No way they do this... Insider reveals Wild Oilers trade report

The Edmonton Oilers are linked to quite the interesting name in the rumor mill as an insider reports Oilers head coach Mike Babcock might have his eyes set on a certain enforcer in the National Hockey League. Welcome back to Oilers Digest. I'm your host Joseph Greco and in today's video we're going to be taking a look at a report that has come out within the last 24 hours surrounding the Edmonton Oilers and specifically head coach Mike Babcock and a A player who he admires. could potentially lead to a move down the line surrounding this player, and that is Matt Rempe. So according to Frank Servelli, he links the connection between Matt Rempe and the Edmonton Oilers, indicating that Mike Babcock is someone who is believed to admire New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe, who, for those of you who are unaware, is a 6'9", 268-pound right winger with the New York Rangers. He came into the league about two years ago Pretty much instantly started to drop the mitts with just about anyone and everyone he could find. The fans in New York took an instant loving to him, but since then has not really had an ability to crack the lineup. Very consistently. Now, right off the bat, I do want to say that Frank Servelli is, in my opinion, sometimes hit or miss with some of his reports. Therefore, I do not want to put too, too much weight into this report. Having said that, by no means am I surprised by the fact that Mike Babcock, someone who's more of an old school mindset, is eyeing a player who is just a pure enforcer. The league is kind of seeing a shift. away from these types of players where teams aren't really focused on enforcers it's a bit of a dying breed they're more focused on guys that can play a complete 200 foot game if you're a bottom six guy you got to contribute either offensively or defensively in some way and speed speed speed speed is the new formula having said that At the end of the day, fighting, body checking, being physical and intimidating on the ice, as much as some people may not like it and do not want to say it, it is still a part of the game and is still something that, you know, you want players that have that edge on the ice and could bring more than just scoring or an ability to block shots. You want to bring in a guy who's big and strong and physical and can certainly, you know, swift, change momentum just off of a huge hit or a huge scrap. So as I mentioned in the last 24 hours or so. This rumor has kind of been circulating, started off with Frank Servelli reporting that, you know, Mike Babcock wants more size in the lineup and Bowman is certainly looking at the market and they may be on the same page surrounding a guy like Matt Rempe, who is not really playing with the New York Rangers at the moment. And so that leads to, you know, Mike Babcock saying this is the guy that he believes could be the number one target for a more of an enforcer role at this time. There's no discussion surrounding. Picks or negotiations between the two teams, but certainly something to take a look at because you're not looking at a player who's going to cost you a lot of money or be a lot in terms of the overall return in a package. So Matt Rempe's contract, very affordable. If you're the Edmonton Oilers, it's not even above $1 million. So you're getting a player who You know exactly what he's bringing to the team. He's not bringing you goals. He's not bringing you defensive stuff. He's bringing you size. He's going to be physical, and he's going to be dropping the gloves, getting the crowd into it, maybe trying to change momentum in your favor. So it's a cheap contract, and all in all, it's a very cheap exchange of what you'd be giving up. You'd probably be giving up one of your bottom players that has not even cracked in the lineup, or you'd be giving up a very late pick. Click. So. At first, when I first heard this rumor, I was kind of like, Matt Rempe is not exactly what the Oilers need. If you take a look at the Oilers roster, certainly need a little bit more goal scoring in that bottom six. Having said that, the Oilers are dealing with a lot of injuries in the early going of the season. Once they start to get a little bit more healthy, I do think that the goal scoring production will come, especially with the blossoming of Colton Dow on that left wing. So there's potential for this bottom six to score, and it's clear that they feel that they need someone who's a little bit more physical and has more size and again not surprised Mike Babcock the old school mindset he definitely appreciates big physical players and so at the end of the day as the over the last 24 hours the more I've sat on it the more I just think it's it's they're not going to be giving up anything if this trade goes through and you're getting a guy who can fight and who can be physical and is huge again six foot nine almost 270 pounds so Is he a great skater? No. Can he score? No. Is he going to defend well? No. But you know exactly what you're getting. You're not giving up that much. So even if he's not in your lineup every night, it's better that he's the extra than like Max Jones, in my opinion. So again, we all know what he brings. What does he bring? He brings hits and heavyweight fights. So as I mentioned, when he first came into the league, we saw Matt Rempe dropping the gloves with pretty much everyone and anyone he could. He had five fights in his first season in the National Hockey League. He's had four fights the following season and then last season only one fight. So that's a total of 11 career fights because he had one fight this season. You're seeing a little bit of him slowing down because he did take a lot of damage in the early going. Especially that first season he came in and he was fighting guys. With those five fights he came within. A very short period of time. He had about three fights in like two weeks. I remember he fought Matt Reeves in Toronto after fighting Matthew Olivier a few nights before. He was all bruised. His eyes were black and he still fought. So in terms of the safety of the player, you don't want this guy fighting too often. He's a very young player. The fact of the matter is also he does fight. The question is, can he really fight well? And the answer to that question is no. Matt Rempe doesn't really have the traditional ability for his size. to win fights in the National Hockey League. In a lot of these fights, he's kind of been beat up, especially in the first two seasons. He has worked a lot with some names in the offseason to try and improve his approach to the fighting and grabbing and trying to use his reach to his advantage. But at least in those first two seasons, he was never really successful in many of his fights. Took a lot of damage. And obviously, again, you don't want to see him taking too much head trauma at his young age. You want him to just be more responsible in terms of when he accepts fights and when he doesn't. Beyond the fighting, he does definitely bring a physical aspect to the game. 264 hits in 87 career games. That's about three hits per game in the regular season. And so far this season, he's got 11 hits in two games. So very small sample size in terms of ice time and games played with the Rangers this season. He can't really seem to crack the lineup, but very small sample size. You see that physical element he's bringing in pretty much like six to eight minutes time on ice. Not much of a sample size this season, but you are seeing the results. So when he is on the ice, he's definitely going to be bringing a physical aspect, whether that's with his fists or whether that's with his just body presence along the boards. So obviously, when we take a look at this, 11 fights in the regular season. This doesn't include anything from the minors. And obviously, this season fought Jeffrey VL. So he's got the history of fighting. And if we take a look, as I mentioned, with some of the injuries, very, very. Early physical toll on his body. Last season, he only fought once due to thumb surgery. So just three seasons, three years into his National Hockey League career, he's already dealt with surgeries on his fingers because of the grabbing and the punching. These guys are punching the helmets a lot and they're hurting themselves. If you're going to trade for a guy like this, his availability does matter. He needs to be able to actually be in the lineup. That way you're not trading for him just to kind of be on the IR because that's not a guy you want to trade for that's sitting on the IR. You want Matt Rempe to be available? When you face Florida, a team that plays dirty and is going to use elbows, maybe they think differently about trying to go after a guy like McDavid or Drysdale or Coulson or anyone on the team knowing Matt Rempe's there. And even if at the end of the day, as I mentioned, will he always win a fight? No. But when Gudis likes to do his little elbow or take a little reach out with his knee and be a dirty player, Then guess what? You got Matt Rempe in your face, Gudis or one of the Kachuk brothers. Those are the teams where you want to see a guy like Matt Rempe enter the game. So you're not trading for him to be in a game against, you know, a team that doesn't have this type of play style. But it certainly does help. I mean, if you look at the games between Tampa and Florida last season, those got Tampa. would call up their AHL goons just for when they faced the Florida Panthers so that they could match their dirtiness and their physicality. So Matt Rempe, at the end of the day, is his player mold of a true just enforcer, doesn't do anything else? Is that dying? Yes. Would you mind having him on your team? No. As I mentioned, Max Jones is the extra forward or Matt Rempe as the extra forward. I definitely think that a 6'9 forward that can scrap and be physical Definitely has a little bit more of an advantage to you. Now, having said that, I touched on it already. We're seeing a lot more of a need for speed and ability to play up and down the ice. At the end of the day, he's a big guy. He's not going to be able to be an overly fast skater. But when you watch him skate, at least in my opinion, it's not like he can't skate. It's just he's a big person. I mean, you're talking about 6'9". His top speed is 22 miles per hour. So approximately, you know, A 36-kilometer-per-hour speed burst is his fastest in his career. This season, about three speed bursts over 22 miles per hour. Again, very short sample size. So not in the upper percentile of speed or mid-percentile whatsoever. You're going to find him towards the bottom of the league in speed bursts. This team already has a lot of speed, especially through the legs of McDavid. So you take a look at that as well. You need to factor that in as well. If he's on a line, you've got to have maybe a guy like Alex Formington on the left wing who's a fast player and is defensively reliable so that Matt Rempe, if he's a little bit later on the back check because he's too busy trying to be physical on the forecheck, caught in below the goal line, skating back might be a little bit delayed, might be a little behind. You've got a guy like Formington in there. Who can maybe do a little bit of extra coverage. In terms of his overall usage over the last two seasons. You definitely see ice time around that 8th to 9th minute mark for Matt Rempe. So again, I don't want to sound like a broken record in this video. You're looking at a guy who's being brought in for one reason, one reason only. And that is just to be a bit of a reality check for other teams. Be noticeable on the board, physical as much as possible. Obviously, if you take a look at the Oilers lineup, the one place where I could see him maybe slot in is for Owen Michaels or Ike Howard to be coming out of the lineup. And this is right now. Obviously, we don't know how the lines would look once everyone's healthy, but it's certainly something to keep in mind. Now, that is my opinion. My opinion has changed in 24 hours. At first, I said, no way. Now, you know what, the more I look at it, it's a cheap move, wouldn't cost them much, and he's a valuable member to have as your extra forward, as opposed to, again, no shade to Max Jones, but he doesn't really do anything for this Oilers team, so let me know down below in the comment section your thoughts on this potential trade. Yes, would you like Edmonton to make this trade? Do you think that they could use a player like this, or no? Would you prioritize more of a versatile scoring forward, because they have always been Kind of looking for a middle six center or a middle six winger or C, would you only do this if it's for absolute dirt cheap, doesn't cost you anything and it won't be a risk whatsoever. So let me know down below in the comment section. That's all I have for you guys in today's update. Matt Rempe, potentially to the Edmonton Oilers. Mike Babcock is certainly a fan. If you enjoyed the video, give it a thumbs up, subscribe if you're new and I'll catch you in the next video. Toodles.