Confirmed with Link: [EDM/BUF] McLeod + Tullio for Matt Savoie

[Giggleplex]

McLeod had to be traded regardless. We can't afford him after this season when Drai's and Bouch's new contracts hit. So it was down to either trading him now and clearing up some cap space this season or having him play mostly on the 4th line and trading him at the end of the season when he'll probably have less value being an RFA with arbitration rights.

I was expecting a 2nd round pick for him at best, so getting a top prospect in the deal blew my mind.

I should add that this move also opens up an opportunity for Holloway, who shares some qualities and role with McLeod but is more raw and has higher potential. Holloway could pop off like how Bouch did after Barrie was traded.

 

[TheNumber4]

Im gonna miss Mcleod (more than most it looks like). But I really wonder what his value would have been looking at arbitration numbers next year. We saw with Yamo how arbitrated numbers can kill value. I love Mcleod at 2M…. At 4M-5M or whatever an abitrator rewards without properly assessing flaws in his game…. I probably wouldn’t like him as much.

The 3 years of ELC for Savoie is going to be huge at some point. As long as Savoi can make this roster at some point in those 3 years. I’d suspect sooner rather than later. If we can get 2 years of a Savoie contributing at ELC numbers that would be huge.

 

[McJadeddog]

Im gonna miss Mcleod (more than most it looks like). But I really wonder what his value would have been looking at arbitration numbers next year. We saw with Yamo how arbitrated numbers can kill value. I love Mcleod at 2M…. At 4M-5M or whatever an abitrator rewards without properly assessing flaws in his game…. I probably wouldn’t like him as much.

The 3 years of ELC for Savoie is going to be huge at some point. As long as Savoi can make this roster at some point in those 3 years. I’d suspect sooner rather than later. If we can get 2 years of a Savoie contributing at ELC numbers that would be huge.

Honestly, we traded McLeod for 3 years of ELC as much as we did for the player. It was a cap dump at the end of the day, and we didn't have the luxury of paying a non-center 3rd/4th line guy 2.1 M with all of our other moves. The ELC being around still for the 25-26 and 26-27 seasons, when (hopefully) McDrai are on their next contracts will be huge. Assuming that Savoie can actually play in the NHL, which is obviously not a for sure thing at this point, but that is certainly the gamble we are making, rightly or wrongly.

 

[TheNumber4]

Honestly, we traded McLeod for 3 years of ELC as much as we did for the player. It was a cap dump at the end of the day, and we didn't have the luxury of paying a non-center 3rd/4th line guy 2.1 M with all of our other moves. The ELC being around still for the 25-26 and 26-27 seasons, when (hopefully) McDrai are on their next contracts will be huge. Assuming that Savoie can actually play in the NHL, which is obviously not a for sure thing at this point, but that is certainly the gamble we are making, rightly or wrongly.

Cap casualty I would call it more than Cap Dump. Cap dump implies the player has negative value, Mcleod doesn’t have negative value. To us, he’s not a fit, to many teams he would be. But even better than a 2M fair value player is a 900K player that has the potential to far outperform that contract. Savoie represents that, and would be a huge upgrade to this roster if he can hit within these ELC years.

Not a gaurantee he does, but it’s a good bet from what I’ve read and how his stats are trending. After watching video I’m even more convinced he could be ready sooner rather than later.

 

[TB12]

"Being a GM is super easy."
-Jeff Jackson, probably

 

[TheNumber4]

I wonder if Savoie followed the Oilers cup run closely. Bet he’s excited to be able to join that.

Has there been any interviews with Oilers Pr yet with Savoie?

 

[midnightcopper]

Im gonna miss Mcleod (more than most it looks like). But I really wonder what his value would have been looking at arbitration numbers next year. We saw with Yamo how arbitrated numbers can kill value. I love Mcleod at 2M…. At 4M-5M or whatever an abitrator rewards without properly assessing flaws in his game…. I probably wouldn’t like him as much.

The 3 years of ELC for Savoie is going to be huge at some point. As long as Savoi can make this roster at some point in those 3 years. I’d suspect sooner rather than later. If we can get 2 years of a Savoie contributing at ELC numbers that would be huge.

Don't want to get it the whole Yamamoto issue, as I liked the player, but he is a good example of how you (or your agent) can price yourself off of a team with an inflated salary.

 

[Cloned]

"Being a GM is super easy."
-Jeff Jackson, probably

I said it before, but it’d be funny if he does all his candidate interviews and realizes at the end he’s the most qualified person for the job.

 

[Drivesaitl]

By this logic trading Ryan for a 1st overall pick is a bad trade.

At the end of the day we traded a guy who on his best day would be our 10th bet forwsard who was making 2mill a year who lost his job to pretty much every forward on the team.

He was useless offensively and away from Draisaitl and with him was okay okay. He is okay defensively good sometimes and his penalty killing while good was replaceable by many we still have. We may miss his speed but really. We cleared much needed cap by moving our 4c, 12th best forward.

In return we got cap space and a high end prospect who will start seeing play next year when we get need all the savings we can get with Draisaitls contract.

Edit: also he doesn’t need to possess the puck much, especially here. If he makes the team anytime soon it’ll be in the top 6 where he just needs to get open.

Ridiculous. Mcleod was usable, and flexible, in many ways and in usage, which is most indication where Coaches see players. Only 6 forwards on this whole club got more Toi/Game than McLeod and thats including Henrique who just got here at TDL. Factor in actual toi and Mcleod had 6th most minutes.

"useless offensively" had 16 Goals. more than the vast majority of our forwards. He had more goals than Browy, Perry and Janmark put together. Thats just a fact.

McLeod was basically our 7th best forward in every metric.

Ryan McLeod was good at a lot of things. But not the dead sexy things that fans tend to go for. just a nuts and bolts solid player that even produces when put up in the lineup. Good teams have players like this, and tend to keep players like this.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I’m sure we will survive without McLeod, who was out performed by virtually everybody else on the roster during the playoffs.

The bonus is we got a top 20 prospect in the league. I bet the same posters who are whining about this trade would trade connor brown and Janmark for a 1st round draft pick in a heart beat. Now consider that brown and Janmark vastly outplayed McLeod.

Non issue and our team will be perfectly fine without McLeod. I’m still actually baffled that this trade happened.

You gotta be kidding with this. Thats the whole thing. McLeod was better this season than several players on this club. People forget too big goals like scoring our first goal to get us going in an otherwise dire Game 4 against Dallas where we were trailing 2-1 in games and down 2-0 in game 4. That goal kickstarted the club.

Again Mcleod had more goals than Janmark, Brown, Perry put together and even saying that while I like Janmark. People elevating Brown is recency effect. He was garbage here 90% of his time here. He did the bare minimum to get extended. 6 measly goals in over 100GP.

In what way did Janmark and Brown vastly overplay Mcleod? In your imagination?

McLeod also scored 3 of our goals in the SC final. Where does this notion he was doing nothing come from?

 

[Davo Ikinzom]

Oh boy.. there's always got to be one.

 

[TB12]

Absolute win. Never have to see McLeod lose a puck battle on the boards because he won't make a hard play. Or not finish a check. Or blow snow as a defender comes at him. Or flies around the net instead of driving. Or throws a lame stick check instead of leading with the body.

You advanced nerds can have him. Don't win cups with guys like this in the lineup.

 

[McFlyingV]

You gotta be kidding with this. Thats the whole thing. McLeod was better this season than several players on this club. People forget too big goals like scoring our first goal to get us going in an otherwise dire Game 4 against Dallas where we were trailing 2-1 in games and down 2-0 in game 4. That goal kickstarted the club.

Again Mcleod had more goals than Janmark, Brown, Perry put together and even saying that while I like Janmark. People elevating Brown is recency effect. He was garbage here 90% of his time here. He did the bare minimum to get extended. 6 measly goals in over 100GP.

In what way did Janmark and Brown vastly overplay Mcleod? In your imagination?

McLeod also scored 3 of our goals in the SC final. Where does this notion he was doing nothing come from?

That goal you're referring to was more Ryan Suter taking out his own goalie lol. What did Brown and Janmark do over McLeod? Well for starters they didn't get outscored 12-4 at 5 on 5.

 

[Fourier]

Shocking that I liked McLeod and saw value in him and supported that value?

I'm not the grass is always greener moving out players that some are.

As many have said in the thread we moved out an actual NHL player, and really his contract wasn't that much, for a guy that hasn't even seen the show (well barely)

Being an old enough Oilers fans the amount this team gives up on its own players and prospects should be whats shocking.

Anyway screw off if you want to take more potshots.

I don't think this is giving up on McLeod at all. If you give up on a guy you flip him for a 3rd. The fact is they had to move someone and that someone was pretty much going to be one of Kane, Ceci, Kulak or McLeod. The problem with moving a defender is that you then have to replace him and that presented its own challenges. Kane is probably not going to finish his contract in Edmonton but right now moving him may have meant little in return.

I liked McLeod probably more than most here. But Henrique staying meant that McLeod's role was probably going to be as a #4C/utility winger. And I am afraid that McLeod was very likely to price himself out of a spot. With pending arbitration at the end of his deal he would have had the team in a tough spot and teams don't typically give up a lot for guys who could get more in arbitration than their potential roles allow. If the opportunity to move him would have been for say a 2nd rounder, I'd have had more issue with this. But the return here is not something many of us expected. Savoie is a high end talent who plays an aggressive game. The big knock on him is that he is small. And yes he has had injuries. But he is also on a cheap deal for three more years which is very big. This deal could be a massive win for the Oilers, or it could go bust. But the odds favour the former over the latter given that they may well have lost McLeod next offseason anyway for a lesser return.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I said it before, but it’d be funny if he does all his candidate interviews and realizes at the end he’s the most qualified person for the job.

He knows he’s the most qualified. JJ gets the big chair and will guide his team's approach. It’s not either or but rather a team approach with function experts/leaders who will feed into their decision making. The GM role will manage the minutiae. Jackson is a collaborative leader.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

A few days later I'm starting to see the logic. Though it's odd/fun to see the Oil trade a non-essential piece that didn't need to move, while demanding a premium, and actually getting it. Imo this was Buffalo circling in on a player they targetted; and not the Oil calling around, hoping to dump a contract.

McLeod is a flawed player, but defensive 3rd liner centres are virtually non-existent in the market.

Meanwhile Buffalo is drowning in damn good, RH top 6 talents (Thompson, Tuch, Cozens, plus Quinn who is closer than Savoie to being NHL ready), but has no answer for the defensive starts.

Savoie is a luxury for them, 9th overall pick be damned. Worse for them, Buffalo has also gotten to the point where they need help now, regardless of how bad the value is. It's their Hall for Larsson point: Where value doesn't matter, the need MUST be addressed.
And like the Oil of 16/17, you can at least try and argue the juice was worth the squeeze: The Oil finally got back to the playoffs, ending the decade of darkness. And Larsson anchoring the right side was a big massive of that. Savoie likely isn't beating out anyone above him, and McLeod has proven he can hold down the 3C spot, at least during the regular season.

On the Oilers' end, they got a top prospect for a redundant piece, who'd be starting the year as a 4th liner. Henrique's a far superior 3rd line centre, and (in theory) they have the future mapped out with O'Reilly recently drafted, plus Holloway, Bourgault, and Grubbe as other, longer shots to grow into the role.
Biggest of all, Savoie's contract is golden for the Oil: 3 years of an ELC seeing them through Drai and McDavid's extensions, with a clear path in two years where you transition from Arvidsson into Savoie. They couldn't ask for a better ETA.

 

[Cloned]

He knows he’s the most qualified. JJ gets the big chair and will guide his team's approach. It’s not either or but rather a team approach with function experts/leaders who will feed into their decision making. The GM role will manage the minutiae. Jackson is a collaborative leader.

I’ve said it before. Hire an assistant GM to take care of all the day to day stuff that probably bores him. All the big stuff he can take care of.

 

[Fourier]

He knows he’s the most qualified. JJ gets the big chair and will guide his team's approach. It’s not either or but rather a team approach with function experts/leaders who will feed into their decision making. The GM role will manage the minutiae. Jackson is a collaborative leader.

So far Jackson has been excellent. He handled the draft and the FA period extremely well. This trade was completely unexpected from my point of view. Not so much that he traded Mcleod but more so for the return. If you told me in advance that you thought he would flip McLeod for Savoie I would have told you that you were crazy.

 

[Morpheus]

Should be fun to watch how this plays out for Buffalo, with head coach Lindy Ruff returning, will he be the McLeod whisperer and Ryan finds another gear or tier?

Iiirc McLeod fell to the second round of the draft, was projected to be a mid to late first rounder by the majority of media pundits and draft rankings, was it the perimeter play teams were concerned with then?

He has another year left on his deal, and the Sabres control one more year of RFA after that.

On the other I’ll enjoy watching Savoie come in and battle for a spot in camp for his first pro team during training camp this fall.

 

[McFlyingV]

Should be fun to watch how this plays out for Buffalo, with head coach Lindy Ruff returning, will he be the McLeod whisperer and Ryan finds another gear or tier?

Iiirc McLeod fell to the second round of the draft, was projected to be a mid to late first rounder by the majority of media pundits and draft rankings, was it the perimeter play teams were concerned with then?

He has another year left on his deal, and the Sabres control one more year of RFA after that.

On the other I’ll enjoy watching Savoie come in and battle for a spot in camp for his first pro team during training camp this fall.

Yes his perimeter play has been a concern and criticism from scouts on McLeod since he entered the OHL. It hasn't improved even incrementally in 8 years of development. I don't think Ruff is going to magically change it now, but maybe being traded will wake him up. I doubt it.

 

[Mr Positive]

As a right shot center, the org likely sees Savoie as a future 3C maybe? Or perhaps a top six RW who can take draws

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I’ve said it before. Hire an assistant GM to take care of all the day to day stuff that probably bores him. All the big stuff he can take care of.

He’s already got 2 assistant GM’s and a couple new management hires. Has navigated the draft and free agency well with those function leads. Will still have strategic voice, direction setting and oversight.

 

[Cloned]

He’s already got 2 assistant GM’s and a couple new management hires. Has navigated the draft and free agency well with those function leads. Will still have strategic voice, direction setting and oversight.

Hire someone with connections to be the “GM.” That should be the goal here.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Hire someone with connections to be the “GM.” That should be the goal here.

Think his organization vision is much more sophisticated than a rolodex. He’s shown and speaks to empowering a collaborative team. Backed it up with Pracey ‘we need to draft Sam O’Reilly. He is setting the framework and hiring to create a model hockey management organization. Diesn’t neef to be mired in operations.

 

[Cloned]

Think his organization vision is much more sophisticated than a rolodex. He’s shown and speaks to empowering a collaborative team. Backed it up with Pracey ‘we need to draft Sam O’Reilly. He is setting the framework and hiring to create a model hockey management organization. Diesn’t neef to be mired in operations.

Rolodex comes in handy sometimes.