A few thoughts to keep you all preoccupied on this smokey Thursday. The skies are yellow in Edmonton right now due to forest fires so the best thing for all of you is to stay inside and read my blogs.
GAMBARDELLA SIGNS 2 YEAR DEAL Joseph Gambardella has signed a 2 year deal with Oilers worth 700,000 a year. The 24 year old led the Condors in goals last season with 29 and did not look out of place in the 15 games he played, earning 3 assists.
Bringing back Gambardella is a no brainer for the organization. At 24 years of age he has an opportunity to continue to improve and develop and could either find a role on the big roster next season as a fourth line or 13th forward, or could continue to help out the Condors team and be a positive impact on other prospects like Benson, Samorukov, Safin, and others who may be playing in Bakersfield next year.
DEPTH FROM EUROPE? A bit of a rumour for you all. It's been reported by a couple different sources that German forward Frederik Tiffels is of interest to the Edmonton Oilers and they may be looking to bring him to North America next season. Tiffels scored 2 goals playing for Germany during this year's IHHF Championship, playing with Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl.
Draisaitl and Tiffels have known each other since they were young, playing in the German program so clearly at least part of the reason Edmonton would be going after the forward is because of reports from him. Should Edmonton look to sign the 24 year old forward, it would likely be in a similar vein to the signing of Nygard.
COFFEY GONE It was announced a couple of days ago that the Oilers had parted ways with "skills coach Paul Coffey." Coffey reported made over 500 thousand dollars a year to do.... things? I cannot recall a single Oilers player speak about what Coffey had done for them. Coffey is the most recent in the kicked to the curb club along with the likes of Duane Sutter. After the draft you can bet other members of the Oilers scouting department will be shown the door.
WHO STAYS AND WHO GOES?
No word yet on who of the current coaching staff will remain with the Oilers. Tippett has stated that he has/will be speaking to all members of the current staff and explain his vision for the team and the roles he expects his staff to take. Depending on how the assistant coaches feel about their new roles will determine which of them stays with the team.
It's been rumoured with no confirmation that Trent Yawney will join Todd McLellan in LA which is one of the few members I would be upset to see leave. Defencemen like Nurse and Klefbom both massively praised the work that Yawney was doing with them.
I would like to see Manny Vivieros stay with the club and get an opportunity to help run the powerplay... you know.... that thing he had the league best of when he coached the Swift Current Broncos.... that thing he never seemed to actually get to do anything with in Edmonton.
We will likely see decisions made on the coaching staff in the next two weeks.