Tonight will be the last time the Edmonton Oilers find themselves on the road this regular season and it is against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens have struggled as of late, going 4-5-1 in their last 10 and find themselves at risk of getting bumped into a Wild Card position. Much of this is due to the recent injury to goaltender Tristan Jarry. I'm curious as to who Pittsburgh fans wants their team to play against more.
If Pittsburgh finishes 3rd in the Metro they will play the Rangers. They have gone 1-3 against New York, scoring only 4 goals while allowing 11.
If Pittsburgh falls into a Wild Card spot they could end up playing either the Panthers or Hurricanes, depending on if they finish ahead of the Bruins or not. Against the Panthers, Pittsburgh has a 1-1-1 record, scoring 10 goals and allowing 11. Against the Hurricanes, the Penguins have a 1-1-1 record, scoring 9 goals and allowing 9. In addition, the Hurricanes are without Fredrick Andersen.
I would never imply that an NHL would throw a game... all I am saying is it seems like Pittsburgh might rather play against the Hurricanes or maybe even the Panthers rather than the Rangers.
While the Penguins were dealt a severe blow with the loss of Tristan Jarry, Edmonton has their own concerns with top defenseman Darnell Nurse. According to Woodcroft, Nurse is not expected to play any games this week but they hope he is ready for game one of the playoffs. If Nurse returns means he will likely be dealing with some sort of lingering issues from his lower body issue that he suffered against the Avalanche.
Meanwhile Jesse Puljujarvi has missed the last couple of games with an illness but Woodcroft expects that he will return soon, before the end of the regular season. I expect him back for at the very least the last game against the Canucks.
When JP and Nurse are healthy, what should this team run as their opening night lineup against the LA Kings? Here is how I would run things:
Kane-McDavid-Yamamoto McLeod-Draisaitl-Hyman Foegele-RNH-Puljujarvi Brassard-Shore-Ryan
Nurse-Ceci Keith-Bouchard Kulak-Barrie
Smith
Add in Kris Russell as a #7 and take out Devin Shore if you want to run the 11/7. People on here should know by now I am a huge fan of what Jesse Puljujarvi brings to this team but right now I think the team as a whole would have more success if he brought his strong defensive game and goal suppression to the third line.
We will discuss plenty this off-season about signing Evander Kane. Kane now has 21 goals in 40 games for the Oilers, including 16 EV goals. His 15.5SH% is a bit high but not too far away from his regular numbers around 11-12%. The biggest concerns I now have with Kane come down to his age. We have seen time and time again that players regress after the age of 30. I think the highest cap hit I would go for Kane would be 5 million and the longest term would be 3 years, perhaps 4 max. Anything over those numbers and I would walk away.
Where would Edmonton find this money? Trading Tyson Barrie and his 4.5 million dollar cap hit would be an excellent start. With that in mind, Holland should absolutely be trying to lock Evan Bouchard up long term this summer. Bouchard has one more year remaining on his ELC and the 22 year old rookie (not according to the NHL's stupid rules) has put up 41 points in 78 games. More remarkable than that is the fact that most of those have come at EV.
Bouchard has 9 EV goals and 25 EV assists on the season and the defenseman receives very little powerplay time. The numbers suggest there is no reason why Bouchard cannot continue to produce at 5 on 5 at a similar rate. If Bouchard is able to produce close to 40 points a season at EV and then also gets top unit PP time next season he could easily be a 60-70 point defenseman.
Holland needs to get in and try and lock Bouchard up long term before he has the opportunity to play those minutes. A bridge deal will not cut it here and runs the risk of trying to pay Bouchard like Darnell Nurse is getting paid now.
Let's look at best and worst case scenarios to Bouchard agreeing on an 8 year 5 million dollar contract. At worst, Bouchard could not improve defensively and you are left with an offensive minded powerplay quarterback third pairing defender that is overpaid by a couple million. At best Bouchard continues to improve defensively as most young defenders will, continues to produce at all strengths and becomes a top pairing defenseman that should cost 8+ that you are saving 3 million on. There are risks there but I think the pros and the ceiling of Evan Bouchard are worth betting on.
Enjoy the game tonight.