The Second Defenseman

[BelowTheIce]

The Oilers probably need to add a second d-man, so who could be a candidate for that?

http://btihockey.com/the-oilers-defense-plan-b/

BTI's ty89yar took a look at some names

Click to read more...

 

[Paralyzer]

Other than Vatanen, the rest you list have no interest to me. Bogosian won't come here because it's too far from home (made a trade request from Winnipeg to go closer to home), Boychuk won't come cheap and he's signed to a ridiculous contract I wouldn't dare touch, Savard isn't that big of an upgrade, and Dumba is beyond awful (see IIHF Team Canada games to see what we are talking about him in our thread). Shattenkirk won't come here because his agent has said to Oilers media buffs he will play the UFA market and sign in the east (probably to Boston).

All those guys have been talked about thoroughly in our trade and rumor thread. Nothing new here.

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Personally I don't think a second is necessary. Just 1 good RD who can move the puck and quite frankly as long as we don't succumb to a ridiculous amount of injury again, I think we'd be pretty well off.

 

[Broilers]

Personally I don't think a second is necessary. Just 1 good RD who can move the puck and quite frankly as long as we don't succumb to a ridiculous amount of injury again, I think we'd be pretty well off.

I agree. Because of expansion draft we should acquire only one right shooting defenseman

 

[McShogun99]

Personally I don't think a second is necessary. Just 1 good RD who can move the puck and quite frankly as long as we don't succumb to a ridiculous amount of injury again, I think we'd be pretty well off.

It is very necessary. Our natural RD as of this moment is Fayne, Gryba and Clendening. This is easily the worst set of RD in the league and we probably aren't signing Gryba and Clendeining. We need to get a legitimate top pairing RD and a top 4 RD via trade or free agency or offer sheet. It also is insurance in case of an injury to woever we get for the top pairing.

 

[McShogun99]

I agree. Because of expansion draft we should acquire only one right shooting defenseman

We shouldn't worry about the expansion draft, teams always make trades with the expansion team to protect certain players that are exposed.

 

[J4M13M]

We shouldn't worry about the expansion draft, teams always make trades with the expansion team to protect certain players that are exposed.

This, excactly.

Every team is going to be leaving at least 1 good D exposed. The new team will most definitely not be choosing 30 D, they have to find forwards somewhere.

Most teams will protect basically their entire top-6. If the Oilers leave Pouliot (for example) exposed, he's going to be a hard temptation to resist for an expansion team regardless of which D is available. Especially when compared to most of the other forward options that will be exposed. Pouliot's not a world-beater, but he's a decent possession forward who's worked in defensive systems in the past. He'd be exactly what a trap team wants IMO. If they go another route and he's still here, leaving Yakupov exposed would be a tough pass, even for a legit top-4 defender like Klefbom or Sekera, because no one else is exposing dynamic young forwards.

The way to make the team expansion draft-proof is not to idle for a season because you're afraid of losing a D. You either a) acquire and expose a legit starting goalie or b) leave a forward better than most other teams exposed.

 

[nabob]

Very few team have two legit top 4 RHD. It isn't necessary. Sekera and Klefbom can both play the right side comfortably.

I want Barrie. Guy looked amazing in the games we played against them last year. Wonder if we could work a sneaky 3-way type deal like San Jose did last year to get a player from a division rival?

 

[Mr Positive]

Very few team have two legit top 4 RHD. It isn't necessary. Sekera and Klefbom can both play the right side comfortably.

I want Barrie. Guy looked amazing in the games we played against them last year. Wonder if we could work a sneaky 3-way type deal like San Jose did last year to get a player from a division rival?

the point of the thread though, is that we might have to settle for less than ideal. In fact, it is likely that the big names like Shatty, Barrie, and Vatanen won't be available to us, just by odds. Like with Barrie for example, it looks like he will be for sale, but who is to say that we even have the right pieces that Colorado wants? We can't know.

I would be fine with Savard or Dumba. Getting Boychuck would be a mistake. I really like Bogosian but he seems to get injured too much, and he might have hit his ceiling already.

 

[MessierII]

If we could somehow come out of this draft with Barrie and Sergachev I would be ecstatic. Going to be tough to swing though.

 

[tinfish]

Barrie seems to be the flavour of the week on hfoil. I still like Vatanen myself. He's showed he can put up points, but is also relied upon to kill penalties and play good d. Neither are crashers and bangers, but I prefer Vatanen