Biggest roster needs

[BadMedicine*]

Zenon Konopka jumps to mind,it would be nice to have some serious faceoff insurance we can play out of the top 6 and insert as needed in critical moments.

The men have been working on their faceoffs and hopefully there is some improvement by commitee in this dept,because if we play a possesion/transition game those visits to the circle become more and more important.A high percentage faceoff specialist is like a force multiplier when your team is loaded with sticky hands.

Dare I say make a play for whats his name again Jarret Stole?Wasnt he a pretty good faceoff man?

If we are going to part with any assets in a season this short a faceoff man would be the way to go ,even if it is short term stopgap measured.

This will be an interesting year,a lot depends on how the refs decide to interpret the rulebook,some teams are off-loading their tough guys in favor of skill players,most teams cant afford the roster spot for one now,isnt it nice to be an Oilers fan when we CAN afford to invest in one now that we have a nice consistantly high overall skill level onboard??

If things get tough immediatly leaguewide which is possible with the canned schedule and teams suddenly start to grow playoff beards in mid-Jan ,then it might be nice to have a deterrant kicking around on the Farm say a guy like Smackintyre,who seems available or the big tough radio host George who can control the boards so well even for 6 mins a game and give your 4th line a chance to score goals for you.

Konopka gives us both for the price and roster spot of one,he is worth a second glance for that reason possibly.Two dimensions.

Big George would give us a puck possesion monster with good decision making and a heavy hand. Two dimensions.And he does draw his share of penaltys because of his size and persistance.Or is that as BBurke would say"truculence".

Fistric is a heavy body and ok insurance.

I think between Dubby and Khabi we will get enough hot streak goaltending to be as well off as most teams this year

 

[Draiskull]

Zenon Konopka jumps to mind,it would be nice to have some serious faceoff insurance we can play out of the top 6 and insert as needed in critical moments.
Why do we have Horc and Belanger?

The men have been working on their faceoffs and hopefully there is some improvement by commitee in this dept,because if we play a possesion/transition game those visits to the circle become more and more important.A high percentage faceoff specialist is like a force multiplier when your team is loaded with sticky hands.

Dare I say make a play for whats his name again Jarret Stole?Wasnt he a pretty good faceoff man?

If we are going to part with any assets in a season this short a faceoff man would be the way to go ,even if it is short term stopgap measured.

This will be an interesting year,a lot depends on how the refs decide to interpret the rulebook,some teams are off-loading their tough guys in favor of skill players,most teams cant afford the roster spot for one now,isnt it nice to be an Oilers fan when we CAN afford to invest in one now that we have a nice consistantly high overall skill level onboard??

If things get tough immediatly leaguewide which is possible with the canned schedule and teams suddenly start to grow playoff beards in mid-Jan ,then it might be nice to have a deterrant kicking around on the Farm say a guy like Smackintyre,who seems available or the big tough radio host George who can control the boards so well even for 6 mins a game and give your 4th line a chance to score goals for you.

Konopka gives us both for the price and roster spot of one,he is worth a second glance for that reason possibly.Two dimensions.

Big George would give us a puck possesion monster with good decision making and a heavy hand. Two dimensions.And he does draw his share of penaltys because of his size and persistance.Or is that as BBurke would say"truculence".

Fistric is a heavy body and ok insurance.

I think between Dubby and Khabi we will get enough hot streak goaltending to be as well off as most teams this year

We dont need a faceoff specialist for this season.. and we dont need big george.. Hartikainen at AHL level was a beast and it was very hard to get the puck from him.

We dont need anymore peices until we know what we have. Tambo has done his job its time for Kruger to utilize the players.

 

[zeus3007*]

A big, physical center, can be number 2 or number 3 on the depth chart.

And OP, no, we don't need a Luongo at all.

 

[Samus44]

This.

Seems like everyone thinks Oilers need everything. If we had a #1 D-man, elite #2C, and a elite goalie, the Oilers would be a dynasty.

Isn't that the goal?

 

[BadMedicine*]

We dont need a faceoff specialist for this season.. and we dont need big george.. Hartikainen at AHL level was a beast and it was very hard to get the puck from him.

We dont need anymore peices until we know what we have. Tambo has done his job its time for Kruger to utilize the players.

We may need a faceoff specialist unless we want to watch all our high end talent puck chase for 48 games.Horcs and Belanger arent chopped liver in the circle but I meant a specialist with a consistant league high FO%

I agree Hartikainen has played well in the AHL and I like his down the middle style the fact is we simply havent seen enough of Harti in the NHL to bank on him on any tangible level.

I agree Tambellini has done an above average job and also that we have yet to see how Ralph will utilise different players.

However ,Hartikainen hasnt done enough at the NHL level to warrant to much advertising this year,Hartikainen spent some quality time with MPS and Lander on a very soild 2nd line I believe was catalysed by MPS not Harti.That means he had more size with him there.When Harti played on the 1st line he wasnt dominant in front of the net,he was there all right but he had to battle nightly to stay in those areas at the AHL level,I am not 100% convinced that his numbers will translate onto the stats page when he has to compete in those same areas with NHL players as he specialises in breaking up the middle not holding real estate ,I am aware he has been working on his conditioning.The problem is that Hartikainen really only fits on the 4th line and shouldnt interfere with MPSs evolution,I see Harti as a callup.

Above all else I agree that we need to discover exactly what we have here,but this is a canned schedule ,we need to be prepared to ice the most productive players every night,there is no adjustment period available , MPSs defensive awareness and existing NHL experience make him the obvious first choice to me.I expect anyone who cools off to much to be sitting immediatly,we have no latitude this year to give players time to work their ways out of slumps or for newbies to start off in one.We will see lots of player movement to keep hot hands on the ice.

 

[The Nuge]

Physical #2C. I'm thinking we take Lazar this year

 

[nexttothemoon]

beer + ice girls is all we need now... team is going to go supernova in the next few years... hang on tight for the ride...

 

[GretzkytoKurri9917]

The Edmonton Oilers have four needs:


1)Top pairing defenseman
2)Big 2nd line centreman
3)Power forward in the top six
4)Proven number one goalie.

 

[thadd]

1 - a checking line center to replace Horcoff.

Realistic UFA options:
Dainius Zubrus - He's getting long in the tooth at 34, but he's been very durable these past two years. He's a huge physical beast with some scoring upside. Another player who could be tempted to leave the coop if the players aren't convinced that the team can do something to fix their problems going forward.
Tyler Bozak - Age is about right for this guy and I don't see him making a crapload of money, either. Maybe 3-3.5M range. He's not going to put up that many points when he leaves Kessel's side, but he's still a decent 3rd line C option. Would like someone with more meat on their bones, though.
Manny Malhotra - He's stayed fairly healthy over the past 6 years, he's big and he's tough.
Nik Antropov - HUGE, physical and he's got some scoring upside.

Unrealistic UFA options:
Saku Koivu - He's probably too old.
Matt Cullen - He's probably too old.
Michal Handzus - Getting old. Big and physical, but his skating has really lost a step. We could do worse, but this guy is not the guy I'm hoping we land.

2 - A scoring line center if Gagner drops the ball again.

Realistic UFA options:
Travis Zajac - Jersey is having a hard time going through some transitions right now. They're weak up front and their goaltending, which has been a strength for decades is really starting to look sloppy. He might be willing to flee the coop to go play for a sure-fire winner. He's a damn good all around 2nd line center. Elite 2nd line center IMO. Would be interesting to see him play between Hemsky and Yakupov for a season.
Mike Ribeiro - Maybe he doesn't enjoy himself in Washington and thinks of going elsewhere? This guy is a proven talent. With Hemsky and Yakupov I admit it would be a pretty weak line physically, but they'd be a real offensive threat.

Unrealistic UFA options:
Ryan Getzlaf - I imagine he'll resign.
Vaclav Prospal - Probably too old.
Derek Roy - We don't need another small guy.
Valtteri Filppula - Detroit has tons of cap space to resign him and I can't imagine him wanting to leave.
Stephen Weiss - Is quite durable considering how long he's been in the league and he's put up consecutive 60 point seasons on weak teams, but again... we don't want to get smaller.
Andy McDonald - He's a great player, but size and injury history should be a very big concern here.

 

[Hoogaar23]

How does everyone expect to fit all these guys under the cap?

People wanting to add an elite 2C and #1Dman and an elite goalie - add in what, $18M? Add that to the fab 4 (5 with Schultz) who in a couple of years should cost us around $30M?

Starts to leave you a little short on cash to pay for your bottom 2 pairings and your bottom 6 - and a backup goalie.

 

[thadd]

How does everyone expect to fit all these guys under the cap?

People wanting to add an elite 2C and #1Dman and an elite goalie - add in what, $18M? Add that to the fab 4 (5 with Schultz) who in a couple of years should cost us around $30M?

Starts to leave you a little short on cash to pay for your bottom 2 pairings and your bottom 6 - and a backup goalie.

Well the sad fact is that one of our wingers eventually get traded. One thing we have working for us is that Hall and Eberle didn't sign for any jumbo insane cap hits, so as the cap comes down it's not going to effect us much.

Especially with Horcoff coming off of the books.

If Whitney doesn't perform well that's an easy 4M off of our books and the Berlin wall's 3M+ is coming off of the books at the end of the season as well.

I think it's way too premature to write off Dubby at this point. He's improved from year to year. IMO he's a viable starting goalie for a team wanting to get into the playoffs.

If we had an elite goalie we wouldn't need a #1D and if we went out and got an elite defenseman we wouldn't have such a need for a damn good goalie because we've got more than enough offensive firepower to score all around.

 

[Draiskull]

The Edmonton Oilers have four needs:


1)Top pairing defenseman
2)Big 2nd line centreman
3)Power forward in the top six
4)Proven number one goalie.

Greed has no end ... instead of J.Schultz if we landed Weber we would still be wanting a top pairing Dman.. MIN got Suter but can always use another top pairing Dman..
a healthy Whitney is a top pairing Dman, Justin Schultz, N.Schutz and Smid should all be in top 4. Petry has already proven that he is more than a bottom pairing player.

We dont have enough room for #2 AND #3 ... It'll have to be one or another.
If Gagner can win majority of faceoffs and get us 50pts\82GP then he is ok @ #2C.

Time would fix the rest unless we want to take shortcuts. Dubnyk needs a fair chance to 'prove himself', J.Schultz can be that first pairing guy and Hartikainen can be the answer up front.

 

[GretzkytoKurri9917]

Greed has no end ... instead of J.Schultz if we landed Weber we would still be wanting a top pairing Dman.. MIN got Suter but can always use another top pairing Dman..
a healthy Whitney is a top pairing Dman, Justin Schultz, N.Schutz and Smid should all be in top 4. Petry has already proven that he is more than a bottom pairing player.

We dont have enough room for #2 AND #3 ... It'll have to be one or another.
If Gagner can win majority of faceoffs and get us 50pts\82GP then he is ok @ #2C.

Time would fix the rest unless we want to take shortcuts. Dubnyk needs a fair chance to 'prove himself', J.Schultz can be that first pairing guy and Hartikainen can be the answer up front.

Ryan Whitney is not a top pairing defenseman on a contending team.



?-J.Schultz
Smid-Petry
N.Schultz-Fistric

We won't be a true contending team until we have a top pairing defenseman to play alongside J.Schultz.

 

[thadd]

Greed has no end ... instead of J.Schultz if we landed Weber we would still be wanting a top pairing Dman.. MIN got Suter but can always use another top pairing Dman..
a healthy Whitney is a top pairing Dman, Justin Schultz, N.Schutz and Smid should all be in top 4. Petry has already proven that he is more than a bottom pairing player.

We dont have enough room for #2 AND #3 ... It'll have to be one or another.
If Gagner can win majority of faceoffs and get us 50pts\82GP then he is ok @ #2C.

Time would fix the rest unless we want to take shortcuts. Dubnyk needs a fair chance to 'prove himself', J.Schultz can be that first pairing guy and Hartikainen can be the answer up front.

I know. Some people here are thinking about what Edmonton needs to win a cup now. We should be thinking about getting into the playoffs first.

 

[thadd]

Ryan Whitney is not a top pairing defenseman on a contending team.



?-J.Schultz
Smid-Petry
N.Schultz-Fistric

We won't be a true contending team until we have a top pairing defenseman to play alongside J.Schultz.

We're just coming out of a rebuild and the season hasn't even started.

Please. Give us a break.

Whitney was a decent #2 defenseman on most teams before he came to the Oilers and before he came to the Ducks and after he messed up his foot it you obviously forgot about that.

 

[GretzkytoKurri9917]

I know. Some people here are thinking about what Edmonton needs to win a cup now. We should be thinking about getting into the playoffs first.

Well then,the op should have asked a more clearer question.


What are the Oilers' biggest needs to make the playoffs?

 

[PaPaDee]

Biggest Needs:

Big, rugged #2 Center
Top pairing Dman

Secondary Needs:

Big, rugged, third line winger
Legit #1 goalie

 

[rockinghockey]

I know obviously some of these guys will get extended prior to July 5 but the UFA market has a lot of potential this year for the Oilers needs. We are short on 2C's and big wingers that can play and top pairing defencemen.

Big Top 9 Wingers
Perry - pipe dream
Iginla - pipe dream
Horton
Clowe
Clarkson

Big 2C
Getzlaf - pipe dream
Zajac

Top Pairing Defencemen
Edler

If I could only pick one player from that list it would be Zajac, he is not the best player on that list but he is the perfect 2C that will not break the bank, win faceoffs, and still rack up the points. His cap hit is 3.88, if we could sign him to a 5 yr deal about 4.2mil cap hit our top 6 would be a lot better as he is the perfect 2C.

 

[rockinghockey]

Greed has no end ... instead of J.Schultz if we landed Weber we would still be wanting a top pairing Dman.. MIN got Suter but can always use another top pairing Dman..
a healthy Whitney is a top pairing Dman, Justin Schultz, N.Schutz and Smid should all be in top 4. Petry has already proven that he is more than a bottom pairing player.

We dont have enough room for #2 AND #3 ... It'll have to be one or another.
If Gagner can win majority of faceoffs and get us 50pts\82GP then he is ok @ #2C.

Time would fix the rest unless we want to take shortcuts. Dubnyk needs a fair chance to 'prove himself', J.Schultz can be that first pairing guy and Hartikainen can be the answer up front.

Gagner would be ok but if he is going to be a 4mil cap hit and you could Zajac for a 4mil cap hit who would you rather have, I would pick Zajac.

 

[Mcnofool6110]

Klefbom, Bunz and Anton Lander

Am I doing this right?

 

[thadd]

Klefbom, Bunz and Anton Lander

Am I doing this right?

More or less.


Too early to tell on Bunz.
Lander still has a ways to go before he'll make it as a 3rd line center. Maybe 2 years.
Klefbom will most likely play in the AHL next year. If he's in the NHL he'll be playing third line minutes, but it's our expectation that he'll eventually be able to play on the first pairing with Schultz.. .but again he's got a long ways to go.