Zack Kassian is traded on draft day and more

We all knew Keith and Smith were considering retirement but expected Keith would lace ’em up for one more season before retiring.

However, Keith surprised everyone by opting to retire. With this move the Oilers automatically gain yet another $5.5 million in cap space, while Chicago incurs a cap recapture penalty on their books of $5,538,462 for next season and $1,938,456 two seasons from now. I’m not sure what the point of the cap recapture penalty is in the CBA – I have a feeling Hawks GM Kyle Davidson will be wanting it gone at the next GM meetings. Oh well, at least the Oilers came out on top in this deal.

I guess I can’t blame Keith for retiring – there was nothing left for him to accomplish at the NHL level, having won Stanley Cups, Norris trophies, and a Conn Smythe trophy. I could see how he would have trouble finding motivation to come back for next season.

Still, I actually looked forward to seeing what Keith could do in the lineup next season. Yes he was a little overpaid at $5.5 million, but he wasn’t radically overpaid. Keith still put up 1-20-21 with a +15 in the regular season, while contributing 1-4-5 with a questionable -4 in 16 playoff games. His biggest contribution to the Oilers, however, would be away from the ice. Keith reportedly helped the team as a calming presence in the locker room, especially when they were at their biggest points of adversity in the first and second rounds – not to mention the influence he had on Evan Bouchard, his defensive partner for the last half of the season or so. As a player Keith pretty much met my expectations. I expected him to come here, put up 20 points, and be a leader in the dressing room, which is exactly what he did.

Well, enjoy retirement Duncan, you deserve it.

Between Zack Kassian being traded, Keith’s retirement, and what we’ve been hearing is going to happen to Mike Smith next season the Oilers have just officially opened up $8.7 million in cap space in two days officially – plus it seems only a matter of days before Mike Smith’s situation bumps that to $10.9 million.

This creates a bit of a snowball effect now on the Oilers. They’re not under nearly as much of a cap crunch for next season so they’ll be able to keep Evander Kane that much more, not to mention there’s now a lot less urgency to trade Tyson Barrie – although it’s still not smart cap usage to pay a guy $4.5 million to play on your third pairing, so if I’m Holland I still consider that – except now you’re dealing from a position of strength and can ask for more in trade.

It also means that Oscar Klefbom’s $4.167 million of LTIR cap space isn’t needed nearly as much, and we could see Holland deal it for a really good haul to a team hurting for cap space – and there’s a lot of those in the NHL right now. Vegas, Tampa Bay, Philly, Florida, Minnesota, Montreal, Vancouver, Boston, and San Jose are all hurting for cap space right now.

If Holland plays his cards right, he could get a top notch prospect and a first round pick out of a team with no strings attached if he deals it. If I’m him I’ve already sent the email to these teams to start the bidding war.

That’s a lot of trade partners.

As for who could replace Keith? Well, Holland has a lot of options here. Internally he could re-sign Brett Kulak and play him in that spot, although there’s risk in expecting a guy who’s been a third pairing guy his entire career to just magically play more minutes against tougher opposition in the second pairing. Kulak could probably handle it, though – he did spot duty on the top pairing last season during the litany of injuries and COVID outages and didn’t look out of place.

Another option is instead of having Broberg and Niemelainen duke it out for the third pairing spot on the left side you could pencil in Broberg in Keith’s old spot and give Niemelainen the third pairing spot. There’s of course obvious risk in penciling in two raw rookies to play as regulars – not sure how Woodcroft or Holland would feel about this, but it’s a possibility.

Those are simply the internal options. Free agency doesn’t have a lot to offer at the position, however Nikita Zadorov, Ben Chiarot, and Rasmus Sandin are all intriguing free agents (Toronto will probably want to keep Sandin so that last one may be a pipe dream). There are also second tier guys that you might be able to get cheap, like Danney Dekeyser – who Holland would be familiar with from his Detroit days – Wil Butcher, or glassman Ryan Murray if you feel like taking a huge risk on an oft-injured guy. Most of the list, though, are either nobodies, guys too old to have an impact on the ice anymore, or bottom pairing types.

The trade route may be the most prudent way to go. I’m thinking we could dangle Oscar Kelfbom’s LTIR or Jesse Puljujarvi as the centerpiece of any trade – or if he uses the former as the centerpiece, he could trade that for another team’s first rounder next year and use that to trade for a Keith replacement.

This had to be a surprise to everyone, though. It’ll be interesting to see how Holland handles it.

– Word around the rumour mill is any day now Mike Smith will declare he’s going on LTIR for the remainder of next season. The Oilers were linked to Ville Husso but Detroit traded for him so he’s off the market. Georgiev has been traded to Colorado. Toronto has jettisoned Petr Mrazek’s contract to Chicago so even though there’s a lot of connection to the Oilers from Jack Campbell I’d say he’s probably staying put in TO. I wasn’t a big fan of Campbell anyway – I mean, Campbell is fine as a player, but he’s only got 135 NHL games on his resume. Would you feel good going into next season with an inexperienced tandem of Campbell and Skinner?  I wouldn’t.

– One under the radar possibility to replace Smith – Mackenzie Blackwood in Jersey. Blackwood is suffocating under the rebuilding Jersey squad and that’s reflected in his numbers the last couple of seasons. If he doesn’t exit stage left from Jersey soon he’ll run out of gas and be playing out his contract like boat anchor John Gibson is doing in Anaheim right now. Would Jesse Puljujarvi be enough to get Blackwood as the centerpiece? I’m thinking the Oilers send Jersey their fifth round pick in 2023 while Jersey sends us their fourth round pick in 2023 to complete the trade. I’d like Jersey to keep $300K of cap space for next season too if you can convince them. Two players who are crying out for a chance of scenery? It’s got a shot at working out for both teams, and his scouting report shows possibility of a bonafide starter in Blackwood. The Oilers are much better defensively than Jersey, who was one of the worst teams in the league for GA last season. That would wear on any goalie.

– Speaking of Puljujarvi, word around the water cooler is that Puljujarvi is still sulking because he was playing on the third line for large chunks of last season, especially after Woodcroft took over and justifiably took him out of the top six. If true, this truly is a lack of immaturity on JP’s part who still – after five seasons and 259 NHL games – hasn’t learned that ice time in the NHL is earned, not freely given.

– Congratulations to Brad Holland, who was promoted to Director of Pro Scouting to replace the retired Archie Henderson. He is Ken Holland’s son, but unlike the hires/promotions of Kevin Lowe and Craig Mactavish, Holland actually earned this promotion.

– The same article also lists that all the Oilers assistant coaches from last season will be retained save for Brian Wiseman, who was in demand around the league will be an assistant coach with the New York Islanders starting next season.

– The Oilers have made decisions on all their RFAs. They have extended QOs to four and have cut three loose. The names on both lists are not a surprise in the least.

– With their fifth round pick in the draft this year, the Oilers took a flyer on a goalie named Samuel Jonsson. His underlying stats are actually quite terrible, but the scouts see something in this player. We’ll see what happens in the coming years. Word is it sounds like they’re keeping him in Europe for at least one more season. Interesting pick – at least it wasn’t a high one if it bombs.