The Edmonton Oilers still have some questions and concerns with their roster
Sportsnet 590 The FAN: Jason Gregor on the Edmonton Oilers offseason moves to date. There are some questions remaining heading into the season. They’re going to hold three goalies to start out next yr. They may use some more physicality after trading out Darnell Nurse. The Oilers have some salary cap space now to make some moves between now and the trade deadline.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Justin Bourne: “So, the Oilers a day, you realize, the draft behind us, and free agency behind us, the roster just about the identical. Couple of recent D, (Shakir) Mukhamedullin, if I’m saying that right, good try. And Freddie Anderson, how do you are feeling? Have they made any substantial change?”
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Gregor: “Well, well, the most important change probably is the indisputable fact that they really have cap space for the primary time that I can remember, right.? In order that they’ve got like seven and a half million dollars, and so they’ve got all their guys signed.
Like, actually, they’re going to hold three goalies, that’s my understanding. Anderson, (Tristan) Jarry, and Devon Levi. And I believe it’s fair to say, guys, that there’s, there’s some query marks here. Because you realize, Freddie Anderson, he’s not a 55-game starter anymore, right? You look, it was what he’s like, last yr, he began 35, 22, 19, 33 I believe his last 4 years. So he has a history of injuries, nobody can debate that.
So Tristan Jarry didn’t have that history, however the last two years he has, so can between the 2 of them, can they, can they play enough games, after which possibly Devon Levi is your third stringer, who plays 20. I believe that’s their strategy. They don’t have plenty of money tied up of their goaltending now. Freddie Anderson when healthy, I don’t think anybody debates he’s an excellent goalie. However the, when healthy is a fact which you could’t overlook.
On defense, Darnell Nurse doesn’t miss any games; he’s only missed 18 games last nine years, and your best ability is dependability, so he all the time shows up.
Now, Ryan Shea had an amazing yr in Pittsburgh, and I looked up, you realize, his minutes played, I look up who he played against, you realize, he’s a second pair of defenseman. And with (Evan) Bouchard and (Connor) Murphy in your right side, those are your top two defense on the proper side, you bought (Jake) Walman, (Mattias) Ekholm, and Shea now on the left side.
My concern is the Oilers don’t have an excessively physical blue line right away. Not overly big, but you realize, Ryan Shea, is he competitive enough? Yes, I believe he, he, he’ll make less of the large errors that Nurse would make now and again. But more importantly, I believe it just gives them flexibility that now they will go to the trade deadline, and in the event that they’re missing pieces, they don’t should just, you realize, attempt to scrimp and scratch and claw. They’ll have significant amount of cap space to really add some players.
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And I wouldn’t be surprised, guys, if, like, we already had a trade at Calgary, Minnesota. I don’t think the summer of trades within the NHL are done simply because free agencies passed. I believe there’s plenty of teams which might be still going to be trying to make some moves.”
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