Rumor: Rumors and Proposals Thread: The Post Draft Apocalypse/Countdown to Free Agent Frenzy

[The Cheez]

Cmon, do something...

 

[Mr Positive]

Tampa Bay, Boston, Toronto etc., have all demonstrated that there are other teams with exciting players that other players want to move to. Heck, sometimes those teams even play for and win Stanley Cups.

Edmonton, I dont believe, has any sort of monopoly on having generational talent that acts as a UFA attractant. McDavid and Drai are exciting, no question. But I agree with other posters here that UFAs are looking at a long laundry list of wants and desires when selecting a landing spot for their next 25-40 million dollar payday. Weather, taxes, quality of lifestyle, family requirements, overall team talents, organizational stability, and the presence of generational talents etc., all play a part. I don’t think you can say which weigh heavier than others, as it’s different for each UFA I suspect.

Edmonton will never have the weather or tax advantage (at least not in my lifetime given current socio-economic issues) of other locales. They have to improve its organizational stability (I don’t mean ownership, but more so the hockey ops side) and demonstrate that they can be a play off team year in and year out. I think that attracts players to a great degree, all other factors, not withstanding.

Edmonton signs FAs all the time. Yes, many of them will not want to go to Edmonton but that doesnt mean all dont want to. You cant just hand wave it by saying it's all the McDrai factor because over time it's always been similar. Pronger, Souray, Barrie, and we did sign players to offer sheets like Vanek and Penner. The only time when players absolutely did not want to be here was when the team was in the sewer.

And btw you are including Toronto but the fact is that all Canadian teams have similar struggles with FAs.

 

[McDrai]

I think one of those key points is “discussion”. Having a poster state their point of view repeatedly, sometimes 15-20 times over the space of a few pages, is not discussion. It reminds me of a “Trump Forever” follower that yells the same thing over and over again like a zombie.

I enjoyed following banter/back and forth and actually discussing things, and stating a position once.

Once.

Not mindlessly almost copying and posting the same “take” replying to everyone on a thread not even reading their posts.

Ehh…I’m getting old. Could be my partial hangover this morning but I’m feeling ornery
. Mostly agree with your post.

Oh yeah, totally agreed on this. If a poster is stating the same thing over and over again then it can get a bit old. Good thing we have the "ignore" feature for that

 

[Anarchism]

All this protectionism and bickering not really getting anywhere.
Somebody call Holland and tell him how to build a team.

Lets assume we have Hyman at 5.5

Needs ....a third line, a defensive defenseman or two way ...at least one ...maybe two, and a goalie that can play 45 games minimum.

So first suggestions....

3LW....Foegele...definitely available and available to us (probably), RFA so Carolina will want something but the rumor is its not much.

3C.... Not very popular but Chris Tierney....has little vision and not a great passer for a centre but can play the lane and clear....also has a surprising good set of mitts and snapshot. We have a little general for him perhaps. Chris is being shopped right now.

3RW....the guy here depends on Kassian being dealt...perhaps we retain 750k and deal him to pittsburgh for a late pick? First choice (if you play Foegele/Benson , Tierney in the middle) would be Armia i think...going to UFA even if contract offered by Bergy. Second choice would be Hoffman but he would have to share the 2LW position 50/50 with Yamo. This might eventually push Yamo down to the third mostly?

2LHD....I. Cole ...offer him 3 years and can probably get him at 3 mil ish....still need a partner for him. He can move up on defensive zone draws and plays his off side almost as well as the left.

Goalie ....we probably start the year with Kostko....but before Christmas a solution will happen. Not an easy answer here.

These are the second tier type players we have money for and even at that its going to take some unique juggling at the start of the year.

 

[OilersCoffeeArtBeer]

So..we have 9 million in cap space.
Klefbom LTIR will give us 4 "extra".
Neal buyout gives us 4 extra?
Koskinen trade gives us 4 extra ?

Hyman takes 5.5
We still need a 3C, skilled winger, 4LD and goalie.
3C via trade or just ....Glendenning until mcleod or Holloway takes control.
Skilled winger via free agency Schwartz?
Ovechkin? Sam Gagner? Lol
4LD ....Murray or Savard ? I'll take Yandle at this point ffs.
Goalie...Grubaur? Trade for Hart ?

So 20 million ish if Trading koskinen and buying out Neal.
4 million of it doesn't really have accessibility until the season starts because of the LTIR right ?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

With all the cap space, plus more we can get with a buyout and possible Koskinen trade, you have to think that Hyman + adding a depth defenceman in free agency will be seen as an abject failure to all of us.

If he isn't adding at least two skilled forwards and a solid defenceman, not to mention a goalie, it will be a failure.

Honestly I don't think another skill forward is needed. I'm fine giving the kids a shot in the bottom 6. However they do need a true #3 centre to cap things off.

Hyman-McDavid-Puljujarvi
RNH-Drai-Yamamoto
Kassian-Stastny/Bonino-Archibald
Benson-McLeod-Neal/Marody
Shore

That looks solid to me.


It's the defence where they need to add two borderline top 4 vets.

 

[alphahelix]

So does anyone else know the CBA well enough to know why you can’t just sign a player to a 1 year contract and a 7 (or 8?) year extension simultaneously (or rather, consecutively, in a matter of minutes)? Is there no loophole to swindle to get the desired AAV?

 

[Anarchism]

I don't think UFAs will sign here for a show me year beside Mcdrai.

Barrie just tried that. He scored more points than any other defenseman and not only does he not seem to be highly sought after, he unprecedentedly wasn't awarded a single Norris vote.

With very good reason.

 

[Broberg Speed]

So..we have 9 million in cap space.
Klefbom LTIR will give us 4 "extra".
Neal buyout gives us 4 extra?
Koskinen trade gives us 4 extra ?

Hyman takes 5.5
We still need a 3C, skilled winger, 4LD and goalie.
3C via trade or just ....Glendenning until mcleod or Holloway takes control.
Skilled winger via free agency Schwartz?
Ovechkin? Sam Gagner? Lol
4LD ....Murray or Savard ? I'll take Yandle at this point ffs.
Goalie...Grubaur? Trade for Hart ?

So 20 million ish if Trading koskinen and buying out Neal.
4 million of it doesn't really have accessibility until the season starts because of the LTIR right ?

I was just looking at the Koskinen buyout yesterday and it would save us 3 million. It would cost Katz 3 million. A 1.5 cap penalty for this year and next.

Both Neal and Koskinen buyouts should be straight forward business. It troubles me that Holland has said a couple of times now, for whatever reasons, he will probably use only one buyout.

Buy out both.

 

[CycloneSweep]

So does anyone else know the CBA well enough to know why you can’t just sign a player to a 1 year contract and a 7 (or 8?) year extension simultaneously (or rather, consecutively, in a matter of minutes)? Is there no loophole to swindle to get the desired AAV?

Players on one year contracts cannot sign an extension till January 1st.
So Hyman would have to play half a season before that.

 

[Celleyna]

I was just looking at the Koskinen buyout yesterday and it would save us 3 million. It would cost Katz 3 million. A 1.5 cap penalty for this year and next.

Both Neal and Koskinen buyouts should be straight forward business. It troubles me that Holland has said a couple of times now, for whatever reasons, he will probably use only one buyout.

Buy out both.

I think that Neal might be on the ltir retirement train. Lots of talk about that. Don’t need to buy him out.

 

[McShogun99]

I was just looking at the Koskinen buyout yesterday and it would save us 3 million. It would cost Katz 3 million. A 1.5 cap penalty for this year and next.

Both Neal and Koskinen buyouts should be straight forward business. It troubles me that Holland has said a couple of times now, for whatever reasons, he will probably use only one buyout.

Buy out both.

I don’t think we should buyout Neal until next year if there’s a chance they can LTIR him this season.

 

[SDig14]

I don’t think we should buyout Neal until next year if there’s a chance they can LTIR him this season.

I'd say that's fine, but they would need to be 100% certain he will be on LTIR. We can't afford to guess and be stuck with his full ticket on the cap this year.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Rumor: Holland is taking the day off cause watching his scouts make decisions on a couple players in a single day was far to exhausting for him to watch.

 

[Shathar]

There is great butthurt in the lands of Toronto:
Oilers choose a higher cap hit over giving up an asset in a sign and trade for Hyman

 

[Broberg Speed]

I think that Neal might be on the ltir retirement train. Lots of talk about that. Don’t need to buy him out.

If we were higher up on Bettman's priority list you can bet your left nut a doctor's note about Neal's "publicly documented difficulties with the covid disease" would be enough to use that LTIR.

COVID-19 has drastically affected Neal's hockey abilities.

Seriously, If we buyout James Neal's contract then have him fail medicals on a training-camp tryout for another team in pre-season that will be the last straw.

 

[yukoner88]

What's this LTIR business with Neal???

He getting surgery or something?

 

[OilersCoffeeArtBeer]

This is the lines I would practice and go into the new season with.

Hyman - McDavid(driver) - Kassian
Mcleod(driver) - Draisaitl - Puljujarvi
Holloway(driver) - Nuge - Yamamoto
Shore - Khaira/glendenning - Archibald

When the offense is structured this way, it creates balance among the top 9. McDavid has grit and skill on his wings. Draisaitl has speed and skill on his wings. Nuge has forcheking and skill on his wings but also will face lesser defense. The 4th line is what it is.

After some time, the lines can be changed and more responsibilities can be given to McLeod and Holloway.

Defense is a bit trickier because of Larson leaving but there is cap to help fill it out.
Dark horse is Samourukov with Tyson Barrie
As a pairing.

 

[Broberg Speed]

What's this LTIR business with Neal???

He getting surgery or something?

COVID-19 hit him hard and it is questionable if he will ever play at a competitive level again.

 

[Faelko]

So..we have 9 million in cap space.
Klefbom LTIR will give us 4 "extra".
Neal buyout gives us 4 extra?
Koskinen trade gives us 4 extra ?

Hyman takes 5.5
We still need a 3C, skilled winger, 4LD and goalie.
3C via trade or just ....Glendenning until mcleod or Holloway takes control.
Skilled winger via free agency Schwartz?
Ovechkin? Sam Gagner? Lol
4LD ....Murray or Savard ? I'll take Yandle at this point ffs.
Goalie...Grubaur? Trade for Hart ?

So 20 million ish if Trading koskinen and buying out Neal.
4 million of it doesn't really have accessibility until the season starts because of the LTIR right ?

We actually have a little more than 9M since that number includes Stalock, Broberg and Turris. Turris maybe stays but the other 2 won’t be on the roster IMO. Call it 10.5M before the LTIR and buyout(s).

I think the top 6 is basically set (unfortunately, not how I’d do it but whatever):

Hyman - McDavid - Puljujarvi
RNH - Draisaitl - Yamamoto

Bottom 6 is anyone’s guess right now but the RW looks set with Kassian and Archibald (you don’t protect them if they aren’t in your plans and I don’t buy the Kassian trade stuff). Odds are McLeod is at least pencilled in as 4c, if not 3c.

? - ? - Kassian
? - McLeod - Archibald
Shore

So of that 10.5M, 5.5 of it will go to Hyman, that leaves 5M, Neal buyout brings that to 8.8M. If Holland wants to be cap compliant at season start, then Klefbom’s 4.1M won’t kick in until then but I suspect they just waive Turris and Shore and assign McLeod and Bouchard on paper to get to the limit, so let’s use about 3M for the Klefbom LTIR space. That gives us about 11.8M to work with. Say Yamamoto gets 2M on a bridge, now we’re at 9.8M.

Nurse - Bear
Keith - ??
Russell - Bouchard
Lagesson

Yes, that D is fugly, but at the moment, that’s what it is. Now they have to decide if they’re going to sign Barrie for that spot, we have 9.8M to play with, assuming we need in that 4.5M to get a top 4 D, we’re left with 5.3M to get 3 Forwards, the 4LW spot needs to be Benson or a minimum priced contract, so say 900K. Down to 4.4M for those 3rd line spots. Could probably get away with 3M for the C, leaving 1.4M for the LW.

Unfortunately that leaves the same goaltending, I really doubt Koskinen can be traded, if he’s bought out, that savings can be used to get his replacement.

I’ve obviously rounded these numbers so this isn’t exact and smarter people than me can correct my usage of the LTIR…haha.

 

[drewshoo]

So does anyone else know the CBA well enough to know why you can’t just sign a player to a 1 year contract and a 7 (or 8?) year extension simultaneously (or rather, consecutively, in a matter of minutes)? Is there no loophole to swindle to get the desired AAV?

Players on one year contracts are not eligible to be re signed until 6 months (or so) before the end of the one year contract. Players on multi year contracts may resign one year before the end of the contract.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

I think one of those key points is “discussion”. Having a poster state their point of view repeatedly, sometimes 15-20 times over the space of a few pages, is not discussion. It reminds me of a “Trump Forever” follower that yells the same thing over and over again like a zombie.

I enjoyed following banter/back and forth and actually discussing things, and stating a position once.

Once.

Not mindlessly almost copying and posting the same “take” replying to everyone on a thread not even reading their posts.

Ehh…I’m getting old. Could be my partial hangover this morning but I’m feeling ornery
. Mostly agree with your post.

The thing I struggle with the most is just how so many have thrown in the towel before free agency has even begun, before the buyout window has closed and before the season has even started and want Holland fired.

Philadelphia, Columbus and Arizona have been the busiest teams by far but going through the trades since the Keith deal, several teams have done nothing as far as trading for NHL roster players.

Just two weeks ago or so, a lot of media members were speculating Hyman could get upwards of $7 million a season over six years and people panicked Holland was going to give that. Instead, he now (likely) has a letter of intent signed by Hyman for 7 years at $5.5 million. So now it's the term picked apart.

The biggest thing I'm grading him on is what he does with the goaltending. I really don't care who he gets upfront or for the backend, if they don't have someone to stop the puck, the team isn't going anywhere. This isn't a shot at Smith. I love the guy, I've always been a fan of his and I think he's an above average goalie, it's just his age and the miles on him that worries me and we all know Koskinen is not part of the solution.

 

[McDrai]

There is great butthurt in the lands of Toronto:
Oilers choose a higher cap hit over giving up an asset in a sign and trade for Hyman

Yeah. It looks like a day of mourning for Leafs fans. You hate to see it
They can thank Emperor Dubas for letting Hyman walk for nothing. What a brave guy for taking a stand!
#BendTheKnee

 

[Defsta]

COVID-19 hit him hard and it is questionable if he will ever play at a competitive level again.

That's shit, I mean bad ciivd can really destroy lungs and if this is that the case yup he's not going play again. Don't want anyone to get it that bad, I hope he recover it at some point.

And if that's the case, then LTIR Neal and buyout Kosko, it gives us loads of cap room for UFA period.

 

[Shathar]

Yeah. It looks like a day of mourning for Leafs fans. You hate to see it
They can thank Emperor Dubas for letting Hyman walk for nothing. What a brave guy for taking a stand!
#BendTheKnee

Sir Dubois, of solid, stout, unbending knee.