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Oilers Rumors

Edmonton Oilers Introduce Ken Holland, Start Search For New Head Coach

May 7, 2019 at 11:08 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 3 Comments

The Edmonton Oilers have officially announced the hiring of Ken Holland as the team’s new general manager and president of hockey operations. CEO Bob Nicholson and owner Daryl Katz introduced the former Detroit Red Wings executive in a press conference today, explaining how thrilled the organization is to bring in a manager with Holland’s resume. The contract has been reported as a five-year deal worth $25MM, and Holland will have full autonomy in running the team.

While Holland is the big news of the day for the Oilers organization, the team also confirmed that Ken Hitchcock will not return as head coach next season. A search has begun to find his replacement, one which Holland will lead. Hitchcock was always expected to be a short-term fix, coming in to try and push the Oilers to the playoffs last season after a poor start under Todd McLellan. They didn’t make it in the end, and Hitchcock will remain with the organization in an advisory role.

Holland now has plenty of work to do. The Oilers have floundered in mediocrity for decades and have now missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons even with one of the league’s best players contributing every night. Connor McDavid has won the Ted Lindsay award twice already and is a finalist again this year after putting up 116 points in 78 games, but has failed to get much support from the rest of the roster. In fact, only two other forwards recorded more than 38 points this season, with players like Milan Lucic (20 points), Jujhar Khaira (18) Tobias Rieder (11), all playing huge chunks of the season without much offensive contribution. That scoring depth will be one of Holland’s first priorities, but it won’t be his only task on the way to a building a contender.

The Oilers also have nearly $23MM committed to a defense corps next season that is underwhelming at best, with Andrej Sekera set to lead the group with a $5.5MM cap hit. Sekera has played a total of 60 games over the past two seasons due to injury, and though he looked better than expected down the stretch he was still playing an average of only 16:29. Oscar Klefbom, Adam Larsson and Kris Russell are all earning at least $4MM for the next two seasons, and totaled 64 points this season in 215 games played.

Goaltending too is a concern, despite the three-year $13.5MM contract extension that the team handed Mikko Koskinen earlier this season. Koskinen had made just 31 NHL starts when he signed the contract, and finished the season with just a .906 save percentage through 55 appearances. While his size and previous experience in the KHL are good indicators that he can play at a better level, Holland will need to find a way to upgrade in net if he really wants to compete for the Stanley Cup.

Edmonton Oilers| Ken Hitchcock| Ken Holland

3 comments

Offseason Keys: Edmonton Oilers

May 6, 2019 at 8:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

While the playoffs are well underway, many teams have already started their offseason planning.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in what is shaping up to be a likely busy NHL offseason?  Next up in our Offseason Keys series is a look at the Edmonton Oilers.

2018-19 was a season to forget in Edmonton.  Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins all had career years and yet they were still well out of postseason contention.  A coaching change didn’t fix much and neither did relieving GM Peter Chiarelli of his duties.  Despite having a pair of elite forwards, this team still needs a lot of work.  Ken Holland is expected to take over as their new general manager and here are some of the areas he will be working on this summer.

Add Goaltending Help

Chiarelli had plenty of faith in Mikko Koskinen who showed some flashes of dominance mixed in with his general inconsistency in his first full NHL campaign.  In fact, he had enough confidence in his netminder to give him a three-year, $13.5MM extension which wound up being his final act as GM as he was fired shortly thereafter.  Koskinen got plenty of playing time down the stretch but it’s clear that he’s not ready to be a full-fledged number one goalie.

It was a little surprising that Anthony Stolarz, acquired in the Cam Talbot trade, didn’t get much of a look after being acquired; the fact that his usage was so limited suggests that it’s likely that they won’t look to bring the pending Group Six free agent back.  Shane Starrett has fared well with AHL Bakersfield this season but he’s only in his first year as a starter down there so bringing him up as a full-time platoon option would be risky.  Veteran Al Montoya won’t be back either.

Accordingly, they’ll have to look outside the organization to find a partner for Koskinen.  The challenge here will be deciding what the right price point is.  While they need someone that’s capable of playing at least 30 games (and could benefit from that player pushing for the number one role), their salary cap constraints and other holes to fill may force them to look for a more affordable option.

Bring In Scoring Wingers

With McDavid, Draisaitl, and Nugent-Hopkins down the middle, the Oilers have an enviable group of centers.  However, it’s the exact opposite situation when it comes to the wing.  They had one winger hit the 20-goal mark this past season and that was Alex Chiasson, who was able to earn a cheap contract and then surprisingly scored more goals than he did the previous two seasons combined.  Not many expect him to repeat his 17.9 shooting percentage if he winds up re-signing.

Beyond that, it wasn’t too pretty.  Zack Kassian scored 15 goals but was inconsistent throughout the season.  Milan Lucic had just six tallies, not the return on a $6MM AAV they were hoping for and with a virtual buyout-proof contract that has four years left on it, no help is on the horizon there.  Youngsters Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto both underachieved while Tobias Rieder, a capable winger in previous seasons, managed to go the entire year without scoring.  Drake Caggiula had the third-highest goal total among Edmonton wingers and he was dealt to Chicago back in December in a deal they’d love to have a mulligan on considering that Brandon Manning has already been buried in the minors.

While it’s far too early to give up on Puljujarvi and Yamamoto, it’s also going to be difficult to count on them for substantial contributions next season.  Tyler Benson had a nice rookie professional season and could be in the mix as well but it’s hard to put high expectations on him.  There are teams that could stand to add a top-six winger or two.  There’s a case to be made that Edmonton needs to add four of them.

Keep Reshaping The Back End

One way to overcome some shaky goaltending is to bolster the defense corps.  Edmonton has quietly built up a decent group of young defenders headlined by Evan Bouchard and Ethan Bear but they’re not ready to take on big roles next season.  Andrej Sekera, if he can stay healthy this summer, could take on a larger role than he had in the back half of the campaign but given his injury troubles, counting on that happening is risky.

The Oilers have a trio of core pieces in place in Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse, and Adam Larsson.  None of them are true number ones but they’re capable defenders with a bit of upside.  That’s a nice foundation to work with and as Bouchard and other youngsters get closer to being NHL ready, they should have a decent group to work with.  That may be a couple of years from happening though as there will be growing pains for those rookies along the way.

As for the others, Kris Russell is overpaid in his current role and could be trade bait.  Matt Benning had a limited role in 2018-19 and could also make sense as trade bait.  Neither of them will bring a top-four defenseman back but they may be able to add a winger for one of them.

Despite their poor record, Edmonton is clearly in win-now mode.  That means they’ll need to add a top-four defender to give them some insurance for injuries and really bolster the group in front of Koskinen.  While there is light at the end of the tunnel for their blueline, it still needs a newcomer or two if they plan to make an impact in the Pacific Division next season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Edmonton Oilers| Offseason Keys 2019

2 comments

Poll: Who Wins A Loui Eriksson-Milan Lucic Swap?

May 5, 2019 at 4:52 pm CDT | by Zach Leach 9 Comments

July 1st, 2016 is a day that a handful of NHL teams would like to forget. As the free agent market opened, mistakes were made, as they usually are, but this year in particular took a heavy toll. David Backes, Loui Eriksson, Andrew Ladd, Milan Lucic, Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo: six contracts, each with a term of five or more years, totaling $220MM. The contracts all looked bad right away and now three years later, all six players have been massive disappointments. None of those six teams – the Bruins, Canucks, Islanders, Oilers, Red Wings, and Sabres – have been able to shed those cumbersome contracts to this point either. As with most bad pacts, the teams must either give away something of value or take on a similarly poor contract to move the player. Entering a new off-season, patience is running out on most, if not all, of these players and it seems that long-awaited moves could be on the horizon.

But what if two of these teams simply decided to swap a 2016 mistake? It wouldn’t do much to help with cap compliance, but it would at least allow for the players to get a fresh start and perhaps play at a level closer to what was expected when their contracts were signed. Over the past few days, two players on this unfortunate list have hinted that they may want to leave as much as their teams would like to be rid of them. There seems to be a fit to make a deal as well. As a result, rumors have emerged that Loui Eriksson and Milan Lucic could be traded for one another.

Eriksson, coming off his worst season since he was a rookie in 2006-07, told a Swedish newspaper that he and head coach Travis Green “do not get on 100%”. As translated by The Province’s Patrick Johnston, Eriksson goes on to say that there is a lack of trust from Green, as reflected my a major drop-off in ice time, as well as a lack of opportunity when he is on the ice, as Eriksson feels he has been pigeon-holed into a defensive role. Still a capable two-way winger, Eriksson believes in his ability and promises to “keep fighting”, but is clearly frustrated in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, Lucic stopped just short of saying he would rather be playing for the Canucks right now during an appearance on Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver. When asked if he would welcome a move to his hometown, Lucic’s answer was pretty transparent:

That’s definitely something I wouldn’t rule out. It’s obviously something that potentially could happen. Like you said, things haven’t gone that well for me here with the Oilers. Especially the last year and a half. So a new GM, new coach, which haven’t even been named yet, coming in. You don’t even know what their plan is moving forward, and stuff like that. Like I said, it’s definitely something that could potentially happen… I think the Canucks right now are a very exciting team. I love what (Vancouver GM Jim Benning) has done as far as building the team within through the draft and developing players. He’s done a great job of that. I think Travis has done a really good job as well from a coaching stand point. Like I said, it’s an exciting team and it’s a growing team and you never know what the future has in store for you.

So, Lucic would seemingly like to be in Vancouver and Eriksson would seemingly like to be anywhere else. Benning has never been afraid to shake things up in Vancouver, while the Oilers are close to hiring a new GM, who will almost certainly want to shake things up. This deal, while only a convenient rumor, could happen. But is a one-for-one trade a fair swap? From a production and salary cap standpoint, it’s pretty close between these former Boston Bruins teammates.

Both Eriksson and Lucic carry a $6MM cap hit on their current contracts, but Lucic is signed for four more years versus only three for Eriksson. This is not inconsequential, as another year hurts even more on a bad contract as it additionally impacts potential buyout calculations. Lucic additionally has greater trade protection built into his deal, a problem if he continues to play poorly. The bulk of Eriksson’s actual salary has also largely been paid out in signing bonuses over the past few years, making him more affordable from a payroll standpoint. So while Lucic and Eriksson are even in terms of yearly cap calculations, Eriksson’s contract is friendlier. It is worth considering though that Eriksson, 33, has more tread on his tires than Lucic, 30, and could be less effective in year three than Lucic is in year four.

Lucic has the slight edge in terms of performance, as he has been the least bad of the pair. To his credit, Lucic has been extremely durable during his time in Edmonton, missing only three games over three seasons. In 243 games, the power forward has 104 points, including 39 goals. While his offensive numbers pale in comparison to his early years of production, he has maintained his physical style of play, logging 715 hits. In comparison, Eriksson has struggled to stay healthy with Vancouver. Formerly a tough, two-way winger, Eriksson has missed 50 games in his Canucks tenure and his injury history shows in his play style, which has become far less tenacious. Nevertheless, Eriksson has accumulated 76 points in 196 games, including at least 10 goals each season. It’s not much, but it’s a clip that would put Eriksson only ten points behind Lucic if he had played the same number of games. It’s worth noting that the overall picture looks poor for Eriksson, but he still shows flashes of offensive ability from time to time that Lucic does not.

Needless to say, neither Lucic nor Eriksson are players that any team would be excited to add at this point in time. But if the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks were to make this trade straight-up, would it be a fair deal? The Canucks land a hometown product who is younger and has been slightly more productive and far more durable over the past few years, while the Oilers get back a player that costs less, both in reality and against the cap, in the long-term and has a more versatile game and could have more upside. What do you think?

Boston Bruins| Buffalo Sabres| Detroit Red Wings| Edmonton Oilers| Injury| Jim Benning| New York Islanders| Polls| Travis Green| Vancouver Canucks Andrew Ladd| David Backes| Frans Nielsen| Frans Nielsen| Kyle Okposo| Loui Eriksson| Milan Lucic| Salary Cap

9 comments

Western Notes: Fedun, Oilers’ Front Office, Holden, Kubalik

May 5, 2019 at 1:58 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg Leave a Comment

With lots of questions surrounding the last spot on the Dallas Stars’ defense, SportsDay’s Matthew DeFranks reports that Taylor Fedun is expected to play after participating in warm-ups before Game 6 of their second round series against the St. Louis Blues. The veteran defenseman was questionable to play, but he successfully warmed up with no issues.

The team has been hampered by injuries at the third pairing spot alongside Ben Lovejoy, as both Jamie Oleksiak and Joel Hanley are out with injuries, while Fedun has also struggled to get on the ice. The team had a number of options if Fedun could not go, including Dillon Heatherington and Gavin Bayreuther.

  • While nothing has been signed, the Edmonton Journal’s Kurt Leavins suggests that if/when Detroit Red Wings Senior Vice President Ken Holland takes over as General Manager in Edmonton, he’s likely to bring front office personnel with him. He writes that Detroit’s Director of Amateur Scouting Tyler Wright is a likely candidate to follow Holland, as well as Ryan Martin, the Red Wings Assistant General Manager, who is the team’s salary cap guru. He adds that rumors that Dave Tippett could end up as the team’s head coach would be a good move considering the relative success he had in Arizona when the team had little to work with.
  • After being relegated to the press box for all but one game in the playoffs, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Nick Holden is motivated to come back and reclaim a spot on Vegas’ blue line, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Ben Gotz. The 31-year-old played in his least amount of regular season games since the 2013-14 season after he was passed on the depth chart by Jonathon Merrill. With one more year on his contract at $2.2MM, Holden must prove he is capable of being a regular. “Whenever you’re sitting out, it’s added motivation to try to bring your level up,” Holden said. “It’s good for a team to have that healthy competition, because that pushes all of us to be better.”
  • The Athletic’s Scott Powers (subscription required) writes that while the Chicago Blackhawks are finalists in the sweepstakes to sign Swedish forward Anton Wedin, the team is also expected to sign NLA forward Dominik Kubalik after the World Championships. Kubalik, whose rights were acquired from the Los Angeles Kings on January 24th of this year, is coming off a 25-goal, 57-point season in the Swiss League. The 23-year-old is expected to challenge for a bottom-six spot in the Blackhawks’ lineup immediately.

Chicago Blackhawks| Dallas Stars| Dave Tippett| Detroit Red Wings| Edmonton Oilers| Los Angeles Kings| NLA| Vegas Golden Knights Ben Lovejoy| Dillon Heatherington| Jamie Oleksiak| Joel Hanley| Nick Holden| Salary Cap| Taylor Fedun| Tyler Pitlick

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Oilers Waiting On Ken Holland To Make Decision On GM Opening

May 5, 2019 at 8:26 am CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg 4 Comments

Sunday, 9:14 a.m.: TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reports that Holland is expected to give his answer today and all indications suggest that he is interested in the job.

Sunday, 8:11 a.m.: Late last night, Friedman signed off, reporting that Holland’s decision on whether to take Edmonton’s five-year, $25MM offer will come in either Sunday or Monday. If Holland does accept the position, Dave Tippett would become the lead candidate for the team’s head coaching job.

Saturday, 8:37 p.m.: Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported (via Sportsnet’s Mark Spector) on Hockey Night in Canada that the Edmonton Oilers have offered Holland a five-year contract at $5MM per year to be the Oilers General Manager.

Saturday, 3:33 p.m.: No decision is expected to be made until next week, but the Edmonton Oilers could be close to choosing their future general manager. In fact, with the franchise having recently narrowed their search to three candidates in Detroit Red Wings Senior Vice President Ken Holland, interim general manager Keith Gretzky and former Toronto Maple Leafs’ assistant general manager Mark Hunter as their top candidates, The Athletic’s Allan Mitchell (subscription required) writes that it already looks like Holland has the inside track on the job.

Holland is expected to return from a trip overseas Saturday night, suggesting that negotiations might heat up soon. While just a few days ago the GM race was considered to be a “two-horse race” between Gretzky and Hunter, Sportsnet’s Marc Spector revealed one day later that the Oilers were going “all-in” on Holland. The question was whether Holland was interested in waiting for a potential general manager job opening in Seattle or would be willing to take over in Edmonton.

Holland is completing his 36th season in Detroit and his 22nd as general manager, but with Steve Yzerman taking over those duties, Holland could be looking for another GM position already. He certainly has a impressive resume, including three Stanley Cup Championships, four Presidents’ Trophies, and has seen his team reach 100-season points 13 times. Unfortunately, his recent resume hasn’t been as exemplary as he has continued to try to keep his franchise-winning teams in contention with questionable free-agent signings and only recently committed to rebuilding their salary-capped franchise. In fact, the Red Wings have finished with a worse record than the struggling Oilers franchise for several years now. Now 63 years old, many people wonder what Holland has done in the NHL lately and whether running a franchise has past him by.

The Edmonton Sun’s Terry Jones writes that CEO Bob Nicholson is likely banking on the team hiring Holland, as the scribe believes that Nicholson isn’t enamored with the two other candidates. After two interviews already with Hunter, the fact that they haven’t hired him suggests that Nicholson isn’t comfortable hiring him, while Jones also adds that he doesn’t think Nicholson believes that Gretzky is an “A-list” hire. The belief is that if Holland takes the job, he would have full control of the franchise and that he would never have even begun talking to Nicholson if he wasn’t interested in being a general manager again.

Mitchell adds that if Holland does take over, he will likely bring in his own people into the front office. And while, he believes that there will be a place for Gretzky no matter what, Holland has stated that your need four or five key people in place to run a franchise. One interesting option if Holland does take over is who might become the team’s next head coach, suggesting that Holland has close connections to current Dallas Stars assistant coach Todd Nelson. Changes could also come quickly depending on Holland’s assessment of the Oilers’ core.  That core of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Oscar Klefbom, Adam Larsson and Darnell Nurse could be altered, considering he wasn’t the man to bring them in.

Dallas Stars| Detroit Red Wings| Edmonton Oilers| Mark Hunter| Seattle| Steve Yzerman| Toronto Maple Leafs Adam Larsson| Connor McDavid| Darnell Nurse| Leon Draisaitl| Oscar Klefbom| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

4 comments

Snapshots: Laine, Holland, NWHL

May 3, 2019 at 3:29 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

The Winnipeg Jets and Patrik Laine have not had any contract negotiations, according to Andy Strickland of Fox Sports Midwest. The 21-year old sniper is scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer and is in line for a big raise after his third consecutive 30-goal season to start his career. In fact, Laine has 110 goals over his first three years, but saw his overall point output drop to just 50 this season despite playing in all 82 games.

The Jets have plenty of work to do this offseason with Laine, Kyle Connor and Jacob Trouba all headed for RFA status, and don’t have an eternity to get it done. With more and more reporters believing there is an increased chance of an offer sheet this season, getting deals for Laine and Connor done before July 1st would limit that opportunity for other teams.

  • Ken Holland has been the focus of much speculation over the last few days regarding the Edmonton Oilers general manager job, but now some details are becoming clear. Mark Spector of Sportsnet reports that the Oilers are willing to offer complete autonomy to Holland in the role and are waiting to receive an answer. Mark Hunter, Keith Gretzky and Sean Burke, the most commonly reported final candidates, have not been ruled out as back up plans if Holland turns the Oilers down.
  • The first cracks are showing in the NWHL after more than 200 players announced a boycott of all North American women’s professional leagues. Hailey Salvian and Katie Strang of The Athletic (subscription required) report that the 2019-20 season for the Buffalo Beauts is “up in the air” and that several players have “serious doubts” whether they will be operational. The reporters also indicated that expansion into Montreal and Toronto, two markets that were left vacant when the CWHL closed their doors earlier this year, is no longer likely.

Edmonton Oilers| Ken Holland| NWHL| RFA| Snapshots| Winnipeg Jets Patrik Laine

2 comments

Seattle Willing To Wait For General Manager Candidates

May 3, 2019 at 1:47 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

The Vegas Golden Knights had a valuable asset, and they knew it. When the team promoted Kelly McCrimmon to general manager yesterday, teams around the league had to change course on their own front office searches. The Edmonton Oilers were interested in McCrimmon, but according to Ryan Rishaug of TSN are now looking at either Keith Gretzky or Mark Hunter for the job. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic adds that the Seattle expansion franchise is “willing to be patient” now that McCrimmon is off the market. The Seattle group “would have gone hard” this summer to hire McCrimmon, but could now wait until next year.

It was always a possibility that the new team wouldn’t have a GM until 2020. The Vegas Golden Knights hired George McPhee to lead their expansion preparation in July 2016, less than a year before they had to make their selections in the expansion draft. The Seattle team won’t be doing that until 2021, meaning there is still plenty of time to get the management group in order.

Still, McCrimmon seemed like a perfect candidate given his success with Vegas in the first draft. The Seattle team will try to emulate the Golden Knights’ success, but may not have quite so many opportunities to pull good young players away now that team’s have experience preparing for a draft of this nature. LeBrun notes that Ken Holland may still be of “serious interest” to the Seattle group, but the Red Wings executive is taking his time to decide what is next.

Of note is the recent report that Dave Tippett has interviewed for the Buffalo Sabres coaching position. The veteran coach was serving in an advisory role for the Seattle organization and some had speculated that he would join their front office in some capacity. It appears as though the coaching bug has bitten Tippett again however, leaving it unclear whether or not he will be part of the organization for much longer.

Expansion| Kelly McCrimmon| Ken Holland| Seattle| Vegas Golden Knights

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Speculation Still Surrounding Ken Holland

May 2, 2019 at 8:28 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 6 Comments

The Edmonton Oilers lost a potential GM candidate today when the Vegas Golden Knights promoted Kelly McCrimmon in an effort to keep him with the franchise. It was no secret that the team was hoping McCrimmon would become available, but will have to turn their search in a different direction now. Immediately, the Golden Knights’ announcement made people wonder if former Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland would appear at the top of the Edmonton short list once again, or perhaps even be recruited by the expansion Seattle franchise which had also shown interest in McCrimmon.

Holland recently left the Red Wings position in order to bring Steve Yzerman back into the organization, but signed a multi-year extension in order to stay on in a senior position. That means there isn’t any rush for Holland to find another job, and he is apparently going to take some of that time. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that Holland is “currently taking stock of what lies ahead for him” but that the jobs in Edmonton and Seattle are still possibilities. For what it’s worth, Ryan Rishaug of TSN believes that the Edmonton situation is essentially a “two horse race” between Keith Gretzky and Mark Hunter.

There is obviously good reason to believe Holland would be open to another front office role with increased responsibility. While he admitted that he allowed Yzerman to come back to Detroit in order to help the franchise, a 62-year old Holland had signed a two-year extension with the Red Wings just over a year ago, expecting to be leading the rebuild. That rebuild has gone quite well, despite the Red Wings’ struggles on the ice the last few seasons. The team has started to shed their long expensive contracts and has a better prospect pool than they have had in years. Detroit will also pick four times in the first two rounds this June, and ten times overall unless Yzerman makes an additional move.

Holland commands quite a bit of respect around the league, and if LeBrun is correct that he will “want to probably resurface at some point” there undoubtedly will be organizations willing to offer him the GM role. We’ll have to wait and see if that time comes this summer or down the road, but nothing seems imminent at this point.

Detroit Red Wings| Ken Holland

6 comments

Kelly McCrimmon Promoted To Vegas GM

May 2, 2019 at 10:05 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

The Edmonton Oilers will not be hiring Vegas Golden Knights assistant general manger Kelly McCrimmon. That’s because the Golden Knights have promoted him to GM, while George McPhee will remain as President of Hockey Operations. Team owner Bill Foley released a statement:

This is a very exciting announcement for our club and Vegas Golden Knights fans around the world. George and Kelly are a fantastic team. From the mock draft exercises and preparation leading up to the Expansion Draft, building out our coaching staff, and continually improving our team through the draft, trades, signings and free agency, the work they have done over the last three years has been remarkable. Together they have constructed a championship-caliber team in a very short time. This personnel move ensures that our hockey operations group stays intact and positions our organization for long term success.

The Golden Knights have experienced unprecedented success for an expansion team, and a huge part of that has been the work that McCrimmon did as assistant GM. McPhee and McCrimmon were almost flawless in their execution of the expansion draft strategy that netted them players like Jon Marchessault, Shea Theodore and Nate Schmidt, and turned that strategy into a Stanley Cup Final appearance in their first season.

A promotion like this ensures that McCrimmon stays with the Golden Knights, something that wasn’t so clear before the announcement.  Edmonton who were reportedly interested in hiring McCrimmon for their front office vacancy, will now shift their focus somewhere else and perhaps back to interim GM Keith Gretzky. The team had wanted to interview several candidates for the opening, and have had at least two with former Toronto Maple Leafs assistant GM Mark Hunter. Hunter’s name is exactly who Darren Dreger of TSN suggests in a tweet, while also listing Gretzky and former NHL goaltender and Arizona Coyotes executive Sean Burke.

The next expansion franchise in Seattle will also have to cross McCrimmon’s name off the list, as they were another team with reported interest in bringing him aboard. That made a lot of sense given his experience in the process, but the new organization will have to find another way to navigate their expansion draft and inaugural season.

Edmonton Oilers| Kelly McCrimmon| Vegas Golden Knights Bob McKenzie

2 comments

Edmonton Oilers Sign Ryan McLeod

May 1, 2019 at 12:05 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

Wednesday: The Oilers officially announced a three-year entry-level contract for McLeod which will start next season, and an amateur tryout that allows him to join the Condors right away. McLeod will wear No. 28 for Bakersfield.

Tuesday: The Edmonton Oilers were far from playoff contention this season, but that wasn’t the case for their AHL affiliate. The Bakersfield Condors were one of the most exciting teams in the AHL this season and will begin a second-round playoff series on Friday against the San Diego Gulls. According to Mark Spector of Sportsnet they’re hoping to get some help for that series in the form of top prospect Ryan McLeod, who the Oilers are working to get signed this week.

McLeod, 19, was selected 40th overall last June and had another solid season in the OHL. The incredibly smooth skating forward recorded 62 points in 63 games split between the Mississauga Steelheads and Saginaw Spirit, only to record another 12 in 17 playoff contests. The Spirit were defeated by the Guelph Storm in seven games during the Western finals, meaning McLeod is free to join the AHL for the rest of the season.

Like his older brother, New Jersey Devils forward Michael McLeod, the Oilers prospect is a confident two-way player that looks ready to make a contribution at the professional level. While he may not have the huge point production of some of his contemporaries, his skating, size and work ethic are all good enough for him to take the next step. That speed is of considerable interest to an Oilers team that always seemed one step behind their opponents thi season—except of course for their captain—and something they will welcome happily into the organization.

Since he won’t turn 20 until September 21st, McLeod will not burn the first year of his potential entry-level contract even if he jumps right into the AHL playoffs this season.

AHL| Edmonton Oilers Ryan McLeod

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    Toronto Maple Leafs Acquire Henry Thrun

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    Stars Trade Matt Dumba To Penguins

    Panthers Sign Mackie Samoskevich To One-Year Deal

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