Re: Edmonton Oilers
I was off enjoying the great outdoors all weekend so had to get caught up on the draft last night. I absolutely LOVE everything Chiarelli did over the weekend, he knew where the holes were on his team and had a plan to fix those, and if his Plan A didn't come to fruition he immediately executed Plan B and to add to it his former employer was imploding on itself for most of the draft.
1. D-man. He knew he needed a D-man so he went after Hamilton (I have a hunch he may have told Boston he was going to offer-sheet Hamilton, he at least threatened as much in the media) He offered a solid package but didn't get his guy. When that didn't work out he works out a solid trade for Reinhart, a top-5 pick 2 years ago with strength, grit and development? Yes please.
2. Talbot. Next he went out and got Talbot, who was by all accounts the guy they wanted. To be perfectly honest I'm a little bit concerned about Talbot transitioning to a starter, but that was the guy they wanted and they didn't overpay, they stuck to their plan of not using the 16th pick and still got him. I'm not sure if Talbot or Lack would be better, I think their talents are fairly even, I suspect Chiarelli quickly recognized he was going to have to massively overpay Vancouver for Lack so that halted talks in a hurry.
3. Gryba. Chairelli has talked since day 1 about being "heavier" and tougher to play against, Gryba adds that dimension to our game for a very moderate return.
I was disappointed the team traded Marincin, I thought he had solid potential to be a regular NHL player, I know the Oilers wanted him to be more physical though.
All in All I think it was a massively positive weekend for the Oilers, I can't remember a draft where they made so many moves to fill their obvious holes.
Next up, free agency, I would still like the Oilers to target another NHL-calibre top-4 D-man. Sekera and Franson are out there as are Paul Martin and a few others. Also, I'd love to throw some money at Niemi and have a Niemi/Talbot pairing going forward. Do whatever you have to with Scrivens to get rid of him at that point.
12 team H-2-H 1 year league, daily roster changes, 3 goalie start minimum/week
2xC, 2xRW, 2xLW, 4xD, 3xUtil, 2xG, 5 Bench
G, A, P, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, Hits, W, SV%, GAA, SVs
C: C. Keller, C. Mittelstadt, B. Nelson, R. Strome,
LW: K. Connor, B. Tkachuk, J. Gaudreau, J. Marchessault, E. Rodrigues, A. Lafreniere
RW: K. Fiala, J. Bratt, T. Jeannot V. Arvidsson
D: R. Josi, J. Trouba, E. Gustafsson,
G: L. Thompson, F. Gustavsson, V. Vanecek
NO IR