Craig MacTavish completed a flurry of roster moves yesterday that saw him swap out several bodies. There was nothing blockbuster about it but they remove a couple of under-performing depth players and insert some new faces.
From a cynical perspective the tinkering of the roster might appear like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic but if the GM refuses to let the position his team is in affect the value of his assets then these are the moves that are available. Surely the 29 other teams would like the better players on the Oil to become cheaper to acquire, but I'm glad they aren't yet.
First the Oilers announced that they claimed Matt Fraser from the Bruins and subsequently placed Pinizzotto on waivers. The big knock on Fraser has been his skating, and that will truly limit how far you can go in the NHL, but he has been a scorer at every other level he's played in and is just 24 years old. It is possible for him to still find a career in the NHL and the Oilers have nothing but opportunities to provide in the next 40ish games.
Next Edmonton announced that the Oilers activated Nikitin from the IR and then placed Brad Hunt on waivers. Hunt has been very poor in his own end but he possesses a big shot. In many ways he is a smaller, less physical Nikita Nikitin. The big Russian has been completely Jekyll and Hyde all year but he is still an upgrade over Hunt. He might be #6 these days, but no other team in the NHL would have Hunt higher than 9 on their depth charts.
With those two moves I thought the team was done but then they announced that Mark Arcobello had been moved to Nashville in exchange for Derek Roy. Once upon a time the future of Derek Roy was actually quite bright, but injury may have played a part in derailing that career. If we think Roy will be an instant upgrade over Arcobello we should reconsider that position.
Roy was gifted the 2nd highest proportion of Offensive Zone Starts (45.3%) but had a very middling CF (52.4%) and his WOWYs (With or Without You) suggest that he was a bit of an anchor for his teammates.
In addition to the questionable fancies, his traditional stat lines are less than stellar. He has a very underwhelming 1 Goal and 10 Points on the year and is shooting less than 3%. The good news is that luck should normalize eventually and that he should be in for an increase in ice time.
In Nashville Roy was playing 11:22 per game at Evens and 1:25 on the PP. Arco was playing 13:22 at Even Strength but only 50 seconds per game on the man-advantage. Roy should be slotting in with Perron and Purcell right away and that might also spur on some more Offense from him.
One of the questions that many will have is why the Oil would not have simply claimed Roy off of waivers instead of trading a player for him. The answer to that question might lie with what would happen if Leon Draisaitl was returned to Junior. It turns out, as first reported by Elliotte Friedman, that Draisaitl would still count against the 50 contract limit even in the WHL. Adding Roy would mean adding a contract which could limit their ability to make deals at the deadline.
Last night Jim Matheson reported that the Kelowna Rockets have dealt for the rights of Draisaitl but the deal has not been officially announced. With Draisaitl quickly approaching the 39 game deadline before his Unrestricted Free Agency starts to count down the Oilers have a decision to make.
It certainly seems right now as if the team is gearing up to move the German rookie back to the WHL where he will play on a contender for the Memorial Cup.
LINEUP
Obviously the changes are small but plentiful enough to make a big change. There should be a lot of adrenaline tonight with Nikitin coming back and both Fraser and Roy making their debuts. While he was placed on waivers, Pinizzotto is still in Edmonton and even took the morning skate. Pouliot also took the morning skate, which bodes well for the team.
Hall RNH Eberle Yak Roy Purcell Perron Draisaitl Fraser Hendricks Gordon Pitlick
Ference Petry Klefbom Fayne Nikitin Schultz
Scrivens
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Adrenaline. The 2nd line and the 4th line should have some jump tonight with the new guys wanting to make an impact on the game. They will need that adrenaline to take on the LA Kings who played and lost a tight one last night against the Flames. The Kings will want to crush the Oil after that one.
2) No Lapses. That game against the Flames proved that just 2 minutes of abandoning your senses is enough to lose the game. All of Schultz, Hunt, Klefbom, Fayne, and Fasth lost the plot at the same time and disaster followed. The Kings are not the team you want to play less than 60 minutes against.
3) Leon. It might be too late as it is for him to make the statement that he belongs in the NHL. If he disappears against the Kings then it's probably a done deal that he'll be a Kelowna Rocket in a week or so. He needs to break out and show what he can do. I like parts of his game but he just doesn't look ready and I am looking forward to him playing against peers and succeeding.
Puck drops tonight at 7:38PM Mountain Time on Sportsent West. Game On!
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