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Oscar Klefbom

Snapshots: Blues, Hall, Seguin

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The St. Louis Blues will have a vastly different look this season after a summer of big changes. In an online chat on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website, Jeremy Rutherford chatted about some of the differences Blues fans can expect this coming season.

Regarding the Brian Elliott trade, Rutherford believed Blues GM Doug Armstrong made the trade to avoid losing him for nothing next summer when Elliott is a UFA. While the trade could go wrong if Jake Allen struggles or gets hurt, the trade makes sense, asset-management wise.

Former captain David Backes left town for a bigger contract in Boston; while Backes claimed Bruins forwards Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand convinced him to sign in Boston, Rutherford shut down that idea saying players will sign wherever is best for them and that if the Blues had offered Backes a fifth year, then it wouldn’t have mattered what Bergeron and Marchand said. As far as replacing Backes as captain, Rutherford felt it was safe to assume one of the remaining assistant captains (Alex Pietrangelo and Alex Steen) would be the new captain. The new assistant would likely be one of Paul Stastny, Jaden Schwartz, and Vladimir Tarasenko – who Rutherford believed was “pretty disappointed to not get an A last year”.

Here are some other notes from around the hockey world:

  • It’s New Jersey Devils day on Pro Hockey Talk, and they have named Taylor Hall as their player under pressure this season. Adam Gretz justified the choice by saying while he knows Hall will produce, he’ll be under scrutiny because of the perception that he’s at fault for the Oilers misfortunes over the last six years and the high price that the Devils parted with to acquire him. Oscar Klefbom’s comments about Hall and Ben Scrivens subsequent agreement will also be weighing on Hall as he looks to prove his former team and teammates wrong.
  • Speaking of top picks from the 2010 NHL Draft that Peter Chiarelli has traded, Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin says he’s ready to go for the upcoming World Cup in September. Seguin missed all but one of the Stars playoff games with Achilles and calf injuries. Seguin told Steve Hunt of NHL.com it’s been “a bit of a different summer as far as training-wise just coming off an injury, but feeling great and looking forward to the World Cup”.

Snapshots: Kunlun Red Star, Las Vegas, Scrivens On Hall

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The KHL’s Chinese expansion team, Kunlun Red Star, won their first game on Saturday. Kunlun had previously played and lost their first three games against Traktor, Spartak, and Amur by a combined score of 9-3. They didn’t score until the final pre-season game.

Now, they have moved from playing in mostly empty arenas in Finland to Kazakhstan for the President of Kazakhstan’s Cup. Kunlun opened the pre-tournament action against KHL team Barys Astana in Astana. The game was reportedly very intense, as China and Kazakhstan are rivals in other sports. This game was no different; the teams combined for 196 PIM in a 3-1 Kunlun victory. The two teams meet again on Monday.

More notes from around the hockey world:

  • According to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the NHL’s expansion team has narrowed it down to four potential team nicknames. However, the new franchise is having trademark issues: the OHL’s London Knights own the trademark for the name in Canada. Owner Bill Foley told the Review-Journal that acquiring the name Knights is “not economically feasible”. Foley hopes to have the name and merchandise ready for late September or early October.
  • Finally, former Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens chimed in on Oscar Klefbom’s negative comments about former teammate Taylor Hall in late July. In a yet-to-be-posted interview with Russian hockey writer Igor Eronko, Scrivens said Klefbom “would know pretty well, he played with him for a while, and I can’t say he’s wrong”. Scrivens and Hall were teammates in Edmonton for a season and a half, during which the Oilers had a record of 38-59-18.

West Notes: Klefbom, Henderson, Benn

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In a translated interview with Ola Winther of Hockey Sverige (Sweden), Oilers’ defenseman Oscar Klefbom was quoted talking about Taylor Hall and the impact he made last season: “He (Hall) never played his best games against the tougher teams, which we really needed it. However, he was fantastic when we met the little inferior teams.”

While this quote obviously might have been slightly lost in translation, the overall sentiment of it has been shared many times over recently by fans and media alike surrounding Hall’s exit from Edmonton. As seems to be the building tradition when a star player is traded or leaves in free agency, Hall’s weaknesses have drawn more focus than his strengths, despite his obvious offensive talent.  New Jersey won’t be focusing on the weaknesses however, as they’ve created a solid young group of forwards that will be capable of putting up vast amounts of points next season.

For a team who ranked dead last in goals for last season, the Devils will take some defensive lapses to get Hall’s elite scoring ability. For the record, Hall scored 23 points in 28 games (0.82 PPG) against teams who finished in the top-10 of the league last season. He had 42 in the remaining 54 (0.78 PPG).

  • In saddening news related to last season’s Dennis Wideman incident, there is now some doubt that NHL linesman Don Henderson will be able to continue his career on the ice. According to Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe, friends close to the situation have told him that Henderson underwent surgery to repair two ruptured disks in his neck, and is unsure whether he’ll officiate another NHL game. The friend is quoted as saying “He attacked him from behind, the puck was nowhere near the two of them, and now Henderson’s career may be finished. I don’t see much difference between what he did and Wayne Maki cracking his stick over Teddy Green’s head.’’ Wideman is still involved in a dispute over the suspension that was shortened by an arbitrator last season.
  • Many teams hoped that Jamie Benn was headed for free agency after next season, but after the Dallas Stars’ captain re-signed for another eight years, he’s sure to be in green for a while. Benn told Mike Heika of The Dallas News that he “didn’t have even one thought of leaving this place. I fell in love with Dallas, Texas ever since I got down here.”  Benn ranked second in scoring last season, and has three straight 30-goal seasons.  He’s under contract now through 2024-25, and should go down as one of the best Stars of all-time, should he continue his current path.

Montreal Asked For Draisaitl, 4th Overall, Plus for Subban

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After today’s Taylor Hall and PK Subban trades, Oilers fans might be wondering why the Oilers couldn’t get a deal done for Subban. Well here’s why: TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reported Wednesday night that the asking price for the stud defenceman was Leon Draisaitl, the 4th overall pick which ultimately became Jesse Puljujärvi, one of Oscar Klefbom or Darnell Nurse, plus more.

Klefbom is the Oilers top defenceman next to Andrej Sekera and newly acquired Adam Larsson. Nurse is a highly promising former 7th overall pick who played most of last season in the NHL with mixed results but should develop hugely next season. The Oilers were likely not willing to part with such a big part of their future blue-line to improve it now.

Draisaitl showed massive improvement last season, cracking the 50-point barrier on a line with the now traded duo of Hall and Teddy Purcell. The big center can play both center and wing, and is expected to play a key role in the upcoming season in the Oilers top 6.

Those two pieces already represent a large trade value, before we get to the just-drafted Puljujärvi. The Finnish forward unexpectedly fell to 4th overall and is likely to play in the Oilers top 9 this season.

With those pieces plus the mystery of what “more” could mean, it’s understandable why the Oilers passed on Subban. However, it should be asked which group would help Edmonton turn the corner this season: Hall and Subban, or Drasaitl, Klefbom, Puljujärvi, and Larsson.

The answer to that debate can never be known. Edmonton passed on trading a massive haul for Subban to trade Hall for Larsson.

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