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Phaneuf, Eberle, and Khaira |
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There isn’t going to be a single day in June that goes without trade rumours and speculation. The Expansion and NHL Awards are coming and all of the insiders have one general consensus: There’s a lot of talking going on. More than average. It makes plenty of sense given what we know is about to go down and with not a lot of movement on the Cap next year. So what is shaking loose?
PHANEUF
The day kicked off with the report from Pierre LeBrun that Phaneuf listed Edmonton in his Trade list
The former Leaf Captain and Flames draft pick is making his tour through Canada, it seems, but the connection to Edmonton shouldn’t come as that great of a surprise. It’s true that Edmonton is a significantly improved team and has one of the world’s best players leading the charge, but it’s simpler than that. Phaneuf is from here (St Albert is close enough). Combine those two factors and it’s adding Edmonton to his list of 12 isnt overly controversial.
What *would* be controversial is if the Oilers actually traded for Dion. Unlike Kris Russell, who is objectively poor, Phaneuf has some game left and will likely be able to handle 2nd pairing duties relatively well in the short term. The biggest problem for the Oil in a Phaneuf trade scenario is that his Cap Hit is an outrageous $7 Million per year and he has 4 more years on his deal.
The Sens would have to take back Pouliot AND Fayne to make the money in and out even and then in 2 years the Oilers are still left holding Phaneuf at $7 million for additional years. Even if the Senators retained a significant amount of his salary, Phaneuf is still going to be on the books for 4 years. It’s prohibitive unless you think the big defender is a solution for what the team lacks. He’s 32 years old and another LHD. I know he apparently likes playing the right side, but it’s hard to see how he fits into the puzzle.
EBERLE
The saying goes “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Well, there’s a lot of smoke in here. We have gone from morning radio talk show fodder to having the insiders label the odds of him being moved to 100%. After his brutal playoffs the pitchforks were out for ol’ 14, but Chiarelli publicly supported Eberle. Fast forward a few weeks and it seems like a foregone conclusion that Eberle won’t be an Oiler by Canada Day.
Today the action heated up briefly, then came back down a touch. Number one was about the sheer number of teams that have apparently shown real interest in Eberle.
This is good for Edmonton if true. The more the merrier. The top two teams that have been linked to Edmonton and potentially to Eberle have been the Islanders and the Avalanche. The two players that are most obvious fits would be Hamonic and Barrie. These are very different players, each with their own ups and downs. And as easy as it is to jump right into those possibilities and start discussing it, social media and talk radio did exactly that.
However, before long those same insiders who stoked the flames of that fire were dousing it with water. For example, the possibility of trading Eberle for Hamonic was put into doubt with repeated reports that the Islanders value Hamonic incredibly high. They value him so high that it’s apparently the stumbling block in them acquiring Duchene from the Avs. Frankly, I have trouble placing Hamonic’s value so high, especially after a really tough year.
KHAIRA
One thing that actually happened was that the Oilers signed Jujhar Khaira to a 2 year deal at league minimum. Jujhar has been quietly progressing to a 4th line NHL role, which is no small feat. This is the kind of deal that poses absolutely no risk to the Oil.
Khaira is surely good enough to be at least the 13th forward on the team and has a solid chance to break through on the 4th this year. Should he be sent to the minors, the fact that his Cap Hit is below the cut off means that it will not count against the team.
The 6’3”, 215 pounder had 20 points in 27 AHL games this year. It’s not world beating offense from the 22 year old, but it’s progress. A year ago he has 27 points in 49 AHL games. Before that it was 10 in 51 games. Without that progress you would be hard pressed to see how he could push his way to the NHL. It’s not going to all translate, but he can’t be useless in the offensive zone. His progression through the AHL has taken him higher and higher up the depth chart and I think he’s a good bet to play 20+ games in the NHL next year.
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