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Morning, everyone.
Well, Ethan Bear’s still an Oiler. There, that’s my positive thought of the day. That’s all I’ve got.
per @frank_seravalli, it appears "rather unlikely" that adam larsson re-signs in edmonton at this point in time. he added that tyson barrie "has a real chance to stay."
— zach laing (@zjlaing) July 19, 2021
seravalli noted there is interest in kassian around the league. may be traded when freeze is lifted on thurs.
So the Oilers’ second pairing is, so far, slated to be Duncan Keith and Evan Bouchard. So much for the notion of him coming here to get away from all those kids dragging him down in Chicago.
Tyson Barrie coming back might change the configuration of the top four to something like Darnell Nurse and Tyson Barrie playing together, which would mean slotting Ethan Bear onto pair two beside Keith. Which will, inevitably, lead to:
Can you imagine the hatred for Bear if Tippett comes back with Barrie and the 5 Man Saskatchewan Unit and then Keith-Bear is the second tandem? They'll play with a poor forward group and every mistake will be his fault and not the Cup winner https://t.co/Sm2bZmynvJ
— Dennis King (@DKingBH) July 19, 2021
Or this:
Bear is going to be his babysitter and Keith will get any credit for the pairing's success, Bear the blame and as more people realize how really good Bear is it will be because of everything Keith taught him https://t.co/IEMMlglmfL
— ᒪᐢᑲᐧ stan account (@IDidTheIggy) July 15, 2021
Of course, it’s entirely possible they’re still trying to deal Bear given Bob Stauffer’s apparent shift on him over the past week. As keen observers will note from the Seravalli quote above, Zack Kassian could be traded post-expansion. That means Bear could be, too, and even though Ethan Bear is among the best players on the team, that doesn’t seem to register for the masses.
In any case, Ken Holland has made it painfully and disappointingly clear that he’s not capable of making this team better. At this point, we have to hope he won’t make it significantly worse.
Godspeed to all of us.
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