Off-Season Targets 2018: The Overview

It’s that time again my friends. Oilers hockey is very much in the rear-view mirror once again as the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue to roll along. The focus in Northern Alberta is on yet another massive summer. After falling flat on their faces a year ago in the off-season, it is redemption time for Peter Chiarelli and his group.

There are plenty of holes to fill, and possibly more opening up in the coming days and weeks. Our job here at The Oilers Rig is to present our suggestions for solutions via trade and/or free agency when transaction season gets underway in late June.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be giving you solutions to the issues presented last week in my annual look at Chiarelli’s summer shopping list. Before we look at the players I’ll be profiling, let’s take a quick look back at the shopping list.

The 2018 Shopping List:

1.) A top-six scoring winger
2.) Address second-pairing RHD
3.) Bottom-six penalty killer
4.) Figure out the coaching staff
5.) Add a backup goalie who can play 20-25 games

We won’t be looking at coaching options during this year’s series unless the Oilers let Todd McLellan go. I’m not sure that will end up happening, but the situation is still fluid so we’ll add that in if need be!

We’ll be taking a look at a number of free agent wingers, some wingers who could be on the outs via trade, free agent goaltenders from North American AND Europe, and a few defensive options via both trade and free agency.

The Candidates:

Without further ado, here is the list of players I’ll be looking at over the course of the next few weeks.

Goaltenders: Anton Khudobin (BOS), Carter Hutton (STL), Michael Hutchinson (AHL Manitoba, WPG), Jaroslav Halak (NYI), Jhonas Enroth (KHL), and Pavel Francouz (KHL)

Defenders: Justin Faulk (CAR), Tyson Barrie (COL), Mike Green (DET), Andrej Sustr (TBL), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (AZ), Chris Wideman (OTT), Torey Krug (BOS) and Erik Karlsson (OTT).

Forwards: Derek Ryan (CAR), Thomas Vanek (VAN/CBJ), Patrick Maroon (EDM/NJD), James Neal (VGK), David Perron (VGK), James Van Riemsdyk (TOR), Jannik Hansen (SJS), Scott Hartnell (NSH), Antoine Roussel (DAL), Michael Grabner (NYR/NJD), Dominic Moore (TOR), Kyle Brodziak (STL), Drew Stafford (NJD), and Ilya Kovalchuk (KHL)

We’ll start with the goaltenders tomorrow morning, and work our way through the entire list over the course of the remainder of April and May. We’ll look at why each player is out there, how they could fit the Oilers, what they would cost and take a look at scouting reports for each and every player.

Is there a player that isn’t listed above that you would like to see added to the list? Leave the name below in the comments section and I’ll add them to the list of players to profile. I’m interested to hear what players you all think could be solutions for Edmonton’s holes this summer.