Grade Holland’s deadline (week)

[McShogun99]

Moving a useless PJ, a same type D in Barrie only smaller, Schaeffer who wasn't going to be a regular here for 4 years if ever and some magic beans in draft picks for The Viking, who was the best defenceman available and who completely changes the makeup of our D, improves our horrid PK and will solidify the back end along with Bjugstad who seems to have found his game, brings size and also PK's grades an A.

Ekholm was the guy I wanted since November. That alone grades an A in my books.



That would put VD into the AHL as he is our 7th D. We need VD on the team.

He was the best D available and as an added bonus still has term that runs out the exact same time as Mcdavid's contract. I think we get elite play from him for 2 more years before the drop off.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

A-

In a perfect world we get one more impact player. RHD or RW. But regardless let's evaluate the good.

Ekholm. IMO you couldn't ask for a better dman on term to bring to this squad. He's our best dman now. He will make Bouchard better. He will make Nurse better. Long term he will make Broberg better. He's a calming veteran voice and presence that I think this team lacked with Keith gone.

But I'm also giving Holland bonus points for not making the deals I worried about thanks to the media. He didn't get a Klingberg or Edmunson. Paying assets for guys who IMO aren't any better for us than our bottom pair dmen. I'd rather those guys get the experience. If this isn't our year, our window isn't closed, and those guys will have more growth for the next runs.

 

[Fourier]

I gave him an A. I think Ekholm is an impact add and that was the core goal. Add ti that he did not do anything that would be head shaking to take away from the Ekholm deal. To get an A+ I would have needed to see some sort of creative move that would have been completely unexpected.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

A, A+ would have been upgrading Yamo and top-6 RW or getting Karlsson too, but generally outstanding deadline from Holland. This team is significantly better since last week

 

[ThePhoenixx]

That would put VD into the AHL as he is our 7th D. We need VD on the team.

VD is the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[WaitingForUser]

Edmonton improved the most in WEST Tough few games coming up, but I think they have a good chance to finish 1st.

FTFY

 

[bone]

Comparing his work to the teams we're competing with for the Division:

vs. VGK - I think we did better
vs. LA - Tough to say. If Korpisalo keeps up a good season, advantage could be LA. Also while Ekholm > Gavrikov, not sure Ekholm - Barrie > Gavrikov. However three years of Ekholm is >> than 20+ games of Gavrikov.
vs. Seattle - Clearly out did them.
vs. Calgary - Holland did better, I think.

vs. Conference.

vs. Dallas - advantage Holland
vs. Colorado - advantage Holland
vs. Winnipeg - advantage Holland, but I like thier Nino pickup.
vs. Minnesota - tough to say. I think Guerin had a remarkable deadline both building future assets and bolstering his lineup for the playoffs, though I have a hard time seeing them make a real run here.

vs. the East.
Almost everyone in the East did more but I think he did well to improve their odds at taking the West and they at most they'd only have to face one of the Eastern teams.

 

[Stoneman89]

I'm giving him an A, as he picked up 6 new defencemen.

 

[Spawn]

B-

Ekholm the player is a great addition. Don't like that we had to subtract from the right side to get him and should have gotten more retention (for anyyone saying teams don't retain on muli year deals look at Burns in Carolina and look at McCabe in Toronto).

Bjugstad is pretty meh. Feels like Derrick Brassard 2.0. Hopefully he is a better fit.

I don't like the fact that he didn't add another RHD.

Nurse
Ekholm
Kulak
Broberg
Niemelainen

That's good LHD depth imo

Ceci
Bouchard
Desharnais
...
Demers?
Kemp?

Feels like a single injury to any of our top 3 RHD and we're in a bit of trouble. Either playing a LHD out of position or dressing a guy like Jason Demers or what.... Philip Kemp I guess?

An upgrade on Yamamoto or at least someone who could potentially step into the top 6 would have been nice. But there weren't a lot of options available for that.

 

[bone]

B-

Ekholm the player is a great addition. Don't like that we had to subtract from the right side to get him and should have gotten more retention (for anyyone saying teams don't retain on muli year deals look at Burns in Carolina and look at McCabe in Toronto).

Bjugstad is pretty meh. Feels like Derrick Brassard 2.0. Hopefully he is a better fit.

I don't like the fact that he didn't add another RHD.

Nurse
Ekholm
Kulak
Broberg
Niemelainen

That's good LHD depth imo

Ceci
Bouchard
Desharnais
...
Demers?
Kemp?

Feels like a single injury to any of our top 3 RHD and we're in a bit of trouble. Either playing a LHD out of position or dressing a guy like Jason Demers or what.... Philip Kemp I guess?

An upgrade on Yamamoto or at least someone who could potentially step into the top 6 would have been nice. But there weren't a lot of options available for that.

I think the difference here was that Ekholm at $6.25M isn't really overpaid whereas at this point in Burns career he would be considered overpaid at $8M.

For McCabe, not much that Chicago does since Bowman was kicked out makes a lot of sense, so I'm not sure it's worth comparing.

For the right side talk, I'm with you. Kesselring was becoming an important prospect where the pool was somewhat shallow, now it's non-existent on the right side especially if what Wanner did to warrant this indefinite suspension is really bad. Fortunately, it sounds like Ekholm left vs. right doesn't impact his effectiveness greatly so at least he's an option.

 

[YakDavid]

Went with an A.

Ekholm should be a a real game changer. Averages around 30 points and is a great two way defender. The trade off is Barrie to Bouchard but still yet to be seen on how that plays out.

Bjugstad potentially adds depth scoring.

I still think it goes back to Ekholm is what we needed in the defense and hopefully his impact will be seen moving forward.

 

[Spawn]

I think the difference here was that Ekholm at $6.25M isn't really overpaid whereas at this point in Burns career he would be considered overpaid at $8M.

For McCabe, not much that Chicago does since Bowman was kicked out makes a lot of sense, so I'm not sure it's worth comparing.

For the right side talk, I'm with you. Kesselring was becoming an important prospect where the pool was somewhat shallow, now it's non-existent on the right side especially if what Wanner did to warrant this indefinite suspension is really bad. Fortunately, it sounds like Ekholm left vs. right doesn't impact his effectiveness greatly so at least he's an option.

The bolded just sounds like excuses to me for why other GMs were able to do it and Holland wasn't.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

A+

I didn't think Ekholm was even a possibility. I think we might be low-key cup contenders now.

Ekholm is gonna surprise a lot of people with how much he solidifies our entire Dcorp.

I mean Karlsson is obviously the sexier name, but he only seems to work when the entire teams gameplan is based around him. Offense isn't our problem (which is why I think Ekholm is a better fit for us than Chych or EK65).

 

[Chet Manley]

B+

Not confident that the defence is SC champ quality and was hoping for either an upgrade on Ceci/Bouchard or a rental RD. In it's current state the D needs to peak in the playoffs or the forwards need to start helping out. Requiring 5 goals to win isn't a good playoff formula. Holland did enough to give 'em a shot at a cup if the players step up and it'll be fun to see if they can do it.

 

[Sra1974]

B+ for the work he was able to do based on the available room he had to make these moves in. I think they are good adds that make the team better.

C- for having put himself in this situation in the first place with absolutely no room to maneuver , because i think one more depth guy on the d and forward we’re what was really needed.

 

[McBooya42]

Holland did well. The 4% retention was laughed at until everyone saw how our cap evened out. Shrewdly done. Everything was well planned and executed.

 

[WaitingForUser]

Holland did well. The 4% retention was laughed at until everyone saw how our cap evened out. Shrewdly done. Everything was well planned and executed.

Yep he kept saying money in money out and everyone laughed but we have a 22 man roster now with $167 in available cap. He played it perfectly with way he went about it.

 

[McBooya42]

Went with a solid B. Love Ekholm and am hoping Bjugstad fits well. Didn't think it was an amazing deadline, but it was a good one. Could be better if these two guys play decent roles down the stretch.

Adding Kane back in is going to go a long way if he's healthy.

I think this was part of the plan - having Kane and Hollway coming back. It's another top and bottom 6 becoming available. Kane was doing very well before his issue with the ribs. He'll be a welcome addition.

 

[Oilhawks]

Holland did well. The 4% retention was laughed at until everyone saw how our cap evened out. Shrewdly done. Everything was well planned and executed.

Which is kind of ridiculous, considering it seemed quite obvious that the retention was for a reason.

 

[WaitingForUser]

Which is kind of ridiculous, considering it seemed quite obvious that the retention was for a reason.

I honestly thought it was more to get EK down to 6 per. The pieces didn’t seem to fit without moving someone out. Then he got Bjugstad at 450k and it clicked. He was finally able to run almost a 23 man roster even with Vinny up. It was really quite masterful and probably the reason even though Kane could have been put on LTIR retroactively he wasn’t. Now when we get to playoff time and roster size doesn’t matter we have all sorts of options.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

B+

Not confident that the defence is SC champ quality and was hoping for either an upgrade on Ceci/Bouchard or a rental RD. In it's current state the D needs to peak in the playoffs or the forwards need to start helping out. Requiring 5 goals to win isn't a good playoff formula. Holland did enough to give 'em a shot at a cup if the players step up and it'll be fun to see if they can do it.

I think our team could potentially be comparable to the recent Penguins cup winning teams if the chemistry comes together.

We're gonna be massively underrated.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Comparing his work to the teams we're competing with for the Division:

vs. VGK - I think we did better
vs. LA - Tough to say. If Korpisalo keeps up a good season, advantage could be LA. Also while Ekholm > Gavrikov, not sure Ekholm - Barrie > Gavrikov. However three years of Ekholm is >> than 20+ games of Gavrikov.
vs. Seattle - Clearly out did them.
vs. Calgary - Holland did better, I think.

vs. Conference.

vs. Dallas - advantage Holland
vs. Colorado - advantage Holland
vs. Winnipeg - advantage Holland, but I like thier Nino pickup.
vs. Minnesota - tough to say. I think Guerin had a remarkable deadline both building future assets and bolstering his lineup for the playoffs, though I have a hard time seeing them make a real run here.

vs. the East.
Almost everyone in the East did more but I think he did well to improve their odds at taking the West and they at most they'd only have to face one of the Eastern teams.

I like this breakdown. Thanks for the work. Its better than the whole thread. This gets right to the meat and potatoes of what TDL adds do, and how to look at them.

The one proviso though is that some teams have less of a shopping list and that has to be factored in too. For instance we needed help on D, big help, got it, we needed some help at forward and I think thats more of a sawoff, and we still have goalie issues. As others have mentioned moving out Pulju money helped provide cap but not moving Yama meant we didn't improve there in an area that was available.

Conversely LA had ONE need. Fix goaltending. They didn'g even need an extra D but got an insurance D anyway. Their D is OK, the goaltending was the deficit. If Korpisalo even provides middle of the road goaltending they benefit substantially.

Vegas always does a lot of fishing and cupboards are somewhat stocked. Calgary are f***ed, Seattle are f***ed. There's 3 top clubs in division and easy to see who they are.

 

[Oilhawks]

I like this breakdown. Thanks for the work. Its better than the whole thread. This gets right to the meat and potatoes of what TDL adds do, and how to look at them.

The one proviso though is that some teams have less of a shopping list and that has to be factored in too. For instance we needed help on D, big help, got it, we needed some help at forward and I think thats more of a sawoff, and we still have goalie issues. As others have mentioned moving out Pulju money helped provide cap but not moving Yama meant we didn't improve there in an area that was available.

Conversely LA had ONE need. Fix goaltending. They didn'g even need an extra D but got an insurance D anyway. Their D is OK, the goaltending was the deficit. If Korpisalo even provides middle of the road goaltending they benefit substantially.

Vegas always does a lot of fishing and cupboards are somewhat stocked. Calgary are f***ed, Seattle are f***ed. There's 3 top clubs in division and easy to see who they are.

In a way I wouldn't have minded to see Seattle do something a bit more substantial if only to ensure the Flames were done. The Jets and Wild both added enough to keep them in the race, I think. (For potential Wildcard competition)

 

[Drivesaitl]

In a way I wouldn't have minded to see Seattle do something a bit more substantial if only to ensure the Flames were done. The Jets and Wild both added enough to keep them in the race, I think.

The Flames are pretty much stick a fork in it done. As others have mentioned they need either 14-15 wins in 20Games remaining, or equivalent, to make it. As if thats happening. Its likely even that they finish behind Nashville who ironically were sellers. Thanks Nashville, I like the preds for once, just for the Ekholm favor.

It would be hard for Seattle to lose the stagger to Calgary being 7pts ahead and a game in hand.

Calgary doesn't have a realistic hope at this point. They didn't anyway so business as usual. Flames were always going to be in trouble this season. Even better theres no end to thier misery in coming years.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

As I said earlier, quality over quantity.

$3 million in capspace, Ekholm and The Bug are pretty awesome deadline acquisitions. Sucks giving up Barrie but you have to give to get.

I crapped on Ken a lot, but he really crushed a dinger. He's set the defense up nicely for at least the next three seasons. I give him a solid A.