Oilers – the TO rescue 911 crew

– Rumours persist right now that the Oilers are in on signing PK Subban as a free agent. The 33 year old will not get $9 million a year on his next contract but he would be a decent depth piece for his next team – and he still has some game as he put up 22 points in 77 games for the rebuilding Devils last year. Right now there’s no way they have the cap space for him even if signs for around $1-2 million. We might see some action on this if Holland dumps a salary or two, though. But there’s another question to ask about Subban, he’s primarily a PP quarterback with shoddy defensive skills.

Remind you of anyone currently on the roster? Of course, Tyson Barrie’s defensive play got better as he worked with Dave Manson last year, and maybe Subban could benefit in the same way. Would be nice to stack the depth on D with Subban, but I’m not sure this can happen.

– An American publication, The Hockey News, published a ridiculous article stating that just because Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk have left Calgary that means that Connor Mcdavid will also leave Edmonton once his contract is up. It’s complete nonsense, of course, in large part because unlike the Flames, the Oilers are actually making progress as a franchise. It’s worth noting that for every year he’s been an Oiler, the team around him has gotten progressively better, especially from 2020 on.

Why would he leave Edmonton when his contract is up when the team has spent years building the team around him and the drafting has become so much better? This is probably just an ignorant American trying to cook up a story during a slow news time.

– The AHL all star line of Ryan Mcleod centering Cooper Marody and Tyler Benson will officially now never materialize in the NHL. Cooper Marody signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers, where as a rebuilding team he’ll have more of a chance to earn a spot than he would here, so I can’t blame him for leaving to another organization.

Benson’s career in the organization is hanging on by a thread here and unless he shows progress he’ll be shown the door from the organization soon too. Mcleod of course has become a full time NHLer and is the only one of the trio to do so. Pity, it would’ve been a great story to see what the three of these players would’ve been as a third or fourth line in the NHL if all three of them had earned spots.

– Speaking of former Oilers in free agency, Andreas Athanasiou has signed a one year contract with Chicago. He seemed like he did pretty good for LA, I wonder why they didn’t bring him back. In a huge surprise, Matt Benning was signed for four years by San Jose – $1.25 million per, but still. They must be so bad they offer guys like Benning term to sign with their team…..meanwhile anti-vaxxer extraordinaire Josh Archibald inked a one year contract with Pittsburgh.

He’ll never face the Oilers when they’re playing in Rogers Place because he can’t legally enter the country as an unvaxxed person anymore. He’s making the same money he was here, $900,000. Ethan Bear re-upped in Carolina, and he only put up 14 points for the Hurricanes last season so the Oilers didn’t really miss much from him.

– I feel so sorry for Jack Eichel in Vegas right now, as he may have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Vegas looks to be on the decline now as they’ve been forced to jettison a lot of quality depth to stay cap compliant, having bet big on free agents and trades that have taken their depth for years now, most recently as they traded Max Pacioretty to the Canes for nothing.

Unless Vegas can stay healthy and improve, Eichel may have the dubious distinction of being the most talented player to never make the playoffs in the NHL. Not to mention Pacioretty had something to say about the culture in Vegas. Of course this will make it all the more easier for the Oilers to beat them when we play them. Once we know a little more about how rosters will look like, I’m going to give my predictions for how the division will play out.