Hockey writer Jim Matheson has covered the Edmonton Oilers since they joined the National Hockey League in 1979. Every week, he will answer questions from readers
Q: Do you think the Blackhawks are looking for a Top 4 defenceman? (twitter:Jayson Gagnon-@hiprock74).
A: No. We all know Duncan Keith, one of the two or three best D-men in the NHL, is out for a month or more after knee cartilage surgery, but the Stanley Cup champions will suck it up to make up for Keith’s 24 minutes a night.
Keith has missed only 14 games the past six years, so this injury is uncharted territory for them, but watch how Brent Seabrook’s minutes go up now. They’ll have Trevor Daley, the defenceman they acquired from Dallas in the Patrick Sharp trade; Niklas Hjalmarsson, the most underrated D-man in the whole league; and Seabrook eating up most of the ice time. Admittedly, there’s a big drop-off but Trevor VanRiemsdyk played 21 minutes against Florida Thursday night. They’ve also got six-foot-six rookie Viktor Svedberg, who’s been playing with Seabrook, and David Rundblad, but Rundblad has been a healthy scratch a lot of nights. Michal Roszival, still recovering from a broken leg suffered in the playoffs, will be in the picture when healthy.
I have heard they’ve been sniffing around ex-Oiler and current Calgary defenceman Ladislav Smid, who is close to coming back after a second neck surgery. He would be a very useful third-pairing guy if they could swap winger Bryan Bickell for him.
Q: When will Wayne Gretzky be at an Oilers game this season? (Michael Clarke @ClarkeRaodi123)
A: He’ll be at Rexall Place on Dec. 11 when the New York Rangers are in town, and maybe the night before, too, if there’s a gathering of old friends of Glen Sather’s for the banner-raising salute to the former coach and GM. I’d be shocked if Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr, who all have their jerseys retired, weren’t in the house too.
Q: If Columbus is desperate for a Top 4 defensive defenceman, would they be interested in Mark Fayne? (tweet, @RedditOilers)
A: Perhaps. Fayne, who is two years into his four-year, $14.5-million Oilers deal, has been playing with Andrej Sekera since the season started. He gets less ice-time (16 minutes) than any of the top four guys because he’s not on the power play (Sekera and Justin Schultz are) and gets a smattering of PK work. Fayne, who was signed because of his good puck-possession numbers, is a solid player who makes a good first pass but the abrasive Eric Gryba is actually playing more (18:15) than he is because of his PK time.
Would they trade Fayne? I suspect they’d listen because they have some depth there. He wasn’t GM Peter Chiarelli’s free-agent pickup, he was Craig MacTavish’s. They could move the left-shooting Sekera to the right side and have Justin Schultz and Gryba there. Darnell Nurse is going to be up from Bakersfield sometime this season to play left side with Oscar Klefbom. What would the Oilers want for Fayne? They need a big, offensive winger. The Blue Jackets may be shopping former first-round pick, Kirby Rychel.
Have a question you want to ask Matty? Email Jim at jmatheson@edmontonjournal.com or find him on Twitter: @nhlbymatty
