Oiler: Jeff Jackson’s “Wonderful” offseason looks like a disaster – Hockey Writer – Edmonton Oilers

Jeff Jackson has been seen as a genius in past offseasons. Jackson serves as general manager (GM) for recently departing Ken Holland, which many believe will push the Edmonton Oilers to the top and allow them to win the Stanley Cup this season.

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The Oilers and Jackson are eager to play with Leon Draisaitl. They can’t catch a player that suits Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson’s Bill. They were also able to gain huge prospects in Matt Savoie and free up some cap space by sending Cody Ceci to San Jose Sharks.

While some of these moves, especially the Savay deal, were undeniably solid moves, Jackson made other decisions during the offseason, looking back, his tenure was short because GM looked like a disaster rather than the masterclass originally considered.

Skinner and Arvidsson are not working out yet

Early on, Skinner signatures seemed to have been successful. And, when I said it earlier, I mean it was really early. He found the back of the net twice in the first five games of the season and added three assistants. Since then, it’s very ugly.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch doesn’t seem to be a big fan of Skinner’s game, which is why the Oilers choose to sign him first. He spent most of his time in the bottom six and had become a healthy scratch. In 52 games, he scored only 11 goals and 21 points.

Arvidsson isn’t better. The signed Oilers fan was very excited because he brought a tough and tenacious style similar to Zach Hyman. Since he has been on shelves all over his career, people are worried about injuries, but the thought is that if he can stay healthy, he will work.

The injury affected Arvidsson, who played 44 of the 59 games with the Oilers. A greater focus than his health is his influence, or perhaps lack of it. Usually, consistent points producers are really struggling, scoring 7 goals and 19 points.

Oilers are an old team

Usually, when a team achieves as much success as the 2023-24 Oilers team, management tries to do everything possible to reunite the band. It’s not always a bad plan, but the Oilers were already an old team last season.

Rather than hope to add some youth to the roster last summer, Jackson re-signed several players including Corey Perry, Adam Henrique, Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark. Perry has always been the best of the four, but his lack of speed is a problem. Meanwhile, the other three seasons were disappointing.

The Oilers lacked speed at the top speed, which was evident in the regular season. You can’t help but ask how slow this collective overall pace might be once the playoffs start in April.

Holloway & Broberg Mishap

While most of the signatures or re-signs mentioned above satisfies satisfaction at the time, they ended up leaving the Oilers with little room to re-sign two of the smartest young pieces of Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg. Jackson seemed to believe he could get them into cheap deals, the worst way to do it.

While Jackson not only blamed the crushing defeat, as Stan Bowman had taken over both players, it both looked bad when Holloway and Broberg signed an unexpectedly lucrative offer with the St. Louis Blues. Bruce general manager Doug Armstrong did a great job, knowing the Oilers are in a tricky position and taking advantage of it.

At the time, Broberg quickly developed into the top four defensive players, when he was seen as a bigger loss. Many believe that Skinner and Arvidsson’s signatures will make up for any potential Holloway offense, but that’s not the case. The 23-year-old played 18 goals and 43 points in 60 games.

No impact on defender addition

As mentioned earlier, most Oilers fans and hockey fans generally believe that the Oilers are doing a great job this offseason besides the Holloway and Broberg collapse. However, some question why they went all out to add offensive weapons without addressing their backend.

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These concerns expressed by some have proven to be correct. Broberg’s loss was obviously a huge blow, but many have realized that despite its flaws, Ceci played a much bigger role in the team than he had been named. They have been working on finding a replacement who can log in to them in the top four for a few minutes he did.

Better planning is needed for the next offseason

Although Jackson is about to arrive this year, he is still part of the management team and will comment on the decisions they make. Not only do they pursue big-name players that are exciting to the fan base, they also need to make sure they follow people who really fit their needs. Last summer, this somewhat reckless style suddenly made the team look like a team that might be lined up in a playoff exit.