Keep Brown or Let him go?

Bryanbryoil

Pray For Ukraine
Sep 13, 2004
86,539
35,745
Wowee, 1 assist in an 8-1 blowout win and an even rating in 4 games in the finals.

The only lesson I can see here is that a guy can mail it in for an entire season and then simply play okay to be considered worth it.
More like it took him almost the whole season to be confident in his knee and to build up the strength in it to skate the way that he is right now.
 

Spawn

Something in the water
Feb 20, 2006
43,956
16,036
Edmonton
If offer him up to $2m with a bit of term and assurance he's going to be on a team committed to winning a Championship for the duration of his deal.

But I'm a bit concerned that teams are looking at that line right now and just throwing the same offers at him they were last summer.
Even "playing well" Connor Brown is still only producing at a 5 goal, 25 point pace. You can get guys who produce like that and contribute just as much on the PK/defensively for ~1M. See Janmark. Who has been better than Brown all season and into the playoffs.
 

LTIR

Registered User
Nov 8, 2013
26,961
14,229
Offer 1M per to Janmark, Brown, Desharnais, Perry,Foegele, Carrick

2M to Henrique.

Walk away if they don't take it..
 

Fourier

Registered User
Dec 29, 2006
25,847
20,515
Waterloo Ontario
If offer him up to $2m with a bit of term and assurance he's going to be on a team committed to winning a Championship for the duration of his deal.

But I'm a bit concerned that teams are looking at that line right now and just throwing the same offers at him they were last summer.
I think he would sign a deal at $2M quite easily. But I hope they could get him at slightly less on a short deal. He still needs to establish some offense to earn much more than 2. Given the other advantages of staying in Edmonton he might well feel that taking a discount to stay would be a good long term move.
 

harpoon

Registered User
Dec 23, 2005
14,360
11,868
Wowee, 1 assist in an 8-1 blowout win and an even rating in 4 games in the finals.

The only lesson I can see here is that a guy can mail it in for an entire season and then simply play okay to be considered worth it.
You think he ‘mailed it in’? Sometimes I just don’t understand what fans are looking at.

And that ‘one assist’ was pretty much the same as scoring imo. He made that goal. Janmark was just standing there as the puck bounced off him into the net. Brown fired up the team three minutes into a game that wasn’t going their way at that point. Folks who can’t see that may be watching the wrong sport.
 

gretzkyoilers

Registered User
Apr 17, 2012
425
371
You think he ‘mailed it in’? Sometimes I just don’t understand what fans are looking at.

And that ‘one assist’ was pretty much the same as scoring imo. He made that goal. Janmark was just standing there as the puck bounced off him into the net. Brown fired up the team three minutes into a game that wasn’t going their way at that point. Folks who can’t see that may be watching the wrong sport.
Brown has been great and has been a fantastic pairing with Janmark. No Brown, no goals, and that opened up that 8-1 game. Heck Brown earned his contract for these short-handed plays alone and also his work on the PK.
 

belair

Win it for Ben!
Apr 9, 2010
38,976
22,341
Canada
Even "playing well" Connor Brown is still only producing at a 5 goal, 25 point pace. You can get guys who produce like that and contribute just as much on the PK/defensively for ~1M. See Janmark. Who has been better than Brown all season and into the playoffs.
I say it all the time, but our history of trades and free agent signings to address those roles consistently goes against this. It's hard to find guys who fit into the structure of your team.

I don't think we can argue that without our PK, we probably don't make the Cup Finals. Bringing back those two is probably at the top of my to do list prior to July 1st.
 
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McShogun99

Registered User
Aug 30, 2009
18,293
14,356
Edmonton
Offer 1M per to Janmark, Brown, Desharnais, Perry,Foegele, Carrick

2M to Henrique.

Walk away if they don't take it..
If they're serious about winning a Cup they'd be stupid to leave Edmonton and breakup what could be one of the league's best checking lines. Perry probably retires, Foegele will want to much and players like Carrick are easy to replace.
 

Spawn

Something in the water
Feb 20, 2006
43,956
16,036
Edmonton
You think he ‘mailed it in’? Sometimes I just don’t understand what fans are looking at.

And that ‘one assist’ was pretty much the same as scoring imo. He made that goal. Janmark was just standing there as the puck bounced off him into the net. Brown fired up the team three minutes into a game that wasn’t going their way at that point. Folks who can’t see that may be watching the wrong sport.
I do think he mailed it in. You don’t think he was a healthy scratch for the entire LA series for a reason?

A player plays a handful of good games and posters here act like he’s been great all along.

It’s fools gold. And some are arguing to give him $2m per year. It’s ridiculous.

Warren Foegele has been good the last couple games too. Let’s resign him too while we are at it and run back the exact same team.
 

Sheikyerbouti

ShakeyerMcBooty
Nov 4, 2006
1,490
1,478
Van isle
Brown should be taking league minimum for one year to make up for the cap hit imo. If he likes the team and wants to win here, it makes sense. He was brutally over paid and can pay it back by helping the team be more competitive next season

I do think we need to keep him, because during the playoffs half the team really raised their battle level and Brown was in that group.
 

Mr Positive

Cap Crunch Incoming
Nov 20, 2013
37,032
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I do think he mailed it in. You don’t think he was a healthy scratch for the entire LA series for a reason?

A player plays a handful of good games and posters here act like he’s been great all along.

It’s fools gold. And some are arguing to give him $2m per year. It’s ridiculous.

Warren Foegele has been good the last couple games too. Let’s resign him too while we are at it and run back the exact same team.
The LA series was back in April. Brown's been great for more than just a couple games. Also 2 million is not exactly high stakes. Most people are talking about something like 1.5 million. So it's one step up from league minimum and he's certainly exceeded that

Brown should be taking league minimum for one year to make up for the cap hit imo. If he likes the team and wants to win here, it makes sense. He was brutally over paid and can pay it back by helping the team be more competitive next season

I do think we need to keep him, because during the playoffs half the team really raised their battle level and Brown was in that group.
I disagree that Brown should take less. He can leave some money on the table to stay on a contender but he doesn't owe the team anything because of the contract he was given last summer
 

Spawn

Something in the water
Feb 20, 2006
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Edmonton
The LA series was back in April. Brown's been great for more than just a couple games. Also 2 million is not exactly high stakes. Most people are talking about something like 1.5 million. So it's one step up from league minimum and he's certainly exceeded that
He's made $4M this year and was shit the entire regular season and in these playoffs is playing at a 25 point pace. Considering we're already paying a sizable amount on dead cap space next season. An extra 500k can be high stakes. Could be the difference between being able to make an additional add at the deadline. Who knows, maybe if the Oilers had added a guy like Toffoli at the deadline with a bit extra cap space the team would have scored an extra goal or two in the first 3 games of the series.
 

Mr Positive

Cap Crunch Incoming
Nov 20, 2013
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He's made $4M this year and was shit the entire regular season and in these playoffs is playing at a 25 point pace. Considering we're already paying a sizable amount on dead cap space next season. An extra 500k can be high stakes. Could be the difference between being able to make an additional add at the deadline. Who knows, maybe if the Oilers had added a guy like Toffoli at the deadline with a bit extra cap space the team would have scored an extra goal or two in the first 3 games of the series.
So we just dump our newly found bottom six depth and go dumpster diving again?

And honestly we need to drop the whole 4 million thing. We gambled and lost there, so just move on already. Brown could be a great depth guy to bring back. He will likely be a bargain for what we pay him but maybe he will want to leave because fans refuse to let go of the dead space from last year's gamble.
 
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Spawn

Something in the water
Feb 20, 2006
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So we just dump our newly found bottom six depth and go dumpster diving again?

And honestly we need to drop the whole 4 million thing. We gambled and lost there, so just move on already. Brown could be a great depth guy to bring back. He will likely be a bargain for what we pay him but maybe he will want to leave because fans refuse to let go of the dead space from last year's gamble.

No, but we don't pay more than a $1M for a 4th liner because he had a couple good plays in 4 rounds worth of hockey.

Much rather re-sign a guy like Janmark than Brown.
 

belair

Win it for Ben!
Apr 9, 2010
38,976
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Canada
I do think he mailed it in. You don’t think he was a healthy scratch for the entire LA series for a reason?

A player plays a handful of good games and posters here act like he’s been great all along.

It’s fools gold. And some are arguing to give him $2m per year. It’s ridiculous.

Warren Foegele has been good the last couple games too. Let’s resign him too while we are at it and run back the exact same team.
What is fools good? He's been a consistent PKer and solid shot suppression fourth liner since Knoblauch took over the roster. The 'fools gold' was the stretch where he couldn't buy a point. That's the aberration in his career. He's on average a 20-40 point winger that can move anywhere in your middle six.

What bottom six line has Foegele been helping drive? Or Evander Kane for that matter? It's time to look at what's actually driving the success of this hockey team in the part of the season that really matters.
 

Spawn

Something in the water
Feb 20, 2006
43,956
16,036
Edmonton
What is fools good? He's been a consistent PKer and solid shot suppression fourth liner since Knoblauch took over the roster. The 'fools gold' was the stretch where he couldn't buy a point. That's the aberration in his career. He's on average a 20-40 point winger that can move anywhere in your middle six.

What bottom six line has Foegele been helping drive? Or Evander Kane for that matter? It's time to look at what's actually driving the success of this hockey team in the part of the season that really matters.
I don't want Kane or Foegele anywhere near this team either.

Consistent PKer and solid shot suppression fourth liner 20 point wingers are $1M players. Not $2M players.
 

belair

Win it for Ben!
Apr 9, 2010
38,976
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Canada
No, but we don't pay more than a $1M for a 4th liner because he had a couple good plays in 4 rounds worth of hockey.

Much rather re-sign a guy like Janmark than Brown.
Odds are Janmark is going to take more than a million to sign, too after this playoff run. You don't think other teams are watching these games?
 
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Spawn

Something in the water
Feb 20, 2006
43,956
16,036
Edmonton
Odds are Janmark is going to take more than a million to sign, too after this playoff run. You don't think other teams are watching these games?
If Janmark and Brown are going to take more to sign than you go and get other $1M forwards to fill in for them. That's the whole point of pro scouts. The team needs bargain contracts at the bottom half of the roster. Not to pay premiums for 4th liners.
 
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Mr Positive

Cap Crunch Incoming
Nov 20, 2013
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No, but we don't pay more than a $1M for a 4th liner because he had a couple good plays in 4 rounds worth of hockey.

Much rather re-sign a guy like Janmark than Brown.
I bet we keep both. Brown started slow but got better and better. I actually do buy into the narrative that it just has taken this long for him to fully recover from that horrible injury and lost season.
So just erase the first 2/3 of the season or so .

They are both older players so there is some risk but you could bury them for a negligible cap hit. They aren't as old as Ryan though. Maybe modern sports science makes 30 the new 25

I see us finding a way out of Foegele, and perhaps buying out Campbell. That's plenty of cap space for anything we want
 

belair

Win it for Ben!
Apr 9, 2010
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I don't want Kane or Foegele anywhere near this team either.

Consistent PKer and solid shot suppression fourth liner 20 point wingers are $1M players. Not $2M players.
$1m players are guys you managed to find off of the scrap heap. And the majority of them don't fit, end up as pressbox/waiver fodder. When that role player that fits the system, they get paid accordingly.

Look at the guys who fill those roles on other rosters. $2m - $3.5m on average.

The guys you throw $1m contracts? A guy like Dominik Kubalik or Victor Olofsson to fill the goal void of a one-dimensional scoring forward like Kane.
 
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belair

Win it for Ben!
Apr 9, 2010
38,976
22,341
Canada
If Janmark and Brown are going to take more to sign than you go and get other $1M forwards to fill in for them. That's the whole point of pro scouts. The team needs bargain contracts at the bottom half of the roster. Not to pay premiums for 4th liners.
The history of this team does not speak well if their ability to find those players. I dump Evander Kane with the priority of getting those two signed, knowing that I'm likely shoring up a line that doesn't need McDavid or Draisaitl to bring a positive contribution.

You're watching in real time the importance of this depth that wasn't there in previous playoff runs.
 
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MessierII

Registered User
Aug 10, 2011
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He’s not getting more than 1 million anywhere. Keep him Janmark and Henrique. Move on from Foegele and McLeod. Unless McLeod moves permanently to the wing I’d be open to giving him another year.
 
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Mr Positive

Cap Crunch Incoming
Nov 20, 2013
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He’s not getting more than 1 million anywhere. Keep him Janmark and Henrique. Move on from Foegele and McLeod. Unless McLeod moves permanently to the wing I’d be open to giving him another year.
Imo McLeod is young enough to where the team will give him more chances. He had a good game too in game 4 so he still has a chance to show something if the series can keep extending

He’s not getting more than 1 million anywhere. Keep him Janmark and Henrique. Move on from Foegele and McLeod. Unless McLeod moves permanently to the wing I’d be open to giving him another year.
If the cap goes up by how much they say wouldn't that be league minimum? I do think we offer them a bit more to keep the band together, and ultimately we are talking an extra 100k or whatever
 

Fourier

Registered User
Dec 29, 2006
25,847
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Waterloo Ontario
I don't want Kane or Foegele anywhere near this team either.

Consistent PKer and solid shot suppression fourth liner 20 point wingers are $1M players. Not $2M players.
Actually they are not. There were 13 forwards in the whole league last year with contracts signed as UFAs under $2M who had 20+ points. Most do not satisfy the two other criteria you list.
Sonny Milano $1.9M 23pts
Pius Suter $1.6M 29pts
Oskar Sundqvist $1.5M 21 points
Nic Dowd $1.3M 22 points
Bobby McMann $1.35M 24 points
Justin Danforth $1.1M 26 points
Curtis Lazar $1M 25 points
Cole Smith $1M 23 pts
Michael McCarron $900K 22pts
Jimmy Vessy $800K 26 points
Michael Eyssimont $800K 27 points
Valteri Puustinen $775K 20pts
Michael Carcone $775K 29 pts
 

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