his starting job and essentially split duties with Cam Ward. In 35 starts, Darling has a .889sv% and a 3.08GAA. He has only won 12 of his 35 starts.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…
-The Hurricanes trail in the all-time series, posting a 25-36-14 record against the Oilers. However, they’ve been above .500 at home, going 16-13-7 against Edmonton since the teams joined the NHL in 1979.
-The Canes are looking to sweep the Oilers in a season series (that includes more than one game) for the first time since the 1997-98 season.
-Carolina won 5-3 in Edmonton on October 17 behind 48 saves from Cam Ward, the second-most saves he has made in a game in his career.
-Jeff Skinner (11 points in 11 games) and Jordan Staal (14 in 13) have each averaged a point per game against the Oilers in their careers. Staal tallied a goal and three assists in October’s win.
TONIGHT…
GAME DAY PREDICTION: Oilers defeat the Hurricanes 4-2.
OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: McDavid enters the game with only two career points versus the Canes, but he doubles that with a 1-1-2 evening.
NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Rattie scores in his third consecutive game. He entered the game with six career goals and two two-game goal scoring streaks. He makes it three tonight.
GDB BROUGHT TO YOU BY SHERBROOKE LIQUOR
Take home a growler, a crowler, a sixer, a mixer, whatever. Sherbrooke Liquor. Where’s Your Beer?
Recently by Jason Gregor:
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Source: Jason Gregor, Verified Twitter Account, 3/20/2018 – 11:30 am MST
Peter Chiarelli can’t go into next season. Just stop the sentence right there. Or add as the Oiler’s GM.
And puuuuuuuuuge
So which ex-Oiler should replace him? Cause you that is what will happen…According to fans Chia is a failure. So why hire outside of the old boys club because it did not work either….I’ll keep Pete (at least one more year). I just cannot accept that for some reason last year seems to be a failure to Oil fans. If it isn’t then Chia has had one bad season since having a good one. If we bring in a new GM and the Oil do not make the playoffs next year does this person also get fired?
Paul Coffey as coach with a couple of Old Boys Club assistants and Keith Gretzky as the new GM….what you actually thought Keith was being brought in just to scout?
Keith is the assistant GM and head of scouting & I still think he’s the second in line as GM behind his brother or Messier.
As for Coffey, he has absolutely zero NHL experience as a head coach and will most likely remain a skills coach.
One bad season and it’s time to toss everybody out in the trash. I still don’t believe that it is because Chia didn’t get a winger this year is the reason for the Oilers dismal performance this year. Nor is the one Dman that we could really use. Too many things went wrong this year with individual players for this to all be laid at Chia’s feet.
Regardless of this seasons outcomes, what Chia has done with this team is simply unacceptable.
a. he overpaid not 1, not 2, but 5 free agents (Russell, Lucic, Sekera, Kassian, & Draisaitle)
b. Three of these freed agents were signed while the GM was in a position of strength (team just went to playoffs, you get to play with McDavid, Vegas has us as best odds to win the cup, etc)
c. bleeding off premium talent in lost trades, while still having an incomplete D group
d. baffling buyout of Pouliot given his serviceability and the long term penalty of the buyout still on the books when McDavid and Draisaitl’s big deals both kick in.
e. willingness to sell the future for an uncertain present (banking on unproven players to keep this team in a playoff race and ending up saving the cap savings of buyouts and bleed outs for nothing).
f. And, who can forget, the Reinhart deal
Chia took what should have been the easiest GM job in the league to walk in to and quickly made a mess of it. I truly don’t know how he would have any credibility amongst his peers when it comes to future negotiations given the moves he has made. At this point Chia would have to actively hold out on deals and potentially walk away from a few somewhat fair deals to gain back any credibility let alone actually being able to win a deal. I am not sure his trigger happy style is capable of this, especially when he is also on the hot seat. He just needs to be done.
Man, I can’t wait for April. I have see this same list about 3000 times in the last month or so. That dead horse has been beaten so badly its just a pile of mush.
I also get a kick out of people saying how easy it is to GM and just make trades for whatever you need whenever you need it. Not saying I like Chias Oiler resume but being a GM of the Oilers has to be one of the toughest jobs in pro sports.
Now we wait to see if these goofs can right the ship over one summer again. I honestly believe the team will be better next year as-is purely based on poor individual seasons, injuries and illness. I healthy team with something to prove will be a good thing but they still need to add a couple faces.
Nuuuuuuge!!!
Puljujarvi needs to play more on the PP. Nuff said!
Puljujarvi needs to be in the AHL, Nuff said!
I’m just cheering for the Oilers to finish the season 10-0 so they can finish the year with a .500 record haha
Our winger depth is scary bad.
The Oilers have a pretty good AHL team against Carolina with Rattle, Aberg, Bear, Auvitu and Pool in the lineup tonight.
I wanted them to try and make a play for Grabner at the deadline in an audition type of roll. 0 risk. Next to no cost. And as more of a shooter then passer, it’s what the oilers should have been looking at. I know it didnt make sense to go after a rental but I still would try in the off season. Gotta be better than Camo Larry or jokinen. And at a low contract you don’t care whether he plays top or bottom.
Aberg’s english is almost Fluent; Slepyshev understands 3 out of every five words spoken to him. It has less to do with “trust” and more to do with simple communication issues. If McL doesn’t play Slep its b/c he knows he won’t do what he wants him to do — because he doesn’t get what McL is trying to tell him. You would think someone like McL would be a better communicator (a la Todd Nelson) but he isn’t.
I have spoken to Slepyshev and his English is fine. He actually communicates quite well. Slepyshev’s English isn’t the reason he isn’t playing.
Didn’t Cam write an article yesterday that it doesn’t matter who is playing wing for McDavid?
Rattie is UFA at season’s end. If PC was serious about giving them an extra year, you’d think they would have called him up sooner.
And all we use to have is wingers , and now we have none. unreal.
Just go beat the snot out of a few teams literally and be the team that officially eliminates the Flames and lets call it a winter and get on with summer. Except for the 20 cm of snow still to come. Yahooo.
Flames officially eliminated themselves last night.
You believe the Flames are still not officially eliminated when we meet again?
I’m not sure what you mean by that but I believe the The Flames have no chance. To have to leap frog 2 teams ahead of them not in a playoff spot as well as gain 6 points on the teams in a playoff spot with 8 games left is officially eliminated.
Grabner will sign with Rangers. The Rangers GM did him a solid in trading him to NJ so he doesn’t have to move, etc. That is what the info out of New York is.
Well off topic, but i’m sure of interest to many:
go to this site: http://special.nationalpost.com/follow-the-money/database
and you will see that the Mr. Daryl Katz is a big supporter of the Liberal Party.
Maybe it was him the knocked off the Sherman’s
Just curious, what difference does it make whether Katz is a Conservative, Liberal, or NDP supporter?
We support a team he owns – he supports a party that wants to end the business many of us (read all albertans) earn a living from.
whats wrong with supporting Liberals?
If your from Ontario nothing apparently..in the west that’s a dirty word..
What a ludicrous statement.
That was for Gord
It’s a fact. That the ruling party of this country wants to end oil sands production is ludicrous but I doubt that’s what you meant.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/news/alberta/trudeaus-oil-sands-phase-out-comments-spark-anger-in-alberta/article33622908/
Another reason to stop giving him money…stay home and cheer from your couch
Katz’ business does what’s best for Katz’ business, that’s why it’s worth billions… we’re talking grade 2 economics class here.
I disagree somewhat. There are lots of limousine liberals who are clueless as to the economic repercussions of left wing progressive politics – preferring to virtue signal via donations (and wearing Bono glasses?) rather than actually think about it.
I have seen this from accountants, corporate lawyers and investment economists.
Would you make this deal with the devil? You can have the top player in the NHL for a decade, win 5 Stanley Cups during that time but spend the next 20 years as one of the worst teams in league history. Cheers for Yes and Trash it for NO. (I seriously think this was the deal made back in 1979.)
Closer to 30 years really. But yes, I would take that deal in a heartbeat. Those 5 Stanley Cups were glorious.
If you were born in the 90’s would you take that deal?
I feel bad for the fans who missed out. They did get the short end of the stick.
That’s sort of like voting a government that wants to spend, spend, spend and leaves the next generation with nothing but a large debt to pay off. I wouldn’t wish that on the next generation.
Nash to an affordable contract would be ok, I would look at someone like Kreider, speed with an appetite for greassy goals
Nash is no where close to Kreider speed
Great stream today boys
arent grabner nash and JVR left wingers?
I guess that is a hole as well
“Rattie has been the most productive as far as goals per game”. Does how he scores matter? 50% of his goals is where there is no goalie in net I guess. and the other was from an angle where he shouldn’t score again from that angle…
Caggiula-Draisaitl-Aberg
I know they want Drai to drive his own line, and he sure as hell should with those 8.5 mil, but those wingers whould be a challenge even for McD.
Sounds like Chia’s big trade deadline pickup Aberg is closer to going to jail than he is to Draisaitl’s wing.
Great work Peter! Can this GM do anything right?? Wow is Peter ever on a losing streak. As fans do we just sit around and wait for his next colossal screw up?
I may have picked the wrong time to pick on Aberg. Oh well, Chia still stinks…
Well ofc they do well now that we picked on them… :p
And ofc that line scores agian! :p
And agian lol…
Just wait until the summer and you will see what ol pistol pete has up his sleaves for mind blowing loser moves..that is if he still has control…
I would consider Grabner, Vanek, Comeau or Riley Nash as UFA right shot RWers.
I would also like to trade for Dylan Strome. Nuge or Klefbom would be able to get Dylan Strome and I would make that trade to reunite him and McDavid for some magic.
Chiarelli is that you?? Please don’t be Chiarelli. toprightcorner is Chiarelli isn’t it?
Then we could have McDoubleStrome
Benning Still Sucks!
Sorry but our defence absolutely sucks at moving the puck north & south. This lateral or backwards play has to stop. Our D coach needs to be punted ASAP!
Jesse is having a great game in spite of being overshadowed by Draisaitl! #PoolParty
Sooooo, maybe we might have a second line so to speak? Could just be the fact that is was Carolina but… I thought all four lines had some chemistry tonight.
Grabner’s a steal at his $.1625 mill deal 🙂