<p>We are less than a month away from the start of the NHL preseason. The <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/08/06/edmonton-oilers-2024-25-pre-season-kicks-off-september-22nd/">Oilers host Winnipeg on September 22nd</a> before playing two games vs. Calgary on the 23rd. Training camp is only three weeks away and you can feel the excitement and anticipation building in Oilersnation. That is great, but there is also a bit of zaniness for some.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Yesterday a trade rumour of Dante Fabbro for Max Wanner emerged. Fabbro is in the <a href="https://puckpedia.com/player/donte-fabbro" target="_blank" rel="noopener">final year of his $2.5 AAV deal</a> with Nashville. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of his deal. Wanner is five years younger and in the second year of his ELC. He is the only young defence prospect in Bakersfield this season.</p>
<p>This rumour makes zero sense for Edmonton. Fabbro is six feet tall. He isn&#8217;t elite offensively and not a tower defensively. From a pure player-for-player trade, I see little reason why Edmonton would entertain this move. Wanner is still very raw, but he&#8217;s a great skater, stands 6&#8217;3&#8243;, and plays physical. He needs to improve his puck skills to be a regular in the NHL, but he has time to work on that.</p>
<p>Then add in the salary cap implications, and the trade makes less sense. The <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/08/18/edmonton-oilers-trade-defenceman-cody-ceci-to-sharks-for-ty-emberson/">Oilers moved Cody Ceci</a> so they wouldn&#8217;t have to start the season on LTIR. Evander Kane won&#8217;t be ready to start the season, but the current roster can have him on IR and still be cap-compliant. Adding Fabbro&#8217;s salary eliminates that option.</p>
<p>I would be floored if the Oilers made this deal. In fact, I don&#8217;t think it has ever been discussed at a serious level within the organization. If it was brought up, it should have been a very short conversation that ended with a &#8220;not interested.&#8221;</p>
<h2><strong>OTHER THOUGHTS&#8230;</strong></h2>
<figure id="attachment_157657" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-157657" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-157657 size-large" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/USATSI_23069960-1024x738.jpg" alt="Former Edmonton Oiler Philip Broberg" width="1024" height="738" srcset="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/USATSI_23069960-1024x738.jpg 1024w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/USATSI_23069960-300x216.jpg 300w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/USATSI_23069960-768x554.jpg 768w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/USATSI_23069960-1536x1108.jpg 1536w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/USATSI_23069960-2048x1477.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-157657" class="wp-caption-text">Apr 17, 2024; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Edmonton Oilers defenseman Philip Broberg (86) against the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure>
<ul>
<li>I received many texts to the show on Monday after returning from holidays asking about the 80-game threshold for Philip Broberg and how that impacted him receiving an offer sheet. First off, Broberg played his 80th NHL game in the opening game of the season. Remember: playoff games are included in the 80-game threshold. Prior to this season he&#8217;d played 69 regular season games and 10 playoff games. At the start of the season the Oilers were hoping Broberg would be a regular in the lineup and he played 16:03 on opening night. However, there is no 80-game threshold required to receive an offer sheet. I&#8217;ve seen that listed on some websites, but if you look in the CBA (<strong><a href="/Users/Jason/Downloads/NHL_NHLPA_2013_CBA.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">link here</a></strong>), there is nothing written that states a player must play 80 games to be eligible for an offer sheet. They only need three years of pro hockey (NHL or AHL). And if you look at the <strong><a href="https://www.nhlpa.com/the-pa/cba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MOU that was signed in 2020</a></strong>, nothing regarding offer sheets was changed.</li>
<li>I think the Oilers&#8217; blue line is good enough to compete in the regular season. But the team would need an upgrade leading up to the trade deadline to give them a better chance to compete in the playoffs. Troy Stecher has played 494 regular season games. Here is a breakdown, courtesy of <strong><a href="https://www.puckiq.com/players/8479442" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PuckIQ,</a> </strong>of how many minutes he&#8217;s played v. Elite, middle and Grit lines as well as his GF-GA.Elite &#8211; 2,175 min and 68GF-65GA<br />
Middle &#8211; 2,940 min and 108GF-113GA<br />
Gritensity &#8211; 2,542 min and 106GF-120GAHe is -16 overall in his career at 5&#215;5. He was -12 with 27th-placee Detroit in 2021 and he was -10 with the 27th-placed Coyotes in 2023. When he has played on decent or competitive teams his numbers have been fine. Would I want the Oilers to upgrade on him for the playoffs? Yes, but Stecher would be fine, even in a top-four role, for the first few months of the season.In 5,115 minutes versus Elite or Middle opponents his GF-GA was 176-178. And none of the teams he played on had Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl as their top two centres. Last year in 109 minutes with the Oilers, Stecher outscored opponents 6-2 and posted a DFF% of 54%. DFF stands for Dangerous Fenwick and is a &#8220;Weighted shot metric using shot distance, location and type of shot to give each shot a &#8216;danger&#8217; value.&#8221;</li>
<li>Random trivia: The Oilers have had 21 different players have at least a five-game goal scoring streak. Wayne Gretzky had 16 different goal-scoring streaks of at least five games, while Jari Kurri and Leon Draisaitl each had nine.Can you name the player who had a five-game goal scoring streak with the Oilers but scored fewer than 20 goals with the Oilers?**Answer will be posted in comments after 3 p.m.**</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>PRESENTED BY STAR MECHANICAL</strong></h2>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-146181" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Article-2-SME.png" alt="" width="728" height="404" srcset="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Article-2-SME.png 728w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Article-2-SME-300x166.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px" /></p>
<p>Star Mechanical is one of Edmonton’s biggest locally owned and operated plumbing and heating businesses. They have been working within the community for over 20 years, and many of the homes built in Edmonton over the last two decades have had their plumbing and heating systems installed by Star Mechanical.  Visit them at <a href="http://starmechanical.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://starmechanical.ca&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1707492487512000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2mVs3WUkp8iUCZ0kJRe9lJ">starmechanical.ca</a> to schedule an appointment and let them help keep your home running smoothly.</p>

We are less than a month away from the start of the NHL preseason. The <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/08/06/edmonton-oilers-2024-25-pre-season-kicks-off-september-22nd/">Oilers host Winnipeg on September 22nd</a> before playing two games vs. Calgary on the 23rd. Training camp is only three weeks away and you can feel the excitement and anticipation building in Oilersnation. That is great, but there is also a bit of zaniness for some.



Yesterday a trade rumour of Dante Fabbro for Max Wanner emerged. Fabbro is in the <a href="https://puckpedia.com/player/donte-fabbro" target="_blank" rel="noopener">final year of his $2.5 AAV deal</a> with Nashville. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of his deal. Wanner is five years younger and in the second year of his ELC. He is the only young defence prospect in Bakersfield this season.

This rumour makes zero sense for Edmonton. Fabbro is six feet tall. He isn't elite offensively and not a tower defensively. From a pure player-for-player trade, I see little reason why Edmonton would entertain this move. Wanner is still very raw, but he's a great skater, stands 6'3", and plays physical. He needs to improve his puck skills to be a regular in the NHL, but he has time to work on that.

Then add in the salary cap implications, and the trade makes less sense. The <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/08/18/edmonton-oilers-trade-defenceman-cody-ceci-to-sharks-for-ty-emberson/">Oilers moved Cody Ceci</a> so they wouldn't have to start the season on LTIR. Evander Kane won't be ready to start the season, but the current roster can have him on IR and still be cap-compliant. Adding Fabbro's salary eliminates that option.

I would be floored if the Oilers made this deal. In fact, I don't think it has ever been discussed at a serious level within the organization. If it was brought up, it should have been a very short conversation that ended with a "not interested."
<h2><strong>OTHER THOUGHTS...</strong></h2>
[caption id="attachment_157657" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]<img class="wp-image-157657 size-large" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/USATSI_23069960-1024x738.jpg" alt="Former Edmonton Oiler Philip Broberg" width="1024" height="738" /> Apr 17, 2024; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Edmonton Oilers defenseman Philip Broberg (86) against the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports[/caption]
<ul>
 	<li>I received many texts to the show on Monday after returning from holidays asking about the 80-game threshold for Philip Broberg and how that impacted him receiving an offer sheet. First off, Broberg played his 80th NHL game in the opening game of the season. Remember: playoff games are included in the 80-game threshold. Prior to this season he'd played 69 regular season games and 10 playoff games. At the start of the season the Oilers were hoping Broberg would be a regular in the lineup and he played 16:03 on opening night. However, there is no 80-game threshold required to receive an offer sheet. I've seen that listed on some websites, but if you look in the CBA (<strong><a href="/Users/Jason/Downloads/NHL_NHLPA_2013_CBA.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">link here</a></strong>), there is nothing written that states a player must play 80 games to be eligible for an offer sheet. They only need three years of pro hockey (NHL or AHL). And if you look at the <strong><a href="https://www.nhlpa.com/the-pa/cba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MOU that was signed in 2020</a></strong>, nothing regarding offer sheets was changed.</li>
 	<li>I think the Oilers' blue line is good enough to compete in the regular season. But the team would need an upgrade leading up to the trade deadline to give them a better chance to compete in the playoffs. Troy Stecher has played 494 regular season games. Here is a breakdown, courtesy of <strong><a href="https://www.puckiq.com/players/8479442" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PuckIQ,</a> </strong>of how many minutes he's played v. Elite, middle and Grit lines as well as his GF-GA.Elite - 2,175 min and 68GF-65GA
Middle - 2,940 min and 108GF-113GA
Gritensity - 2,542 min and 106GF-120GAHe is -16 overall in his career at 5x5. He was -12 with 27th-placee Detroit in 2021 and he was -10 with the 27th-placed Coyotes in 2023. When he has played on decent or competitive teams his numbers have been fine. Would I want the Oilers to upgrade on him for the playoffs? Yes, but Stecher would be fine, even in a top-four role, for the first few months of the season.In 5,115 minutes versus Elite or Middle opponents his GF-GA was 176-178. And none of the teams he played on had Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl as their top two centres. Last year in 109 minutes with the Oilers, Stecher outscored opponents 6-2 and posted a DFF% of 54%. DFF stands for Dangerous Fenwick and is a "Weighted shot metric using shot distance, location and type of shot to give each shot a 'danger' value."</li>
 	<li>Random trivia: The Oilers have had 21 different players have at least a five-game goal scoring streak. Wayne Gretzky had 16 different goal-scoring streaks of at least five games, while Jari Kurri and Leon Draisaitl each had nine.Can you name the player who had a five-game goal scoring streak with the Oilers but scored fewer than 20 goals with the Oilers?**Answer will be posted in comments after 3 p.m.**</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>PRESENTED BY STAR MECHANICAL</strong></h2>
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-146181" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Article-2-SME.png" alt="" width="728" height="404" />

Star Mechanical is one of Edmonton’s biggest locally owned and operated plumbing and heating businesses. They have been working within the community for over 20 years, and many of the homes built in Edmonton over the last two decades have had their plumbing and heating systems installed by Star Mechanical.  Visit them at <a href="http://starmechanical.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://starmechanical.ca&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1707492487512000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2mVs3WUkp8iUCZ0kJRe9lJ">starmechanical.ca</a> to schedule an appointment and let them help keep your home running smoothly.

Offer sheet questions, the defence, and are the Oilers in on Dante Fabbro?

Recent articles from Jason Gregor

Breaking News