So…things aren’t great right now in the Oiler organization according to various reports coming out. Edmonton is coming off as either clueless or desperate (or both) depending on your point of view. As the Oilers limp out of October, they find themselves 3-6-1 on the year and everything that went right last season is going wrong now. STROME
The cluelessness starts with the news reported by Nick Kypreos that the Oilers are disappointed with the Jordan Eberle for Ryan Strome trade after a slow start from Strome. Peter Chiarelli had Strome penciled into the RW spot beside Connor McDavid before training camp even opened. It was a 1 for 1 deal for Eberle and even though Cap Space was a major asset coming back to Edmonton (apparently) the GM still had Strome occupying Eberle’s exact roster spot.
The decision to treat Strome, who has been at or below 30 points in each of the last two season, like an actual top 6 winger instead of a 3rd or 4th line center and a reclamation project set expectations right out of whack. Apparently, even the Oilers themselves bought their own delusions. Ryan Strome has 4 points in 10 games. That’s a 33 point pace and he’s basically on pace for his best season since he hit the skids.
The Oilers should be thrilled he’s doing this well, not upset that he isn’t close to being Jordan Eberle. If Kypreos is right (and this was a lead item on Hockey Night in Canada not some random thought) then the Oilers are right out to lunch. They had every means on knowing what Ryan Strome was before they traded a perennial 20+ goal, 50+ point scorer for him. It’s actually shocking to think that they could be upset with the deal this quickly. JOKINEN
Today, the Oiler news continued on with Chris Johnson reporting that the Oilers are interested in moving Jussi Jokinen. Chiarelli bought-low on the recently bought-out Jussi Jokinen, banking on the smart player bouncing back after a rough year in Florida. He’s had just a single assist while playing mainly on the 4th line.
Quick Reminder: That’s one more point for Jokinen than Caggiula, Slepyshev, Khaira, or Pakarinen combined.
Jussi Jokinen may not be lighting the lamp, but he does have the 2nd highest shot attempt percentage (Corsi) and the highest unblocked attempt percentage (Fenwick) among the forwards. When he’s on the ice, the Oilers are spending a lot of time in the offensive zone, it’s just not amounting to much.
The versatile Jokinen, who just played his 900th career NHL game, has the lowest PDO on the Oilers. He hasn’t been on the ice for a single 5v5 goal for Edmonton. His on-ice shooting percentage is a cool, flat zero. Zilch. 0%. His PDO is an abysmal 0.917 on the year as a result.
When you look to see which players panicked teams try to dump, you look first at PDO. You can pretty much guarantee that those teams are basing their decisions on short term success or failure and not anything that’s going to last. Jokinen looks like he cant make anything happen offensively. It doesn’t matter that the team does fantastic in every other regard with him on the ice. No goals means the frustration keeps mounting.
KELLY
Of course, the non-trade roster move that everyone (nobody) is looking forward to is Peter Chiarelli signing Chris Kelly as soon as Kailer Yamamoto is sent down to the WHL. As Ryan Rishaug noted on this morning’s radio hit with TSN 1260, there’s a reason Kelly is skating with the team.
You may remember Chris Kelly as “The worst player on the Senators last year and a shadow of the fringe NHLer that once scored 20 goals with the Boston Bruins.… The problem is that Peter Chiarelli apparently only remembers those 20 goals that one time.
It doesn’t matter that the team has Brad Malone already occupying a roster spot. It doesn’t matter that Malone outshone Kelly in camp and appeared in 3 games this season where he stood out. It doesn’t matter that Kelly is about to turn 37 years old and as a left shot 4th liner he fills absolutely no holes on this roster. Chris Kelly seems destined to be Peter Chiarelli’s answer to a question nobody is asking.
So, yeah, things aren’t going great for Edmonton right now. The media is painting a picture of operations that is not particularly flattering. This is an organization that apparently had no idea that Strome wasn’t a top 6 winger, is unable to see through even the most obvious PDO distractions, and thinks Chris Kelly is an NHL player. If you were an NHL GM, you would be making daily calls to Edmonton at this point because it’s pretty clear that they are begging to make more bad decisions. Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy