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Edmonton Oilers Sign Stuart Skinner

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It’s been a good 24 hours for Stuart Skinner. The 19-year old goaltender for the Swift Current Broncos won the WHL Championship last night, and today has signed his three-year entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

Skinner, the Oilers’ third-round pick in 2017, posted an incredible .932 save percentage in the postseason for Swift Current, including six shutouts en route to the title. He’ll now play in the upcoming Memorial Cup, before likely heading to development camp in the summer. The big goaltender is a very interesting prospect and could represent the team’s future in net, though he still has several jumps to make in his development.

The Oilers don’t have a clear succession plan in place for their goaltending situation, with Cam Talbot scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. While they signed Mikko Koskinen out of the KHL recently, he’s also on just a one-year deal and will be a UFA in 2019. Behind those two, who figure to be the NHL tandem in 2018-19, there is a group of goaltenders including Laurent Brossoit and Nick Ellis who have all failed to show anything that would make one believe they can handle a starting job in the NHL. Brossoit is actually a UFA this summer, and doesn’t look like he’ll be retained at all.

Fellow CHL prospect Dylan Wells struggled this season in Peterborough, and is a long-shot to make a real impact at the NHL level. That leaves Skinner as the best goaltending prospect in the system, and one that will be watched carefully over the next few years. If he shows that his recent playoff performance can be repeated next season in the WHL, perhaps the team won’t have to go out and acquire another long-term option in net, instead just re-signing Talbot and hoping Skinner can make the team before long.

Latest On Ilya Kovalchuk

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One name that will grace the free agent market this summer and could be seen as a game-changer for some teams is Ilya Kovalchuk, as he returns from the KHL. Though now 35, some believe he still has what it takes to be an impact player in the NHL and could be one of the top free agents left come July 1st. It has been reported that Kovalchuk would prefer to play on the east coast in a place like New York or Florida, but there are no shortage of teams all over the league who could use a goal-scoring winger. One of those is the Edmonton Oilers, who have struggled to find enough talent to surround Connor McDavid.

That’s why it’s interesting that Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet notes in his latest column that the Oilers checked in on Kovalchuk. Friedman notes that “it won’t happen” and Bob Stauffer of 630 CHED adds that he believes the Oilers never even pursued the Russian winger. Edmonton will need to look elsewhere for their offensive upgrade, though it’s not clear where exactly it will come from.

For Kovalchuk, it’s unclear what his market will really be. Though it’s true that teams do need scoring wingers, he comes with more baggage than the average free agent. Not only does his history—”retiring” from the New Jersey Devils in the midst of a long-term contract to return to the KHL—stand against him with some front offices, but he also qualifies as a 35+ player this offseason. That means that a team would be held culpable for his cap hit regardless of any similar retirement decisions in the future, a risky prospect in the tight salary structures of many contenders. The Rangers, assumed the most appealing destination to Kovalchuk, are entering a mini-rebuild and may not want to spend money on an aging star. They have admitted their focus is on young players, and signing Kovalchuk for anything but big minutes and powerplay time is unlikely.

So, we’ll have to wait and see what kind of market emerges for the Russian sniper. It will likely be easier to count the teams interested than those who are not, though you can now place the Oilers firmly in the latter category.

Snapshots: Hunwick, Pitlick, Stars

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Matt Hunwick’s first season in Pittsburgh did not go according to plan. After signing a three-year, $6.75MM contract with the Penguins at the opening of free agency, the expectations were that Hunwick would be a capable everyday defenseman. Yet, by the trade deadline Hunwick had missed 18 games due to injury and a few more due to healthy scratches and had just five points on the year to show for the games he did play in. Less than a year in to a three-year pact, GM Jim Rutherford was searching for a way to move his contract. When he couldn’t, Hunwick ended up watching 26 of the Penguins final 29 regular season games and each game of the postseason from the press box. These disappointing results are not lost on Hunwick though; the veteran defenseman was honest in his self-criticism when speaking to the gathered media yesterday, reports The Athletic’s Seth Rorabaugh. Hunwick did attribute some of the blame for his poor play to injury and a Penguins system that was difficult to adjust to, but largely took responsibility for the campaign by admitting his lack of a mental edge. “I don’t think I played with enough confidence throughout the season…Maybe (confidence was) part of the reason (for struggling)”, Hunwick said, adding ““I’d hope to play a lot better (next season). I’d like to be more assertive and be more confident right out of the gate. Now knowing the system and the guys, I think that should happen.” Maybe that will happen for Hunwick, but that is assuming he remains in Pittsburgh to begin next season. Rutherford still faces the pressure of the salary cap crunch and an overpaid depth defenseman is an ideal target to move out, if possible. Hunwick has proven to be a capable player over his career and he very likely would improve in year two with the Penguins, but he may not be afforded the opportunity after a rough start this year.

  • On the other end of the spectrum is Dallas Stars forward Tyler Pitlick. In grading out the roster after a frustrating end to the season – a late-season collapse that cost the team a playoff spot – Sportsday’s Joshua Friemel calls Pitlick a highlight of an otherwise disappointing season. In fact, Friemel states that Pitlick may have even been a better off-season addition than big-name acquisitions Ben Bishop, Marc Methot, or Martin Hanzal. The Stars spent right up to the cap in 2017-18, but paid Pitlick only $1MM and got 80 games and 27 points back in return. Friemel points out that his 14 goals were good enough for sixth on the team and they were also more than Jason Spezza and Antoine Roussel combined, who together made $9.5MM. Pitlick also contributed on the penalty kill and was one of the Stars’ more physical and effective two-way players. Better yet, Pitlick still has two years remaining on his deal at that same bargain rate. The underutilized Edmonton Oilers prospect may have been little more than a waiver when he signed in Dallas and may have flown under the radar this season, but going forward his value will no longer go unnoticed.
  • Staying in Dallas, Stars owner Tom Gaglardi made the rare cross-organization reassignment today. The Kamloops Blazers, the WHL team that Gaglardi shares ownership in, today announced several front office changes, including the assignment of GM Stu MacGregor to the Stars organization, as Gaglardi also owns both Dallas and AHL Texas. The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro clarifies that MacGregor has been transferred to the Stars’ amateur scouting department, where his experience with junior hockey can be put toward a different purpose. With the Blazers finishing with the fifth-worst record in the league this season, changes were expected, but it’s a shrewd move by Gaglardi to replace his GM for one team without losing an asset by instead strengthening his other team.

Poll: Should The Edmonton Oilers Trade The 10th Pick?

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The Edmonton Oilers are picking in the top-10 again this year. That was not the expected outcome after their 103-point 2016-17, and especially not with a healthy Connor McDavid. The team finished 36-40-6 this year, and wasted the last season of McDavid’s relatively inexpensive entry-level contract. The captain will start his eight-year $100MM extension in 2018-19, and immediately put a strain on the team’s finances.

So, what do you do this summer? Do you select another high-upside player and hope that he and other young prospects like Jesse Puljujarvi can quickly ascend the ranks to dominate at the NHL level? Or do you pick up the phone and try to make a move to improve the club immediately?

As we wrote yesterday, Peter Chiarelli is apparently considering both options carefully. The Oilers’ GM is open to the idea of trading the 10th-overall pick, and Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal even called the odds “high” that it is moved at some point between now and June 25th. As Chiarelli put it:

A player at No. 9 or No. 10 isn’t going to play next year. We’ll certainly listen to offers, and if there is a trade, it would probably be on the draft floor.

The question is, should there really be a rush to compete? Now that McDavid is already into his expensive extension, and Leon Draisaitl is already on year two of his eight-year $68MM deal, it’s not like there is a closing window. In fact, with their best two players both 22-and-under, there could still be an argument to be made that the window will be widest after two or three more years. That’s incidentally when some of the expensive contracts for underperforming defensemen will come off the books, giving the team more flexibility to go after free agents or lock up internal options.

By then, the 10th-overall pick could be ready to be an impact player in the league, while whoever they trade for could be headed for the open market.

On the other hand, Cam Talbot is signed for just one more season and is now on the wrong side of 30, while Milan Lucic is already showing drastic signs of slowing down. Waiting could open up other holes on the roster, that can’t be filled without trading other valuable assets.

So should the Oilers make a move? Does it make sense to hold onto the pick? Cast your vote and leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Snapshots: KHL, Oilers, Tkachuk

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Recently, Sport.Buisness-gazeta out of Russia published a list of players that were expected to leave the NHL this summer and return to the KHL. The list was made up of Nikolai Kulemin, Victor Antipin, Nikita Soshnikov, Rinat Valiev, Sergey Tolchinsky, Radel Fazleev, Andrey Pedan, Yaroslav Dyblenko, Sergei Boykov, Yakov Trenin and Anton Slepyshev. With the news this morning of Dyblenko’s pending contract termination, another one of the players have been confirmed to be returning. When added to the already confirmed exits of Tolchinsky, Valiev and others, it lends credibility to the entire list, meaning several others will likely be announced in the coming days.

Players like Soshnikov and Antipin were expected to be contributors to their NHL squads in 2018-19, but are both pending restricted free agents meaning they can easily go home if they so choose. For the NHL club, extending a qualifying offer will retain the exclusive negotiating rights with the player going forward, rights that won’t expire because of the lack of a transfer agreement between the two leagues.

  • The Edmonton Oilers are set to select 10th in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, but as Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal writes, GM Peter Chiarelli has made it clear they will explore trading the pick. Connor McDavid is already one of the best players in the league, and the Oilers need to take advantage of these prime years while they have them. Their defense corps just wasn’t good enough this season, and whoever they would take this season likely wouldn’t be ready to contribute until 2019-20 at the earliest. The Oilers have plenty of other tough decisions to make this summer, as they face contract negotiations with Darnell Nurse and Ryan Strome, and the daunting task of providing some support for McDavid up front. The team has already brought in some competition for Cam Talbot in the form of Mikko Koskinen, who cost the team a one-year $2.5MM contract.
  • Speaking of draft picks who won’t make an impact next season, Mike McMahon of College Hockey News is reporting that the plan right now is for Brady Tkachuk to return to Boston University for his sophomore season. Tkachuk is expected to be a top-5 pick in the upcoming entry draft, and could still obviously be convinced by an NHL team to leave school early. That may change the draft board for some of the top teams who want to compete in 2018-19 and are hoping for a player who can step right into the league in October.

Darnell Nurse Does Not Expect To Be Too Involved In His Contract Talks

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  • Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse is set to become a restricted free agent for the first time but noted to Dhiren Mahiban of the Sporting News that he isn’t particularly worried about the situation, nor does he plan to get overly involved in the negotiations. He also indicated that he’d like to remain in Edmonton; with their salary cap situation though, there are bound to be some changes on the horizon.  Nurse led all Oilers defensemen with 26 points and sat second on the team in ice time.  As a result, he is well-positioned to land a significant raise on the $863K he received this past season.

Yohann Auvitu Won’t Return To Oilers

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Defenseman Yohann Auvitu’s time with the Oilers has come to an end.  In an interview with Finland’s MTV (link in Finnish), he states that while he has not yet decided where he’ll play next season, he plans to leave the NHL and head back overseas.  He’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent in July so they will not retain his rights.

The 28-year-old had a limited role with Edmonton in 2017-18.  He spent a lot of time as a healthy scratch and even saw a bit of action on the wing.  In the end, he played in 33 games with the Oilers, posting three goals and six assists while logging 13:33 of ice time per night.

Auvitu only came to the NHL in time for the 2016-17 season as he signed his entry-level deal as a 27-year-old with the Devils that year following a strong showing with HIFK in the SM-liiga and at the World Championships with France.  He split that year between New Jersey and their farm team before signing with Edmonton.

While he decides on his playing future, Auvitu is back with a familiar time for the time being as he is suiting up for France for the ninth time at the World Championships which got underway earlier today.

Snapshots: Koskinen, Francouz, Kruger, Martinook

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The excitement of the Edmonton Oilers’ signing of KHL goaltender Mikko Koskinen wore off quickly. As The Athletic’s Jonathan Willis points out, Koskinen’s $2.5MM cap hit on his one-year deal now looks like a major over-payment compared to a more recent deal for an import goalie. When the Colorado Avalanche signed Pavel Francouz yesterday, they got a better goalie for considerably less. Francouz’s deal with the Avs is also for one year, but for just $690K. Yet, Francouz was the best keeper in the KHL this year with a .946 save percentage and 1.80 GAA in 35 appearances for Traktor Chelyabinsk. With no disrespect to Koskinen, who was very good as well, the new Oiler had a .937 save percentage and split time with young Igor Shestyorkin, playing in just 29 games, yet will make more than triple what Francouz does next season. In fairness, Koskinen did have superior GAA this year (1.57) and has a small amount of NHL experience, but that does not totally make up for the $1.81MM difference between the two contracts. To add another layer, Francouz is also a younger and more athletic goalie than Koskinen and likely has a brighter long-term future in the NHL. Admittedly, the Oilers signed Koskinen first, so this could me more of a case of Colorado GM Joe Sakic getting his man for below-market value, but it seems more likely that it goes along with the trend of Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli setting his sights on a player and not considering fair value or alternative options. Past results of these decisions have not worked out well for the Oilers, but we will have to wait for next season to see how the Koskinen signing pans out.

  • In digging deeper into another recent transaction, today’s Marcus Kruger–Jordan Martinook trade has some scratching their heads. Given the team is currently operating without a GM, it is truly impressive that the Carolina Hurricanes seemingly came out on top in this deal in all aspects. Not only was Kruger available to the Arizona Coyotes for free earlier this year, but they gave up Martinook to get Kruger, who is much like a younger, better version of Kruger. The two forwards are both known for their two-way ability, but Martinook has 64 points in 239 games over the last three seasons compared to Kruger’s 44 points in 247 games over the past four years combined. At nearly 28 years old, Kruger’s career high in points is 28 with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013-14 and he has never recorded double-digit goals, while the 25-year-old Martinook reached his career best of 25 points just last year, including 11 goals. Martinook has just as many 20+ point seasons as Kruger in only three full NHL seasons exclusively playing for the lowly Coyotes, while Kruger has spent almost his entire career with the dynastic Blackhawks. Defensively, Kruger does have the advantage of being a natural center who does well at the dot most years and is a positive possession player, but Martinook is far more physical and great along the boards, not to mention he has been the Coyotes’ best takeaways man since entering the league. Unlike past deals where the Coyotes took on a bad contract from another team in exchange for draft capital or prospects, Martinook will actually make less in salary than Kruger next season and even with the Hurricanes’ retention of a tenth of Kruger’s deal, the money essentially cancels out. So why make this deal? Arizona GM John Chayka must have a good reason, but on its face the only benefit to the Coyotes is a jump of 20-odd draft slots this June from the top of the fourth round to the middle of the third round.

Edmonton Oilers Sign Mikko Koskinen To One-Year Deal

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Though there was plenty of speculation that goaltender Mikko Koskinen had agreed to a two-year $5MM deal, the Edmonton Oilers today announced something different. The team revealed that Koskinen has signed on for just one year, meaning he’ll hit unrestricted free agency once again in the summer of 2019. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic adds that it will be a $2MM salary with $500K signing bonus, meaning the goaltender will carry a $2.5MM cap hit.

Koskinen, originally a draft pick (31st overall) of the New York Islanders, has been playing in the KHL for the past five seasons. This year the 29-year old put up some of the best numbers in his professional career, posting a .931 save percentage and 1.69 GAA in 31 games for SKA St. Petersburg. The monstrous goaltender went 24-4-1 in those games with five shutouts, and will now try his luck in the NHL. He also competed in the Olympics for Finland, posting a .932 in five games.

Interestingly, the Oilers also have Cam Talbot and Al Montoya heading into the final years of their current contracts, leaving some uncertainty about where the goaltending position is headed for Edmonton. Laurent Brossoit will be a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer, and none of the other young goaltenders in the organization look ready to take on a starting role.

That would suggest that this season could be a proving ground for Koskinen, if he’s given the chance to battle Talbot for starts. The Oilers have relied on the 30-year old Talbot heavily over the last few years, giving him the most starts in the league each of the last two seasons. Though he was outstanding in 2016-17 and placed fourth in Vezina trophy voting, his play fell off dramatically this season as he posted the worst numbers of his career.

Talbot obviously has the talent to rebound and become an above average goaltender again, but the Oilers can’t take the chance that he struggles once again. They needed to find another goaltender who could take some of the load off his shoulders, and they believe Koskinen is it.

This deal may actually excite New York Rangers fans the most, as it now opens up the full-time starting job on St. Petersburg to young phenom Igor Shestyorkin. The 22-year old goaltender registered a .933 save percentage in 28 starts this season, but with Koskinen out of the picture should get even more work. They’ll try to bring him over to North America eventually, perhaps to be the successor to Henrik Lundqvist in a few years.

For Edmonton though, this is a worthwhile gamble on a goaltender who has long been considered one of the best playing outside of the NHL. If he can find his game, perhaps they’ll sign him to a longer deal next summer, or use him as trade bait come February. If not, a one-year deal provides little risk for the franchise as it looks to build a perennial contender behind Connor McDavid.

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