Confirmed Signing with Link: [EDM] F Jeff Skinner signs with the Oilers (1 year, $3M)

[Oilslick941611]

McLeod with 24 points, +6 in Buffalo
Henrique with 14 points +3 in Edmonton
McLeod makes almost $1 less, never mind the speed factor

In retrospect, bold looks like as much a miscalculation as the rest of the summer.

standing 3rd in the league 6 points out of first, its kind of hard to care.

 

[DingDongCharlie]

Ryan McLeod isn’t a missing piece. Nor a solid 3C. We saw first hand many times who he is. He was a 30 point, fast, non physical winger. Now he's used as a C playing more mins on a worse club. He's not an ideal C though. Neither in Cozens. That's the biggest issue on the Sabres. Their C depth behind Thompson is simply poor. Their own fanbase says Cozens is more suited to the wing. Well that's what we saw here from McLeod.

I believe I watch more Buffalo games than most non-Sabre fans, easily 2nd to the Oilers. Ever since they had the failed addition of Taylor Hall I've focused on them and really feel like a witness of part 2 of the decade of darkness Oilers. I'm hoping that franchise turns it around. I actually enjoy the Sabres regs on this board and think they deserve better. It's hard to look away from a trainwreck though and I really hope their GM gets canned. Kevyn Adams is clearly in over his head.

I don’t think many Oilers fans want a do over of McLeod for Savoie. I certainly don’t. Most threads talking about the Oilers and the deadline have people saying not to move Savoie. You can do an indirect comparison of Henrique vs McLeod but it’s completely ignoring the prospect sitting in the cupboard who we will need on that entry level contract and production aside I personally have more faith in Henrique playing his role in the playoffs vs McLeod.

 

[bucks_oil]

Yes its brutally managed.

1.9M for James Neal!
"only" $1.1M for Campbell on the hook for more until 2030 lol
$5.125M for E Kane who could still come abck before the playoffs but obv I bet they take teh free money and he plays Game 1 of Round 1.

Every penny is brutally important and $3M of Skinner would be great right now.

Every team has bugaboos in their dead-cap closet. I didn't think we were doing a history lesson, but rather responding to the practical here and now.

From a practical perspective, the Oilers are sitting 1st in their division, top-5 in league standings, and just recently added a $1.8M player (recently $7M guy) who hasn't played yet, and still have room to add another $5M player (or more depending on who moves).

That puts them in 2nd place among playoff teams in terms of available deadline cap.

Plus, and we're still trying to sort this with some HF cap experts. Prior to the Lindholm acquisition (and since the beginning of the season), the Oilers were projected to be about $950K UNDER the cap even with Kane ON the cap... meaning all of that $950K would be accruing until the deadline.

Now there were some ins and outs (short term injuries), but it does not appear that the cap tracking websites are accounting for the accrued, unspent cap. That could be another buffer to allow them to take on an additional ~$3M player.

In short, we are in good shape to add whoever we can get at the deadline with limited retention required.

Cap is NOT an excuse for Bowman this year. He can do what he wants.

And yes Skinner sucks (both of them) and yes Kane will be miraculously healthy for the playoffs.

I think we are in good shape.

 

[old kummelweck]

Their C depth behind Thompson is simply poor.

Thompson also struggles at C.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

As disappointing as Skinner has been, we really didn't care about losing McLeod or Foegele. They bring absolutely nothing when the games mattered.

Henrique brings exactly what we need for wins. Even Connor Brown is more valuable than McLeod and Foegele in the playoffs.

Stat watch all you want. We're ok with them off the roster. Even if theyre putting up decent numbers. Keep em.

 

[Highmarker]

Ryan McLeod played himself out of a job in Edmonton last playoffs. Soft perimeter type player. comparing point totals only is silly, Buffalo can have him he isn't a player you win with. loved Foegle but don't hate Arvidsson either.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

$3M for Jeff “healthy scratch” Skinner and another $3.25 M in deferred money from Connor Brown’s services last year. Brutal. Meanwhile let 2-3 promising young players walk. Horror bad cap management.

Have to say they are still playing pretty well in spite of it though. We’ll see how well the depth holds up in the playoffs

The only player that left that I really wanted to stay was Holloway. Broberg was promising but had a lot of ?'s next to his name and wanted out.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

If the Oilers traded McLeod for a low pick or even had to pay to get rid of him just to re-sign Henrique, then yes that'll have been a massive failure on their part. However, it's essentially McLeod for Henrique and Savoie which might make them a bit worse in the regular season, but gives them a better team in the playoffs and most importantly gives them a young piece that allows them to keep their window even longer. It's both good short and long term.

 

[thadd]

Did you see how useless McLeod was for the Oilers in the playoffs? One of their worst players.

mcLeod was even more of a perimeter player than Eberle was in the playoffs.

McLeod can contribute to getting you in the playoffs, but he lacks heart or even the smallest bit of determination to make a difference in the playoffs.

We don't miss him. We miss Holloway.

 

[Devilmademedoit]

standing 3rd in the league 6 points out of first, its kind of hard to care.

at the end of the day it is all about winning!

 

[Bryanbryoil]

If the Oilers traded McLeod for a low pick or even had to pay to get rid of him just to re-sign Henrique, then yes that'll have been a massive failure on their part. However, it's essentially McLeod for Henrique and Savoie which might make them a bit worse in the regular season, but gives them a better team in the playoffs and most importantly gives them a young piece that allows them to keep their window even longer. It's both good short and long term.

McLeod is not a guy you win with, neither was Foegele. McLeod was overpaid as a 4C and I'd take Henrique over him in big games and the playoffs every single time. Happy for him and Buffalo that he's doing well there as he's always come across as a super nice guy. With that said he had to go.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

mcLeod was even more of a perimeter player than Eberle was in the playoffs.

McLeod can contribute to getting you in the playoffs, but he lacks heart or even the smallest bit of determination to make a difference in the playoffs.

We don't miss him. We miss Holloway.

Holloway played with grit and heart. I really had high hopes for him even when a number of our fans saw bottom 6 potential out of him.

 

[thadd]

Holloway played with grit and heart. I really had high hopes for him even when a number of our fans saw bottom 6 potential out of him.

Holloway did everything asked of him, looked great, and still the coach barely gave him any minutes.

His style of play embodies everything we had been craving for years.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

McLeod is not a guy you win with, neither was Foegele. McLeod was overpaid as a 4C and I'd take Henrique over him in big games and the playoffs every single time. Happy for him and Buffalo that he's doing well there as he's always come across as a super nice guy. With that said he had to go.

Yup and even if mcleod was better than henrique in every facet which he isn't, it's savoie and henrique vs mcleod and tullio.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Yup and even if mcleod was better than henrique in every facet which he isn't, it's savoie and henrique vs mcleod and tullio.

For sure. Savoie after a slow start has been doing really well in Bakersfield. There was some talk in the media that he might get a call-up at some point.

 

[McDoused]

For sure. Savoie after a slow start has been doing really well in Bakersfield. There was some talk in the media that he might get a call-up at some point.

Not sure why we are talking about the McLeod trade in the Jeff Skinner thread.

Having said that, I'm happy that McLeod is working out for Buffalo. I think the majority of Edmonton fans are happy with the trade. Our pipeline is lacking, and we added a player that was only 2 years removed from being drafted top 10. Savoie is a cost-controlled PPG player in the AHL with top 6 NHL upside. Add in that Edmonton was able to retain Henrique, it's hard to argue that the difference between Rico and McLeod is Savoie.

Henrique has been put in a shutdown role this year with the lowest GA/60 on the team. It's no surprise that his offence has dipped in his current role. Henrique has only been on the ice for 16 GA 5v5 this year (19 GF). He isn't expected to drive offence like Buffalo is asking McLeod to do. In basically the same amount of TOI in Buffalo, McLeod has been on the ice for 24 GA (26 GF). I don't really see how you can argue that either player has been much better than the other, but people will favor McLeod because of the points.

 

[SirloinUB]

letting Holloway go was a bonehead move

 

[LTIR]

letting Holloway go was a bonehead move

J.Skinner as a name looked much better add than fringe NHLer Holloway.

Holloway signing the offersheet pissed off Oilers core players especially when many others took discounts to stay on the contending team.

Could've easily matched the offersheet but they let him go for other reasons. STL did throw in a pick + prospect for us to not match his offersheet

 

[Oilslick941611]

J.Skinner as a name looked much better add than fringe NHLer Holloway.

Holloway signing the offersheet pissed off Oilers core players especially when many others took discounts to stay on the contending team.

Could've easily matched the offersheet but they let him go for other reasons. STL did throw in a pick + prospect for us to not match his offersheet

people forget Holloway had 9 points last year.

 

[SirloinUB]

J.Skinner as a name looked much better add than fringe NHLer Holloway.

Holloway signing the offersheet pissed off Oilers core players especially when many others took discounts to stay on the contending team.

Could've easily matched the offersheet but they let him go for other reasons. STL did throw in a pick + prospect for us to not match his offersheet

The job is to be forward looking not stuck on past accomplishments.

 

[bucks_oil]

On the contrary, it is a reply to a statement about Henrique being an upgrade in a 3rd line centre role.

Both players sit almost exactly in the middle of the roster in terms of forward ice-time on their respective teams (about 14 1/2 minutes for Henrique and 15 1/2 for McLeod), Henrique plays on a better team, and neither gets prime offensive minutes with stars.

What is the missing nuance?

The missing nuance is that Buffalo needs McLeod to score on that third line. And they would be thrilled with him bringing breakneck speed, even if it takes him out of position and outside their team structure (which is charitably, still developing).

And Edmonton needs an experienced positional guy who is going to play exceptional defense against the best the opposition can throw our way, make zero to few mistakes and net out neutral. They get their skating, scoring and virtuoso performances from other lines.

The fact, and it IS fact, that McLeod became a liability that lost us games does not mean that he can't be a great player on a rebuilding team. He just was not-at-all suited to the role Edmonton needed. Henrique is.

 

[Tryblot]

people forget Holloway had 9 points last year.

They forget because of how good he looked in the playoffs. You could tell he was ready for a big breakout.

He was often one of the better players on Edmonton.

 

[McDoused]

letting Holloway go was a bonehead move

In retrospect the Oilers shouldn't have signed Skinner and left that money open for Holloway.

Having said that, it was easy to look at Skinner who had 357 goals and 670 points in his career in 1006 games and thing he would be an upgrade on Holloway. Holloway to that point only had 9 goals and 18 points in 89 regular season games.

 

[LTIR]

The job is to be forward looking not stuck on past accomplishments.

Job was to contend this season going past where they left off. Adding someone like J.Skinner looked pretty good.
If Noah Philp holds out for a 2M+ deal he would be gone too.
Oilers couldnt even keep McLeod for 2Mper or Foegele for 3M per

Janmark, Henrique and Brown all supposedly took discounts to stay around.

They forget because of how good he looked in the playoffs. You could tell he was ready for a big breakout.

He was often one of the better players on Edmonton.

He looked promising for sure but the team didn't feel or could afford to give him over 1.5M.
Maybe they should've traded him away instead of getting essentially 2x3rd rd picks + prospect for him.

 

[stewy04]

Everyone hates him and he's still gonna get 15 to 20 goals on the 4th line lol.