Friedman: Oilers interested in Coyotes' Nick Bjugstad

[Mr Positive]

It makes some sense.

They need a right shot center for the bottom six. Too much is riding on Ryan taking that role right now, and he continually seems suited for the wing. This could be a factor in why the Oilers have been going 11-7.

So I don't think we really need a physical center, just one that can play well and take a bunch of faceoffs. It seems like Bjugstad is a good choice for that.

 

[rt]

Bjugstad for Puljujarvi?

 

[mouser]

Bjugstad for Puljujarvi?

Really weird to say, but I think Bjugstad has more value than Puljujarvi.

I don’t see any team qualifying Puljujarvi at $3m this summer.

 

[rt]

Really weird to say, but I think Bjugstad has more value than Puljujarvi.

I don’t see any team qualifying Puljujarvi at $3m this summer.

Bjugstad is also likely to become an unrestricted FA too.

 

[mouser]

Bjugstad is also likely to become an unrestricted FA too.

Sure, but I presume BA would rather get a 3rd for Bjugstad over a player like Puljujarvi the team won’t give a QO to.

 

[rt]

Sure, but I presume BA would rather get a 3rd for Bjugstad over a player like Puljujarvi the team won’t give a QO to.

Probably. I thought it would be fun to put Puljujarvi with Maccelli and see if anything clicks.

Arizona has three 3rds already this summer. And four of them in ‘24.

 

[Paralyzer008]

I shouldn’t be as baffled by fan reactions in this thread as I am; after all, GMJR made the exact same mistakes when acquiring Bjugstad from Florida.

-He does not play a playoff brand of hockey.
-He is not good defensively.
-On real hockey teams that aren’t the Coyotes, he doesn’t chip in offensively.

He is 6’6”. That is all. Stop applying attributes to him that you would normally expect from a 6’6” player. He is none of those things.

It's basically this and his PK rates are among the league's worst, partly because he's never actually played that much PK before. Surprised to see so many "good PKer" comments when he's a regular on a 27th ranked PK and he's not even winning more than 50% of his faceoffs. 46%

This is a classic 104 PDO Oilers target that will amount to nothing in the playoffs.

 

[mouser]

Probably. I thought it would be fun to put Puljujarvi with Maccelli and see if anything clicks.

Arizona has three 3rds already this summer. And four of them in ‘24.

I don’t think any team will give up an asset for Puljujarvi this season. If Edmonton needs to open up cap space I could see a team taking Puljujarvi for free or sending back a AHL contract in return.

If you want to combine Bjustad and Puljujarvi together in a deal, perhaps:

Puljujarvi + 4th or 5th from Edmonton for Bjugstad?

 

[SwedishFire]

15 pts from one and 12 from the other isn't good scoring numbers.

Then you have to see wich icetime they got. And whos playing with Shore, Fogele, Pulju and Yamamoto who sinks offense.
Fogele has bren Ok in my book.
Kostin, McLeod, Nuge (yes), JärnmRk, Ryan, Holloway is good depth scoring.

 

[Scintillating10]

per 32 Thoughts on HNIC

Oilers certainly in on a lot of players. Karlsson, Horvat, now Bjudstad. Imagine they get Bjudstad because he'll be cheaper

 

[SwedishFire]

redundant

 

[SwedishFire]

Kinda makes sense no? The Oilers need better depth forwards and ideally a 4/5 Dman to log some defensive duties no?

Is Bjugstad a better forward than what Oilers got?

There are some players that sinks the offense. Foegele, Jesse, Yamamoto. Everyone who plays with them goes down in offensive categories. And those where highly thought of.

Ryan has the skill, but is not the best skater.
McLeod is our best depth player,
Kostin can score - our best depth goalscorer,
Holloway is on his way but still a bit unefficient- ,
Foegele isnt a scorer - he is a grinder,
Janmark as well -he can score a bit better than Fogele, but far from a sniper mentality, doesnt have that sense of where to shoot,
Jesse is Jesse, Yamamoto is bad at finnish as Jesse.

When Nuge and Kostin makes that important 3rd line, they miss a top6 piece, but I guess Ryan can fill that spot as long.
And with 7D, they reduce the offensive damage that 12th forward influences on the others.

Yes, maybe they should trade away not only Jesse, but Fogele for Bjugstad as well...
But I cant see a line of like Janmark Bjugstad Kostin be that great. (To slide in Nuge with McDavid and Hyman)

 

[Captain97]

Is Bjugstad a better forward than what Oilers got?

There are some players that sinks the offense. Foegele, Jesse, Yamamoto. Everyone who plays with them goes down in offensive categories. And those where highly thought of.

Ryan has the skill, but is not the best skater.
McLeod is our best depth player,
Kostin can score - our best depth goalscorer,
Holloway is on his way but still a bit unefficient- ,
Foegele isnt a scorer - he is a grinder,
Janmark as well -he can score a bit better than Fogele, but far from a sniper mentality, doesnt have that sense of where to shoot,
Jesse is Jesse, Yamamoto is bad at finnish as Jesse.

When Nuge and Kostin makes that important 3rd line, they miss a top6 piece, but I guess Ryan can fill that spot as long.
And with 7D, they reduce the offensive damage that 12th forward influences on the others.

Yes, maybe they should trade away not only Jesse, but Fogele for Bjugstad as well...
But I cant see a line of like Janmark Bjugstad Kostin be that great. (To slide in Nuge with McDavid and Hyman)

Y'all are the experts on your team needs. Im not sure if Bjugstad is an ideal target more so I was thinking he'd be cheap and would allow the Oilers to go after a bigger fish on Defence like Gavrikov or Chychrun.

 

[RangerBoy]

The Oilers have also talked to Arizona about Ghost who is out for the next 4-5 weeks.

 

[McSuper]

The point is, that other teams secondary guys have a lot more pts than the Oilers secondary guys. Where did I say that RNH, Kane or Hyman weren't top 6 guys? I said the guys that don't play with the top 2 don't put up pts. RNH, Hyman and Kane all play with the top 2 and I never said anywhere they weren't top 6. I was very clearly talking about the rest of the roster which is bare bones offensively. Adding a Bjugstad doesn't help them score more, and in the playoffs it is very tough to win with so little depth scoring.

You said the Oilers only have 3 and lack depth IN THEIR TOP 6

 

[rt]

Friedman just said on 32T Pod that he believes Bjugstad to Edmonton talks may be “advanced” in nature and could also involve Shayne Gostisbehere.

What could AZ get for Bjugstad and Gostisbehere (with 50% retention)?

 

[Mr Kot]

The Oilers have also talked to Arizona about Ghost who is out for the next 4-5 weeks.

oof I hope this isn't Holland not able to make strides on other defence and settling. Not to say that ghost wouldnt help, just that not the one we should target.

 

[Oddbob]

You said the Oilers only have 3 and lack depth IN THEIR TOP 6

Nowhere did I say either. I said, don't they have enough bottome 9 guys? And I also said, the players that don't play with the Leon and Connor have 15-18 pts as the highest. Also notice that being a bottom 9 can also mean you can be top 9 as well which includes top 6.

 

[ref19]

He's a solid depth C that plays a playoff brand of hockey. The cost won't be high. So why not?

No he doesn’t.

 

[57special]

Bjugstad is very tall, but I hope EDM fans aren’t expecting toughness from him. He has a big body, but there is absolutely no fight to him.

Best to think of him as mostly ineffective skill player with a long reach, and the smarts of a veteran. In other words, he probably won’t get you beat by making dumb mistakes, and might chip in the odd goal depending on how the puck bounces, but is otherwise, at best, a 3rd liner,and that’s pushing it.

 

[Cup or Bust]

He wouldn't be a bad depth player for the bottom 6. They are still lacking there.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Sounds to me like the Oilers want to stack their top 2 lines and put RNH back on McDavids wing. Getting Nick would allow them to do this without having to play bums like Pulvarvi in their top 6.

 

[YP44]

But why?

have you seen Edmonton's bottom 6?
To me Edmonton has three areas they need to improve, D, G and forward depth. This would address one of the three, but probably the lowest priority item IMO

 

[mouser]

Friedman just said on 32T Pod that he believes Bjugstad to Edmonton talks may be “advanced” in nature and could also involve Shayne Gostisbehere.

What could AZ get for Bjugstad and Gostisbehere (with 50% retention)?

Savoie + 2nd?

 

[KaraLupin]

There will be a lot of interest in players like Bjugstad and Sundqvist. They’re hard to play against with their size and ability to play multiple positions. Both will go for at least a 3rd.

Bjugstad is slow as shit though