Edmonton Oilers: End of season player report cards

Patrick Russell

I honestly don’t know why Ken Holland re-signed this player.  I don’t know what exactly he did on the team this year.  As a part-time bottom 6 forward, he put up 0-5-5 in 45 games.  Over a full NHL season, that projects out to 9 assists.  Not exactly something to write home about.

That being said, IMO Russell is being re-signed for his potential.  It sure isn’t for his present – in 51 NHL games, he’s still looking for his 1st NHL goal.  Last season he finished at -11, so he wasn’t even good defensively.  Against the softest possible competition ever – seeing as how he played on the 4th line.

Russell is the textbook definition of a generic 4th line player – last season he averaged 11:22 of the most generic minutes ever.  As you would expect, he doesn’t play a lot on the PP, only averaging 4 seconds a game there.  It seems he is a middling part of the PK, though, as he averaged 43 seconds a game there.  That’s something, I guess.

He does contribute some physical play, I guess – 64 hits last season, good enough for 9th on the team.  13th on the team in blocked shots with 25, which again, is something… I guess.

In my opinion, you wouldn’t find a more forgettable player on the roster last year than Russell.  He didn’t play a single playoff game in the play-in series with Chicago.  All that being said, however, Holland did re-sign him.  After hearing the comments from both Holland himself and Russell when he was virtually interviewed about the extension on the Oilers website, both guys said they thought he was capable of more offence.  Since Russell himself believes this, chances are he’s going to be motivated to make it happen, for whatever that’s worth.

The only reason Russell is on this list and not further down in the other two categories is that Holland believes in him.  Otherwise, I have to ask myself what’s the point of bringing this player back?  Hopefully, the experience of last year taught Russell how to play and he does indeed make good on his belief that he can produce more offence.  Otherwise, I’m betting Russell gets sent back down to Bakersfield in short order.  But, if he makes good on the bet, he’d be a solid candidate for 3rd line RW.

Tyler Ennis

Ennis didn’t play a lot of games for the Oilers, as he was acquired from Ottawa at the trade deadline, but I’m really hoping Holland re-signs him, as in my opinion, he’ll fit in well with the team next year.

He put up 2-2-4 in 9 games, not bad for a bottom 6 forward.  Over a full season that projects out to 18 goals and 36 points, a solid total.  I could see Ennis being cheap depth help for us next year.  Before getting injured in the playoffs, he put up 1-1-2 in 3 games.  He played a lot of time with Connor McDavid in the games he did play and IMO he certainly didn’t look out of place.

He’s about average in his own end – finishing at -1 in those 9 games – but that should be good enough.  Considering that he’s facing the toughest competition possible if he’s riding shotgun next to McDavid, which is pretty good.  Oh, and did I mention he elevated his defensive game in the playoffs and finished even in 3 games?

Admittedly, the sample size is pretty short with this player, but I liked what I saw from him last year – and what better situation would there be for Ennis elsewhere in the NHL?  He gets to play for his hometown team – yup, he’s an Edmonton boy – and if all goes well he could be riding shotgun next to the best player in the NHL and either Jesse Puljujarvi or Zack Kassian on the other side next season.

Oh, and did I mention he can play all 3 forward positions?  The team could use that kind of versatility in the lineup.  Ennis is exactly the type of player we need here.  Cheap scoring help, a guy who can play on the top line but be paid little enough that he’s not a cap space anchor in the bottom 6 should he struggle and someone else needs to take his place.

Pittsburgh did this with guys like Carl Hagelin, Bryan Rust, and early Jake Guentzel riding shotgun for Sidney Crosby.  Phil Kessel was the only expensive player who was a winger in Pittsburgh’s top 6 before being traded to Arizona.  I think Ennis could be that guy here.  He’s a bit inconsistent from season to season but he has hit the 20 goal mark three times in his career.  At 30 years old his career isn’t done, and I could honestly see Holland sign him for $1.5 million for 2-3 years – if even that.

Granted, he hasn’t done it in six seasons, but what better center for him to get back to that mark with than Mcdavid?  I mean, he scored 14 goals on a mediocre Ottawa Senators team this past year, there’s no doubt in my mind that Mcdavid feeding him passes would help him pick up the slack and get back to the 20 goal mark.  If you include the two goals he got for us in the regular season after the trade, that boosts his total to 16 goals on the season.

That’s not that far away from 20 goals – and that was just this past season.  Another reason to be optimistic?  His shooting % was only 10% this season, and 10.1% on the Sens.  That’s slightly below the NHL average of 12%, so even if he’s an NHL average shooter that will give his numbers an uptick.

He doesn’t get much help from special teams, either, as he only plays about six seconds a game on the PP and three seconds a game on the PK.  Overall about 14:43 a night.  So to sum up – we have a local Edmonton boy who can be signed for cheap, who has scoring hands, and who has the speed to keep up with Mcdavid, something not everyone can do.  It may be a short sample size, but Ennis is a calculated risk worth taking on.  Get it done, Ken Holland.  He’s the only player on my list in this category who isn’t signed for next year yet.

Mikko Koskinen

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here when I say that Koskinen is overpaid at $4.5 million per year, the dubious distinction of being the last transaction Chiarelli did before he was fired.  That being said, until someone better comes along Koskinen will be a fixture for the Oilers in net.

He’s not a starter who can carry the load, but he’s proven he can be a solid 1A type, which lucky for us the league is moving towards anyway.  His regular-season stats improved last season, as he went from a .906 sv% two seasons ago to a .917, and his GAA went down from 2.93 to 2.75.  The former was good enough for 21st in the league, a tie with Andrei Vasilevsky of all goalies.  The latter is 32nd in the league, tied with Jakob Markstrom.

If anything the black mark on Koskinen’s season was in the playoffs, where instead of elevating his game as is required by all players of playoff-bound teams, Koskinen’s sunk to an ugly .889 sv% and 3.16 GAA. Now before we crucify him for that, it’s important to remember two things.

First off, the rest of the team in front of him faltered in terms of elevating their games as well, and even the best goalies can’t carry the team if all the skaters in front of them are dogging it or making too many defensive lapses, which is exactly what happened in the playoffs for the Oilers.  That affects his numbers, no doubt about it.  Secondly, this was Koskinen’s 1st trip to the NHL playoffs, so naturally, he’ll be unaware of what the intensity of play is like in the playoffs.

It is because of these two facts that I won’t crucify him and declare him to be a solution moving forward, despite however out of whack his cap hit is.  That being said, there is no doubt in my mind that Koskinen learns from his mistakes.  He did better this regular season from last year, especially since we didn’t work him like a rented mule this past season as opposed to the 55 games he played 2 seasons ago.

Having a better tandem goalie than Mike Smith will certainly help as well.  Almost anyone will be an upgrade on him.  I have every confidence Koskinen will improve in next season’s playoffs after learning from this year’s.  I look forward to improvement from Koskinen next year.

James Neal

I know, I know.  His contract is crazy, but the Oilers still win with the Lucic trade because Neal put up more offence and doesn’t have an NMC in his contract.  At this point, Neal is only still with us because of his contract, but that could change next year with the Seattle expansion draft.  Any talk of a buyout is unrealistic as I illustrated here.

Anyway, Neal at this point is best described as a powerplay specialist.  He’s lost a step in speed, so at even strength, he plays limited minutes in the bottom 6.  But, when it’s time for the 1st unit PP to come out, out comes Neal.

Because he’s still an elite PP producer, Neal put up 19-12-31 in 55 regular-season games, and 2-1-3 in the 4 playoff games for us.  As you’d expect from a good veteran soldier, Neal elevated his game in the playoffs, going +3 in the playoffs after posting an ugly team and career-worst -20 in the regular season.

Fun fact, in the first month or so in the season, he was doing so well on the PP that he was actually leading the league in goals.  He would’ve easily made 20 in a full 82 game season, projecting out to 29 goals and 46 points.

Now you know why he’s not playing in the top 6.  As you might expect, Neal played a modest 16:16 TOI average last season, and 2:53 per game on the PP, 5th on the team.  As you’d expect, he only spends about one second per game on the PK.  I was surprised to see that Neal is a bit of a physical player, as he finished last season with 88 hits, 6th on the team.

I don’t know if Neal’s ugly +/- in the regular season is an aberration or the sign of a new normal.  At 33 years old, you can’t rule out the latter.  However, Neal still serves a purpose on the team, and if Holland is smart he gives Seattle a draft pick to take him in the expansion draft next offseason.  Neal is still a valuable player for now – I can’t think of a team that would trade for him, especially in this cap climate.