Monday Mailbag – July 13th

Whether you’re killing company time, or reacquainting with your couch, the mailbag is here to help you make it through another Monday. As always, I’ve got five more of your questions that need answers from our panel of heroes and experts.  This feature depends on you and if you have a question you can email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk. Without further adieu – the mailbag. 

I suspect they wanted their first three selections next year in order to use an offer sheet as a negotiation tool or as an actual tool.

They did have the option. Does a deeper 2015 draft, assuming you believe that’s the case, translate to a significant difference in a third-round pick in the 80s (86th)? I don’t think so. Do you? Chiarelli obviously wanted it off the books and opted to do it now.

I think most Oiler fans (and a lot of the NHL in general) still really overvalue draft picks. A third round pick has roughly a 30% chance to become, at best, a bottom six NHL player. Even in a “deep” draft year there is infinitely more value in Todd McLellan than a third round pick (regardless of how dumb that composition rule is). At worst it’s a calculated gamble; what if, in two years, it’s the DEEPEST DRAFT OF ALL THE DRAFTS? What if the top 200 picks could have went in the first round any other draft year? THANK GOODNESS THEY HELD ONTO THAT THIRD ROUND PICK! 

At the end of the day it’s giving up a cheap asset for an incredibly valuable one.

It’s a good question, and it’s debatable whether the Oilers made the right call. I would suggest that because it was a later third-round pick the Oilers thought it made some sense to just get it over with. It also allows the team some flexibility in terms of offer sheets and the like and guarantees the pick won’t be given up in the same year as the second-round selection going Boston’s way, meaning that they won’t have a big gap at the draft in 2017.

They did it because it was the 86th pick in the 3rd round. The only 3rd round picks that are worse are 87-90. I believe they weighed the options and felt it was better to give up this pick than a higher 3rd rounder in 2016 or 2017.

Fair question to ask but I have no idea.

You’d have to think that part of giving that 3rd round pick to San Jose was just to get it over with. It’s such a dumb rule that I can see why the Oilers would want to deal with it as soon as possible. What will be interesting to see is if the NHL reversed the rule or amended it in any way. Would the Oilers get a pick back later on? Either way, it’s ridiculous to have to “pay” for a guy that was fired/left the organization. 

That being said, maybe Chiarelli didn’t like the list that the scouts put together and literally chose to draft the fewest amount of players possible? I’m kidding. Probably…

There aren’t many cons, to be honest. If he’s comfortable there, and he says he is, it gives the team more options in-game and an outstanding young player in their lineup.

If Draisaitl does enough to clearly show he’s ready to play in the NHL but there’s no room in the middle in the top nine, it makes sense to start him on the wing. Pros and cons depend on the player in question.

For pros I think it would let him get an ever better feel for the NHL without having to worry about as much defensive responsibility. Let him wade into the pool rather than just tossing him into the deep end again. And he’s really strong along the boards so picturing him digging a puck out of the corner and feeding a wide open Yak in the slot gives me Chiarelli Tingles®. 

As for cons, obviously he was drafted as a centre, and I’m hoping he becomes the next Getzlaf — a big, powerful centreman with huge offensive upside. So the less draws he takes the longer it will take him to become a proficient NHL pivot.

It’s a nice way to introduce a player to the NHL without heavy defensive responsibilities. I don’t know why the Oilers didn’t do it a year ago. The only real downside I see is that if they want to switch him back to centre later there will be an adjustment but then with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid down the middle that may never be a major issue.

I don’t see any con. It is an easier position to play. Many young players have played the wing first — Stamkos, MacKinnon recently — and it didn’t hurt their development. If he is better than the other wingers in camp then he should stay here, but I wouldn’t keep him in NHL just to play on the wing if he isn’t better than Korpikoski, Pitlick etc. He could play centre in the AHL, gain confidence and possibly get a recall for the second half of the season.

Moving to the wing is way easier than moving to centre. He could play there and use that big body to hold on to the puck and make plays. I would prefer to see him play centre in the minors though. Moving forward, having a big body developing as a centre makes a lot more sense.

I don’t see how there could be any negatives aside from having Draisaitl gain experience in a position other than centre. There are fewer defensive responsibilities at centre and it would give him a chance to get used to playing at the NHL level without having as much to worry about. 

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I’ll say a tie between Griffin Reinhart and Anton Slepyshev. Reinhart because he’s a big, strong defender who wowed Edmonton fans as an Oil King, so I want to see how close he might be to being able to do that kind of thing in the NHL. Slepyshev because I’ve never seen him live and he’s a very skilled player.

Nurse. Looks ready to break in. We’ll get a better idea if that’s the case through main camp and pre-season.

Gonna assume this is also does not include Nurse and Draisaitl. The prospect I’m probably most intrigued with is Ben Betker. Guy is an honest to goodness giant, he looked really solid in orientation camp, and he’s the exact type of defenseman the Oilers have desperately been craving for years now. As a sixth round pick odds are his ceiling is realistically more Keith Aulie than Tyler Myers, but man, can you imagine a seven foot tall behemoth actually making an impact on the Oilers blue line? I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on him in the near future.

Darnell Nurse is a guy who will be fun to watch. When I saw Oscar Klefbom in Oklahoma City I was really impressed by his combination of size, speed and puck skill and knew his ceiling at the NHL level was awfully high. Nurse really seems to be a cut above that and will be a blast to watch over his career.

Darnell Nurse. He is exactly what the Oilers need. A big, skilled and mean defenceman.

Greg Chase. I think he has the skill, will and determination to show everyone he should never have been drafted so late. If he becomes the players I think he can his style will energize the team.

McDavid aside the obvious answers are Darnell Nurse and Leon Draisaitl. If we’re looking past them I’m curious to see how Greg Chase does. He was a late round pick that could actually develop into something. When was the last time you could say that about a late round draft pick for this team? I’m also curious to see how Laurent Brossoit handles more minutes down in the AHL. Is this guy the goalie of the future? This season will be a big step towards that if he can handle starters minutes and find a way to be consistent.

I believe they’ll honor Smyth and suspect it’ll be at Rexall. I’d like to see something for Glen Sather this year, too.

If they do, it’ll be in the new rink. Having a wall of honour or some other entity to mark the careers of noteworthy Oilers not in the Hall of Fame makes sense.

I can see two scenarios here:

A) They have one big ceremony where they honour all Oilers past and present, and say one final goodbye to Rexall. 

B) They have a similar ceremony for the opening of the new arena. A passing the torch style thing like the Habs do every third home game. 

I thought Smytty’s send off in his final game was incredible, so I don’t know that they need to do another one for him individually so soon. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if they did something where they either put him in some kind of ring of honour in the new building, or best case scenario they put 94 up in the rafters with the other Oiler greats. The entire new downtown core will be washed into the North Saskatchewan due to all the tears that night (mostly mine and Wanye’s).

I don’t know, but keep in mind that the team has been pretty strict about sticking to election to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a prerequisite for jersey retirement. I know Kevin Lowe isn’t a terribly popular guy in Edmonton at the moment but he’d be a prime candidate for a jersey retirement if the team relaxed the standard and that hasn’t happened.

I don’t see it happening this year, and based on their current rule “need to be in HHOF to have jersey retired”, then it will never happen. I hope the team looks at altering that rule. They could do what Leafs have. Honoured jerseys go to the rafters, but stay in circulation, and only HHOF players are retired. I’d be okay with that and then Smyth should be a lock to have his honoured.

I am not sure on the timing but his contributions as an Oiler have been huge. I would be in favour of his jersey being lifted to the rafters.

I love Ryan Smyth and I don’t think the Oilers could do enough to honour him. Build a statue. Name a burger after him. Make all the prospects grow the mullet. The team needs to do whatever they can to honour a player that bled orange and blue throughout his career as an Oiler. Smytty is a legend and deserves it. 

Probably the summer we sold our house and lived at the lake. It was insane, I don’t think we slept.

Can’t pick just one. Drive-in movies. Trips to Seattle International Raceway with friends to drag race. Cruise nights that began at the local A&W. Wrenching on my cars. Hanging around Ducey Park and Telus Field covering the Trappers. Switching over to cover the Eskimos once the NHL draft was done. The day I met my wife. The day my son Sam was born. Show and shines. Golf vacations.

Our family trip to California when I was 10 is pretty hard to top. Disneyland is obviously really, really awesome, but as a kid OBSESSED with movies and TV I had way more fun at Universal Studios and just touring around Hollywood in general. We also got to be in the audience for the taping of a sitcom pilot, which, again as a kid consumed with movie magic and how everything was made was an unbelievable experience.

There are too many to count, but I’ll say this: If you ever get the chance, go to the British Museum. It’s just incredible; it’s like traveling the history of the world in one stop. I spent parts of two days there but could have spent two weeks without getting bored.

Going to Minnesota for a Jays/Twins game and we went to Six Flags amusement park. I was 10 years old and it was great trip.

I spent a summer at “farm” camp just outside Redwater. This one time at farm camp… you get the idea.

Honestly, I couldn’t pick just one. I spent a lot of summers at the lake fishing with family, and to me there’s nothing better than that. I’ve also been lucky enough to do a lot of travelling so far in my life. I spent just under a year in Australia and another year living in Southeast Asia. For those two years of my life every day was Saturday – it doesn’t get much better.