Monday Mailbag – Hendricks on the Move?

As per tradition, it is mailbag time once again and that means I’m here to bring you some free learnin’ from your friendly writers here at the Nation. As always, I’ve taken your questions and sent them out to our geniuses team to get the answers that you’ve always been thirsting for. I’ve said it many times before, but this feature is entirely dependent on you guys and I need questions for next week. If you have something you’d like to ask you can email me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk.com. 

Yes. The Oilers have a veteran management and coaching staff now. This is no longer a learn on the job franchise. As much I think Craig MacTavish is a very smart guy, learning the GM job at that level is extremely difficult. The Jeff Petry handling would be an example. As for McLellan, if you think back to the day Dallas Eakins was fired, and remember the weeks after, I think you will find your answer. Worlds apart.

Yes. Oilers are infinitely better than before they arrived. Not every move they made has worked out, but no GM or coach has a perfect record. They’ve helped make the Oilers competitive, which was the first step towards being a Cup contender. In two years we can re-evaluate and see if they are still steering team in the right direction.

I think Todd McLellan is probably the most legitimate head coaching hire the Oilers have made since the glory days. If you think about it, everyone they’ve hired since then was either a former Oiler player, an unknown, or well past their prime. So they went after McLellan who had a legit resume and wasn’t on the verge of retirement. He makes some odd choices (Russell top pairing minutes?) but every single coach makes weird choices.

Chiarelli is different. I’m much less confident in Peter Chiarelli. He’s done some good things (Maroon for a song), he’s done some high risk things (Lucic signed until the Sun collapses) and he’s done some awful things (Multiple picks for Reinhart, Hall for Larsson). So it’s a mixed bag there and I can’t tell if he’s going to take the team in the right direction or if McDavid is covering up for his errors. 

Yes. In the season before Chiarelli and McLellan joined the Oilers, the Bruins finished 34 points ahead of the Oilers and the Sharks finished 27 points ahead. Look at the standings today. Do you consider the difference some sort of failure?

I don’t think looking at how Boston and San Jose do in the absence of Peter Chiarelli/Todd McLellan is the best way of answering whether or not they were good hires for the Oilers; I’d rather look at their record in Edmonton. On that front, the results have been mixed. Chiarelli’s done some good things, but his biggest trades have also hurt the team. McLellan is a good coach but unfortunately seems to have lost some useful guys along the way. I’d guess that neither is totally happy with how things have worked out so far. 

Yeah, of course they were good hires. The Sharks and Bruins have a different team than us so it doesn’t make sense to compare them. For example, McLellan came onto a team where the players haven’t had a consistent coaching method in the last five years with all the different coaches coming in whereas the Sharks have been together for a while and have succeeded with their system for years. It’s much easier to come onto a team like that and succeed.

The Sharks were a much better team than the Oilers when McLellan left and same goes for the Bruins (to a lesser extent). Not sure why you’re overly surprised. Granted the Oilers can be frustrating at times but you didn’t really think they would go from 29th place to Cup winners in one year, did you? Also, have you forgotten the swarm? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the swarm.

I think there is some benefit for sure, but the organization has to this point not made that an option. JP has to play, if not in the NHL or AHL, then Finland.

It would be a bad move. Why would seven games against kids he has already dominated in the tournament be good for him? Playing in the AHL would be better, if he was going to leave Edmonton.

Of course it would be in the best interest of the team to send Puljujarvi to the World Juniors. It’s a tournament for his peer group. He’s 18 years old and forever we’ve been told it’s actually a 19 year old’s tournament. To suggest he shouldn’t be there would be bizarre. That said, Edmonton won’t send him. They’ve proven thus far that they have no development plan or grasp on reality when it comes to Puljujarvi. I need to see it happen before I believe it now.

No. If he goes anywhere it should be to the AHL where he can play steady minutes.

I don’t see how it could hurt to send a part-time NHL’er in the middle of a scoring slump to the World Juniors to play meaningful games against elite competition his own age. But no, I don’t see it happening.

I would rather have him be in and around the team, even if he is being scratched. It might be beneficial for Puljujarvi’s personal growth to play a few games at that level with his old teammates, but I’d want him here.

I think you spelt AHL wrong. 

All kinds over the years. Tyler Wright would be an example, credit to him, he worked hard and found a way. I always cheer for these players, but the odds do not favor long careers (outside the first round). 

I don’t think Yakupov will ever be the player many felt he could be. He’d be the one, but too early to see if I’m correct.

There are lots of players I’ve written off that had a decent career. We saw one the other day in Vande Velde. I thought that guy was going to be an AHL lifer. Tom Poti was dead to me before he was traded. He even went on to have a career where he was known for exactly the thing he couldn’t provide in Edmonton. It happens.

Nail Yakupov. Nevermind . . . Probably Daniel Cleary. Until he beat the bottle he wasn’t going to be a good NHL player, which is what he turned into in Detroit after he got straightened out. 

There have been a couple.  Matt Hendricks has been a much better Oiler than I expected; he’s fallen off this year but I didn’t think he’d last even this long. That serves me right for betting against a guy who fought his way up from the ECHL. Part of the reason I got Hendricks wrong was probably because I never lost my belief that Devan Dubnyk could be an NHL starter; I’ve just seen too many goalies have one bad year and then bounce back, so I always figured he’d come around. One goalie I was out to lunch on is Steve Mason: We had years of work in Columbus saying this guy couldn’t really stop the puck, but as soon as he got to Philly he turned into a real asset and I didn’t see that coming.

I’ve always believed in Dubnyk. Seeing his success right now isn’t a surprise at all. I wouldn’t say Sam Gagner is having a ‘career’ right now. But i definitely wasn’t expecting him to light it up as he is now this year.

I never expected Radulov to come back to the NHL one time let alone twice. The guy is having a great year in Montreal and it seems like he may have found a home for himself. Big piece for Montreal.

Depends entirely on the coach. I agree he has tremendous leadership skills, but if the Oilers have other options, and Hendricks isn’t in the every night lineup? Best to find him another spot in the NHL. 

Oilers still don’t have an abundance of depth. One or two forward injuries and they are searching for depth again. I suspect the return on Hendricks would be a mid-round pick. This team wants to compete for a playoff spot, and I’d keep vets around. If he doesn’t dress all the time, I’m fine with that, but having an up beat guy around does help, even if some believe it has no value. As long as they don’t overplay him, I’d rather have him around.

I have time for Matt Hendricks, but he’s a fourth line player at the end of his career. He’s not a fast guy and it looks like he’s lost a half-step. That’s a career death sentence if it’s true. If Edmonton can get a pick for him I say make that happen. Keeping him in the lineup means keeping out a Slepyshev, Pitlick, or Pouliot, and at this point I’m not sure that makes the team better at all.

The reason you trade Hendricks is to open up a spot because you won’t get anything in the way of a return for him. Matt is pretty much used up at this point in his career so it depends on what value he brings to the team as a leader and an experienced voice in the room. I’ll defer to McLellan on that one.

I think Matt Hendricks is a 35-year-old pending free agent, and while I’ve been wrong about him before (see question three!) I feel like we’re seeing age catch up with him right before our eyes. I’m at the point where I almost always think that Anton Slepyshev or Tyler Pitlick (or for that matter, Taylor Beck or Anton Lander) can do more with a roster spot. I also think that if there’s a contender out there interested in him why not give him a chance to play there?

I LOVE HENDO. I would be so sad to see him leave. It sucks that he had to start his season weeks after everyone else did (cause of his injury). So obviously he’s looking a little out of it right now. HOWEVER, it’s the last year of his contract, he’s getting old, blah blah blah. I hope we end up keeping him.

Makes sense, right? Hendo is in the last year of his deal, he’s 34-years-old, and he could get Chiarelli another magic bean for the summer. I think it will really depend on where the Oilers are at near the deadline before a guy like Hendricks gets moved. It’s not exactly as though this team is ripe with depth and injuries can happen.

Clean hit, terrific reaction by both teams skating into him, dropping sticks on his head. The hit was fine, though.

It was fine. The worst consequence to a non-dangerous hit. He didn’t run him over, he let up. It was unfortunate, but not cheap or dirty.

Clean hit. Never want to see someone laying on the ice like that. I think it was a terrible outcome of a good hockey hit. Go Hall.

Nothing wrong with the hit. Bad result. Could have been worse with all the players piling in to react to the hit rather than making sure Larsen was OK.

It looked to me like Hall tried to go through the body, and it was unfortunate that Larsen was hunched over and leaning forward. Anybody who has watched hockey for a while knows that’s a deadly place for NHL defencemen, and I don’t know what else a forechecking forward is supposed to do other than go through the guy with the puck. The one thing that really made me cringe was watching the immediate retaliation – I get why it happens, but the potential for serious damage to Larsen as a result of piling up around his prone body is really scary. Jacob Markstrom deserves a lot of credit for going over to protect him. 

Beauty hit. Not sure if we’ve ever seen a hit like that from Taylor Hall. Good for him. 

The hit itself was fine. That’s chapter one in the ‘Keep Your Head Up, Son’ handbook. It just sucks that he got hurt. Where things got crazy was with both teams starting a rumble on top of Larsen. Guy could have got stepped on, kicked, throat cut. Either way, you wish Larsen the best and hope he gets back on the ice soon.