Monday Mailbag – The Red Wine Summits

What have we here? A brand new mailbag for a brand new week. I hope all of you had an excellent practice retirement over the weekend and that the overall punishment on your livers was kept in check. With everyone heading back to work, I wanted to put together something to read and help you kill off a few minutes of company time and ease back into this whole work thing. As always, I’ve sent your wonderings out to the writers and waited for all of their worldly wisdom to come back to me. I still need questions for next week, so if there is something Oilers related (or not) that you want to ask, feel free to hit me up by email or on Twitter. Enjoy.

It depends on who is on the roster. I think he needs more AHL time to develop. So I will say no.

That’ll depend on what changes, if any, are made to the blueline personnel this off-season and if Bear shows he’s ready to move ahead from where he ended the past season rather than taking a step back. There is no need to rush this player. He shows promise, but that doesn’t mean, as of right now, the’s ready to be a full-time NHL player.

It’s a guess, but I’ll say yes. I think he’s established himself as at least the first call up and he ought to come to camp even better prepared. I hope if the answer is NO it’s because Chia built an NHL blueline that is incredible, but…

No, and that’s okay. He’ll be 21 and probably not at the point where he’s a reliable NHL player on a playoff team.

I think he’ll definitely be there in case there’s an injury. I think it all depends what Chia does with our defence this summer. Bear could be used as a 5/6 guy if someone isn’t pulling their weight around. He’s a good option to have.

I hope we don’t see Ethan Bear next year and that’s only because I think he would be best served by more time in the AHL. As you’d expect from a young player, there were warts in his game that he’ll need to work out before getting full-time deployment at the NHL level and there’s nothing wrong with that. The Oilers just need to give him time.

I don’t mind if friends are meeting up for drinks, but if they are presenting a different message to the owner and undermining GM and HC, then the dysfunction of the organization will lead to more losing seasons.

I believe what Mark Spector wrote. Beyond offering an opinion, I don’t want people who aren’t in official hockey-ops positions having a say in staffing and how the team is built and run. That renders the people who do have hockey-ops titles useless in their positions.

First thought was about how screwed this team is. The two competing factions are both bad. We have an entitled group of functionally alcoholic ex-players with no real experience successfully managing teams versus the raging incompetence of Chia and Nicholson. This is really bad.

It makes sense. There was no way Chiarelli or McLellan decided to bring Paul Coffey aboard. This organization just refuses to move beyond those former players.

I think it’s awesome that the MSM is being super critical of Oilers ownership. They need to be held accountable for their actions and people are tired of the way things have been run. Love the Red Wine Summit rumours.

I had two thoughts about it: 1) was that it’s awesome that these boys still get together and get buckled 30 years after they were making noise in the NHL. There’s something beautiful about that, ya know? 2) If these guys are anything like when me and my buddies get wasted together then the ideas they’re coming up with are garbage and they need to stop pitching them immediately. The way Spector put it, these alleged drunken ideas are being forced through and that’s a real problem.

I think best bet is to sign some veteran UFAs for short-term, cap friendly deals. A vet RW and an RD, although there isn’t any really good RD after Karlsson, and he will cost a boatload of money. Mike Green has quarterbacked Detroit’s PP the last few seasons, and it is the worst in the NHL. Is he really still a great PP D-man, or did they just have weak forwards? The tough part about trading for a right shot D is the only team I see with four decent right shot D is Boston: McAvoy, Miller, McQuaid and Carlo, but they won’t be trading Carlo or McAvoy. I keep hearing people say Tyson Barrie from Colorado, but the Avs only have two right shot D in him and Erik Johnson. If they trade Barrie they are down to one. They’d need an RD back in the deal. I don’t see a big trade involving an RD.

Can’t answer that in a paragraph or two. If you think the Oilers need a right-shot D-man, fine, but try to find one who is available. The same goes for other positions. If a team has a player you want, are they willing to move that player, and do you have what they want for him? Does the money in and money out work?

Is this a trick question? I feel like it’s a trick question. If an NHL GM is NOT calling Chia on a weekly basis and offering the Oilers crap for their best players then THOSE GMs aren’t doing their job. Chia is an easy mark. He shouldn’t be allowed to make trades.

Carolina is intriguing. They have defence and some wingers that could interest the Oilers, plus an owner desperate for change. Ottawa has forwards the Oilers could use if they’re going to burn it down and rebuild. I’d be curious what Buffalo would take in a Ryan O’Reilly trade, too.

Well, I can only assume the Islanders will be knocking on our door to get something out of Chia again this summer. Nothing I have guessed to happen with Chia has come true so I honestly don’t even know what to expect.

Who are the usual suspects that he always seems to trade with? Montreal, NYI, and New Jersey? Not sure he knows that many other teams exist. With that said, let’s wait and see how this goes. Last year is in the books and I’d really rather not spend the next six months angry.

To come into camp in best shape of his life. He needs to get stronger and a bit quicker. Patrick Maroon did this in the summer of 2016 and I expect Rattie will be ready to go in September. If he scores 15 goals he’ll be a great signing. If he shocks the NHL and scores 20 then the signing is unreal. We have seen more late bloomers lately, and he has the hockey sense to play with McDavid. We’ll find out if he has the consistency to stay there and the drive to ensure he is in good enough shape to handle 82 games in the NHL against top players.

I expect him to take the chance of  lifetime — playing alongside Connor MCDavid — and run with it. Rattie has enough offensive skill to be a fit. We’ve seen that much already. Can he sustain that? That said, I don’t want the Oilers counting on Rattie or Jesse Puljujarvi to be the two top RWs on the team. They might be, but we don’t know that.

I expect VERY little from Rattie, BUT if the Oilers can squeeze 20 goals from him on the top line and he can play reasonably well in his own zone, then I call that a home run. If he’s not on the top line then 30 points in his first NHL season would be fine.

If he can bring reasonable depth scoring in some capacity, that’s a win.

If Chia doesn’t acquire someone specific to play with Connor, I expect Rattie to be playing alongside him and Nuge to start the season next year. If this is the case and they stick with it, I think Rattie could pot an easy 15-20 goals. The way things seem to work around here, I can’t see him playing a long time with Connor though.

Good for the kid, but I really hope that he doesn’t see this as him having a spot locked in. He played well for 15 games and earned this contract and now he’ll have to go out and earn another. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I hope the Oilers don’t see this as Rattie having a spot locked in because I’d really like to see some competition and depth on the wings.

The first round has been kind of blah for me. Columbus/Washington has been the most competitive by far. I thought LA would put up a better fight. They were awful.

Anything with Vegas. The Golden Knights are a great story — NHL story of the year, actually. Also, knowing what it means to the fans of Winnipeg to lose their team, I’m enjoying seeing the Jets move on.

For some reason — and I can’t put my finger on why — but I just loved the Sharks versus Ducks. Something about the way the Ducks were swept just brought me extra joy. If they could play the series again I think it would be great to watch them lose eight in a row. Biggest surprise? I guess just how awful the Ducks are. Specifically, their top players locked into insane deals. Enjoy paying Kesler until the sun expands and destroys life as we know it in the solar system.

I like Toronto-Boston. Toronto makes everything feel bigger than it is and it’s fun to watch. I thought Toronto would be more competitive but they just can’t get much going after that poor start. I also didn’t think either Los Angeles or Anaheim would get swept.

I’ve enjoyed watching the Pens and Flyers because the scoring has been so high. I’ve also been impressed with how rough the playoffs have been so far. We’ve already had four (I think) suspensions so far and we’re not even done the first round! For that, I enjoy watching the Jets series for how rough it is.

San Jose and Anaheim because any time the Ducks get knocked out with a sweep is a beautiful moment to me. Yes, the schadenfreude is strong with this one.

Lexus South Pointe is the official automotive partner of Oilersnation. As citizens of the Nation, you receive exclusive discounts & perks no matter what you drive!

Our state-of-the-art facility also includes a virtual golf simulator, spa, and rooftop patio. Find us on the corner of Ellerslie and Gateway for all your vehicle needs. Check us out on our website here.