A solution to the Edmonton Oilers Jack Campbell problem

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There’s no question Jack Campbell hasn’t started the season the way the Edmonton Oilers wanted him to. Of all the players that are struggling on the Edmonton Oilers, Campbell is struggling the worst.

He hasn’t had a start for awhile as the Oilers have been relying on Stuart Skinner as of late and having goalie coach Dustin Schwartz work with Campbell to try and solve his struggles. But the Edmonton Oilers are trying to be a Cup contender, so if Campbell continues to struggle sooner rather than later something will have to give and the Edmonton Oilers will have to do something – they can’t have a guy making $5 million on the roster and under performing.

A raw rookie will be burnt out if he continues to take a starter’s load without being used to an NHL level workload. After all, Skinner is used to the AHL at this point which only has a season that’s 68 games, not 82 like the NHL.

You always expect newcomers to be a bit shaky out of the gate, but typically it only takes newcomers about 10 games or so to adjust to their new team. Campbell is past using that as an excuse.

I absolutely see the strategy that Holland is going for here. It’s hard to make trades in mid-season, and in today’s NHL with more than half the teams hugging the cap it’s even more difficult. Anyone who’s struggling, the prudent thing to do is either wait them out and see if the struggling stops or have the coaching staff work more one on one with the player.

But, sooner or later something has to give. This is where a trade either mid season or at the deadline would come into play.

Here’s my proposal, with a trade partner in the St. Louis Blues:

To The St. Louis Blues

G Jack Campbell

2023 fifth round pick

$1 million in cap hit retained from Binnington’s contract

To The Edmonton Oilers

G Jordan Binnington

Essentially this is one problem child for another. Both goalies are struggling in their respective cities so perhaps a change of scenery would be good for both of them.

Campbell is struggling a little more this season which is why the Edmonton Oilers will need to throw a sweetener in the mix.

Let’s go through why this trade would work for both teams.

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IMO Binnington as a goaltender is a better fit for the Edmonton Oilers right now than Campbell is. Binnington may be struggling this season, but most of the roster in St. Louis is singing the blues (sorry that was a little punny).

Most of all he is a Stanley Cup winner, being the starter who led the Blues to their cup win in his rookie season, so he knows what it takes to win. Interestingly enough, even though he is a year younger than Campbell he is actually more experienced, having played in 182 NHL games as opposed to Campbell who has only played in 148.

The Edmonton Oilers could use that experience in their mission to win the Cup. Unfortunately Binnington hasn’t been able to duplicate that success from his rookie season. He followed that up with a .912 sv%, then a .910, then .901 last season and .889 so far this season. Predictably his GAA has been rising as well, from 1.89 to 2.56 to 2.65 to 3.13 last season and 3.42 so far this season.

It seems to me that Binnington is crying out for a fresh start.

He would be playing on a better team here, so that should help to buoy his stats if he’s up for it.

There’s also weird stuff like this which could be embarrassing the Blues as a franchise. A trade has a way of humbling players who are misbehaving – just ask Taylor Hall.

If Binnington comes here and plays like he did his rookie season the Edmonton Oilers would have a starting goaltender who’s playing better for the exact same cap hit with Cup winning experience.

If Binnington can take the Edmonton Oilers on his back like he did with the Blues in 2019 there’s a good chance the Cup would be ours for the first time in over 30 years. That would be something.

If Binnington continues to falter at least we’re no worse off then we were before. IMO this is a calculated risk that would work well for us.

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In Campbell what the Blues would be getting is a guy who, when he brings his A game, is widely acknowledged as one of the NHL’s best goalies.

Sure he hasn’t worked out in Edmonton, but Campbell has played in Dallas and LA before, so he knows that there is typically less media scrutiny in most American markets, save perhaps for New York and Boston. He would get a chance to reset his career in a quieter market.

If the rumours of Binnington having a temper are true, then Binnington will become more and more of an embarrassment to the franchise the longer he stays in St. Louis, which naturally would decrease his trade value, so it would be smart to trade him for what will probably be the best haul you can get. It’s frustrating for veterans playing in a losing environment when they’re used to winning like St. Louis is.

This is a chance to get rid of a player who is becoming more of a thorn in their side and replace him with a humbler player who would fit in better, and with the better psyche Campbell would own playing in a place with less scrutiny, there’s a better chance you get the good game of Jack Campbell. The cap situation wouldn’t change at all for St. Louis and he gives them options as a franchise.

If his career rebounds as expected and the Blues decide to start a rebuild, they can trade him for a big haul and trade/sign someone cheaper to take his place. If they decide to just retool and tweak, they can keep Campbell and he can be their starter for the remaining four seasons of his contract.

If he falters they’re no worse off then they were before. It’s a calculated risk that in theory at least has the chance to pay big dividends to them.

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From where I sit the Edmonton Oilers also have two more roster issues to take care of, albeit more minor at this point. You’ve probably seen this quote from an interview the Bison King did with a reporter in his native Finland by now where he believes that he’s lost his confidence and that perhaps he doesn’t belong in the NHL.

It might be best to give JP a fresh start before his contract is up so we can get something for him. His attitude is improved from his first tour of duty here at least so that’s something but if the Bison King doesn’t turn his game around before season’s end I highly doubt the Edmonton Oilers will re-sign him and since these comments have become public I highly doubt he’d get a contract from another NHL team either.

That being said he does have some upside and perhaps a fresh start is what he needs to get his confidence back. If a team were to trade for him today they would get a pro-rated 32.9% discount on his contract, which works out to $987,804. Subtract that from his $3 million and you get $2,012,196. Puljujarvi is only signed for this year so if it doesn’t work out you just let him walk. Relatively cheap contract for a player with top six upside who also has size and can hit.

And then there’s Tyler Benson, who was put on waivers for the purpose of re-assignment to Bakersfield yesterday and no one claimed him. He was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers second overall in 2016 but hasn’t been able to permanently crack the lineup, although he has played 38 games in the NHL for the Oilers, only putting up 1-2-3 and 18 PIMs during that time.

However, Benson’s defensive game has gotten better during that time so he has that going for him. It appeared he would crack the lineup this season, but he got injured during training camp and by the time he had healed and was ready to come back there Klim Kostin had already taken his spot, and doesn’t appear to be losing it anytime soon.

Benson looks to be buried behind Kostin at this point and it’s only going to get worse in the coming years as guys like Xavier Bourgault, Reid Schaefer, and Raphael Lavoie mature and get spots on the team. Benson’s two way contract is also up after this season, so again no harm no foul and if he doesn’t work out you just let him walk, and you can even stash him in the minors if you want with no cap repercussions.

My theory is you could package both these players together and see if you can get some cheap scoring help. This would get a player and a prospect the fresh start they needed plus get the Oilers cheap scoring help, maybe even save some cap space in the process.

Who could they be traded for?

Well for starters you’ve got 32 year old Nick Bjugstad in Arizona. He’s their second line center right now and Arizona is nowhere near playoff contention. He’s a 30 year old veteran of 564 NHL games and has put up 10 points in 24 games – he also plays RW too. Only $900K against the cap for this year and then he’s a UFA. Also +6 on a bad team.

A more pedestrian choice would be Tyson Jost from Buffalo. He’s a failed first round pick of Colorado from 2016 that Buffalo claimed off waivers recently. He’s 24 years old and between the Wild and Sabres he has 1-3-4 in 20 games. Here’s the thing that makes him interesting though – he’s from St. Albert so the Oilers are his hometown team.

Would he be excited to play for his hometown team and thus be motivated to do well? Likely. It would only cost the Edmonton Oilers $2 million (not pro-rated) and then Jost is an RFA next year, but of course if he doesn’t work out you just don’t give him a QO and he becomes a UFA. He’s the Sabre’s third line C right now.

Would a division rival in Anaheim trade us Derek Grant in exchange for JP and Benson? Maybe, but probably not since we’re a division rival. An NHL veteran for only $1.5 million this season, though.

The biggest name I can come up with, though, would be a second tour of duty for Andreas Athanasiou. He didn’t do so great for us the first time but his career has had a renaissance in Chicago, where he’s playing on the top line with Kane and Toews. He’s put up nine points in 25 games for the Hawks, which is not too shabby.

He appears to have more confidence now and could easily take JP’s spot on the third line and perhaps even push his way onto the second if he plays his cards right. With one more year at $3 million, the Edmonton Oilers wouldn’t save any cap space as AA and JP both have identical $3 million cap hits. Max Domi is likely a non-starter for them, so this is the next best choice. If AA works out we could give him, say, $2.5 million for four years, see if he’s open to that. He plays both wings. If he doesn’t work out he just walks just like the first time.

What do you think? Could we package Benson and JP for cheap scoring help, and if so who do you think it could be? Leave a comment and let’s get the conversation started.

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