On paper are the Oilers better or worse than they were last season?

[Canovin]

Skinner and Arvidsson more than make up for the losses. The only weakness the Oilers have is 2RD which can be fill at the deadline. They Oilers should have the cap space/accrued cap space and assets for that kind of trade

 

[Machinehead]

The assumption here is that his replacement is a better player. Is that true?

Ceci grades as below replacement level, so most likely, yes.

 

[WarriorofTime]

A little worse but not significantly.

 

[Matthews4Calder]

Oilers are by far the best team in the nhl. Id be shocked if they lost more than a handful of games in the playoffs enroute to the cup

LOL Oilers are built the same as the Leafs. Only difference is they have the best player in the world along with Drai and both show up in the playoffs. They're D and goaltending in my opinion question marks. They aren't the best all round team.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

it brings me great joy to watch the same people that took endless shits on Cody Ceci over the last couple years now fall all over themselves to prop him up. Pretty hilarious.

I still think they're slightly better.

 

[Idiot Stick]

superbowl favorites

 

[Bond]

it brings me great joy to watch the same people that took endless shits on Cody Ceci over the last couple years now fall all over themselves to prop him up. Pretty hilarious.

I still think they're slightly better.

I think they are worse. Marginal improvement on offense and worse on defence and they needed to improve their D. Oilers ownership and management seem bent on proving they can win a cup with the worst defence possible.

 

[NeverForget06]

Hard to say for sure until we know what the solution is on the back end.

After Nurse and Ceci cost us two goals and basically cost us Game 1 of the Cup finals, after years of watching them get killed by Colorado, Vegas, Vancouver and then Florida, I am just happy that they are trying something different.

I also think a full year of Knoblauch behind the bench where they aren't playing from way behind the 8 ball from November onwards will be a big help.

Finally - I believe McDavid was injured the whole season after going down right at the start of the season. Couldn't shoot the puck. He will be back to normal this year.

 

[I am not exposed]

Better. They are favourites for the cup. A lot of the bookies agree as well.

 

[BudBundy]

I voted worse, though only slightly so. That’s based largely on the fact that I think Ceci is under appreciated and somewhat because they lost a lot of size and speed up front.

The real issue with losing Broberg and Holloway isn’t going to be felt right away. It’s going to be very noticeable in two or three years.

The bright side for Oiler fans is that they have just a bit of short-term cap flexibility now. We’ll see what they do with it come trade deadline time.

 

[Rowlet]

Better. They are favourites for the cup. A lot of the bookies agree as well.

That's based on how people bet, not because bookies are intelligent hockey minds

Larsson left for a reasons relating to his father's death

Maybe things have changed but I have to imagine edmonton is on his M-NTC.

Ironically I question if any of the other RD rentals are better than Ceci. Maybe they go after someone with some term tho

Yeah, idk, aside from Larsson there's basically nobody else and Edmonton needs to do exactly what the Canucks did with Zadorov last season, find someone in the first month for a team who expected to be a lot better. The Penguins were bad all year but still didn't sell until the last second so I doubt Pettersson would be available early, and I don't know if Washington would sell early but I'm not sure that Chychrun is the right D for Edmonton.

 

[I am not exposed]

That's based on how people bet, not because bookies are intelligent hockey minds



Yeah, idk, aside from Larsson there's basically nobody else and Edmonton needs to do exactly what the Canucks did with Zadorov last season, find someone in the first month for a team who expected to be a lot better. The Penguins were bad all year but still didn't sell until the last second so I doubt Pettersson would be available early, and I don't know if Washington would sell early but I'm not sure that Chychrun is the right D for Edmonton.

Yeah, good point.

 

[dgibb10]

That's based on how people bet, not because bookies are intelligent hockey minds



Yeah, idk, aside from Larsson there's basically nobody else and Edmonton needs to do exactly what the Canucks did with Zadorov last season, find someone in the first month for a team who expected to be a lot better. The Penguins were bad all year but still didn't sell until the last second so I doubt Pettersson would be available early, and I don't know if Washington would sell early but I'm not sure that Chychrun is the right D for Edmonton.

Pettersson is the best option even though he's a lefty fs. He's an absolute stud.

I'd rather go grab Pettersson at something similar to the Hanifin price, than overpay for David Savard or something on the right side.

 

[Rowlet]

Pettersson is the best option even though he's a lefty fs. He's an absolute stud.

I'd rather go grab Pettersson at something similar to the Hanifin price, than overpay for David Savard or something on the right side.

Considering the picks available and the Canucks FO, I find it incredibly hard to believe the Oilers could outbid the Canucks for their third Pettersson.

In a vacuum he'd be great for them, in reality they only have two picks in the upcoming draft, but also I don't believe that the Penguins would sell early.

 

[PuckG]

Offense is better.
Defence is worse (assuming no further moves are made).

Goaltending static.

I’d guess around the same or better. They still are likely challenging for top of the West given they’ve always relied on their top guns to carry most of the load.

The true issue isn’t next season - it’s that there is very little in terms of prospects or youth talent in the cupboards.

 

[McPoyle]

Interesting that Ceci is suddenly a quality defender in certain peoples eyes.

Oilers offense is much better, and defence is currently about the same. Lost Ceci and Broberg. Gained Stetcher, Brown, and Emberson (and another addition is likely). Emberson has very good underlying numbers and I think will surprise many. Team is improved.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Pettersson is the best option even though he's a lefty fs. He's an absolute stud.

I'd rather go grab Pettersson at something similar to the Hanifin price, than overpay for David Savard or something on the right side.

Should command a 1st, but Dubas couldn't get a 1st for Guentzel so...unlikely.

 

[Bleedred]

Better by virtue of subtraction. Cody Ceci shouldn't be taking shifts for serious teams.

I’ve been saying this for 10 years or however long he’s been in the league.

I’ve always heard something from his defenders though.

First it was “he’s still really young, give him some time!”

Then it was “the Sens aren’t competent!”

Then it was “it looks like the Pens have rehabbed him! Just like they did for Gudbranson! (they didn’t rehab him either) he’s really turned into a solid defenseman!”

Now it’s “he’s just playing too much! It’s only a usage/matchup thing! He’s actually a really solid bottom pairing guy but has to play top pairing for the Oilers!”.

 

[hamzarocks]

Oilers are a top 3-5 contender

They need to add a top 4D this season if they want to be the favorite or top2 to come out of the west

Nurse playing well for once in their playoff runs could go long way as well.

If MTL sell Matheson this deadline oulers should be in on him. Another name is Marcus Pettersson from the Pens

 

[HighLifeMan]

As it stands now, Worse.

The biggest weakness they have as a team has only been further depleted. That defensive core is a trainwreck, and the depth is non existent. They have also become slower and easier to play against as a whole.

 

[VeteranPresence]

The Oilers D is basically this until the deadline:

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-??????
Kulak-Emberson
Stecher

Brown has a poison pill contract that is meant to guarantee he will clear waivers back and forth from Bakersfield, helping mentor the kids down there while getting paid NHL money to do it.

Emberson is my pick to surprise, but if he doesn't, to think the Oilers won't make a move at some point to shore up the #4 spot while in their potential last year of contention is asinine. Jackson and Bowman know the problem, everyone on the planet knows the problem, and they have proven the last two deadlines that they're willing to pony up assets for upgrades at key positions. Trying to claim that the only plan is to make the SCF again with this group is disingenuous at best.

They have also become slower and easier to play against as a whole.

I'm trying to figure out losing Holloway and Broberg did that, lol.

 

[BLNY]

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Brown
Kulak-Emberson
Stecher

I don't know enough about Emberson, but he took a huge leap on paper in 22-23. 30 games for the Sharks and only -4 isn't terrible. Those are his only NHL games; a small sample size on a bad team. Is Emberson > than subtracting Ceci and Broberg? How much will Stecher play?

Ek and Bouch can't play the whole game. Nurse is still a massive liability imo.

They've got less than 1 million in cap space. Who else do they trade so they can add to that group, because you're not adding anyone of substance with the space they have.

 

[LTIR]

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Brown
Kulak-Emberson
Stecher

I don't know enough about Emberson, but he took a huge leap on paper in 22-23. 30 games for the Sharks and only -4 isn't terrible. Those are his only NHL games; a small sample size on a bad team. Is Emberson > than subtracting Ceci and Broberg? How much will Stecher play?

Ek and Bouch can't play the whole game. Nurse is still a massive liability imo.

They've got less than 1 million in cap space. Who else do they trade so they can add to that group, because you're not adding anyone of substance with the space they have.

The name is Barrie, Tyson Barrie

 

[Connor McConnor]

Probably worse at the moment, they didn't really solve any of their problems and opted to get more goal scoring instead of fixing their problems in net or on defense.

They also lost 2 NHL D while adding none.

If Vinny Desharnais is an NHL D and Ceci is anything more than a 3rd pair guy then Emberson, Brown and Stecher must be 3 NHL d men they brought in.

 

[Coffey]

Interesting that Ceci is suddenly a quality defender in certain peoples eyes.

Ya, that's hilarious.
There's a reason Oiler fans (or just me) would call him Feces all season.