Confirmed Trade: [EDM/STL] Paul Fischer, '28 3rd for future considerations

[seafoam]

I think it's interesting that Bowman made this trade conditional on him not matching the offer sheets. It shows that Armstrong was truly interested in adding these two pieces and he thinks they are valuable to the future of his organization/wasn't just looking to f*** EDM on their cap.

If this ends up becoming a more common occurrence (offer sheet followed by not matching + trade between the two teams involved), I can see this being a topic of discussion when they are drafting the next CBA.

My understanding is that the purpose of an offer sheet is not to be used as a work around to a trade.

 

[Realm]

So do I understand this timeline and situation correctly:

1. STL offer sheets both Holloway and Broberg
2. EDM sweats it out trying to find a taker for Ceci or Kulak.
3. EDM pays a 3rd to SJS to take Ceci and that opens up just enough room to match either offer sheet but not both.
4. STL says "hey, we want both, we will give you Fischer and a 3rd to not match"
5. EDM agrees and doesn't match, STL gets both, EDM gets the draft picks.

Is that pretty much what happened here?

Yes, along with the Canucks trade. Maybe the Oilers like Emberson more than Ceci? Either way he is far cheaper.

The Oilers have to be pivoting to another D move, right?

LH - Ekholm, Nurse, Kulak
RH - Bouchard, Stecher, Emberson, Brown

Any prospects who can make a push?

No, see what they have and trade for a top 4 at the deadline.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Everything go right?
They were at 30th spot before coaching change. I did not say 150pt season but said 100pt season so no they would not be winning all games next season.

Exactly my point. They are likely not going to be able to pull themselves out of the hole this time as well as they did

And they are #1 in Goals For the last four seasons combined.

They are kicking the can down the road, and will likely be scouting every defensemen worth his salt coming off of contract in the next 24 months. Why invest 6M+ per in Holloway when they need some of that to re-sign Draisaitl and can spend the rest on a proven top four D?

Because you are trying to keep Drai and McDavid? If they miss the playoffs next year Drai is likely gone and that means so is McDavid. They need to win this year. That is their worst defense I've seen them ice in at least 5-6 seasons. Particularly on the defensive end of the puck.

No chance they have a short offseason and are able to run the system 82+ games. They will struggle most likely again to start. I am saying once they recover I doubt they can go nearly perfect 2 years in a row and leave enough in the tank to win 4 rounds. I think 100 points for them is high end expectations.

 

[wetcoast]

Exactly my point. They are likely not going to be able to pull themselves out of the hole this time as well as they did



Because you are trying to keep Drai and McDavid? If they miss the playoffs next year Drai is likely gone and that means so is McDavid. They need to win this year. That is their worst defense I've seen them ice in at least 5-6 seasons. Particularly on the defensive end of the puck.

No chance they have a short offseason and are able to run the system 82+ games. They will struggle most likely again to start. I am saying once they recover I doubt they can go nearly perfect 2 years in a row and leave enough in the tank to win 4 rounds. I think 100 points for them is high end expectations.

The situation in Edmonton isn't nearly as bad as some detractors might wish though.

The Oilers have some really good forward depth and still have Bouchard, Ekholm and Nurse able to eat big MPG and Kulak is a servible NHL Dman.

The Oilers aren't going to win or lose because of their bottom pairing Dmen.

 

[HockeyVirus]

The situation in Edmonton isn't nearly as bad as some detractors might wish though.

The Oilers have some really good forward depth and still have Bouchard, Ekholm and Nurse able to eat big MPG and Kulak is a servible NHL Dman.

The Oilers aren't going to win or lose because of their bottom pairing Dmen.

Bouchard and Nurse are blackholes defensively. Ekholm is the same age as Tanev, at what point does he decline sharply? The rest of the defense are barely NHL dmen

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Bouchard and Nurse are blackholes defensively. Ekholm is the same age as Tanev, at what point does he decline sharply? The rest of the defense are barely NHL dmen

Copium man...Ekholm and Bouchard would be by far the best two Toronto blue liners. They form one of if not the best top pairs in the league. Tanev is a broken down defensive specialist, Ekhom's a two way beast who stays on the rink.

Theyre good enough to make that Oilers defense average at very least, despite the depth being pretty bad.

 

[Mr Positive]

Honestly this trade makes both GMs seem very professional. Edmonton could have been emotional about it and matched out of spite, and Armstrong could have pressed their advantage and protected any other assets.

This may be the precedent for future offer sheets

 

[wetcoast]

Bouchard and Nurse are blackholes defensively. Ekholm is the same age as Tanev, at what point does he decline sharply? The rest of the defense are barely NHL dmen

Ty for making my point.

 

[seafoam]

Exactly my point. They are likely not going to be able to pull themselves out of the hole this time as well as they did



Because you are trying to keep Drai and McDavid? If they miss the playoffs next year Drai is likely gone and that means so is McDavid. They need to win this year. That is their worst defense I've seen them ice in at least 5-6 seasons. Particularly on the defensive end of the puck.

No chance they have a short offseason and are able to run the system 82+ games. They will struggle most likely again to start. I am saying once they recover I doubt they can go nearly perfect 2 years in a row and leave enough in the tank to win 4 rounds. I think 100 points for them is high end expectations.

“Likely gone” from an internet forum and actually gone are two vastly different things.

 

[alphahelix]

Copium man...Ekholm and Bouchard would be by far the best two Toronto blue liners. They form one of if not the best top pairs in the league. Tanev is a broken down defensive specialist, Ekhom's a two way beast who stays on the rink.

Theyre good enough to make that Oilers defense average at very least, despite the depth being pretty bad.

The oilers have nobody to rely on for d-zone faceoffs or PK on the right side against elite players. It’s a recipe for disaster in tight matchups against good teams. It’s stupid, frankly. Desharnais Ceci and Broberg all did that job at points in the playoffs last year and they were all fairly good at it relative to their pay grade. As the Oilers have been hoping to ADD an RD for years, I have been looking at all the potentially available acquisitions (expiring contracts etc) and its almost all players worse than Ceci who make more than Ceci. So now that we’re desperate, how TF are we gonna address this? We wont and our D will take a gigantic step back.

 

[VeteranPresence]

Because you are trying to keep Drai and McDavid? If they miss the playoffs next year Drai is likely gone and that means so is McDavid.

You may legitimately be the only person on the planet who believes the Oilers will miss the playoffs outside of the most egregious circumstances (McDrai both suffering season ending injuries in Game 1, Giant Meteor, etc.). Bravo.

 

[LTIR]

Exactly my point. They are likely not going to be able to pull themselves out of the hole this time as well as they did

No your point was that Oilers would need to win just about every game to get to 100pts.
Why is a 2-10-0 start a given ala next season? How is this hole getting created to begin with?

 

[HockeyVirus]

No your point was that Oilers would need to win just about every game to get to 100pts.
Why is a 2-10-0 start a given ala next season? How is this hole getting created to begin with?

Short offseason, cup final hangover, hard to focus on these games mentally. Hot and cold goaltending behind one of the worst defensive groups in the west. They will score a lot but they are going to make their goalie work for it.

 

[Canovin]

Paul Fischer was a good prospect in our pool. Solid left-handed defensive defenseman with the slight potential for more offense. Definitely outplayed his draft slot. But he was completely blocked with Theo Lindstein, Michael Buchinger, Lukas Fischer, Colin Ralph, Arseny Koromyslov, Quinton Burns, Leo Loof, Marc-Andre Gaudet, and now Philip Broberg all on the left side. We obviously weren't going to sign him out of college.

All this left hand D and you guys still offersheet Broberg?

 

[mouser]

I believe Blues were sitting on 49 contracts when you remove the juniors 18/19 year olds, so they had to part with somebody.

Fischer isn’t a contract—St Louis traded his draft rights to Edmonton.

 

[mouser]

This entire situation is an example of how inefficient offer sheets are for everybody.

The problem is that a trade was probably never possible, because if you're St.Louis you tip off Edmonton. Or, you pay a 1st+ for Broberg.

Ultimately, by leveraging salary cap, St.Louis got Broberg, Holloway, and a 5th for a 2nd, three 3rds, and a C prospect. Edmonton would never have accepted Broberg+Holloway for those picks in a trade back in July. So it comes down to whether the extra cap St.Louis spent was worth the discount from whatever price they would have had to pay for Broberg.

If Holloway wasn't their primary target, they could possibly flip him next year to recoup some of those picks. If he has a decent season and cements himself as an NHL, they can get a 2nd or a few 3rd round picks for him.

St Louis can trade Broberg or Holloway at any time if they want to. There’s no trade restriction on teams making a successful Offer Sheet—only teams matching an Offer Sheet.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Does Edmonton have another move coming? Because I don’t understand shipping out Ceci and Broberg then?

I mean neither are great… but they have no one better coming up that I’m aware of?

 

[Memento]

All this left hand D and you guys still offersheet Broberg?

Because Broberg, at the moment, is already an NHL player, unlike all of those players I mentioned - and the Blues had a need for left-handed defensemen now that Krug is on LTIR. Lindstein is in Sweden, Koromyslov is in the KHL, Fischer and Ralph are freshmen in college, Burns is in his D2 junior year, and Loof, Gaudet, and Buchinger are all younger players in the AHL/ECHL.

Paul Fischer is in college, but with all of that depth on the left side, all of whom are also progressing, I have to imagine that he would've never gotten a sniff at the Blues.

It's a trade that makes sense for Edmonton and St. Louis.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

Does Edmonton have another move coming? Because I don’t understand shipping out Ceci and Broberg then?

I mean neither are great… but they have no one better coming up that I’m aware of?

Looking at how everything unfolded, I think that they didn't want to keep Ceci regardless and had there not been an offer sheet, may have paid to ship him out after coming to terms with Broberg.

Shipping Ceci out before declining to match may have given Edmonton leverage to make the side deal with St.Louis. Had they not shipped Ceci out, it would have been apparent to St.Louis that Edmonton was bluffing about the possibility of matching the offer sheet.

If Edmonton knew from the start of the process that they were very unlikely to match on Broberg, by moving Ceci for a third and then turning around and using the leverage of being able to match and remain cap compliant to get a 3rd from St.Louis, they moved Ceci for free. I don't know if that was the logic or order of how things went down, but it seems like that could have been the case.

They could potentially go out and get a #6 defenseman who makes somewhere around 2.5M with the idea being that when Kane returns from LTIR, they could become compliant in a worst case scenario by running with no healthy scratches. I don't think they do this. I think they went out and identified two affordable options to act as NHL depth players (Emberson and Podkolzin), and they are now compliant with a 22-23 player roster depending on if they wish to put Kane on LTIR.

 

[TK 421]

I'll echo other Blues fans and say Oilers fans will be pleasantly surprised by Paul Fischer. He's an excellent skater with good size(6'1,199 lbs. last I checked) and a willingness to play physical and block shots. He might not be the sexiest pickup for you guys but watch his development because you may have a player here even if it's as a 3rd pair guy. He's a '23 draftee so he'll obviously need time but don't just write him off as a 5th round pick of no consequence.

 

[TheNumber4]

I'll echo other Blues fans and say Oilers fans will be pleasantly surprised by Paul Fischer. He's an excellent skater with good size(6'1,199 lbs. last I checked) and a willingness to play physical and block shots. He might not be the sexiest pickup for you guys but watch his development because you may have a player here even if it's as a 3rd pair guy. He's a '23 draftee so he'll obviously need time but don't just write him off as a 5th round pick of no consequence.

Well we do need a replacement for Kulak when his contract ends. This fits that positional need and timeline. Of course he'll still have to turn out, sounds like Bowman knows him well too as a Chicago area prospect. He's been following his progress for years even before drafted.

 

[TK 421]

Well we do need a replacement for Kulak when his contract ends. This fits that positional need and timeline. Of course he'll still have to turn out, sounds like Bowman knows him well too as a Chicago area prospect. He's been following his progress for years even before drafted.

Yeah that was a smart pickup imo, sounds like Bowman knew the scoop on him.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Fischer was one of Team USA’s better defensemen at the WJSS. He definitely didn’t hurt his value, regardless of what one might think of a midsummer tournament. No lock he makes the final cut since the U.S. is deep at the position but wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he made it.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

The Blues’ pipeline is incredibly strong at left defense. Springfield has talent available as well. Blues seem to add two or three every year, with Lukas Fischer (no relation) and Colin Ralph both from this year’s 2nd round, Lindstein in R1 two drafts ago, Buchinger, Koromyslov etc.

 

[jackjohnson]

Makes sense, curious to see what they do now.
They traded Ceci and let go of Broberg. I'm sure they have another deal for a defender.

They lost Ceci, Broberg, Holloway, Deharnais, Foegele and kane will be on LTIR etc. While adding only injury prone Arvidsson, Skinner and re-signing Henrique. Not sure how they improved this offseason. They lost a lot of depth on a weak defense that has gotten worst. Maybe they are opening up the cap space for a big top 4 D or they want to open cap space for Drai. Losing 3 NHL caliber D will hurt even if they were not great dmen.