Gaudette has accomplished so much more in the NHL than Jones. If it's Bear then maybe.

What happened to the team you did not finish it.

Asking for Bear is asking for too much.

I'm not sure Edmonton would / should do this. If Jones is indeed a top-4 guy you for sure don't do this: a top-4 defender is worth more than a bottom-6 forward all day.

And since Jones is signed to a fantastic value contract, I think you'd have to get a better return than this to justify moving him.

Is he even a clear cut NHLer at this stage of his career though? Gaudette certainly is, but to call Jones a top 4 with a great contract seems like a massive stretch.

He's close. Drives the bus on his line and his transition game is arguably third to Klefbom and Bear on this roster. I dont have them in front of me right now, but his underlying numbers paint a very good picture of a player that took a definite step forward this year.

Jones, a defenseman, equaled Gaudette's scoring rate at the same age. Here are their NHL boxcars at 22 years old:

AG: 56, 5-7-12 [-8] 0.21 P/GP, 10:57 TOI
CJ: 43, 4-5-9 [-1] 0.21 P/GP, 14:08 TOI

Right now the oilers left side looks like
Klef -UFA 2023
Darnell Nurse- UFA 2022
Caleb Jones- RFA 2022
Kris Russell- UFA 2021( I don't see him with the oilers )
Phillip Broberg RFA 2022
The only way I see the oilers trading jones is if there is guarantee that nurse is going to stay because let say they do trade jones and nurse leaves by 2022 the oilers left side will be abysmal as broberg may not be even ready for top 4 minutes

Considering Chaison is one of two Oilers with positive underlying numbers, its hard to argue that any Oiler is overly effective at the transition game. If you look into advanced metrics, Oiler fans should be extremely worried about their roster. Even their big guns were below even at 5v5. Some of that may be a systematic thing like how the Islanders play, but I don't think any team purposely runs at 27th in expected goals at 5v5. Especially when you look at the playoffs when refs put their whistles away and penalties get called less and less. What do the Oilers do when they don't get PP chances? Every line on the team operates below 50% in both possession and expected goals.

He is a clear cut NHLer for sure. And I said 'if he's a top-4 guy', not that he for sure is. In the last 20 games he played in the top-4 with (drumroll!) Adam Larsson for most of this games and posted a 59.09 GF% overall (61.54 GF% with Larsson). Of course, I'm sure Adam Larsson made playing top-4 competition easy, as he no doubt did all the heavy lifting for his rookie partner. This is just what Adam Larsson does, right?

All kidding aside (I know how much you love Adam Larsson), Jones hasn't proven he's a top-4 guy, but he played significant top-4 minutes down the stretch and excelled. At $850k x 2, he's a keeper.

Adam Larsson has never had numbers like that. I have no idea where you are getting these numbers. According to TSN and Sportsnet, Edmonton is purely a special teams team, at 5v5 they are 27the defensively. Even McDavid and Draisaitl get outscored and out chanced at 5v5.

http://naturalstattrick.com/linestats.php?fromseason=20192020&thruseason=20192020&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&rate=n&team=EDM&vteam=ALL&view=wowy&loc=B&gpfilt=gpteam&fd=2019-10-02&td=2020-04-04&tgp=20&strict=incl&p1=8478452&p2=8476457&p3=0&p4=0&p5=0

Eat your heart out.

You forget you are trading with one of your biggest rivals. RHS C are hard to come by, would take an overpayment to get him from a divisional rival

Why does his handedness matter? The only reason I can think of is for faceoffs, and Gaudette sucks at faceoffs. Besides, the Oilers do very well at faceoffs against righties.

And you're right about paying a division rival extra in a trade, so Vancouver will definitely have to pay up if they want to acquire Jones. The Oilers can get a better 3C in free agency while they give McLeod another development year.

Right handed shots are always more valuable because there's less of them, it's like LHP in baseball.

I really doubt VAN wants Jones anyway so this is a moot point.

Gaudette is more in Bear's category than Jones for sure lol.

It's probably Gaudette and a 4th for Bear. Canucks aren't moving Gaudette unless the return is strong. We'd move MacEwan for Jones I think

No bottom-6 player in the league is worth anywhere near a 1st pairing RHD. That's idiotic.

last year bear was considered a 7th defenseman, and this is gaudette's first full year as a 3rd line center. They're both developing, and Gaudette could very well be EDM's next 2nd line center - he has that potential. Why don't I be senseless and say that Bear is still a 7th defenseman? You made the same statement by calling his value a bottom sixer.

Also Bear might have had a strong season, but just because he played some time on the top pairing doesn't mean he IS a top pairing defenseman. Top four though.... would compare to Phil Myers on PHI

I am not sure you understand those numbers, together with Jones they has negative Corsi, and expected goals. Meaning they are bleeding chances.

Its really great you posted this link, it reinforces everything I say about Larsson. His expected goals percentage this season was 47.24% and his corsi is 47.09%. That is a below average player. He's never been much more than an average defender with the Oilers but the past 2 seasons have been downright bad. Ceci has better numbers than Larsson.

Calling Bear a 1st pairing RHD is grossly over valuing him. I think he'll have a decent career for sure but like pretty much every Oilers player, at 5v5 they are giving up more than they create. He's negative in most categories, according to Natural Statrick.

Unfortunately most Oiler fans see the teams record and think it means the team is better than it is. At 5v5 they are one of the worst teams in the league. They had the top PP and a top 5 PK and that was entirely why they won as many games as they did. They have 4 players on their roster who finished above 50% in possession numbers and two regulars who finished above 50% in expected goals for. Bear was one of the better defenders for Edmonton but he's hardly shown he's going to excel as a top pair defender as this guy in the thread claims he already is.

So he's gonna be better than Draisaitl? That's a bold statement!


Yeah, like 70 games. "Some".

His ceiling is Nuge. If EDM swaps back to a different system where McDavid plays with Draisaitl then he can safely play 2C. Even if not, EDM's largest need for a while has been a third line center.

Bear was #3 in oilers defense ice time and the oilers also experienced injuries. Where he had some time on the top pair with Nurse, it is clear that in a healthy lineup Klefbom is #1 and plays with Larsson, making the Nurse-Bear tandem your 2nd pair.

Get off the high horse and take Bear for what he is. He's good, but not as amazing as you make him out to be.

I can see you don't know how to read a stats table. That wasn't "this season", the stats you quoted were "with Caleb Jones on the past 20 games" only. But yeah, keep up your narrative.

Stats like CF% and xGF% are influenced by all 5 guys and should be looked at in relation with teammates. Also consider that Larsson has faced the toughest comp pretty much since he entered the league. Larson has had

- positive CF% rel in 4 of the past 7 seasons
- positive GF% rel in 5 of the past 7 seasons
- positive xGF% rel in 6 of the past 7 seasons

Whatever. He's not available so I don't really care what you think of him. Keep up your holy anti-Larsson crusade if you must. Every coach Larsson has ever played for has trusted him against the world's best forwards; that means something.