Yes it does matter. Kane was a star player, the best of the best. After 31-32 there is a drop off and he is playing less games. Still a good player. he was making 10.5 mil now he's getting 3-4 million. In 2015 when he signed his deal cap was 69 million, now it is 88. He's still a 20 goal scorer, why is he not making 10 million still, cap has gone up, teams should be able to afford it. Cap has cought up with his salary.
10.5 million to 2.75 last year to 4 this year. Why, because he is older.
Please stop going back to the old days with all your comparisons. NHL is stronger, more skilled and faster than ever. Older players are not going to be able to keep up like they did back in the day. You are basing your decent moves on unknowns, we will see how it plays out but you cannot bet on it. Analysts say we have one of the worst prospect pools in the league and we don't have much for picks which is yet another reason not to go all in to reinvest in an aging core. Take less to keep the core together or there will need to be decisions made as we can't keep them all.
I don't know where you get your info on Hyms and Eks. Hyms plays a hard game, no quit, never takes a night off. That's high mileage. Eks same thing.
Keith was the best of the best but at 35-36 there was drop off. We had him here in his upper 30's, he was still good and managed to stay around because he is smart and very mobile or father time would have taken him earlier. Clear drop off after 35. Far from the same player and this is an elite player. Don't want to argue, it is unfair to project and expect our guys to maintain their same level of play in the mid and for sure late 30's. Did Chara drop off, did Pavelski drop off as older players, sure did. These guys were all playing for pretty cheap... and Oilers fans are fine to be paying McD/Drai 16 and 14 million dollars at 38 years old. All I can say is I hope not.
Let's be honest, Patrick Kane is not Connor McDavid, who is only 27 by the way, in either skill or commitment. How did Sydney Crosby do last year? 42 goals and 94 points at age 36 is not exactly chopped liver. Pavelski had the most points he ever had in his whole career at age 37 and the 4th most at age 38. In fact, he followed up his 38 year old regular season with a ppg playoffs over 14 games which was only the second time he did that in his whole career. He was also smart enough to adjust his game to suit his aging body.
Chara had one of his best seasons at age 36 and then went on to be a very effective defenseman for the next 5 years. His big decline happened in his 40's.
Ekholm plays a very controlled physical game. He is definitely not a big hitter for example (2.52 hits/gm). He has also only played 812 games in the regular season and 112 in the playoffs. At the time Keith came to the Oilers he had played almost 440 more games than Ekholm has. And Keith was playing very well to the age of about 36 before he was slowed down by knee and concussion issues. Keith was smart of course but he was also a dynamic player whose game was driven by his skating. Ekholm is more of a no-mistake steady guy who never gets injured. Players like that tend to last longer. But of course I don't expect 10 years out of him. I do think that he could remain quite effective for 5 more years barring a major injury. I also suspect that when his deal is up he resigns at a favourable number to stay in Edmonton.
Hyman just turned 32 but he has only 580 regular season games. Draisaitl is 28 and he has played 719. He plays hard but is also not a big hitter given his play style which is not really that of a classical power forward like Evander Kane, the guys who tend to really fall off due to physical issue. He is more of a puck hound. He does take some punishment but also should have 4-5 more very competitive years in him barring injury. The point is he does not have to be Patrick Kane level to earn his pay.
I agree the oilers prospect pool is not great. But it doesn't really have to be to support maintaining the team as a contender since what you need is perhaps Savoie to make it as a legitimate top 6 players, maybe a guy like Akey to be a second pairing defender. From there perhaps you get an O'Reilly to become a 3C or 4C, one or two of Jarventie, Lavoie, or Podkolzin can step in and replace guys like Janmark, Ryan and Perry and perhaps OR becomes a reliable back-up in the next five years. Worrying beyond that point is not worth its since there will be many more players added in that time through drafts, trade and FA signings.
As I said you will win or not with the current core. If that window is only 5 years we should count ourselves lucky. Most teams in the NHL have not had a "cup window" for two decades. And at sometime this core will age out. Maybe you are right and it will be less than my five year time frame. Nothing is guaranteed. But maybe management will finally earn their pay and extend it further than even my five years by going out and filling holes as they open. But I'd like to know what your alternative is that still gives them a chance to win that does not include paying McDavid, Leon and Bouchard.
