Why is Buffalo Sabres defsneman Mark Pysyk attending the Edmonton Oilers Farewell Season Clearout Sale today?
Pysyk hasn't been traded to the Edmonton Oilers.
Yet.
He is representing the Edmonton Oil Kings, the Oilers' junior hockey affiliate.
Pysyk, a former Oil Kings star and captain, is attending the autograph session featuring Oilers forward Mark Letestu, Oil Kings Goaltender Patrick Dea & Oil Kings Alumni Mark Pysyk. Former Oiler player Jason Smith is also signing autographs. There will be a complimentary BBQ, too.
What's the connection between the Oilers and Oil Kings?
In 2007, Oilers owner Daryl Katz purchased the Oil Kings of the WHL. The Oil Kings played their inaugural season in The Dub in 2007-08. Pysyk was their first household name player. He was their first star. He was their captain in 2010-11 and 2011-12, Pysyk took the Oil Kings to the Memorial Cup for the first time in the 2012, the same season he became the first Oil King to play for Canada at the World Junior Championship. In 2007, the Sherwood Park product was Edmonton’s first ever pick in the WHL Bantam Draft (third overall) and three years later became the first Oil Kings player selected in the first round of the NHL Draft (23rd overall by Buffalo).
As the 2012 WHL champions, the Oil Kings played in the 2012 Memorial Cup, losing to the Shawinigan Cataractes, in the playoff tie-breaker. The Oil Kings defeated the Guelph Storm in the 2014 Memorial Cup.
The Edmonton Oilers Locker Room Sale has taken on a new name as the Oilers and Oil Kings prepare to move into their new barn this fall. This family-friendly event is the final opportunity for fans to bid Farewell to Rexall Place while enjoying one-time-only items at clearout prices, complimentary tours of the Oilers Dressing Room plus the chance to take home a little piece of Oilers and Oil Kings history. In addition to the Farewell Season offerings, fan-favorite items will also be available, including:
•Silent auction featuring exclusive items from Rexall Place and the Oilers Dressing Room
•New and game-used equipment
•Team-issued sticks, helmets and skates
•Autographed, game-used pucks
•Oil Kings game-worn jerseys
•Great deals on Oilers & Oil Kings apparel from The Oilers Store
Pysyk, a Sherwood Park, Alberta native, is a local hero on and off the ice for his impressive play on the ice for the Oil Kings.
I've been tracking Pysyk trade rumors since the NHL trading deadline in March. See my Columbus Blue Jackets story below.
Pysyk, a slick puck mover and play maker, has a ton of trade value around the NHL, specifically in Edmonton, where GM Pete Chiarelli is looking to add a veteran right shot Q to feed the biscuit to McDavid, Hall, RNH, Draisaitl, et al. Pysyk hasn't been able to unseat righties Rasmus Ristolainen and Zach Bogosian in Buffalo's top 4 cluster.
In my opinion, he's better than a third paid D. Pysyk should be playing north of 18 minutes TOI per game. He can't play a top four role in Buffalo right now. Thus, the trade speculation. There are NHL teams, like Edmonton, who covet Pysyk.
Tim Murray has 12 days to find a trade partner for Pysyk between now and the NHL Draft which will be hosted by the Sabres.
Murray would love to get his hands on Chiarelli's 4th overall pick in the NHL Draft, plus a scoring forward. Jordan Eberle's name is being connected to two teams in recent weeks: Buffalo and Colorado. The Sabres need a scoring winger and Eberle fits that bill to a tee. Eberle has scored 20+ goals in five of his six NHL seasons in Edmonton. His career high is 34 goals scored in his rookie season. Eberle and Pysyk are repped by the same agency.
Eberle is also being connected to Tyson Barrie trade rumors emanating from the U.S. Rocky Mountains.
Murray has Pysyk, centers Zemgus Girgensons and Tyler Ennis, plus the 8th overall pick in the draft to use as trade currency.
Murray would love to draft London Knights legend Matt Tkachuk with the fourth overall pick in the draft. Chiarelli , whose cup runneth over with exotic skilled forwards, is looking to rebuild his D corps on the fly. Acquiring Pysyk would be a huge upgrade for the Oil. Adding a future top four D via the draft will also set up McDavid and the Oilers for future success. The Oilers have locked their tractor beam on Windsor Spitfires D Mikhail Sergachev and Sarnia Sting D Jakob Chychrun.
The Lake Erie Monsters capped off a dominant American Hockey League playoff tournament with a decisive Calder Cup championship on Saturday.
Their architect, Jarmo Kekalainen had a vision when he was hired as Columbus Blue Jackets GM in 2013.
Jarmo planned his work. Now, he is working his plan to meticulous perfection.
The Baby Blue Jackets were inspired by yet another brilliant performance by their Great Dane, Oliver Bjorkstrand, who scored the Calder Cup clinching goal on a jam play at the Hershey net with just two seconds remaining in the first OT to power Lake Erie to the win.
The Blue Jackets finished the playoffs with an overall record of 15-2, and a nine game winning streak. Not too shabby, eh?
Bjorkstrand has been one of, if not the best pro prospects in the Columbus organization for the past two seasons. He will no doubt be playing right wing in Columbus come opening night in October.
When people think about Coumbus and their stacked organizational depth chart, Bjorkstrand's name is often overlooked. Observers tend to think first of Kerby Rychel, Sonny Milano, Boone Jenner, Zach Werenski, Oscar Dansk, Alex Wennberg, Paul Bittner, Dillon Heatherington, and the like. Then they say, "Bjorkstrand. I forgot that he was a Blue Jackets top prospect".
Then, Bjorkstrand delivers virtuoso performances that continue to add equity to his already valuable hockey brand.
You may recall that it was Bjorkstrand who in September 2015 starred for the Baby Blue Jax in their Traverse City Tournament championships. The Blue Jackets won back to back T-City Tourney championships in 2014 and 2015 thanks to Bjorkstrand and company.
It's no wonder that Lake Erie won the Calder Cup. It seems like they have been destined for greatness for the past 2 to 3 seasons. First T-City. Now the Calder Cup. The next logical station is for the Jax to promote their hot shot prospects to the NHL next season. The kids have earned the right to be promoted to the big club in the NHL.
On Saturday night, it was Bjorkstrand and Werenski that collaborated on the OT GWG.
Bjorkstrand, selected by Jarmo Kekalainen in the third round of the 2013 draft, scored the winner on a scramble with only two seconds remaining in the first overtime.
Werenski, the exceptional eighth overall selection from the 2015 NHL Draft, notched the second assist.
On Saturday night, Bjorkstrand and Werenski put on a show in front of Kekalainen, and Jax bench boss John Tortarella.
Bjorkstrand was named playoff MVP after scoring 10 goals and 16 points in the Calder Cup tourney. At 6'0" and 185 lbs., Bjorkstrand flies up and down the ice. He's strong on the boards and can cycle and hold the puck down low. There's a lot to love about his grace and his power.
Werenski, 18, scored 14 points in 17 games. What's most amazing about Werenski is that he had only been skating in Cleveland since March after he showed up on an amateur tryout contract after his University of Michigan Wolverine were eliminated from the NCAA playoffs.
“He’s doing a little bit of everything,” Monsters head coach Jared Bednar told the Blue Jackets' website of Werenski last month.
“The skill set he has: his size, strength and poise with the puck, he’s a complete player. To be able to step into our lineup in intense games and get the job done, it’s impressive especially for his age and that’s why everyone’s so excited about him.
“He’s a young guy. He’s going to grow a lot, but right now, to be able to do what he’s doing at this level at this time of year is pretty impressive.”
With the NHL Draft 12 days away, Kekalainen is giving serious thought to trading away his third overall pick in the annual conscription.
Prior to the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo two weeks ago, the easy money had been on the Finn GM slecting Finn power forward Jesse Puljujarvi with the #3 overall pick. Makes sense, right. Finns love Finns. The rest is history, right?
Wrong.
Last week, work started to circulate inside the NHL that Kekalainen is actively accepting phone inquiries about his third overall pick in the draft. At the time, observers questioned Kekalainen's willingness to want to move out of #3. It's clear as mud to my eyes why Jarmo would want to do such a thing: he wants to reward Bjorkstrand by promoting him to the NHL after training camp ends. Bjorkstrand just so happens to play right wing. The same position as Puljujarvi. Drafting Puljujarvi with #3 would serve to keep Bjorkstrand buried in Lake Erie for another season. Therefore, trading #3 makes a ton of sense to me because after watching the kid blossom in the past three seasons, Jarmo already knows the rock star that he has in Bjorkstrand. What he doesn't know is how long it will take Puljujarvi to recover from his recent knee surgery, nor how long it will take the powerful Finn to make the transition from the European 200 by 100 game to the in-your-face 200 by 85 game.
Advantage: Bjorkstrand.
Kekaleinen should have learned a valuable lesson from the Marko Dano experiment which graded out as a fail for the Jax. Dano was the 27th pick in the 2013 NHL Draft and played only 35 career games for the Jax, scoring 8 goals and adding 13 assists. He was eventually used as trade currency in the Brandon Saad trade. Dano has since been traded to Winnipeg as part of the compensation package for UFA to be Andrew Ladd.
The moral of the story: If you got 'em, smoke 'em.
In other words, in today's NHL, the youngsters must play. For two reasons. If they are good, they will help your team immediately as in the case of Brian Rust and Connor Sheary in Pittsburgh. Don't forget Joonas Donskoi in San Jose. All are young, skilled and ready for primetime. They also carry entry level contracts which means that the parent club is getting a monster sized return on their investment to say nothing of the massive salary cap relief that teams benefit from as a result of having their young stars in their lineups sooner rather than later.
The emergence of the 18 year old prodigy Werenski cannot go unnoticed by Kekelainen, Tortarella and the brass of the Blue Jax.
Werenski is 6'2" tall and 210 lbs. He will continue to grow and get bigger in the years to come. The Blue Jax have plans to pair Werenski alongside his friends and fellow Team USA teammate Seth Jones. That's a pretty formidable top pair if you ask me. Werenski is a lefty, Jones a righty. They will play together for the next 10-12 years in Columbus.
Not only is Werenski big and strong, he's a great skater and a high IQ hockey player, too. Excels in key situations and is able to execute under pressure. He plays great angles, sees the ice well and isn't afraid to jump into the rush because he knows that he will be the first man back to his end of the barn on the back check.
So then, what is Kekalainen looking for in exchange for his #3 overall pick?
Similar to Pete Chiarelli in Edmonton, Jarmo wants a top four right shot D, a veteran center and a 2016 first rounder in the top 8 selections.
Buffalo's Tim Murray can scratch that itch by sending Mark Pysyk, Zemgus Girgensons and his 8th overall pick to Columbus in exchange for their #3 overall pick, plus, QB Ryan Murray.
Kekalainen would improve his roster dramatically by adding Bjorkstrand, Werenski, Pysyk and Girgensons to it. The skill level would rise as would the defensive respectability quotient.
Girgensons, a natural center, won't play the pivot in Buffalo because of the long shadows cast by Ryan O'Reilly, Jack Eichel, and Samson Reinhart. However, the Latvian Locomotive would add immediate value at the center ice position in CBUS where Brandon Dubinsky and Greg Campbell are showing signs of wear and tear from years of battering. Adding Girgensons and his youthful enthusiasm would be a huge lift for the Jax top six group. Zemgus plays both sides of the puck with tenacity and purpose. He's a John Tortarella style player. Lunch box carrying blue collar man.
Pysyk is blessed with vision, skating and passing ability. He will give needed skill and depth to the right side of the Jax D corps.
Kekalainen would use Buffalo's #8 pick to add another beastly defender. Word at the NHL Scouting combine is that Kekalainen LOVES London Knight's QB Olli Juolevi.
Yes, Juolevi is a Finn just like Jarmo. Adding two high skill defenders in Werenski and Juolevi will solidify the left side of the Columbus D corps for the next decade.
Kekalainen also wants to draft hulking 6'6" center Logan Brown in the first round.
Such a move would render Ryan Murray expendable. Murray was the second overall pick at the 2012 NHL Draft. He's a great skater and a wonderful playmaker. He loves to join the rush and see the ice so well. He's not going to knock a guy's block off with thundering body checks, however, he will engage in the battle and rely on his high stick skills and compete level to get himself out of trouble. Ryan Murray is widely regarded as a top pair left D. He skated 22:10 TOI per game in 2015-16 and is capable of logging more ice time, especially on the PP where he uses his heavy, accurate shot to get point shots on enemy goalies. Murray had been plagued by injuries his first two seasons in the NHL. He played 66 games his rookie year and just 12 games in 2014-15. However, he remained healthy and played all 82 games in 2015-16 when he scored 4G, 21A. Ryan Murray is a lovely cap hit of just $2.85M AAV this season and next season.
Tim Murray can test drive Ryan Murray for two years and if he likes what he sees, he can reward the kid with a long term contract to stay and play in Buffalo. In those two seasons, Sabres prospect Brendan Guhle will be learning the pro game in AHL Rochester and will be ready for prime time in Buffalo. Sabres D prospects Will Borgen and Anthony Florentino will have matured in that time period as well. If Ryan Murray succeeds, the aforementioned D trio will have to sing for their supper. If Ryan Murray fails to impress, then it would allow the kids to fight for a Buffalo roster spot.
Trading for Ryan Murray would allow Tim Murray to fortify Rasmus Ristolainen, a pending RFA, with a multi-year contract extension that will end up being in the $5.75 to $6.5M AAV neighborhood.
So, what would Tim Murray do with the #3 overall pick?
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