To Do List:
1. Simplify own zone defending system to better suit this team's personnel. Dump complex d and forward switches which too often lead d-men chasing out of home plate defending and gaps in high danger scoring areas as forwards/d miss their switch.
2. I look at Vegas (& St. Louis Cup team) model of big defenders and their layered approach to making it harder for other teams to score focusing on defending high quality scoring areas.
3. I keep coming back to Parayko as a good complement for Nurse with size, great skating ability and two-way defending ability, Cup experience and established shutdown play against elites.
Highly durable the past 2 years since the back injury. Team high minutes overall, but also in EV, 5 V 5, second in 4x5 PK. Great playoff run last season as top pair shutdown against Colorado's elites. Cratered season this year along with a St. Louis team that finally hit the wall tilting a veteran team into rebuild/retool sell-off. There weren't really any players unscathed.
"This year's Parayko was a shell of that player. Parayko, who played in 79 games and averaged 23:00 minutes per game this season, saw his offensive numbers dip to 27 points (four goals, 23 assists) after putting up 35 points in 80 games last year, usually covers it up with his defensive play. He did lead the team with 144 blocked shots, but too often his coverage laxed, whether it be breakouts or in-zone coverage. Parayko was a minus-19 and was 15th on the team with an OPS of 0.7,
but he did produce slightly better from a DPS standpoint at 1.8, which was best among d-men and tied with Buchnevich for fourth-best on the team. Parayko had the third-most giveaways with 49,
but he was second-best behind Thomas' 67 with 59 takeaways, and a lot of those good numbers came towards the end of the season when Parayko was playing much better. And Parayko didn't have effective numbers in Corsi-for (45.1 percent) and Fenwick-for (45.1 percent).
Parayko was a plus-1 over his final 22 games and played some of his best hockey when the talk of trade leading into the March 3 deadline subsided."
The Oilers don't need to add another high point producer d-man. Bouchard and Ekholm will have the top pair role and former to play point on the PP. Having a high end second pair with Nurse Parayko is like a 1B pair with size, elite skating and two-way game could be a formidable shutdown pair within a simplified, more structured system to defend home base. All four have elite size and complementing games that would form the backbone of a true elite defending corp. Versatile enough to also support through rotation, if needed, a cheap inexperienced third pair of Broberg Desharnais (assuming Broberg wasn't part of the package to get Parayko).
Such a trade has a degree of risk. Have to get retention ($500,000) similar to Ekholm deal. But this is about building up the longstanding weak link backbone position with this team. Boldness is required and a smarter own zone defending scheme and a final elite d piece are necessary to move the Oil into true elite Cup contender real estate... especially with the goaltending they have locked themselves into.