Today was a great day in that Edmonton Oilers’ GM Ken Holland made a very good trade and picked up two great pieces. It could be argued if Connor Brown panned out then we wouldn’t be trading for Adam Henrique at all. Same could be said for Jack Campbell and his big cap hit. However, Henrique (and Sam Carrick) is a great addition and it was a very good trade!
What issues need to be addressed
What concerns me is that our forward group is our strength. Our defence is our weakness and has been for the most part of two decades now. 2016 being the best d core we’ve iced. We are always one defenceman away and picking up a forward. So my question is, can Henrique replace Cody Ceci in the top four? Are you okay with Ceci in your top four against Vegas Golden Knights, Vancouver Canucks, or the Colorado Avalanche? Are you okay with Vincent Desharnais in that spot?
I obviously don’t expect Holland to come out and say “we need to replace Cody Ceci” and his comments today were very professional and well said. However, I hope he’s lying. There are a lot of good forwards available right now. There are still a lot of good forwards available to be honest (Jordan Eberle come to mind almost immediately). While we were chasing a forward, our opposition were chasing a defenceman. Specifically, Dallas got Chris Tanev. Their defence was better than our defence before adding Tanev and they bolstered their D. The Avalanche picked up Sean Walker who was someone we could’ve used. They also have a better D core than us. Las Vegas picked up the biggest piece available piece in Noah Hanifin. Their D was also better than us. Our road to a Stanley Cup is almost guaranteed to go through at least one of those teams.
When looking around today, I see a lot of celebration on picking up a nice piece to fill out our middle six and fourth line. A few other people are seeing what I’m seeing.
Can Holland replicate last year’s success?
To be totally fair. Holland hit his biggest homerun in Mattias Ekholm last year and no one was mentioning that name. People like me were saying we need to put Evan Bouchard in the “Barrie position” and Holland certainly never said that he would do that. Then he did exactly that to tremendous success. So I am hoping, that on Friday, I am writing about what a genius he is for shoring up the right side and doing what is necessary to shore up our defence and fulfilling his fifth year with a roster that can compete for a Cup.
There are three guys that would be good to great in the spot. Two are not available and one is. Adam Larsson (yes, that one) would be tremendous for us! However, his father passed away in Edmonton and he’d prefer to not come back. Radko Gudas would add some toughness and grit and has proven he’s great in playoffs (just ask the Toronto Maple Leafs). But, alas, Radko won’t be coming here as he rejected us in the offseason. This leaves door number three.
Alexandre Carrier would be a very astute pickup. However, Nashville is in a playoff position after winning eight games in a row. Are they still selling? Do they want to sell to a potential playoff opponent? Does Holland have a player in mind that we don’t see coming (like Ekholm)? Or is the plan to pick up a 7D when we have Philip Broberg back in the AHL? We are addressing forwards and seventh defencemen when those aren’t the soft spot in our Death Star.
Holland has also publicly stated no goalie trade and we are going into the playoffs with Stuart Skinner as the starter. That is great and Skinner is a great choice. What happens if he gets hurt or falters, like last year? Is everyone comfortable with a Calvin Pickard-Jack Campbell duo in the playoffs?
Same question on the D. Are you comfortable rolling out the same six defencemen a year after the Vegas defeat? We have three top-four defencemen and not one of them is a Norris contender. That is a thin D. We are one injury from Vincent Desharnais in our top four and no team wins a Cup without injuries. I hope Holland is bluffing and feverently shopping for a top-four RHD right now. I hope I can praise him on Friday after acquiring one.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
