Yesterday Peter Chiarelli had a media availability. He has hidden from the media for the majority of his time with the Oilers but especially during this failed season. I don’t know what appearing in front of the press before the deadline was supposed to achieve, but I’m just going to assume it didn’t hit the mark.

Chiarelli started the availability by saying “We’re not going to blow it up”.

That’s good, because a base of McDavid, Draisaitl, Hall, Eberle, Nuge, Klefbom, Nurse, and Talbot is a great starting point. Oh…wait…he meant he’s not going to blow it up any further. Right. Well then. I honestly don’t know what this team is thinking because they already blew this team up and set them back 2-3 years at least.

Chiarelli identified speed as the attribute he wanted to add to this team. Seeing him say those words actually released my spirit from this mortal coil. I am dead now. This is Matt’s ghost blog now. It was the absolute gall of that man saying he wanted SPEED on his team after he traded Hall for Larsson then replaced him with Lucic, traded extremely valuable assets for Griffin Reinhart, and traded Eberle for Strome that overwhelmed my life-force and killed me.

One interesting nugget from the press conference came when Rishaug asked Chiarelli what kind of “Hockey Deals” he was trying to pursue. Chiarelli identified speed again, but he actually dug deeper and spoke to the importance of moving the puck for team speed. What that tells us is that he is looking to make a change to this blueline. Nobody talks about puck moving left wingers. This is about getting puck moving defenders.

However, Peter Chiarelli has previously been taken for a ride when it comes to “puck moving” data. He once said that Kris Russell was one of the NHL’s premier puck movers. So it’s a little scary to see where this is going to go because the Oilers who have the hardest time moving the puck are Larsson and Russell. Adam Larsson handles the puck like a grenade and Russell is often overwhelmed on breakouts and prone to the classic backhand around the boards breakout strategy.

Much like the other areas of concern for this team, the defense has been heavily influenced by Chiarelli. Sekera, Russell, Benning and Larsson are all Chiarelli players. Russell has at least been picking up points this year so it’s possible that other teams could be interested in him. The Oilers are looking to upgrade their blueline, but Sekera and Russell both have NMCs which really complicate things. Chia has locked this blueline down and it’s just as puzzling now as it was in June when he put the final nails into this coffin.

One thing I can say for certain with Chiarelli and this team, the mainstream writers are finally clueing in to the problems. Mark Spector absolutely carved Chiarelli and the trades he has made that have hurt this team. Without the fog of unrelated team success, all that remains is the truth: Peter Chiarelli has damaged the Oil long term and it doesn’t feel like an “if” but a “when” Chiarelli is replaced as General Manager.

***

For what felt like an eternity yesterday, the NHL was waiting on a very complicated deal involving Ottawa, Pittsburgh, and the Vegas Golden Knights to go through, get rejected, and get re-worked. In the end the Senators picked up assets and shed salary for a player they must have felt was not providing value (I disagree). Melnyk retains his crazy cheapskate reputation in the league, but the part of the deal that is most interesting was what Vegas did.

The Golden Knights acted as middleman on the Brassard deal. They are the ones that retained 40% of his salary so that the Penguins are only keeping a $3M Cap Hit on their new 3C. In return they picked up a 4th round pick and Ryan Reaves. They used their Cap Space as an asset in a trade.

Now, in this case, I’m not thrilled with Vegas’ execution. Frankly, paying $2M so the Penguins can have Brassard at $3M *next year* should have been worth more than a 4th round pick. If Brassard was a pending UFA then it’s fine, but he’s not so it’s not. I think Vegas underestimated how crucial they were to that deal. Then again, without knowing what the original deal the NHL nixed was, it’s hard to come down too hard.

One underrated part of this move by Vegas though – the move keeps Brassard away from the West. Specifically, helping the Penguins hurts the Jets who were reportedly hard after the center. It’s interesting gamesmanship from the Golden Knights.

In any event, the Oilers have (actually) $37,000,000 in deadline Cap space. They should be offering to be the middle man on any high priced player moving from one club to another. If team X cannot afford to add Rick Nash then the Oilers ought be the team that retains 50% on Nash and trades him to team X, for the price of a pick/B prospect. And they could do that same thing for Kane or anyone else.

The Oilers traded Eberle for this damned Cap Space, they might as well use it.

LINEUP

Brandon Davidson has been traded for a 3rd round pick to the Islanders.

Maroon McDavid Draisaitl
Lucic Strome Puljujarvi
CaggiulaKhaira Slepyshev
PakarinenLetestu Kassian

Klefbom Larsson
Nurse Russell
Auvitu Benning

Talbot

OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME

1) Deutschland Dangler. The show that Leon Draisaitl put on against the Avalanche was spectacular. He was a force of nature. The overtime goal was such a power move that it looked like he had been inhabited by one of the Space Jam Monstars. It was cartoonish how he shrugged Girard off and sent him to the ground like he was a pencil-necked geek trying to keep up in inter-murals. Draisaitl had one of the most confident games we’ve seen from him this year. He is going to be depended on against Kopitar’s Kings.

2) Kassian Skating. For much too long the 4th line has been dead action against the opposition. Zack Kassian looked like he was given a shot of adrenaline in the last game. He is at his best when he is engaged and physical. He needs to be chirping, hitting, shooting, and skating. If he isn’t doing ALL of those things, he often isn’t doing ANY of those things. That’s what holds Kassian back the most. The Oilers depth is a real problem and he is one of the leaders in the bottom six. He has to be better.

3) Anze Bounced Back. Not long ago it was common knowledge that Anze Kopitar was one of the top 5 forwards in the NHL. Then last year he fell off the face of the Earth. His 12-40-52 was the worst offensive season of his NHL career, not counting the lockout shortened year. Now? He has 25-39-64 through just 61 games and he’s 23 points ahead of the next closest Kings player. The Oilers actually drafted Leon Draisaitl saying they needed someone who could be their Kopitar and match up against players like him. Well, Kopitar is back to being the dominant player he was in the past. The Oilers need someone who can match up against him. Is it Leon? Connor? We see tonight.

Puck drops tonight at 8PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet 360. Tank On!

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