The Oilers are currently one of the teams central in the Travis Hamonic rumours that are swirling around the National Hockey League. The 25 year old right-shooting Defenseman from Manitoba has requested a trade to Western Canada for family reasons and he is everything the Oilers are looking for as an upgrade on the backend.
The request was made before the season started and it has been reported by several people that the Oilers have been talking to Snow and the Islanders since then but to no avail. As Elliotte Friedman suggests, that could mean there is indeed no deal to be made between the two clubs. That said, I’m sure the Oilers arent the only team that has been talking to the Islanders and if we apply the same logic then it means there isn’t a deal to be made with any of those teams either.
It may well be true.
The initial report by Friedman said that the Islanders were not interested in picks or prospects but rather a player for player swap with a defender coming back to them. New York is a decent club with Playoff aspirations of their own and losing Hamonic means losing a 23 minute a night blueliner from the roster. It behooves them to replace that spot as soon as it opens up.
Edmonton has 3 blueliners who would have varying degrees of interest around the NHL. In order they would probably be:
1) Oscar Klefbom 2) Darnell Nurse 3) Justin Schultz
And while Schultz is 3rd, it’s probably a distant 3rd. There’s no question in my mind that the Islanders would be asking for Klefbom but I just don’t see the Oilers making him available. The same goes for Nurse. Those two are the key elements of Edmonton’s future on defense. They are it. Losing one for Hamonic just doesn’t move the Oilers ahead of where they currently are enough to make sense.
In terms of “Best Fit… it’s actually Justin Schultz who could in theory be plugged right into Hamonic’s spot on the Islanders roster. Just like Hamonic he’s a 25 year old right-shooting defender who plays 20+ minutes a night and makes 3.9 million per season. Those are straight across similarities between the two players, but that’s where the likenesses end.
Obviously Schultz is a completely different kind of defender than Hamonic, one that Oiler fans (myself included) have been highly critical of. Other teams undoubtedly have better players they could offer in exchange for Hamonic. The real question is ARE they offering those players? I’m sure Snow would take Myers from the Jets ahead of Schultz, but a Myers for Hamonic deal hasn’t happened yet either.
Frankly I don’t think Schultz is enough so I’d expect the Oilers to sweeten the deal. Anyone currently on the AHL roster is 100% available. So too are any of Edmonton’s picks presuming a lottery protection on their 1st this season. Beyond that, any player in the bottom 6 plus Nail Yakupov might be included as package.
The only other kinds of trade proposals I’ve seen that might work are centered around Jordan Eberle, but I haven’t seen any media speculation on that. If Eberle was going to be sent to New York I cant see it as a 1 for 1 deal. It would morph into a much bigger deal with more coming back Edmonton’s way.
I’m sorry, but 65 point wingers don’t grow on trees and teams moving a player who wants out don’t generally get full value. I think Eberle for Hamonic is pie in the sky for Islanders fans. New York is in a tough place but at least for them there seems to be a lot of respect being shown between Snow and Hamonic, plus he has stated that he could play the whole season if needed.
New York doesn’t *need* to make a deal right away, but with this request leaked it placed a lot more pressure on them to get it done. We don’t know what Hamonic is saying behind closed doors, nor do we know how close teams are to making a deal happen. Eventually though this could become a very big distraction for the club and Snow will have to take a deal he might otherwise not have accepted.
LINEUP
This is a tentative lineup. I will update as soon as I see the news from the morning skate. Should be similar lineup though Sekera missed the morning skate so that could open a spot for Gryba. Nilsson goes back in.
Hall Draisaitl Purcell Pouliot RNH Eberle Hendricks Letestu Yak Gazdic Lander Pakarinen
Nurse Sekera Klefbom Fayne Reinhart Davidson
Nilsson
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Not The Same Devils? They go through coaching changes and style changes all the time but as an organization they have always been known for a boring brand of defensive hockey. I’ve been hearing about how the Devils have adopted an aggressive forechecking system, but on paper they are still a team that doesn’t score a lot of goals. They are 27th in 5v5 Goals with 1.58 per 60 minutes. Edmonton is 14th with 2.18 per 60 minutes.
2) Neon Leon. I’m not sure how much better Leon Draisaitl can get. This is quite obviously a special time in this kid’s young career. The percentages are sky high for Draisaitl. He has a 25% 5v5 shooting percentage. His points per 60 at Even Strength of 4.24 is the highest in the NHL by a wide margin. The 2nd highest is Martin Hanzal at 3.49/60. His PDO (on-ice shooting percentage plus on-ice save percentage) is a 106.5 and that regresses hard to 100. He’s going to cool down eventually but right now he is one of the hottest players in the NHL. If there is a zone, you could find him in it.
3) Bent Not Broken. Edmonton might be the kind of team that finds a way to lose, but at least this year they haven’t been broken by their opponents very often. This is a team that turned 1 goal against into 3 goals against on a pretty regular basis over the last several years. During this season, however, they have stayed in the games. They have battled back to at least make things interesting, even if they have trouble closing them out. They gave the Hawks a real challenge and even dominated the first 20 minutes of the game. They look like a team that is finally building towards something.
Puck drops tonight at 7PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet Oilers. Get Better, Connor!
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