The Carolina Hurricanes are back in town and will challenge the Oilers tonight for “Most Disappointing Team Since 2006… and it’s really been a neck at neck battle. Both have been awful, the only real difference is that the Oil have been SO awful that the fan base has been treated to 1st Overall picks. So I guess there’s the silver lining. Don’t you feel better about the crushing defeats and losing culture now?
On a much more interesting topic, the NHL Board of Governors meeting is taking place and news has leaked that next year’s Salary Cap will be as high as 71 Million Dollars and change. That is an increase of almost 7M bucks, which is huge, but should come as little surprise. The Cap was being kept artificially low this season in a measure which was negotiated by the league. This deal does NOT take into consideration the massive new Canadian TV deal signed by Rogers and the NHL which will boost league revenues even further starting next season.
The new Salary Cap means a few things for the Oilers. Notably, their entire back end is basically empty after this season. Their Goalies are all UFAs and the Defense will need an overhaul. The good news is that the club will have the money to spend on Free Agents or higher priced assets that may come via trade. The Oilers have 5.75M tied up between Bryzgalov and Dubnyk. One has to believe that the Oilers are done with Dubnyk and will look in another direction. With that kind of money dedicated to the position they can upgrade significantly and spend no more than they already do.
Defense is the real key. With Hemsky’s 5M coming off the books and Nick Schultz’ 3.5M coming off we are talking an additional 8.5M to go with the new 7M to spend on the blueline. Sure, some of that will be eaten up as Nuge’s Hit will jump by 2M but that will also be offset because at this rate Justin Schultz’ new deal wont be as high as the 3.77M Cap hit he currently sports. The reality is that of Edmonton’s current blueliners the only 2 that have contracts for next year are Ference and Marincin, totaling less than 4M. The rest are either RFA or UFA, and frankly nobody is performing well enough to earn big money. Even if Petry earns more, I doubt he breaks the 4M threshold.
The Oilers are able now, more than ever, to go big game hunting for that big Defenseman they need so badly. The list of names at this time is always bigger and more impressive than it is in July, but some Free Agent names that might intrigue Oiler Brass and fans are: Dion Phaneuf Dan Girardi Andrei Markov Brooks Orpik Matt Greene Matt Niskanen Nikita Nikitin
You have to think that the Oilers will go hard after Phaneuf and/or Girardi if both hit free agency. It’s most likely they never will, but the Oil cant afford to go another season without a top pairing player on the back end. The new Salary Cap means the money will be there to add someone big to the squad. It’s really just a matter of who that person will be.
LINEUPS
The Oilers are still waiting for Bryz to get better so that means Dubnyk is back in net. Bachman was assigned back to OKC, he must apparently have finally solved that groin issue. If the line combinations get updated then I will make some changes but this is what I expect for tonight. I haven’t minded what I’ve seen from Marincin, but he hasn’t blown me away either. That said the Oilers need to break him in and play him as many games as possible because there might be even more rookies next year. Sigh.
Petry will not play tonight due to the concussion he sustained the other day.
Hall Gagner Yak Perron RNH Eberle Joensuu Arco Hemsky Smyth Lander Jones
N. Schultz J. Schultz Ference Larsen Marincin Belov?
Dubnyk
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Play Yak. Last game Yak was flying early with Hall and getting some dangerous shots away, then, mysteriously, he gets benched and rode a lot of pine for no good reason. When the Corsi numbers came out after the game the fact that Yak was sat became even more questionable. When he was on the ice the Oilers had 12 shot attempts for and 0 against. It was a 100% Corsi percentage. I don’t care if you think Corsi is a waste of time, there wasn’t a single chance against when he played against the Flames. That’s damned impressive.
2) Fix The PP…Now. That thing is an embarrassment out there and no more so than against the Flames. They are back to being static and on the perimeter. They are forced to make long passes to the outsides because everyone is set up on the outside and not moving. Bring back the 5 forward unit that apparently allowed the only shorthanded goal in the history of hockey, please.
3) Pressure The D. The Hurricanes aren’t a particularly high scoring club and they don’t have many elite forwards. Eric Staal is having another underwhelming season although Skinner is playing well. However they are getting production from Justin Faulk and Andrej Sekera. These guys are logging a lot of minutes a night and distributing the puck. It behooves the Oilers to make their nights difficult out there. They need to forecheck relentlessly and bring some physicality.
Puck drops tonight at 7:38PM Mountain time on Sportsnet. Game On!
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy