Friday, September 12, 2008

Enough 'Silly' talk! What do you think about a Stanley Nichol?

I've noticed recently on a couple of the Oiler blogs that others also think the Oilers are lacking in a solid defensive 3rd line righty centerman - with good faceoff skills. Like a Draper. Oh I'm sure everyone would love to have a Draper, wouldn't they? Good luck stealing him away from the Wings!

Anyway, I've noticed that some would like to see Mike 'Silly' Sillinger make his way over to the Oilers. I too was looking pretty hard at Sillinger - I think he would be a good fit for now - but are we trying to plug a temporary hole here? Sillinger is not a "piece of the puzzle" in my opinion. At 37 and on the decline is more of a stopgap. And as that may be a good fit while Cogliano and Brodziak develop, I myself have always been a Puzzle kind-of-guy.

The player that I've really been impressed the last couple of seasons with is Scott Nichol from Nashville. Good solid player defensively, pk, top righty faceoff guy, and at 33 he still has some good years ahead of him. Would love to see this guy in copper and blue. Maybe a rich-man's Reasoner?
His defensive numbers from last year were pretty good:
- Faceoffs: 60% (441 won for 738 tot);
- Plus/Minus: +12
...and his +/- On Ice per 60 mins VS +/- Off Ice per 60 mins looked even better, at 0.71 vs 0.12. (See Desjardins Behindthenet for detailed excellent stats).

I see us giving up a goalie and/or some young skill / prospects. Nashville is lacking in proven goalies (Their top two have less than 50 big league games between them) and just lost Radulov to Russia. Maybe a Schremp or a Roly is something Nashville could use right now, as they have no shortage of established centers (Arnott, Legwand, Bonk, Fiddler).

4 comments:

Moose said...

Interesting...although if I was going to raid Nashville's roster, I'd rather have Bonk. He's 52% guy on the dot, can score a bit, got some size. Plus he's a UFA at the end of the year.

horcsnose said...

I'm a Bonk fan as well, but the guy was Kryptonite on the ice last season! A teamworst -31. Just damn awful.
Wasn't used much for pk situations either.
I think that he's a great role player when used correctly, but I'm not sure that he could fill that checking line roll... I agree, I like Nichol for this - he stands up good against quality competition. Good call rgib.
I like Mamny Mahaltra from the Jackets too.

R-Gib said...

Horcnose - Yup I like Manny too... he is a left shot tho. The Oil could really use a righty center.

Moose - I didn't even consider the $ factor... and I should have. Lets see, Scott Nichol makes a bargain $750k this season, then is a UFA. Maybe we could bring him in and sign him to a 2-3 yr contract? Seems reasonable.

I'm not a big fan of Bonk... I question his drive... the guy seems to spend half his time floating in no-mans land in his own end. His numbers suggest that, although he does play with less than stellar linemates, he is the guy you DON'T want on the ice in critical situations. The team's +/- is incredibly better when he is OFF the ice. This may reflect that he is out against opponents top lines often, but it also suggests that he fails miserably at it.

Moose said...

Well...first off, I'd rather have neither of them, just a comment on Nashville's roster. But, Bonk has ALWAYS been miscast since his draft year because of the expectations. At this point, I think an acquisition the Oilers would be making is tweaking; filling out the roster. I don't think they are adding any "difference makers" at this point. Personally, when you tweak, I think you look to add specialty skills and intangibles. Things to fill holes. Bonk has some of those things (size, faceoffs, etc). That's why I said him. But yes, you can certainly question his drive.