Plan the Parade

Équipe: 2021-22 Oilers d'Edmonton

Date de création initiale: 22 juill. 2020

Publié: 22 juill. 2020

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

1. I think Lavoie will be a good fit for McDavid, he's not overly physical but he's huge and plays a decent puck protection game, not unlike Draisaitl or Maroon, actually. And he has a very good shot, he should get ample opportunity to use it with these two guys.
2. Reichel and Yamamoto are both forechecking demons, we already know Yamamoto works well with Draisaitl and I think Reichel's speed and tenacity on the puck will fit well on that line too.
3. Benson is an excellent setup man while Staal and Athanasiou are shooters. AA brings speed and Staal is good on the boards. It's all about complimentary skills. I envision this line getting easy minutes and offensive opportunities.
4. The defensive, hard minutes line. These guys will be fed a steady diet of elite comp, DZ faceoffs and PK. They are a threat to score too, having combined for 44 goals this year.

D. Again with the complimentary skillsets, each pairing has speed, size, mobility, defensive acumen and great puck moving abilities. If Bouchard and Broberg keep progressing as quickly as they have been, this setup is like having 3 low-end 1st pairings. Killer.

G. Koskinen's save percentage was 6th among the 30 most used goaltenders this season and I hope Konovalov can step in as a backup. He's young at just 23, but he'll have played 3 full seasons as a starter in the 2nd best league in the world, so that should count for something. If Holland doesn't feel he or Skinner are ready then he'll have to bring in a free agent backup - he might have to buyout Neal to create the cap space, but it's certainly doable.

It's a fairly young team, but there's high skill and depth, especially at center and defense. This is a no-doubt Cup contender in my view.

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