Edmonton Oilers weekly update: Keeping an eye on Kiefer Sherwood

Alec Regula: Regula is closing on a return to the lineup. Regula hasn’t been in the lineup since being rocked by former Oiler and current Vancouver Canuck Evander Kane. There’s been speculation the Oilers need to make a move when he returns.

Matt Savoie: Congrats to Oilers Rookie Matt Savoie on finally scoring his first NHL goal last night against the Rangers! Savoie’s been buzzing around the ice in recent games and, quite frankly, should have picked up at least a point in the Mammoth game. It’s great to see him get rewarded for his strong play.

Interest in Kiefer Sherwood

Kiefer Sherwood is a pending UFA from the Vancouver Canucks who carries a cap hit of $1.5M. Sherwood is a buzzsaw. He’s the definition of a DAWG. The kid has an insane motor, a great penalty killer, hits everything in sight, reliable defensively, produces and scores offence at a good rate 5v5, and is just a smart player all around.

He scored a career high 19 goals last season and has nine goals and zero assists through 12 games this season. Yes, he’s shooting 37.5(!!)% and his goal scoring will definitely regress, there’s still a lot to like about this player.

He’d be a beauty in the Oilers bottom-six and someone who’d excel against Florida. With the Canucks being divisional rivals and him having an insane season thus far in a contract year, the price would probably be astronomical. As well, I do think the Canucks get him re-signed. Let’s keep this in the back of our minds as we progress onwards near the deadline though.

Oilers trade happening soon?

With Regula and Hyman coming back, Stauffer alluded to the team having to make a decently sized move. Isaac Howard being sent down to the AHL has been discussed, but that still doesn’t bring enough cap savings to make the move work and we’d be over the roster limit. It really does sound like Troy Stecher’s time here is limited, as I brought up Frank Seravalli’s report last week on the potential of Stecher being dealt. Jason Gregor discussed this as well recently…

That’s it for this week’s report. Tune in next week to see what’s latest in Oil Country!