A few thoughts leading up to what I expect will be a quiet day from the Edmonton Oilers. The Edmonton Oilers do not have a first round pick in this draft. They pick in the second round and then do not pick again until the 5th round, have two 6th round picks and 2 7th round picks. Perhaps we see a move where the Oilers deal a roster player like Ceci for a later pick in this draft but aside from that I think the following two days will be quiet from Edmonton.

We now officially know that Ken Holland is no longer part of the Oilers organization as his contract came to an end. As of right now Jeff Jackson will serve as interim GM but the president has also stated it is not a role he wants to keep in the long term.

This leaves Edmonton in an awkward position. Aside from potentially signing pending UFA's to contracts, I do not see Edmonton being overly active until the GM role is filled. What GM is going to want to come in after someone else has spent all of the cap space for that season? This leaves the Oilers either rushing to fill the position before July 1st or waiting until after and potentially missing out on any bigger names that will be gone after Day 1 of Free Agency.

This may be an obvious statement but I think the Oilers will be quiet... until they are not.

A couple quick thoughts around the NHL

- It looks like Steven Stamkos is going to become a Free Agent as it appears he and the Lightning are nowhere close on a deal. I'm typically against signing 34+ year old free agents who are entering the twilight of their careers but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about Stamkos and Draisaitl playing together. We can talk about how Stamkos will take a paycut to play on a contender but the truth is some team is going to overpay to squeeze whatever they can out of him.

- Looks like the Flames have gone from a "retool" to a full blown rebuild over the past week. Trading Markstrom and Mangiapane for picks and mid level prospects are not going to help Calgary compete in the next few years. Calgary will likely be a lottery team next season. Fans may not like it in the short term, but every top team in the NHL has built around a top end lottery pick. This will help the Flames organization in the long run.

- Vancouver will be an interesting team to watch over the next few days. The Canucks have been active, bringing back players like Blueger, Myers, and Joshua and we know they are still hoping to have Zadorov and Lindholm back though those are looking less likely. We also know Vancouver is prepared to throw big money at Jake Guentzel. They will be a fun team to watch this summer.

- On the awards side, congratulations to Evan Bouchard who finished 5th in Norris voting and Connor McDavid who finished 3rd in the Hart Trophy. Kucherov and MacKinnon had phenomenal seasons and no arguments from me for them finishing second and first respectively.

For Evan Bouchard, I think this is just the beginning and I won't be shocked in the slightest to see him win a Norris in the next couple of seasons. The 24 year old is really starting to come into his own and is getting noticed all around the NHL. Ekholm finished 12th as well in Norris voting which just highlights how great both players on this pairing are for the Oilers.

I'll update with more details if any Oilers news drops later today.

Thanks for reading!

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