The Edmonton Oilers still have some questions and concerns with their roster
Sportsnet 590 The FAN: Jason Gregor on the Edmonton Oilers offseason moves so far. There are some questions remaining heading into the season. They’re going to carry three goalies to start next year. They could use some more physicality after trading out Darnell Nurse. The Oilers have some salary cap space now to make some moves between now and the trade deadline.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Justin Bourne: “So, looking at the Oilers a day, you know, the draft behind us, and free agency behind us, the roster pretty much the same. Couple of new D, (Shakir) Mukhamedullin, if I’m saying that right, good try. And Freddie Anderson, how do you feel? Have they made any substantial change?”
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Gregor: “Well, well, the biggest change probably is the fact that they actually have cap space for the first time that I can remember, right.? So they’ve got like seven and a half million dollars, and they’ve got all their guys signed.
Like, actually, they’re going to carry three goalies, that’s my understanding. Anderson, (Tristan) Jarry, and Devon Levi. And I think it’s fair to say, guys, that there’s, there’s some question marks here. Because you know, Freddie Anderson, he’s not a 55-game starter anymore, right? You look, it was what he’s like, last year, he started 35, 22, 19, 33 I think his last four years. So he has a history of injuries, no one can debate that.
So Tristan Jarry didn’t have that history, but the last two years he has, so can between the two of them, can they, can they play enough games, and then maybe Devon Levi is your third stringer, who plays 20. I think that’s their strategy. They don’t have a lot of money tied up in their goaltending now. Freddie Anderson when healthy, I don’t think anybody debates he’s a good goalie. But the, when healthy is a fact that you can’t overlook.
On defense, Darnell Nurse doesn’t miss any games; he’s only missed 18 games last nine years, and your best ability is dependability, so he always shows up.
Now, Ryan Shea had a great year in Pittsburgh, and I looked up, you know, his minutes played, I look up who he played against, you know, he’s a second pair of defenseman. And with (Evan) Bouchard and (Connor) Murphy on your right side, those are your top two defense on the right side, you got (Jake) Walman, (Mattias) Ekholm, and Shea now on the left side.
My concern is the Oilers don’t have an overly physical blue line right now. Not overly big, but you know, Ryan Shea, is he competitive enough? Yes, I think he, he, he will make less of the big errors that Nurse would make every now and then. But more importantly, I think it just gives them flexibility that now they can go to the trade deadline, and if they’re missing pieces, they don’t have to just, you know, try to scrimp and scratch and claw. They’ll have significant amount of cap space to actually add some players.
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And I wouldn’t be surprised, guys, if, like, we already had a trade at Calgary, Minnesota. I don’t think the summer of trades in the NHL are done just because free agencies passed. I think there’s a lot of teams that are still going to be looking to make some moves.”
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