The Edmonton Oilers have done a number of things with their roster this off-season. The team moved Taylor Hall to New Jersey, officially changing the mix of the roster, and added Milan Lucic via free agency to replace him. Adam Larsson was brought in via trade to help fix the blue line, while a return to health is counted on with Oscar Klefbom to fill the same hole.
Jonas Gustavsson, Taylor Beck, Mark Fraser and Jere Sallinen were all brought aboard to provide experienced depth to the organization. When you combine that with college additions like Nick Ellis, Drake Caggiula and Patrick Russell, you see massive change in Edmonton.
Is it enough to push for the postseason in 2016-17? That’s the million dollar question that fans, media and bloggers are all discussing during these dog days of summer. Not everyone likes the moves made by Edmonton, and the opinions on how good the team will be vary from playoff bound to Nolan Patrick territory.
I’m on the record saying that the Taylor Hall trade was poor value, but I’ve also said that I really like the player acquired in Larsson and think that the club is better with both Lucic and Larsson on board for 2016-17. If Edmonton can get Klefbom back to health and Brandon Davidson continues his development, this team will fight for the playoffs.
I don’t think there is anyway that Peter Chiarelli will lose his job after just two seasons, but this year is going to go a long way towards determining his future in Edmonton. If the Oilers fail to improve and end up in the 20-30 range in the standings, well let’s just say that the heat gets turned way up on Chiarelli’s seat.
I believe that Edmonton must fight for a playoff berth deep into the season or sneak into the dance. Failure to do so will open up Chiarelli to even more criticism.
Frankie Simonelli To Bakersfield:
The Bakersfield Condors are severely lacking when it comes to right-shot defenders on the roster. The organization threw the AHL club a bone on Tuesday when it was announced that Frankie Simonelli, a two-year pro, signed a one-year AHL contract with the Condors.
The 23-year old defender is a right-shot and has some professional experience. After suiting up for the Wisconsin Badgers from 2010-2014, Simonelli signed with the Bruins organization to start his professional career. He’s played two seasons with them, seeing mostly AHL time.
Simonelli skated in 21 games with the Providence Bruins last season, registering 1-2-3 with 16 PIM’s.
I saw Simonelli twice in the AHL and he didn’t really stand out as a difference maker. That said, he’s a competent AHL’er who can move the puck and has some mobility to his game. I don’t think he’ll ever factor into the NHL plans in Edmonton, but he’s a decent enough depth option for the organization.
I suspect we’ll see him play a depth role in the AHL throughout the course of the 2016-17 campaign.
Kassian Buys In:
There are a lot of questions surrounding the Oilers, with one of those questions being the right wing depth chart. The Oilers have a legit top-six option in Jordan Eberle, but a lot of maybes behind him. I would love to see Nail Yakupov get a run with Connor McDavid this coming season, but he has yet to prove he can handle a top-six role for the duration of a season.
Iiro Pakarinen and Tyler Pitlick don’t seem to have the offense to play a top-nine role while Jesse Puljujarvi is a complete unknown at the NHL level.
Zack Kassian’s life was in a bad spot just ten months ago, but he’s done an excellent job of getting himself right and back into the NHL. He’s mentioned how focused he currently is and apparently he is in great shape.
Kassian has the ability to be a top-nine winger and if he has truly bought in, he could be an absolute steal for Edmonton. He’ll need to be more consistent than his late look last year, but this is a legit NHL player who could help the team.
If he can combine his physical style with some skill, he’ll be a constant in the top-nine for Edmonton in 2016-17.
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