It’s Friday, and I, like most of you, am extremely excited for the weekend. The Oilers rocked Colorado 8-2 last night, and host the Flames tomorrow night in a winnable game. Edmonton has turned things around as of late, and the group is starting to play somewhat like the team we expected to see come on the ice on October first.
The Oilers still have some holes, but from all indications Craig MacTavish is trying to fill said holes. The main one? A top-three defender, and top hockey website thefourthperiod.com is reporting the Oilers are still on the hunt.
Craig MacTavish, according to the report, is still looking for defensive help and has been working the phones since the summer, where he nearly came away with Flyers defender Braydon Coburn. TSN reported the Oilers offered three second round picks to the Flyers this past June, but that deal was rejected.
MacTavish has been talking to Florida, Toronto and New York according to the report, and has his sights set on a trio of young defenders that would both help the team and fit the time-line of the Oilers young and budding core.
The report states that MacTavish has had talks involving Jake Gardiner, Dmitry Kulikov and Michael Del Zotto. We have already talked about Kulikov and Del Zotto on this site, so I’m not going to really get into these two. We know Kulikov is a good young player that can handle top-four minutes, but isn’t the best option out of Florida, that’s Brian Campbell.
As for Del Zotto, we know he is a decent defender, but that he doesn’t really solve Edmonton’s issues on the back-end, and only would be a complimentary piece ALONG with a top-three guy. The report says as much.
The guy that really caught my eye was Gardiner. Oilers fans have talked about him at length, especially this past June around draft time, and there is a logical fit here in Edmonton. Add on that almost everyone thinks the Leafs will deal this guy, and the fact that the Leafs coaching staff doesn’t seem to like him all that much, and there might be some fire where there is smoke. Totally possible.
Jake Gardiner: Okay, we know this is a young defender and we know this is a guy with a good relationship with Justin Schultz. Gardiner, outside of Dion Phaneuf, was Toronto’s best defender in the playoffs last year and handled a top-four role quite well when he was placed in it last year. He’s got good hockey sense, is pretty good position wise, and can move the puck quite well.
The advanced stats, corsi especially, tend to really like Gardiner’s game, and he seems like a player from both the advanced stats, and the eye test. He’s most likely a top-three defender on most teams, and I’d be willing to wager he would get his fair share of minutes in Edmonton. Dallas Eakins is familiar with the player, and had a big role in his development, so this makes a lot of sense.
Jake fits Edmonton’s time-line for competing, as he is a younger player with almost his whole career ahead of him. He’s already handled tough situation roles, and has a decent amount of pro-games under his belt, and from all indications he has been one of Toronto’s best defenders this season when he has been in the lineup.
He also seems to fit the Oilers recent want of puck-moving defenders, who play well in a transition style of play. Gardiner certainly is not the savior for Edmonton on the blue-line, but adding him would no doubt improve things. We talked about it Monday night with Lowetide on The Oilers Rig Radio, how Edmonton needed two defenders to really set this unit straight. Jake Gardiner could certainly be one of them, and is apparently on Edmonton’s list.
What would the cost be? The Leafs have always been interested in Sam Gagner, and part of me wonders if he would be part of the asking price. I’d imagine an NHL roster forward and a second asset would get it done. Would Sam Gagner and Martin Marincin be enough to entice the Leafs? Would it be an overpayment by the Oilers? This is a tough one to gauge.
Would Gardiner be a fit in Edmonton? You better be he would be. Will it happen? Who knows. You can read the original post by thefourthperiod.com here: http://www.thefourthperiod.com/news/edm131204.html
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