To make people feel better here is a list of all the players the Oilers have acquired between July 2 and the start of the season the past five years.
2018:
Alex Chiasson
Josh Currie
Jakub Jerabek
Jason Garrison
2017:
Brad Malone
Jussi Jokinen
Yohann Auvitu
2016:
Taylor Beck
Kris Russell
Zachary Pochiro
Eric Gryba
2015:
Anders Nilsson
2014:
Richard Bachman
Actually that's not encouraging at all.
I respect the effort but there is no consoling the whiners on here.
I honestly cant remember the last time I read so much stupid in multiple threads. Its like a bunch of people who are just miserable and use this forum as a vehicle to vent instead of for intelligent dialogue.
So much of what I see from these posters is about reaching a final conlcusion on Holland...which is beyond dumb. What the F did they expect him to do....lol
In any event most of them will never be happy regardless of what Holland does.
They can all wallow in their own misery IMO.
That aside....a couple of things.
The Oilers will almost always have to pay more than most teams for UFA's. There are some exceptions but not many. Thats just the reality of having a team in an arctic climate and in one of the worst travel situations in the NHL. Secondly this team is in cap hell and as such Holland has very little to work with.
Holland was also very clear that he would not be that involved in the first day or 2 of the UFA frenzy.
He held true to his word but that STILL doesnt prevent the same drama queens from going off....lol
In any event I am fine with what was accomplished today. Not thrilled with it but I am fine with it.
I dont see one contract that will be an issue and there are a couple of pretty good bets like Granlund. So far Holland has spent very little and increased the potential goal scoring capacity of the team. He also created room for a dman fro Bakersfield which needed to happen.
Holland still has room to make a trade as well which I expect will happen by the end of the week.
This isnt a quick fix...small incremental changes and improvements to the roster and big improvements to the structure of the team and better puck management. This is where most of the gains will be made this season IMO.
Its fun to dream about some 2nd tier UFA's being signed but its not very realistic at all.
This is pretty much what we should have expected today and the best part is that he didnt do anything stupid.