Newly minted Edmonton Oilers GM, Craig MacTavish, is intrigued by his team's options heading into the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. The Oilers have stockpiled lottery picks the past four seasons and have drafted well as a result. They've landed trophy bucks like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent Hopkins, and Nail Yakupov. The Oilers are long on forwards, short on aggressive D. Thats why MacTavish is heading into the NHL Draft with his eyes and mind wide open.
MacTavish told Mark Spector of the Team 1260 that he has been doing his homework: scouting, studying and interviewing dozens of players for draft. He recently traveled to Helsinki and Stockholm to watch players live at the IIHF World Hockey Championships.
The Oilers will select 7th overall, one spot ahead of Buffalo. They have targeted Nurse in round one. If he's gone, there will be other difference-making D men available to the Oilers like the skyscraping Zadorov, the rugged Ristolainlen, or the pugnacious Pulock.
Because of the sheer magnitude of talented players in this year's first round, MacTavish is open to trading up into the top five, as well as trading back on order to get a daily double: a veteran player who can help the Oilers will right noiw, along with a top ten first round draft choice in the 2013 entry draft.
Thanks, Team 1260
MacT all but said goodbye to Oiler vets Ales Hemsky and Shawn Horcoff. The youth movement will win out in the end. The Sabres should NOT be kicking the tires if either player. Too old. Too expensive.
MacT also proclaimed goaltending the area of his team that needs to be upgraded ASAP.
Khabibulin was effective last season, however, he's 40 years old now. Its time for the Oil to go in a new direction with their tending.
Imagine Ryan Miller in the Edmonton cage. Vezina drummer back stopping a group of young rock stars. Scary to think about the possibilities.
I can see a scenario whereby Darcy Regier and Craig MacTavish talk turkey about trading first round picks. Remember, Edmonton have a ton of salary cap and could be coaxed int o taking on a high salary, Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford or Ville Leino.
It will be interesting to see what the Oilers do in the draft floor in Newark. They're doing their due diligence now and are role playing now for any potential trade scenarios that may present themselves on June 30.
Here's the International Scouting Services's Top 20 Prospects:
1 MacKinnon, Nathan C 6.00 182 Halifax QMJHL
2 Jones, Seth RD 6.03.5 208 Portland WHL
3 Drouin, Jonathan C 5.10.75 185 Halifax QMJHL
4 Nichushkin, Valery F 6.04 202 Chelyabinsk Traktor KHL
5 Barkov, Sasha F 6.03 209 Tappara FinE
6 Nurse, Darnell LD 6.03.5 189 S.S. Marie OHL
7 Lindholm, Elias C 6.00 192 Brynas SweE
8 Zadorov, Nikita LD 6.05.25 230 London OHL
9 Monahan, Sean C 6.02 186 Ottawa OHL
10 Horvat, Bo C 6.00.25 200 London OHL
11 Ristolainen, Rasmus RD 6.04 207 TPS Turku FinE
12 Lazar, Curtis C 5.11.75 193 Edmonton WHL
13 Shinkaruk, Hunter C 5.11 175 Medicine Hat WHL
14 Pulock, Ryan RD 6.00.5 211 Brandon WHL
15 Wennberg, Alexander C 6.01.5 190 Djurgarden Sweden
16 Burakowsky, Andre LW 6.01.5 178 Malmo SweAl
17 Santini, Steve RD 6.01.5 207 USA Under-18 NTDP
18 Gauthier, Frederik C 6.05 210 Rimouski QMJHL
19 Zykov, Valentin RW 6.00 210 Baie-Comeau QMJHL
20 Rychel, Kerby LW 6.01 200 Windsor OHL
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Pat Kane is in a bad place right now. He's ranked 27th in NHL playoff scoring, with 9 of his 10 total points coming as even strength points. Kane only has 1 point in the PP in 15 playoff games. He's putting on a show for the home fans, scoring 7 points at home. He's been absolutely invisible on the road. Which is where Game 4 is being played tonight at Staples Center is Botox City.
If Kane were a rookie or a novice, I'd be writing him excuses. However, he's a veteran Cup winner. He knows the sacrifices that players, old and young, have to make at this time of year to insure wins in tight games. Kane's shadow boxing right now when he needs to defiantly piund his gloves together and charge to the middle of the proverbial heavyweight ring to attack his opponents.
I keep waiting for Superman to fly in to save the day. One of these days he'll arrive. He better hurry up because the Kings now have some swag after the slapped teh Hawks at Staples on Monday night. What's more, Hawks D Duncan Keith will ne forced to sit out tonight's Game 4 for his Derek Jeter-like fungo bat to the face of Jeff Carter in Game 3.
Kane's struggles have been well chronicled. He's just not playing like himself.
He zigs, the Kings zag. He shoots, Quick makes the save. He rushes the puck and throws a quick pass, the Kings pick it off or it misses its intended target.
The all star forward told CSN Chicago on Wednesday to simmer down.
“It’s not all the sudden that I’m a bad player,” he said. “It just doesn’t happen like that. I had a good regular season and I’m still a good player in this league and can make plays.”
Kane says he just has to "go get it done".
Fair point. Its not like Kaner has entered the witness protection program. He currently has 10 points in the playoffs, which makes him third in scoring on the Hawks. The cynics, like me, are willing to live with Kane's slump. For now.
Look at the morning stats sheet. God is in the math. Kane is being outscored by two improbable goal scorers in Bryan Bickell and Andrew Shaw.
But what happens when Bickell falls back to earth? Bickell is doing now what Dustin Byfuglien did when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup a few years ago. He has scored seven goals in the 2013 playoffs. He's not a natural born killer like Kane is. Bickell and Shaw will no doubt cool off. Its human nature. Shaw has scored four huge goals for the Hawks.
Will Kane be ready to carry the scoring load then, or will he still be scuffling around, trying to find his scoring touch?
“I still have had one or two good chances in each game to score,” Kane said.
“So you can look at that and say the chances, there could more obviously, but when you’re getting one or two you got to bear down and make sure those count.”
Kane hasn’t lit the enemy lamp since Game 3 of the Red Wings series. Thats seven straight games without a goal for them man who gets paid fat stacks of jack to fill the opposing net with frozen vulcanized rubber.
“It’s never fun going through the slumps,” Kane said.
“As an offensive player, you always want to score and be there for the team. Especially when that’s what you’re counted on to do. It’s a little frustrating.”
My take:
When Kane commits to moving his feet in all three zones, his scoring chances increase. Right now, he's just going through the motions. Hawks head coach preaches "pace" at his practices and during games. Kane's "pace" has been a beat behind his usual standards. Its time for PK to flip the switch and to ignite the after burners and nitrous oxide boosters.
Its time for the South Buffalo native to get his game on and go play.
Hawks GM Stan Bowman will have to make some unpopular decisions regarding his team's salary cap next season. Which will likely include an amnesty buyout of Marian Hossa's jumbo-sized contract which pays him $5.275 until 2021. Kane may find himself on the trade block if the Hawks are bounced from the WCF by LA.
The NHL cap will shrink from $70.2 million to $64.3 million come September. The Hawks are going to be in Cap Hell because of all of their UFAs and RFAs. Bryan Bickell headlines the list of UFAs, as he is going to strike it rich with a multi-year, multi-million contract, either from the Hawks or by a couple dozen other NHL teams. Viktor Stalberg, Michal Handzus, Jamal Mayers, Michal Roszival, and ray Emery will all be UFAs. The hawks will also have to qualify the RFAs Marcus Kruger and Nick Leddy.
The Hawks currently have $2 million in cap space for 2013-14, and they have a tin of business left to do. A third round elimination will at the hands of the Kings will certainly be a huge cause for concern for Bowman and the Hawks because it will signal that the team just wasn't good enough. If that happens, changes will be made.
Is it possible that the Hawks could/would trade Kane?
If Gretzky can be traded, any player can be traded.
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