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Shultz, Purcell, and Nilsson Traded |
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Today the Oilers pulled the trigger on a pair of deals and had another apparently fall apart on them.
The morning kicked off with the team moving their backup netminder Anders Nilsson to the Blues for a 5th Round pick in 2016 and minor league backup Niklas Lundstrom.
Anders “The Giant” Nilsson was acquired initially in exchange for former 5th rounder Liam Coughlin. The fact that he was flipped for another 5th and a prospect (even C range as it is) is a positive return for the team.
Nilsson started the year with pre-season dominance. He was perfect in September, forcing Edmonton’s hand with regards to Ben Scrivens. When the real NHL players suited up, however, he was less impressive. He had stretches that were very promising, but overall he wasn’t strong enough to seriously push Talbot for the starter’s role.
Ultimately, his .901 sv% in 26 games wasn’t enough to outweigh what the Oilers could get for him in this market. We also cant forget that it isn’t just about Nilsson’s play with Edmonton. The natural progression of Laurent Brossoit is to become an NHL backup and he looks ready for it. He’s going to get an opportunity to play more games but it seems the plan is to have Talbot & Brossoit 1-2 in net moving forward. That can change by season’s end but it should be LB’s job to lose now.
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Peter Chiarelli then followed up his morning work with a deal early in the afternoon that sent Teddy Purcell to the Panthers in exchange for a 2016 3rd Round pick. Keep in mind that as of writing this the Oilers and Panthers have not made this deal official. There’s still room for everything to fall apart, in theory.
Purcell was Edmonton’s 5th leading scorer with 32 points in 61 games and a regular linemate of Draisaitl and Hall. After the season he had last year this is much improved. His inaugural Oiler season saw him finish with 34 points in 81 games. He’s 2 points behind that in 20 fewer games.
The biggest change to Purcell’s game was probably his equipment modification. He cut 4 inches off of his stick after a slow start with the team. I’ve never seen another hockey player make that kind of drastic alteration to their gear.
Several people are making note of the Panthers moves as they relate to the fancy stats. It does look like they were going after players who could have been had for cheap but have possession strength. Purcell played on Edmonton’s best overall line with Hall and Draisaitl. As a result he certainly had strong shot attempt numbers. That said, he also has quality shot attempt results when he’s on the PK.
The Panthers certainly got themselves a versatile player who can slot in anywhere on their top 3 lines and play on special teams for the low, low price of a 3rd Round pick.
Is that too low for the Oilers?
Obviously I would have liked to see Edmonton get a 2nd rounder for Purcell, but he’s a pending UFA and GMs love certain features that Purcell doesn’t possess in spades. They love toughness and grit and [INSERT SYNONYM FOT GRIT]. They love players who they think will help them grind out a playoff round. That’s why a player like Polak gets a 2nd and a player like Purcell gets a 3rd.
For much of the morning right up to the news about Florida there were rumblings that the Kings wanted BOTH Purcell and Schultz. In return the Oilers were apparently being offered a pick (perhaps a 2017 3rd as per Travis Yost) and the rights to Nikolay Prokhorkin of the KHL.
Prokhorkin is a 22 year old Russian LW who scored 20-18-38 in 58GP for Ufa Salavat. He was 4th in scoring for his club. 1st and 3rd in scoring for Ufa? Linus Omark and Teemu Hartikainen…
Some have speculated that the inability to convince Prokhorkin to come to North America is the reason that deal fell through. I wonder who on Prokhorkin’s team could have talked to him about coming to play for the Oilers…
The worst part? Justin Schultz is still an Oiler. Let’s keep our eye on that situation.
UPDATE
Darren Dreger has reported that Justin Schultz is now a Penguin! REJOICE
Reported now by multiple people that the Penguins have traded a 3rd Round pick for Schultz.
LeBrun reports that the Oilers retain 50% of Schultz' salary
THE PARADE IS ON MONDAY!
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