Monday Mailbag – June 9th

At Nation HQ, we think working all day is overrated. As such, we bring you another Monday Mailbag to distract you for a few minutes as we work your way towards the weekend. The mailbag is dependent on you guys, so send your questions to me by email at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk.  If you don’t have an Oilers related question, ask something about Nation HQ or a hypothetical question that makes little to no sense whatsoever – we’ll take em all. 

Without further adieu, the mailbag. Enjoy.

Jason Strudwick: 

The Oilers need to get this going in the right direction so that players want to be a part of it. If they don’t have success then players like Perron will leave for a chance at playing in the playoffs.

Robin Brownlee: 

You want to look two years into the future of a team that makes as many changes as the Oilers do? The Oilers need more actual NHL players, not fewer. If Perron plays and produces over the next two seasons as he did last season, why would you trade him — unless his contract demands are unreasonable? This “trade him while his value is high” mindset comes up over and over again. Don’t get it.

Wanye: 

As much as I like Perron – he was fantastic last year on a squadron of stink bombs – I can’t see him being a player we extend in the long term. The Oilers HAVE – repeat HAVE – to get bigger. If you keep the L’il Nuge, Hall, Yak and Eberle (and I can’t see how this scenario can continue long term) you have to start upgrading your remaining top 6 forwards to big bruisers. If this means the Gagners and the Perrons of the world can’t be here long term so be it.

Lowetide: 

I’d sign him long term. He fits like a glove and gives the team a little bit of an edge. Perron is a counter trey skill player, he’s shooting from all angles and driving to the net. Edmonton has all these wonderful skill guys who can pass like demons, but Perron’s skill set is unique in this group and for me a delight to watch. Find good players, keep good players.

Jonathan Willis: 

When was the last time the Oilers ever traded a guy while his value was high? Unless they can land a No. 2 centre for him, I expect Perron plays for the Oilers over the next two seasons, doesn’t manage to play as well as he did this year (a performance which at this point we should regard as an outlier) and eventually gets signed to a reasonable extension.

Jason Gregor: 

MacT doesn’t need to make a decision today. He has two years to decide on Perron. If a good deal comes along I’m sure he would move him, but he can’t panic. The Oilers must stop trading away proven NHL players and get nothing in return. They can’t keep trading for prospects and picks and expect to improve. Perron stays unless MacT finds a deal that involves acquiring a proven NHL player who will help make the Oilers a better team.

Brian Sutherby: 

Two years is a long ways away, but I think based on last year, you try to extend him if he performs the same way next year. He’s got a unique ability to annoy people and create offense. This team doesn’t have anyone else like him.

Numbers and term right now is too hard to guess in my opinion, so many other things can happen between now and then. Obviously that will play a big part in the decision to trade or sign him.

If MacT gets rid of my beloved DP I will be an unhappy young man! I love how annoying David Perron is and how he can mix up. David Perron is a great fit for this team and trading him would be foolish – the Oilers could use 12 more David Perrons. 

Jason Strudwick: 

Yes. Coming together as a team, trusting the system and giving yourself up to the game plan.

Robin Brownlee: 

That’s kind of ass-backwards, no? If the Oilers are learning concepts like teamwork and willingness to do whatever it takes to win from a bunch of teenagers, they’ve got bigger problems than we think.

Wanye: 

That a team playing at Rexall Place and breathing Edmonton air is indeed capable of winning at the ice hockey. Many times this should be repeated to the Oilers.

Lowetide: 

Damn straight. Mark your man, follow him to the end of time and don’t make progress easy. Edmonton’s forwards look like a flag football team in an NFL game at times, and the Oil Kings are a hard bunch to play against most every night. I’d grab that head coach for Dallas Eakins staff if I were the Oilers. Hell, bring Todd Nelson in, too!

Jonathan Willis: 

The team-building cycle is completely different in the WHL than it is in the NHL, so it’s hard to compare the two. I do think it’s important that they don’t come away with ‘draft more Oil Kings/trade for all the Oil Kings!’ as the lesson.

Jason Gregor: 

Yes, drafting players of different skill sets will help you build a competitive team. Bob Green did a fantastic job of drafting good wingers, goaltenders, defence and centres. They did a great job. However, the major difference between WHL and the NHL is that the great players in the league only last two or three years. You can develop a winner slowly, because you know the other teams will lose their great players. The Oilers don’t have that luxury. In the NHL when a team develops elite players they usually get to keep them for 10 years. It makes it harder for the middle of the road or bottom teams to surpass them.

Brian Sutherby: 

Hard to say. Junior is very different but the Oil Kings play a strong two-way style with a very good backend however. I think the Oil and Mac T at least say they know they have to play more of that game to win.

I think the Oilers players should look at how those kids played for each other. The Oil Kings fought for each other and you could tell how close they were, as a team, when they won. They battled hard and won a final game that no one expected them to and I think it’s because they played for each other. 

I think the Oilers need a veteran D to buy time for the youngsters. I don’t want to see three rookie D on the back end. Yes I would look at Boyle. For me it isn’t about money, it’s term. Shorter the term, the better.

Robin Brownlee: 

Boyle is going to the Islanders. Better they overpay for an aging player on the decline than the Oilers.

Wanye: 

Good question – I will leave that to the pros to answer.

Lowetide: 

I don’t think he would pursue Boyle, because the RH side of the Edmonton blue (Schultz, Petry) contains a PP option and a puck moving option. Suspect the team will want a tougher option like Matt Greene or Derek Engelland.

Jonathan Willis: 

I know this question came before the trade, but if Boyle wants to play for big money on a terrible team, he has his chance with the Islanders.

Jason Gregor: 

Boyle won’t come to Edmonton at his age. He wants to go to a contending team. I don’t see the Oilers landing any top free agents until this team is a contender.

Brian Sutherby: 

I don’t really believe Boyle will sign with the Islanders for the same reason I don’t think he will sign with the Oilers. He’s an aging player that wants to win so I don’t think Mac T would be able to land him even if he tried. I do like the thought of adding another veteran back there.

Frankly, Boyle isn’t old enough for me. If I’m the Oilers, I’m looking at re-signing Paul Coffey and seeing what he can do. The Oilers really need to stop signing guys older than the ground the city was built on.

Jason Strudwick: 

If a guy doesn’t want to be in your locker room you move him out. I do think if a player with a no trade clause requests a trade the no trade should be voided and the player can be traded anywhere.

Robin Brownlee: 

Why would a GM keep a player who asks to be traded? If a player goes public with the desire to be moved, he ties the hands of his GM. Spending months “waiting for the right deal” won’t necessarily result in making a better trade — it can often have the opposite result — because other GMs know it’s a matter of time.

Wanye: 

I’ve often wondered this myself. Remember a few years back when Kobe was making noise that he wanted to leave the Lakers. They were all “oh no you don’t” and he was all “ok I’ll be good.” I have no idea why teams are so quick to bend over backwards to let an unhappy player call the shots and leave town. 

Lowetide: 

You can’t keep people in a situation they’re unhappy in. Doesn’t work in any job. The Lightning and St. Louis MUST have had something specific in mind when they parted, and Pronger was a guy who didn’t want to stay. Edmonton could have waited until they got more immediate help though, that trade was a lot about the future. Tough deal to win, or sell to the fanbase.

Jonathan Willis: 

I don’t know, but do know that some general managers seem terrified of having a malcontent in the room. Steve Tambellini frittered away a perfectly good NHL defenceman for nothing to avoid precisely that.

Jason Gregor: 

Do you want an employee who doesn’t want to be there? Did Yzerman want St.Louis pouting around the room? Unlikely, because it would have a negative effect on his teammates. When one of your best players demands a trade it weakens you, because you usually lose the trade in the short term. You could wait, but that doesn’t guarantee that you get a better return. Teams know the player wants out, so they know his GM is dealing from a position of weakness.

Good question. As a GM you don’t want a bad dressing room. If you have a player that’s unhappy it can potentially hurt your room. Especially if they are supposed to be a leader they can have a big impact on a room. 

In today’s game with the media it can also become a huge distraction, so I think often the GM’s feel they have no choice and do what they can to get the best possible return.

I will say that those are a few that have went public and the GM’s obliged but there have been times where the GM doesn’t make the move and the player eventually has a change of heart.

I think if a guy asks for a trade any no trades or no movement clauses should be voided. If he wants a trade away from a contract he signed, he should have no say as to where he ends up. These guys are big boys and should be forced to deal with their decisions. It’s annoying when GMs are handcuffed because a guy has a change of heart.

I would rather sleep on a park bench or a desk then room with any of those guys!

Robin Brownlee: 

Only one? What a shame. Not living with any of them. Fact is, if any one of these guys came near my house, I’d set the dogs on them. Does that cover it?

Wanye: 

Oh that’s easy. I’d room with Sutherby. I’ve roomed with him on road trips before and I have found him to be clean and tidy, with few annoying habits. Plus his inability to wheel girls – shocking for a pro athlete, I know – would leave the playing field wide open for ol’ Wanye. I don’t want to be in a gun fight with my college roommate on a nightly basis and with Suds I would go 1460-0 over our four years of being roomies.

Lowetide: 

Crap. Really? Hmmm. Probably Brownlee, suspect he’s pretty cheerful each morning.

Jonathan Willis: 

I don’t know most of the other writers all that well, but Strudwick seems like he’d be a pile of fun, Lowetide and I could geek out on the NHL draft together, and of course Wanye’s eventually going to own the planet so it might be most helpful long-term to have an in with him. I don’t see a bad pick in the bunch.

Jason Gregor: 

Probably Suds. He never went to college, so he’d be pumped to experience it. He told me once he’s always wanted to be a caregiver, so he’d take nursing. He’d be a great roommate because most of his classmates would be ladies, thus our house parties would never be a sausage fest.

Brian Sutherby: 

Wanye cause I know the fridge would always be stocked with goodies.

This is an easy one. I’m 100% going to live with Brownlee. I’ve actually got our room all mapped out too. We’ll get bunk beds, but it has to be the kind of bunk beds where the bottom bunk folds up into a day bed so Brownlee and I can watch our stories. Oh the laughs we’ll share.