OILERS’ ARCHITECT CAN AFFORD TO BE PATIENT
Chiarelli will work from a position of strength in upcoming draft proceedings
It took major league pro sports so long to put a franchise in the gambling capital of the world primarily because it’s the gambling capital of the world.
The crazy thing when it comes to the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League is how, quite openly and quite above board, the franchise may choose to begin with it being clear that the fix is in.
By that, I mean you have to wonder if it works out that general manager George McPhee’s strategy is for the team to tank for the first few years.
Will he be able to stockpile so many draft choices over the next few years in side deals to promise to lay off picking unprotected players from various teams that losing will be insured and collecting a plethora of top talents in the draft will be insured?
It’s one thing to lay off taking a player a team doesn’t lose in exchange for a first- or secondround draft choice. But will McPhee take a bad contract off your hands for top draft picks?
What’s the over/under on side deals? Eight?
The history of expansion drafts in pro sports over the course of time have been so sorry that lots of losing early has generally been insured. But this time for the $500 million, the NHL actually gave this franchise a chance to be competitive from the beginning.
But why settle for merely being competitive from the beginning if you can provide yourself with an opportunity to become a contender in very short order?
To me, it’s all a very interesting study especially witnessed from Edmonton where the Oilers can identify on many levels.
First, Las Vegas will be playing in the same division.
Second, the Oilers have a decade of experience collecting high draft choices while finishing at the bottom of the league.
Most years, this was mostly accomplished by mismanagement, but tanking definitely came into play in the last few years of futility. The result is a team that will begin this season as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.
I mean, think about it. The Golden Knights could come out of this with Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh) and Michel Neuvirth (Philadelphia) in goal and Marc Methot (Ottawa), Matt Dumba (Minnesota), Trevor van Riemsdyk (Chicago), Jon Merrill (New Jersey), Colin Miller (Boston) and David Schlemko (San Jose).
If the Oilers had that back end two and three years ago, would Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid be Oilers today?
Meanwhile, there’s the flip side of things involving the Oilers themselves. The Oilers could play into all of this by offering up their first-round pick in Friday’s entry draft in Chicago (22nd overall) to be a bit of a vulture here.
The expectation is that GM Peter Chiarelli is going to be a spectator to all of this and allow Las Vegas to choose from Edmonton’s meagre (compared to some of the other outfits) offerings and take either Griffin Reinhart or Jujhar Karhia or maybe raise some eyebrows by choosing Tyler Pitlick or Iiro Pakarinen.
I don’t know. He’s a smart guy who isn’t afraid to make a bold move, and there’s got to be a defenceman in there somewhere that might be of interest to him.
And then there’s the Jordan Eberle scenario.
There were a couple of exceptionally well-sourced TV rightsholder insiders that had Eberle traded before last weekend, and there has been so much smoke, you have to believe there’s still fire there somewhere.
I’m on the record as saying there’s no reason to trade Eberle now unless somebody offers a deal you can’t refuse. Teenage Finn Jesse Puljujarvi looks like he might require another season of development and the Oilers have a year until they need to clear cap space for Connor McDavid’s new contract.
And Eberle’s stock might be substantially higher than it is right now. I can’t see him getting value for Eberle. To me, that’s the thing here.
Either during proceedings in Las Vegas or in Chicago, Chiarelli is now in a position where he really doesn’t have to force anything. He can let the proposals come to him, and when the right one comes across the plate, he can be prepared to swing.