Oilers: Is Travis Hamonic the answer?
Posted 5:45 PM ET | Comments 7
My twitter feed exploded this afternoon, as super NHL reporter Darren Dreger dropped this bomb on oil country:
@DarrenDreger
Hamonic loves the Isles. This is personal. Wpg, Edmtn, Cgy and Van all preferred. Might expand to other west cities. Tough on Isles....
What does this mean? IS THE SKY FALLING?? DID HE MENTION EDM?!? As mere mortals we can only speculate, but the Oil should always on the hunt for a proven NHL top 4 D-man. We can only hope, pray, and spam text Peter Chiarelli to make sure Peter is on it. (hold gag reflex)
Would Hamonic make the Oilers any better? Instantaneously. How much better? That is a good question.
Travis Hamonic is 25, and is the veteran of 342 NHL games. In Oiler terms that means more games then Justin Schultz, Nurse, and Klefbom combined. He is also a bit of a workhorse. Notice his boxcars from last year:
GP G A PTS PIM +/-
2014-15 New York Islanders NHL 71 5 28 33 85 15
He was able to accomplish this all while having a Corsi% of 49.5, and starting 51.8% of his shifts in the defensive zone. He has been a workhorse for an Islander team that has made impressive leaps, and continues to be a contender. Not too shabby. Of course the Oilers would jump at the opportunity to grab this guy right???
He is a legit Top 4 defenceman in the NHL. Some may even say that on a particularly weak team (raises hand), he could be pushed to be a number 2. What would the pairings look like with Mr. Hamonic? Let's get crazy:
Kelfbom-Hamonic
Nurse - Sekera
Reinhart-Gryba
(Fayne, Ference)
It almost looks like it could work. The unfortunate part is that this may still not be a playoff bound defence. Hamonic would almost immediately be a TOI leader for the Oil, and would no doubt play in most key situations. I have a feeling though, that Mr. Snow (not the Hunger Games guy) knows a little bit about the Oilers and how desperate they are. Not to mention how desperate the mob forming outside the Oiler offices are.
Although we aren't talking about Shea Weber/Carrie Underwood, the price point is going to be a sticky situation.
Would you trade Justin Schultz, David Musil, and the 2nd round pick? Instead of Musil and the 2nd, would you add Yak City and maybe ask for a low round pick in return? That may not even be enough. This is going to be a larger then life price to pay. That's life doing business as a bottom dweller. Garth Snow has made some pretty raunchy moves in his career but I doubt he will allow this situation to force him to make a Dipietro-esque/Yashin-esque/Luongo-esque/Chara-esque (HOLY HANNAH!!) mistake. If Chiarelli is going to make a bold move (hold gag reflex) then we better expect a hefty price is leaving town.
Dear Mr. Chiarelli, one request? DONT TRADE MCDAVID.
@DarrenDreger
Hamonic loves the Isles. This is personal. Wpg, Edmtn, Cgy and Van all preferred. Might expand to other west cities. Tough on Isles....
What does this mean? IS THE SKY FALLING?? DID HE MENTION EDM?!? As mere mortals we can only speculate, but the Oil should always on the hunt for a proven NHL top 4 D-man. We can only hope, pray, and spam text Peter Chiarelli to make sure Peter is on it. (hold gag reflex)
Would Hamonic make the Oilers any better? Instantaneously. How much better? That is a good question.
Travis Hamonic is 25, and is the veteran of 342 NHL games. In Oiler terms that means more games then Justin Schultz, Nurse, and Klefbom combined. He is also a bit of a workhorse. Notice his boxcars from last year:
GP G A PTS PIM +/-
2014-15 New York Islanders NHL 71 5 28 33 85 15
He was able to accomplish this all while having a Corsi% of 49.5, and starting 51.8% of his shifts in the defensive zone. He has been a workhorse for an Islander team that has made impressive leaps, and continues to be a contender. Not too shabby. Of course the Oilers would jump at the opportunity to grab this guy right???
He is a legit Top 4 defenceman in the NHL. Some may even say that on a particularly weak team (raises hand), he could be pushed to be a number 2. What would the pairings look like with Mr. Hamonic? Let's get crazy:
Kelfbom-Hamonic
Nurse - Sekera
Reinhart-Gryba
(Fayne, Ference)
It almost looks like it could work. The unfortunate part is that this may still not be a playoff bound defence. Hamonic would almost immediately be a TOI leader for the Oil, and would no doubt play in most key situations. I have a feeling though, that Mr. Snow (not the Hunger Games guy) knows a little bit about the Oilers and how desperate they are. Not to mention how desperate the mob forming outside the Oiler offices are.
Although we aren't talking about Shea Weber/Carrie Underwood, the price point is going to be a sticky situation.
Would you trade Justin Schultz, David Musil, and the 2nd round pick? Instead of Musil and the 2nd, would you add Yak City and maybe ask for a low round pick in return? That may not even be enough. This is going to be a larger then life price to pay. That's life doing business as a bottom dweller. Garth Snow has made some pretty raunchy moves in his career but I doubt he will allow this situation to force him to make a Dipietro-esque/Yashin-esque/Luongo-esque/Chara-esque (HOLY HANNAH!!) mistake. If Chiarelli is going to make a bold move (hold gag reflex) then we better expect a hefty price is leaving town.
Dear Mr. Chiarelli, one request? DONT TRADE MCDAVID.
As much as this team desperately needs defensive help; the trading of Schultz AND Yakupov is a huge step backwards in my opinion. It is one or the other... or the 1st this year which will likely be a lottery pick. Harmonic is good... but not that good.
snow had nothing to do with dp, yash, lu or chara
I agree the oil have the talent to get this done, but the isles are in win now mode and schultz is awful. Hard to say what will happen but this has been lingering since the summer and i suspect PC/GS had talks around him when Reinhart was traded. Vancouver had the win now player to fill top 4 mins (hamhuis) and the prospects to get this done (shinkaruk, jensen, gaunce) and servicable depth players like hansen, higgins and vrbata.
Well said Fredstander ☺
I farted.
Schultz is horrible.
Your mom is horrible.