Oilers want PEI-raised D-man, but he may not be available
It’s time to dig into the mailbag with some questions about the Edmonton Oilers that don’t deal with Todd McLellan’s possible new assistant coaches, even if we’ve all mentioned Trent Yawney, Glen Gulatzan and Swift Current’s Manny Viveiros.
How interested would the Oilers be in drafting Noah Dobson, who is having an excellent Memorial Cup? (Jeremy Freeborn)
Very interested, but they don’t think he’ll be there at No. 10 if they want to keep the pick and not trade it for more immediate help. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan right-shot defenceman who grew up in Prince Edward Island can bomb the puck on the power play and really skate. He’s raw, but reminds some people of Kris Letang. He has the puck all the time. He could be the second D to go after college smurf Quinn Hughes and maybe before Swede Adam Boqvist, in the No. 7 range. Maybe to Vancouver.
With the Oilers in a bad cap situation, can they buy out (Andrej) Sekera in order to come up with the cap to sign (Darnell) Nurse? Don’t think he’s going to want to take a bridge deal or a haircut. (Mike Ryan)
The Oilers aren’t buying out the veteran defenceman Sekera, who has three more years at US$5.5 million before he’s an unrestricted free agent. That would be a two-thirds buyout of $16.5 million owed or $10.9 million spread over six years on the cap. If Sekera has a poor 2018-19 season, for sure, he could be in Benoit Pouliot territory next summer. Sekera is also coming off major knee surgery and they shut him down late this season with some “tweaks” to his knee, so he’s technically hurt. You can’t buy out injured players. There is a possibility Sekera could go on long-term injury status this season if his knee doesn’t come around this summer, which would buy them some cap relief. As for Nurse, it could be a two-year bridge, probably in the $3-million to $3.5-million range.
The Oilers should trade for Philadelphia’s Andrew MacDonald, a better version of Kris Russell, and he’s helped guide Ghost (Shayne Gostisbehere) and Ivan Provorov this year. Or they should go all in and try for Wayne Simmonds and MacDonald. (@FlyerPuckSauce)
What are you promoting, a right-shot defenceman MacDonald for the left-shot Russell, both 31? MacDonald has two years left at $5 million, Russell three at $4 million. Philly would move MacDonald because they have lots of defence prospects, but the Oilers already have a better and cheaper shutdown right-shot defenceman in Adam Larsson, who makes $900,000 less than MacDonald. So forget it. Simmonds could play on my team anytime, even if his skating isn’t high end in today’s racehorse game. He’s tough with good hands and fills a veteran hole on RW. He quietly played this year with a tear in his pelvis and had core-muscle surgery to go along with a busted ankle and a pin in his hand and still had 24 goals and 46 points. Simmonds, 30, has a low $3.975-million cap hit but is UFA in July 2019, so he’d have to be re-signed and might want $5.5 million over four years. Could the Oilers afford that? Sure, if the cap goes up. Philly might take the 10th overall pick and a good forward prospect for him.
How can we realistically bring in an Oliver Ekman-Larsson-type defenceman without getting rid of Ryan NugentHopkins? Is there any way they could afford to sign Erik Karlsson? Do you think a Bobby Ryan for Milan Lucic trade would benefit us or them if they both get a change of scenery? (Liam Hughes)
It looks like Ekman-Larsson might re-sign in Arizona (eight years in the $65-million range) so any talk of him getting dealt may be moot. But Arizona needs a No. 1 centre because Derek Stepan is really a No. 2, which would necessitate having NugentHopkins in a package, along with a defenceman (Oscar Klefbom or Darnell Nurse). I don’t see the Oilers doing that even if they love Ekman-Larsson. Can they afford Karlsson? Don’t see how fiscally, with Connor McDavid making $12.5 million next year and Leon Draisaitl $8.5 million, along with Lucic and RNH at $6 million. Karlsson is a $10-million player when resigned, and I guess there’s always a way if they wanted to move Nuge’s $6 million and Klefbom’s $4.16 million. But three guys (McDavid, Draisaitl and Karlsson) would eat up $31 million of the cap. Lucic has a no-move, no trade clause in his seven-year, $42 million deal, and I don’t see him waiving it to go to Ottawa.
Who do you think is the new No. 1 starter for the Oilers? (Liam or @UKG_Legacy)
There’s no new starter in net. It’s Cam Talbot, who has one year left at $4.16 million before he becomes an unrestricted free agent next July. Talbot had a good first season as an Oiler after being acquired in a trade from the New York Rangers in 2015, a great second season and a very average third. His save percentage of .908 was 17th best of goalies who played at least 50 games, tied with Robin Lehner and Jaro Halak. His goals-against average of 3.02 was 18th. Obviously, he needs to be in the .917 to .920 range with a goal average in the 2.50 territory.