Oleksiak as well if it's true

You say you want Rakell and Ryan. Do you mean Bobby Ryan? If so, he’s done for the season. And the cost for Rakell is a LOT

Possibly Iafallo? Last time I checked, LA wasn’t sure if they want to keep him or deal him. I have a feeling Rakell will cost way too much. For playoffs I would put Russell in, because of the veteran experience.

Based on the verbage coming out of Dallas, I'd be hesitant. If that's the case, I suspect Jones is absolutely on his way out, which is about one of the worst things this club could do.

Im pretty sure they mean Derek from Calgary

Derek Ryan.



Last I heard from Lebrun suggests that Iaffalo's close to an extension in Los Angeles.

EDIT: Russell shouldn't see NHL icetime beyond back-to-back games from this point onwards. He's now Edmonton's 9th best defender.

9th best? No he’s not. He’s better than Jones, and arguably the same as Lagesson.

Jones is Edmonton's third or fourth best defenceman by every metric except GA. The coaching staff and a subsect of the fans are punishing Jones for primarily Koskinen's mistakes. Lagesson's an improvement over Russell in every facet except shot blocking. Tippett quite honestly has no idea how to optimize his own roster and exhibits a concerning amount of favouritism.

Nurse
Bear
Jones/Larsson
Larsson/Jones
Kulikov
Bouchard
Barrie
Lagesson
Russell

And your saying you know more than Tippett? Jones isn’t even that good, as we all saw for how much he has played. I don’t mean to sound rude but talk about favouritism.

Nurse
Barrie
Larsson
Kulikov
Bouchard
Russell/Lagesson
Bear
Jones

Jones and Bear aren’t even top 5 on the oilers for the defence! They have a lot to work on to make it that high.

I doubt Tipp separates Nurse/Barrie. I wish he would but I wouldn't count on it

1. Barrie isn't a defenceman, he's a forward. We can't play him with anyone besides Nurse because he actively bleeds chances against.

2. Bear is the only defenceman Edmonton's had in its past 10 game stretch with an xGF above 50%. He's been phenomenal since recovering from his concussion.

3. If you don't subscribe to analytics and insist on the eye-test, you aren't watching the games then. Jones and Bear have been super-effective defenders for Edmonton in the past dozen games, save for the Calgary and Habs blowouts where nobody looked good.

4. I find it exceedingly curious that two of our non-white defenders on the roster are considered to be the 'worst' defenders on this team by yourself and a growing sect of the fanbase. Take it as you will, but both Russell and Lagesson are effectively useless at both ends of the ice. I'd find your opinion reasonable if you didn't think two of our defenders that can actually transition the puck are our absolute worst pieces on the back end. 3rd worst? 4th worst? I can accommodate that provided you have the means to back it up.

Now, I want to be very clear about point #4: I don't think this is your personal view. There has been a noticeable uptick in media witch hunts against Jones and Bear, and I think it stems directly from within the organization. We were sold last year on Nurse not being what he was cut out to be, and we're seeing it regarding Bear and Jones now. Souray was ran out of town under similar circumstances, some internal conflict within the Oilers office. I cannot for the life of me recall periods of time where other defenders have been scrutinized like this. Russell has never been criticized by this organization. Larsson, despite his frequent lapses in ability, has never been criticized to this extent. Barrie's inability to defend is never mentioned. It's not a stretch to recognize that there are some pretty extreme views in this province, especially among the older generations, which almost exclusively makes up the Oilers office.

Make an exaggerated effort over the next half-dozen games to really focus in on Jones and Bear. What you hear from the Sun or even the Journal doesn't align with what they're doing on the ice.

That, separating McDavid and Draisaitl, reuniting the DYNamite line, there's a million things this roster could do better and Tippett refuses to do any of them. If Gallant is still available this summer, I'd be very interested in Holland firing Tippett in favour of a smarter coach.

Okay.... Barrie is decent. He can get the scoring chances, which is super useful for teams. Like I said, Jones and Bear both have not impressed me and many more. I have been watching them and I mainly see them create mistakes more than doing good. They have the potential to be great, and I feel like they may, but with the oilers, there is no way. They won’t get the chance on the oilers with the better defence men we have and the prospects. I personally disagree on Lagesson and Russell as they are both good at defence, and Lagesson is fast enough to get his offence moving. I have to respectfully disagree with you on this, but possibly they can change my mind in the future.