The Chia Bets

[Bryanbryoil]

Here we are with more than a 1/3 of the season done, let's look at the wagers that he made this offseason and into this season in terms of new additions and unproven returning players.

1) Ryan Strome 33gp. 4-9-13 +1 Loss
A big topic of discussion has been the Eberle for Ryan Strome trade. Eberle has had a solid bounce back season with 13-10-23 in 33gp. A big part of the trade was clearing cap space moving forward, Eberle is paid $3.5 million more than Strome and has outscored him by 9-1-10 in the same 33 game sample size. I am unsure if Strome will be here beyond this season so it is hard to say that we won this trade at this point since we haven't used the cap space towards any new player additions and Strome clearly isn't replacing Eberle's production this season but how does he stack up to Eberle's last 33 regular season games for the Oilers? Eberle's stat line in his last 33 regular season games as an Oiler: 9-10-19 +4

2) Jesse Puljujarvi 16gp. 6-2-8 +7 Win
Going back to the Eberle trade, you would have to think that one of the reasons that Chiarelli decided to move out Eberle was because he had a 19 year old top 5 pick fro the previous year waiting in the wings. You can talk about how underwhelming Strome has been but Puljujarvi looks like a player that will be able to play when it matters most due to his combination of size, speed and skill. This is the RW of the now and the future, he started in the AHL which may have been a surprise to the GM in the sense that he expected more in camp, but there is no arguing now that he is looking like the player that had our GM grinning ear to ear when he was available with the 4th overall pick.

3) Darnell Nurse 33gp. 2-10-12 +7 Win
With Andrei Sekera out (yet to return although he's almost there), Chia anticipated that he would see enough internal growth from some of his young defensemen that they could ride out the storm until Reggie returned. Nurse's progression this season has been significant. His responsibilities have gone up considerably and likely wouldn't have happened without the opportunity from the Sekera and Larsson injuries.

4) Matt Benning 30gp. 4-4-8 +2 Win
Like Nurse, Benning has been counted on to take up some of the slack from the Sekera injury. Unlike Nurse he has had more ups and downs this season. That said he has still been adequate as a 3rd pairing defenseman and IMO has more to give in time.

5) Drake Caggiula 22gp. 4-3-7 -9 Loss
After a decent playoffs I think that it was somewhat reasonable to expect a better showing out of the Drake this season but he just flat out hasn't risen to the occasion. I for one question his future with the team.

6) Anton Slepyshev 15gp. 1-2-3 -1 Loss
Like Caggiula, Slepyshev showed well in the post season but just has not gained traction this season. If I had to pick between Drake and Anton, I would keep Anton. That said I wonder if he too has a future here beyond this season.

7) Jujhar Khaira 20gp. 5-4-9 +2 Win
Khaira started slowly after a solid preseason but has since come out and done very well for us. His combination of size, speed, skill and grit could well make Maroon expendable. Unlike Caggiula and Slepyshev, Khaira has arrived this season.

8) Yohann Auvitu 19gp. 2-3-5 +7 Win
Added as a depth defenseman, Auvitu has shown recently that he can play at the NHL level and provide some offensive pop from the blueline. Depth on defense is never a bad thing.

9) Jussi Jokinen 14gp. 0-1-1 -3 Loss
What may have been the most lauded signing of the offseason turned out to be a massive bust for the Oilers.

10) Michael Cammalleri 14gp. 1-5-6 -5 Win
Considering we got him for the invisible man Jokinen, I'll consider his offensive production as a positive.

11) Nathan Walker 1gp. 0-0-0 -1 INC
A single game played gives too small of a window into whether he was a good waiver claim or not.

12) Brandon Davidson 5gp. 0-0-0 +2 Win
Small sample size, but Davie has been solid in his return and has helped us to play many of our best games as a team this season.

13) Laurent Brossoit 13gp. 3-7-0-1 0.886sv% 3.22GAA Loss
How much better would our playoff positioning be if we had a back-up that was only 1 or 2 games below 0.500? The answer is considerably.


As I see it, we have had a rough go because some of these players haven't stepped up to the plate (Strome, Caggiula, Slepyshev) and we have had sub par seasons from some of our key players ie. Klefbom and Talbot. Overall I have his record at 7-5-1 which isn't too bad. I think that this season has shown that Puljujarvi and Khaira should be mainstays here up front while some of the other guys may need a new start elsewhere.

Click to read more...

 

[Cloned]

Laurent Brossoit - loss.

 

[PatrikOverAuston]

There is no reality in which a GM with a 14-17-2 record is 7-4-1 when it comes to key roster decisions.

Not to mention it's wholly ridiculous to give the inclusion of a fourth liner the same weight as trading top-six forwards/not acquiring top four defensemen.

Just more Chia apologist nonsense.

 

[t0nedeff]

Benning hasn't been a win he' arguably bee the teams worst defenseman after gryba.

 

[McClelland]

Playing Gryba -Loss

Puli- Loss( until recently)

Matt Benning- Loss(is a 6-7 played to high)

Cammaleri- Loss(Not a fan of Jokinen but needed his pk)

Davidson he throwned away last season and Gryba still here ! Davie is a lucky win but also a lost because he shouldnt left in first place!

Brossoit - mega loss

 

[CupofOil]

Benning is definitely a loss, he has been awful this season. Offensive numbers aren't bad and he throws the occasional nice hit but his defending and passing has been eye poppingly poor. Davidson looks infinitely better than him albeit in a small sample size.

The problem with grading Puljujarvi and Khaira is that they started producing after the Oilers dug the early season hole so while those might be considered wins for the future, it likely doesn't do much to save this season.

The bottom line is that Chia's bets have largely been failures but his bets aren't the main reason why the team failed, it's regressions by Talbot, Klefbom and Draisaitl. Those three up until recently have been a good deal worse than they were last season. The Sekera injury and downgrade from Eberle to Strome have been contributing factors but secondary to the previous three names. I'd also add that playing Gryba as much as they did hurt the team also, very evident with the addition of Davidson how much better the bottom pairing is now.

 

[Drivesaitl]

There is no way on Gods green earth that Benning is a win. Also, Pulju, Eberle is hardly an either or transaction. We could have had both, for almost the identical price given pulju is on cheap ELC. We could use both.

Theres no way Camm is a win either. If the bar you set is "better than Jokinen" then its lose lose. Whether it be Jokinen, or Camm its the outright failure to get anything better. Also, Jokinen is playing better in LA, than Camm is here. Not that I think either should be in an NHL lineup at this point.

Nathan Walker Inconclusive. you mean in that it took 1 game to see how entirely useless another of Chia's additions was? If anything these are examples of McLellan sticking it back up Chia's ass saying if you recruit nothing players like this I'm not playing them. Say hi to Malone.

How is Khaira a win? That's an automatic Inconclusive if that. The guy has 5NHL career goals. This is the third season he's been brought up. He still looks out of place for anything but a 4th line and inconsistent in that. Again if the comparison metric is outright failures like Cagg or Strome then its a case of the scale being distorted through outright Chia offseason incompetence.

Davidson is an odd Win as well. Was it a loss when Chia walked away from him? Davidson is better than 3 of the D we have been dressing and a lot of us knew that at the time. I like Davidson, but given that Chia gave up on the same player and was only lucky to get him back on waivers due to our futility its at best an asterisk call.

Strome hasn't had a subpar year either. This IS Strome. If anything he's even exceeding his normal production. This is how ridiculously vanilla, and ineffective his game is.

How Chia gets a passing report card on this offseason is incomprehensible. On this rating scale Tambo would pass.

 

[StevenF1919]

Trading a 25 goal scorer for a 30 point Strome is balanced out by signing Yohann Auvitu.

Lol.

 

[hjghkabsdkc]

Kris Russell contract - Huge loss
Gryba 2 year deal - loss
Clearing a bunch of cap space and doing nothing with it - huge loss

 

[StevenF1919]

Kris Russell contract - Huge loss
Gryba 2 year deal - loss
Clearing a bunch of cap space and doing nothing with it - huge loss

Yeah but Benning has been an adequate 3rd pairing dman, Auvitu hasn't been brutal, and Cammalleri has been better than Jokinen so it's a wash.

 

[duul]

13gp
0 goals
2 assists
2 points

The Eberle stat line where his play mattered.

15gp
3 goals
5 assists
8 points

The Strome stat line where his play mattered.

It's hilarious that because our team has been going through a goal scoring flunk this year, that trading soft as shit Eberle away was a bad decision. He has never been a competitor, and was actively losing our team games while playing big minutes.

Strome has been a far better playoff performer than Eberle at a much younger age. Don't care about Eberle putting up some more points in the regular season.

Yes it was an error for Chiarelli to not bring in more scoring, but Eberle was never going to help this team.

 

[Drivesaitl]

13gp
0 goals
2 assists
2 points

The Eberle stat line where his play mattered.

15gp
3 goals
5 assists
8 points

The Strome stat line where his play mattered.

It's hilarious that because our team has been going through a goal scoring flunk this year, that trading soft as **** Eberle away was a bad decision. He has never been a competitor, and was actively losing our team games while playing big minutes.

Strome has been a far better playoff performer than Eberle at a much younger age. Don't care about Eberle putting up some more points in the regular season.

Yes it was an error for Chiarelli to not bring in more scoring, but Eberle was never going to help this team.

What is the above. I can't even discern what you are citing there in stats. You might make it clear for the reader what you are citing.

Also, do you understand what limited sample means? Eberle has been in the playoffs once. That's it. Which just happened to have occurred during his career worst season.

Since when is Strome considered a good playoff performer. I missed that as well. or it could be a meaningless outlier stat. The Strome I watch every game is pure shit.

 

[oljimmy]

Interestingly, Pulju is scoring at exactly the same rate (2.2 pts/game) as Eberle did last year. I agree 100% that he was meant to help make up for the loss with Eberle, and lo and behold, he hasn't just made up for it, he's downright replaced it. So Strome, in my view, can produce at the rate he's been producing and Chia still looks fine.

 

[Mr Positive]

Kris Russell contract - Huge loss
Gryba 2 year deal - loss
Clearing a bunch of cap space and doing nothing with it - huge loss

russell's deal is a loss but not a huge one. He is a good player that's good to have. I even don't mind the cap hit, just not the nmc

Also, for the OP, I like Auvitu but +7 is high. He's okay

 

[Drivesaitl]

Interestingly, Pulju is scoring at exactly the same rate (2.2 pts/game) as Eberle did last year. I agree 100% that he was meant to help make up for the loss with Eberle, and lo and behold, he hasn't just made up for it, he's downright replaced it. So Strome, in my view, can produce at the rate he's been producing and Chia still looks fine.

This would be an acceptable statement except we are short on winger talent, so that for instance Drai is left playing with two pylons like Strome and Khaira and Nuge is recently playing with Maroon and whoever else drops into that spot on any given night.

We have one set line that rocks EV. We have two others that get very little done EV due to a shortage in winger talent.

Again Pulju/Eberle is not either or. Its not connected. The only commonality being they are both wingers.

Pouliot, as bad as he was last season is a better player than Strome. So was Pitlick, so was Desharnais, etc.

 

[harpoon]

What is the above.

The truly laughable part of the post is the bit where he states that he 'doesn't care about regular season points' and 'Eberle was never going to help this team'.
Its so irritating to see bald faced untruths like this repeated again and again by certain posters in an attempt to discredit Eberle.
You can point out all day long that he was top thirty in NHL goals during his entire tenure in Edmonton and they just act like that means nothing.
As if teams get to the playoffs by having fewer regular season goals.
Eberle already has five GWG on the Island. I think that equals ten points.
But yeah, regular season goals and points mean nothing and the Oilers couldn't use an extra ten points right about now.
Props to you btw for not being a big fan of the player but at least realizing that he did contribute something.

Also, for the OP, I like Auvitu but +7 is high. He's okay

Huh? That's the actual plus/minus he has earned.

 

[bobbythebrain]

13gp
0 goals
2 assists
2 points

The Eberle stat line where his play mattered.

15gp
3 goals
5 assists
8 points

The Strome stat line where his play mattered.

It's hilarious that because our team has been going through a goal scoring flunk this year, that trading soft as **** Eberle away was a bad decision. He has never been a competitor, and was actively losing our team games while playing big minutes.

Strome has been a far better playoff performer than Eberle at a much younger age. Don't care about Eberle putting up some more points in the regular season.

Yes it was an error for Chiarelli to not bring in more scoring, but Eberle was never going to help this team.[/QUOTE]

He can't help Edmonton but he can help NYI?

My oh my the Ebs hate runs so deep it defies your own logic when you mention that Chia should have brought somebody else into the top 6 for points. Why?

We had that top 6 player..his name was Eberle

I could care less that Ebs was traded. I'm happier for him now. But trading away a top 6 winger earlier than needed was a "bad decision". The stats show it was

If TO traded away JVR in the summer for peanuts, their record would as good also

 

[belair]

A mod starts a thread to rehash the same garbage that's been discussed in half a dozen other threads and pretty much every GDT this season. Could this not have been added to that #firechiarelli diatribe? Please stop feeding the negativity on this site.

 

[Drivesaitl]

The truly laughable part of the post is the bit where he states that he 'doesn't care about regular season points' and 'Eberle was never going to help this team'.
Its so irritating to see bald faced untruths like this repeated again and again by certain posters in an attempt to discredit Eberle.
You can point out all day long that he was top thirty in NHL goals during his entire tenure in Edmonton and they just act like that means nothing.
As if teams get to the playoffs by having fewer regular season goals.
Eberle already has five GWG on the Island. I think that equals ten points.
But yeah, regular season goals and points mean nothing and the Oilers couldn't use an extra ten points right about now.
Props to you btw for not being a big fan of the player but at least realizing that he did contribute something.

Huh? That's the actual plus/minus he has earned.

The statistical point was so incredibly specious it was impossible not to reply. The last thing I think in watching Ryan Strome sleep walk around the ice and stare at the play is "wow, this guy will really get it done in the playoffs" This is a player that could carry eggs in his pockets and that no fan likes. Ask any Islander if they even remember one play Strome made the whole time there. The reality is Eberle has obviously done more to impress for the Islanders than Strome ever did. Those fans are laughing at this deal still. You come here and people try to defend the trade.

heh on Wikipedia Ryan Stromes nickname is "capspace"... looks like some Oiler fans been busy..

 

[bobbythebrain]

The statistical point was so incredibly specious it was impossible not to reply. The last thing I think in watching Ryan Strome sleep walk around the ice and stare at the play is "wow, this guy will really get it done in the playoffs" This is a player that could carry eggs in his pockets and that no fan likes. Ask any Islander if they even remember one play Strome made the whole time there. The reality is Eberle has obviously done more to impress for the Islanders than Strome ever did. Those fans are laughing at this deal still. You come here and people try to defend the trade.

heh on Wikipedia Ryan Stromes nickname is "capspace"... looks like some Oiler fans been busy..

I visit the NYI forum quite regularly. About every 3rd GDT several fans thank Chia for the Ebs trade.

Not b/c they love Eberle the individual so much, more b/c he is helping them in what is a good season. Something Strome was unable to do for years

 

[bobbythebrain]

Edit

 

[harpoon]

A mod starts a thread to rehash the same garbage that's been discussed in half a dozen other threads and pretty much every GDT this season. Could this not have been added to that #firechiarelli diatribe? Please stop feeding the negativity on this site.

Please stop telling the mods how to do their job. Not everyone thinks like you. This site is not a safe space for folks who refuse to recognize that there are negative things to be discussed.

Its bad enough that posters who want to recognize the negative get shouted at. Now you don't want them to even enjoy their rights to speak at all except in the one thread that you think is permissible? And you are even in that thread shouting at them to be quiet? Ridiculous.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

A mod starts a thread to rehash the same garbage that's been discussed in half a dozen other threads and pretty much every GDT this season. Could this not have been added to that #firechiarelli diatribe? Please stop feeding the negativity on this site.

You're welcome to ignore this or any thread, please stop the incessant whining on this board.

 

[belair]

Please stop telling the mods how to do their job. Not everyone thinks like you. This site is not a safe space for folks who refuse to recognize that there are negative things to be discussed.

Its bad enough that posters who want to recognize the negative get shouted at. Now you don't want them to even enjoy their rights to speak at all except in the one thread that you think is permissible? And you are even in that thread shouting at them to be quiet? Ridiculous.

Buddy, have you read the boards recently? It's been rinse-repeat the same things discussed over and over again. It's a yawn fest.

You used to get bent out of shape when there was a healthy contingent of fans trashing Eberle who were willing to send him off to Vegas for free. That contingent of fans had their garbage posts held to one thread and whatever GDTs and Rumour threads they could poke their heads into. There was some semblance of control.

I'm not opposed to the idea of discussion regarding these moves because ultimately that's what these boards are for, but having the discussion bleed into every single thread in HFOil is tedious. It makes them unreadable.

 

[Tyrolean]

Versteeg and Pitlick -= Loss fail to re-sign.