According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Edmonton Oilers are going for it with their recent decision to sign John Klingberg, but they’re not necessarily done. The Oilers decided two things: they were going to go all-in with players they believe compliment their style of game, and they’ve got time with a sound Plan B if Klingberg doesn’t work.
Seravalli suggested that the organization has determined that any passes on what could be home-run decisions in the final years of Connor McDavid‘s and Leon Draisaitl‘s team-friendly contracts would be “malfeasance”. Management believes they owe it to these two players and the team to take swings if players like Klingberg can be seen in a few months or years as the savviest of moves. However, the Oilers also realize there is still time before the deadline to do other things.
Seravalli explained:
“This is a really precious year for the Oilers, we know why. It’s the last year that they have McDavid and Draisaitl on incredibly manageable contracts. Not taking a swing and doing every single thing that you can, burning the boats, turning over every stone possible is his malfeasance. It’s bad stewardship.”
He added:
“… I think they know that and recognize it. I think the challenge to this point has been finding someone who’s a true fit for exactly what they want to do. I’d rather see them go into this with a really narrow focus as opposed to just, well we’ll just pick kind of whatever is best out there.”
Oilers Left Scouting Meetings With a Long List of Trade Options
Seravalli said the team came out of their pro-scouting meetings in Boston a few weeks ago with a long list of trade targets they would dig deeper into. GM Stan Bowman essentially confirmed as much.
Seravalli added, “… they were thinking, hey, we’ve got a whole list of guys that do a lot of different things, and that’s good because the need can change between now and March 7th. There’s still seven weeks plus to go.” And, it may take nearly that long for some teams in the Eastern Conference to determine if they’ll be sellers or not.
For now, the team will test out Klingberg and see how quickly he develops chemistry with the team. Good or bad, the Oilers will keep their options open and explore more trades. They know the names they want to see further, but they felt they couldn’t pass up on an opportunity to let a potential difference-maker slip through their fingers.
