The Expansion and NHL Entry Drafts are in the books, Jordan Eberle has been moved, and we’ve got a lot to get to which will help to kill some company time until you’re allowed to go home. As always, we’re back with the mailbag to help you do that. I always need you guys for this feature so email me your questions to baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk. Now sit back, relax, and pretend to look busy for as long as possible. Have a good week, everybody.

It had been out there for some time, so there wasn’t the shock and surprise of the Larsson-Hall deal. I had time to suss it out in my mind and see what the thinking is with the deal from the Edmonton side. Cap issues forced the deal and I do think Jordan Eberle wasn’t a perfect fit for a Chiarelli team.

Total downgrade it talent and I’m not sure the secondary scoring can take many more downgrades.

I was happy to see this taken care of as early as possible. It was expected and best if dealt with right away rather than letting it drag on.

Close to what I expected. The Oilers were looking to shed salary and get a younger player they hope can find his way in a new market. They acquired a less proven player, and in the salary cap world this is reality, especially when the Oilers will have two big contracts in the very near future with McDavid and Draisaitl.

Mostly just that it wasn’t a surprise. When I sketched out hypothetical Eberle trade scenarios a few weeks back, I had Strome, Cody Eakin and Nick Bjugstad as possible targets, with the idea that the Oilers would shed some money and add a less talented centre in exchange for Eberle. This deal was telegraphed early on.

My first thought was that I hated it. Like most situations, after sitting on it for a while the decision grew on me. I love Ebs but it’s definitely his time to go, unfortunately.

Cam Lewis: It wasn’t terrible, but it’s another classic example of the Oilers selling a player at their lowest value. Let’s hope Strome excels with a change of scenery.

I expected the Oilers to get fleeced on the deal because they were selling on a down year. The did not get the best player in the deal and that’s disappointing. That said, they did get some much needed cap space to waste on Kris Russell.

I think he’ll play centre when Leon is on RW and the wing when the big man moves into the middle. It makes sense from a positional point of view, we’ll see about the execution.

He is either 2RW or 3RW depending on whether Draisaitl is given his own line and if Puljujarvi is NHL ready this year.

He’ll probably play on the wing and I won’t be surprised if he gets a look alongside Connor McDavid. He showed the ability to produce points in his first couple of seasons before falling out of favor with Jack Capuano. How long that look lasts will depend on Strome’s performance.

He will compete for the first and second line RW slots with Jesse Puljujarvi, Drake Caggiula and Anton Slepyshev. He’ll be given an opportunity to win the job. He should be motivated to come to to camp in the best shape of his life. There is no veteran to beat out. He has the most NHL games played of the four battling for the spot, five if Oilers re-sign Tyler Pitlick. I’d argue it is his job to lose.

Primarily third-line centre, but occasionally top-six right wing for those times when Todd McLellan decides to run Leon Draisaitl down the middle.

We won’t be able to truly evaluate this trade until we see Strome playing. I expect him to start at the top of the lineup with Connor. If he doesn’t succeed he will slowly move down playing with Drai, then Nuge. Hopefully, it doesn’t get to that point as he’ll likely already be the #1 whipping boy.

Cam Lewis: The one nice thing about Strome over Eberle is the added versatility he provides being a centre/winger. That said, I’d be surprised if he was used anywhere other than McDavid’s wing, at least at first.

Looking at the RW depth right now I’d guess anywhere from first to third line right wing depending on whether or not Leon plays with Connor and if Puljujarvi is more NHL ready.

I think Connor McDavid is instant offense and Leon Draisaitl showed signs of being able to drive his own line’s results. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins simply must perform better offensively, that’s a fact. I don’t know if that means playing with 97, with new hire Strome, or getting more PP time to open up the creativity. But that’s the nut.

There are maybe 5-10 more points to be squeezed out of Lucic if his 5v5 offence can return. That might be offset by Maroon regressing in sh%. The rest of the offence is coming from McDavid unless they add more.

Strome and Drake Caggiula. I think Caggiula will take a step up this season. I like his offensive instincts.

I expect McDavid to score more goals this year. He told me at the end of the season he wanted to shoot more and he would be working on his shot and release in the summer. Also Caggiula, Strome and Slepyshev should be able to score more goals than they did last season. Those three combined for only 24 goals in 170 NHL games. Throw in Puljujarvi and it was 25 goals in 198 games. If they can’t improve on those low totals the Oilers are in trouble.

Right now, it looks like they plan to find it internally. I’m skeptical that Drake Caggiula, Anton Slepyshev or Jesse Puljujarvi is capable of providing Eberle-level scoring, so if that’s the plan the team’s best bet is probably rebound years from players like Milan Lucic and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (as well as Benoit Pouliot, if he isn’t traded). There’s also the possibility that they go hunting for some skill in free agency.

Cam Lewis: They’re going to have to get it internally. This summer’s free agent market is thin and the Oilers don’t have the capacity to hand out a long-term deal like they did with Lucic. Kris Russell, for better or worse, is this year’s big splash, meaning not only are Maroon, Draisaitl, Kassian, and so on going to have to repeat performances, but guys like RNH, Caggiula, and Slepyshev are going to have to step up.

Obviously Ryan Strome, but guys like Pouliot, Caggiula, Nuge HAVE to step up this year. We need a full team effort from our forwards this season and can’t rely all on Strome to fill in Eberle’s points.

He needs to figure out what to do with the second pairing. Sekera comes back mid-season but Todd McLellan may be forced to run Kris Russell (currently unsigned) with Matt Benning. That will mean adding a third pairing option as well. Plenty of work to do with the blue.

He could start the task of making the team better. I would approve that. So far we’ve had a downgrade at RW and at the time of this response the rumours are that Russell will be re-signed, thus keeping the blueline running in place. Chiarelli is free to make the team better any time.

Sorting out Eberle and re-signing Kris Russell (or finding a replacement for him) are done, so I don’t expect Chiarelli to be very busy. The Oilers are in the hunt on Spencer Foo, so that has to play out.

He still needs to add another two D-men. Even with the Russell signing they only have five D-men ready to start the season. I don’t see Mark Fayne in their plans, so Klefbom, Larsson, Russell, Nurse and Benning are the only five ready to start the season. He needs to add two D-men, both likely on one-year contracts. Most of the Oilers improvements will come internally as 92, 29, 77, 6, 25, 83, 36, 42, and Strome get older and gain experience, so I don’t see him big-game hunting, but signing a few proven veteran defenders to one-year deals.

Replacing him, for starters. People tend to forget that the only guys on the Oilers roster who scored more than Eberle were Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers should be looking to add another skilled forward to the mix, even if it’s a lesser talent than Eberle. There’s also still a need for a Sekera stopgap player on the blue line.

I still don’t feel satisfied with our defensive depth… even though we signed Kris Russell. I would still like to see him bring in another strong RHD but we don’t have many assets to work with.

Cam Lewis: It seems Sekera is being replaced in the short-term by Russell, but the team badly needs a defenceman who can produce offence and quarterback a power play. Then they’ll need another centre, ideally a veteran winger or two, and an actual backup goalie.

He needs to round out the defence and figure out who’s going to fill Sekera’s shoes for three months. Does Benning play with Russell? Nurse? Personally, I’d rather those two guys keep learning on the third pairing but that’s just me.

I think they did okay, but like all fans (probably) think I could have done better. 🙂 Too traditional for my taste, but the general manager needs to ice a team this fall and look to the future on the same day.

Not a playoff team, but not a complete embarrassment. I think they left immediate value on the table in exchange for more picks and fewer prospects than I would have liked. That said, they are a better team than I would have guessed a year ago.

No, I don’t think they finish within 20 points of the playoffs. I think they’ll be competitive on a game-by-game basis but that doesn’t necessarily translate to points in the standings.

Overall they did fine, and the NHL gave them much more of an opportunity to by allowing teams to protect a maximum of 11 players. I don’t see them as a playoff contender. If they reach 70 points that would be a great first season in Sin City.

With the caveat that we’re still waiting for a bunch of stuff to happen, right now I’d say C+ or thereabouts. Vegas did a great job of getting picks and prospects out of some teams, but in a lot of cases they loaded up on expensive and lower-end defencemen even when they didn’t need to – notably Alexei Emelin and Luca Sbisa. GM George McPhee has acted like there’s a trade market for players like that; if he’s right the grade goes up a bunch, but if he’s wrong than the Golden Knights did a poor job of leveraging their cap space. I think they could make the playoffs next year, but I’d put their odds at less than 50/50 right now.

They did fine… they won’t be a playoff contender next year but I think they’ll perform better than most people expect them to. They’re up against a big, tough division which I don’t really feel like they’re built for.

Cam Lewis: They’re pretty clearly stealth tanking, as they chose multiple players who aren’t better than other options they had the chance to snag. They did an excellent job of stockpiling draft picks, and they’ll likely be selecting towards the top of the draft next year too. Even though they’ll be bad, they’ll at least be exciting to watch, which is key for an expansion franchise.

I wish GMs weren’t so nice to each other. Vegas could have screwed a team like Anaheim and taken Josh Manson but they didn’t. Lame. Oh and to answer the question they’re going to suck but probably not as bad as I originally expected.

On Thursday night (June 29th), we’re hosting our first Nation Night at the Ballpark as the Edmonton Prospects take on the Weyburn Beavers. As you’d expect, we’ll have some prizes to give away and stickers for the kids (big or small) so clear your calendar and plan to be at RE/MAX Field on Thursday night. Tickets are available here.