The Edmonton Oiler players have lived up to their end of the bargain, now it’s time for management to do their part–add smartly to a solid young team, and if possible acquire players who will stick around awhile.
The roster holes are the following:
- Veteran puck moving defenseman (LH)
- Center
- Power forward (Oilers stated need)
I would put “2-way winger like Lars Eller” in there instead of the PF, but Edmonton is conducting a hard target search in every gas station, residence, warehouse, farm house, henhouse, outhouse and dog house for a power forward. Something Darren Dreger said on Team 1260 this morning his me a little worried; Dreger said
- the national media wants to include Magnus Paajarvi in every trade, but the only way that happens is in a package for that PF the Oilers want so badly.
If Steve Tambellini deals Paajarvi now–when he’s delivering at such an impressive level–then the Oilers are doomed. Paajarvi is going to be a reasonable contract next year and can slide into multiple slots in the batting order. He’s a roadrunner, meaning the style of play that the coach wants is perfectly suited to MPS.
Sincerely hope this doesn’t happen.
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With the win, sports club stats has Edmonton at 28.9% to make the post-season, but that could jump quickly. St. Louis is ahead by a point with a game in hand, and have a 73.7% chance of making it. Keep winning, that’ll fix everything. I think the target teams have to be Detroit, San Jose and Vancouver. Oilers need only one of those teams to falter (while continuing this winning streak) and things could look much better even a week from today.
Get that defenseman.
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I mentioned this awhile back, but Steve Tambellini needed to trade for a center in the days following the Horcoff/Belanger injury. It’s impossible to put a number on points lost, but any fool can see what a difference #10 makes to the lineup. Opportunity missed in a big, big way.
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Remember that old Sesame Street song “one of these things…”? Ryan Whitney has played better in recent games but this is the #1 area to address at the deadline.
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Taylor Hall is killing it at evens. Here are the 5×5/60 leaders so far this season:
- Sid Crosby 4.19
- Eric Staal 3.73
- Chris Kunitz 3.67
- Nazem Kadri 3.64
- Matt Cullen 3.22
- Jonathan Toews 3.14
- Taylor Hall 3.10
Even more impressive–he is third in western conference scoring, and the western conference doesn’t have many easy outs this season. Hall is an outstanding NHL player and he’s 21. Wow.
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And you know what? In two years we’re going to be talking about Nail Yakupov in the same way we’re discussing today. Thank you, baby Jesus!