Reassessment time for youthful Oilers
Youngsters expected to get chance to show their stuff after ‘tough’ season
It is an admission of failure when any general manager has to declare his team a seller heading into the trade deadline.
It means the hopes and expectations of an organization and a city are out of reach with a quarter of a season to go.
So it was an exceptionally disappointed Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli who met with the media Friday morning to discuss stripping down a team that was picked by many to contend for a Stanley Cup championship.
“I’m obviously disappointed with where we are now,” said Chiarelli. “This season has been a tough one.”
Chiarelli wasn’t getting into the state of the union stuff. That will come at the end of the season, when the Oilers miss the playoffs for the 11th time in 12 years. That’s when he’ll address the miscalculations he’s made on several fronts, from overvaluing his blue line to underestimating how quickly the NHL is changing to a speed league to not replacing the 50 goals a year he cut from the roster when Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle got traded.
For now it’s about the trade deadline, and what happens after it.
“It’s tough sledding right now,” he said of the trade winds, most of which are circulating around pending UFA’s Patrick Maroon and Mark Letestu. “We can always get picks but I would prefer not to. You’re looking for a prospect who is close to playing, if not ready to play. It depends on the urgency of the buyer. There is interest there, we’ll see where it goes.”
It’s likely they will both be gone, along with another veteran or two. Which prompts the question: if an Oilers team that is slightly worse than mediocre already sheds two or three players from its lineup, should fans brace themselves for a post-deadline swan dive?
Not necessarily, said Chiarelli. First of all, it can’t get much worse than where they are right now; and secondly, maybe the opportunities these vacancies provide might breathe new energy into a stagnant lineup.
“We are where we’re at,” he said, which is in a tie with Montreal for 26th overall. “Sometimes it goes the other way when you lighten the team. We still have a number of games left and I would still like to see some progress in a number of areas.”
Just as importantly, the Oilers still have players in their lineup they need hard answers on so they can formulate their plan of attack going into the summer.
That’s where Chiarelli wants much of the focus over the last quarter of the season. It will almost be like a 20-game training camp. Not that wins and losses don’t matter, but it’s very important that the Oilers find out exactly what they’ve got so these miscalculations don’t happen again.
Some of the things they need to be watching:
Jesse Puljujarvi? What will this player do with 18 minutes of first line ice time for 10 games in a row? Can he be the answer on Connor McDavid’s left side? Bringing him along slowly when there was still hope for the season made sense, but with nothing to lose now, let’s see what he can do.
Who is Anton Slepyshev? He looked ready to break out in last year’s playoffs but an injury just prior to the start of training camp put him on the back burner all season.He’s had a ridiculously short leash, never in the lineup more than three games in a row prior to this recent stretch of injury trouble. Give the 23-year-old a chance to prove he is still the guy we watched last spring.
Yohann Auvitu? The Oilers need puck moving D-men who can retrieve the puck and orchestrate something resembling a breakout. They signed this guy, and given how sparingly he’s been used it looks like it was for no apparent reason. Might as well give him a look.
Jujhar Khaira? He’s six-footfour, 215 pounds, he can skate, has OK hands, likes to play physical and has a lot of heart. Why not step up the minutes, give him better linemates and get a clearer picture of what this kid’s ceiling might be?
Is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins a potential solution on the wing ? Is Al Montoya the help they need in goal? Who else might look good on the power play aside from the guys who haven’t been getting it done since October?
This season might be over, but putting next season’s puzzle together begins now.