The Oilers have sent down Dylan Holloway and Vincent Desharnais to the Bakersfield Condors as Kailer Yamamoto returns to the Oilers roster. Yamamoto played his last game on January 11th and has been out of the lineup since with an undisclosed injury. The common belief is that it is concussion related, dating back to the one he sustained in pre-season.
This leaves the Oilers with 20 players on the roster, the minimum number allowed by the league; 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 2 goalies.
Before anyone gets too mad about why they would send down Desharnais, who has been excellent on the blueline, or the young Dylan Holloway, this is likely a very temporary situation. Here is what we know.
Ken Holland has made an offer for Karlsson. We don't know exactly what that offer entails or if the Sharks have countered or dismissed it completely.
We know that the team wants to move Jesse Puljujarvi but we also know that they do not want to put him on waivers to risk him being claimed. To me that says they are aware of teams that would pick him up, or that JP is currently part of the trade package they are preparing for Karlsson or another player.
Even in the media scrum yesterday, Woodcroft couldn't seem to help but grin after telling reporters that the team was expecting to make a move in the next couple of days. Something is going to happen soon. While we were hoping the dust might settle today, with these moves it is more likely like it could be on Saturday or later.
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Edmonton managed to earn a point against the Red Wings, after going down 2-0 and then 4-2 before losing in the shootout. The Oilers did not play awful but it was also far from their best performance. The biggest issue in that game was Jack Campbell. Campbell had played well through January and the recent rotation suggested that Campbell was indeed back to being the starter with Skinner as the backup. I would assume Skinner gets the game tonight. After that, who knows.
Over the past couple weeks we have seen the Oilers sleep walk through these Eastern Conference bottom level teams. In 5 games against lottery competing teams, the Oilers have gone 2-1-2; not nearly good enough.
Tonight the Oilers will play against a Rangers team that is actually extremely talented. They have a great forward group that has gotten even better with the addition of Tarasenko, a great defensive core with tough players like Trouba and arguably one of the best defenders in the game in Adam Fox, and a Vezina winning goalie in Shesterkin. If the Oilers play the way they have in the past couple of weeks against this team they will lose... badly.
Heavy anticipation remains in the air as fans and players alike seem to be waiting for this team to do something. The games themselves almost feel like a distraction. You hope that energy like that isn't seeping it's way into the locker room and the players remain focused on what is in front of them.
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One last thing on Karlsson. I've seen some other suggest that Karlsson to Edmonton would be a terrible move and that they shouldn't be adding him based on "one good season." The fact is that while Karlsson has been red hot this season, he has not been as bad in his prior seasons as some would like you to believe.
Woodguy on Twitter is an excellent source for more analytically inclined arguments and a couple of days ago he posted this thread on Twitter. It is a great read and he lays out a great argument in favor of Karlsson, why he is valuable and what fans can expect from him on this Oilers team.
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— Woodguy (@Woodguy55) February 15, 2023
In regards to Karlsson's value and his "outlier season":
I value a player's ability to contribute to increase their team's goals share.
Better goal share = more wins.
Goal share is how much your team scores more than the other team.
I'm using @NatStatTrick info here.
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