If Edmonton wanted Kovalchuk and saw him as an upgrade, they would have tried to sign him when he was available for nothing. They didn’t. A good two weeks doesn’t change that, and Holland won’t change the mindset he’s had for 7 months just because Kovalchuk is on a hot streak (and shooting nearly 20%). Pretty cut and dried. It’s a no-brainer NOT to do.
Frankly, our “need for help on the wings” is massively overblown.
RNH: 33 pts
Kassian: 28 pts
Neal: 28 pts
Yamamoto: 6 pts in 8 games
Those are the guys in our top six W roles over the last 8 games, and we’re 6-1-1 in that stretch. Every report I’ve seen says we want a 3C or a long term top 6 winger. Kovalchuk is neither.
To be fair, beside RNH, this is a bad group of wingers.
Yamamoto is a rookie that has 34 games of NHL experience.
Kassian is bad. He is a proven commodity: he is not a top 6 winger, he is at best 3rd liner, at best. Please, don't try to convince me he is a Jari Kurri. He'll cash in somewhere after having a career year with McDavid at 29, but I hope for the Oilers they don't fall in the Lucic trap for a second time and give him any sort of term... But I think Holland is smarter than that, he's no Chiarelli, I think he learned from his Detroit mistakes.
Neal has basically stopped producing in November.
Not saying Kovalchuk is the only solution, but that team needs talent on the wing in the top 6, and it is not overblown. I feel they'll get a player somehow to help them.