Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | Dermott on a PTO, Will We See More PTO's? Can We Get Some Toughness Too Please?

[Tobias Kahun]

A bit of reality- Our biggest issue this year will be line 3, not defense. Janmark-Henrique - Brown were great in the finals but they had an unsustainable shooting percentage, and got outchanced as well. Brown and Janmark are comfortably 4th line players, they were just more defensively responsible in the finals vs Foegele/Mcleod and thus got elevated. At 34 years old, I’m not sure Henrique has the chops to carry a line. He too was heavily outchanced when asked to centre his own line post TDL. The loss of Mcleod, Foegele and Holloway, guys with speed who could chip in 12-15 goals, shouldn’t be underestimated. The Oilers will either elevate Philip at some point to 3C or look at a trade.

The oilers won’t be trading for a 3C this year, I can guarantee you that.

 

[nexttothemoon]

I got laughed at when I said I think the Oilers will have some difficulty this year replacing the 60+ goals that has left the lineup... Foegele/McLeod/Kane/Holloway.

Henrique/Skinner/Arvidsson/Podkolzin "should" be able to replace the bulk of that... but maybe not with quite as much ease as some think... especially when you combine that with Hyman likely regressing from 54 goals which he likely won't repeat again.

It actually wouldn't surprise me at all if this team scores less than last year, They were 4th in GF last season and I could see that dropping at least somewhat.

GA could be an issue as well if the PK isn't as good with the group they have now... always a possibility as it's basically a complete makeover with Ceci/Desharnais/McLeod all gone who all played key roles on the PK last season.

Goaltending is "ok" but a duo of Skinner/Pickard isn't a worldbeater... very much an average type duo and any regression in either or both of offense and defense on the team will put the focus even more on that average duo in net.

This isn't meant to be hand-wringing... just the fact that this team isn't necessarily just carrying on from their game 7 SC form... it's a whole new slate with every team in the NHL squarely gunning for the Oilers who are the clear #1 favourites for the cup now... and that bullseye increases the pressure on this team now. It wasn't "easy" last season and I think it will be even harder this year when every team in the league treats this Oilers team as the #1 contending team in the NHL and brings their A games more often than not.

 

[guymez]

I got laughed at when I said I think the Oilers will have some difficulty this year replacing the 60+ goals that has left the lineup... Foegele/McLeod/Kane/Holloway.

Henrique/Skinner/Arvidsson/Podkolzin "should" be able to replace the bulk of that... but maybe not with quite as much ease as some think... especially when you combine that with Hyman likely regressing from 54 goals which he likely won't repeat again.

It actually wouldn't surprise me at all if this team scores less than last year, They were 4th in GF last season and I could see that dropping at least somewhat.

GA could be an issue as well if the PK isn't as good with the group they have now... always a possibility as it's basically a complete makeover with Ceci/Desharnais/McLeod all gone who all played key roles on the PK last season.

Goaltending is "ok" but a duo of Skinner/Pickard isn't a worldbeater... very much an average type duo and any regression in either or both of offense and defense on the team will put the focus even more on that average duo in net.

This isn't meant to be hand-wringing... just the fact that this team isn't necessarily just carrying on from their game 7 SC form... it's a whole new slate with every team in the NHL squarely gunning for the Oilers who are the clear #1 favourites for the cup now... and that bullseye increases the pressure on this team now. It wasn't "easy" last season and I think it will be even harder this year when every team in the league treats this Oilers team as the #1 contending team in the NHL and brings their A games more often than not.

The PK and GA are the biggest concerns IMO.
The roster just isnt as good as it was at the end of last season. Foegele and McLeod were good players on the PK and pretty good defenisvely at 5x5 as well.
Arvidsson is good on the PK so that helps. I am not sure what to expect from Skinner and Podkolzin at 5x5 but we shall see how that plays out.
The D is the main concern for me. This team is very thin on D. The team needs to play a tight system with the forwards committed to their defensive roles.
An important factor in that regard is that Knoblauch should help with the systems play to start the season. Just a better coach than Woody and the continuity from last season should help as well.
Lastly...the team is much more mature after getting to game 7 of the SCF.
That to me should make a big difference just in terms of being ready to start the season.

I expect some upgrades at the TDL so as long as this team can stay in playoff contention I think that they will be ready to challenge for a SC by the time April rolls around.
Of course injuries are the wildcard.

 

[Oilhawks]

I got laughed at when I said I think the Oilers will have some difficulty this year replacing the 60+ goals that has left the lineup... Foegele/McLeod/Kane/Holloway.

Henrique/Skinner/Arvidsson/Podkolzin "should" be able to replace the bulk of that... but maybe not with quite as much ease as some think... especially when you combine that with Hyman likely regressing from 54 goals which he likely won't repeat again.

It actually wouldn't surprise me at all if this team scores less than last year, They were 4th in GF last season and I could see that dropping at least somewhat.

GA could be an issue as well if the PK isn't as good with the group they have now... always a possibility as it's basically a complete makeover with Ceci/Desharnais/McLeod all gone who all played key roles on the PK last season.

Goaltending is "ok" but a duo of Skinner/Pickard isn't a worldbeater... very much an average type duo and any regression in either or both of offense and defense on the team will put the focus even more on that average duo in net.

This isn't meant to be hand-wringing... just the fact that this team isn't necessarily just carrying on from their game 7 SC form... it's a whole new slate with every team in the NHL squarely gunning for the Oilers who are the clear #1 favourites for the cup now... and that bullseye increases the pressure on this team now. It wasn't "easy" last season and I think it will be even harder this year when every team in the league treats this Oilers team as the #1 contending team in the NHL and brings their A games more often than not.

Indeed. How many teams look like world-beaters in pre-season after going to game 7 of the SCF a few months prior?

Can't think of many, personally.

This place has become a bastion of hyperbole that is nearly as knee-jerk as Leafsland nowadays.

Sorry, I said it. It's felt like Leafsland West in here for a few seasons now, but the amount of nonsense being spewed in the pre-season has really made it obvious.

Embarrassing amounts of entitlement in here. Why does everyone think they were going to cruise through the season? They wouldn't have with those very inconsistent players either.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

No to trading Kulak.

I'd rather wait to accrue cap space to bring in a guy like Borgen and trade picks/prospects for him rather than be forced to send salary out by trading a good player/playoff performer/guy who wants to be here for a modest upgrade and leave a hole on the other side.
Maybe you make that trade if Broberg was still here but, then again, if Broberg was still here the Oilers would be in cap hell.

Our ability to accrue cap plan doesn't change at all with Borgen he's signed for $50K less than Kulak and with that trade and in my hypothetical we were sending J, Brown down and Gleason up which is a $225K savings; when adjusted for the deadline that would give us ~$1.245M more capspace to play with.

Creating a hole to fill another hole isn't a great argument IMO when we are filling hole of clearly greater importance, the 2nd pairing vs. the 3rd pairing and IMO the players we have in house are more capable of filling a 3rd pairing hole then our 3rd pairing guys stepping up into a 2nd pairing role.

Also in proposing that a lot of it was with Nurse in mind, he's not the easiest guy to develop chemistry with and the sooner a move is done that is compatible with him, likely the better. My thoughts are also with long term cap projections in mind there is zero shot the cap rises enough to cover the Drai + Bouchard raises, so someone with an NMC is going to have to agree to being traded and I'm looking at Nurse, I want him to have a good enough season where we only have to retain $1.75M AAV per year instead of ~$3M.

Seattle isn't going to just roll over and trade their roster players before the season starts. The only way we get Borgen this year, is if Seattle falls out of the playoff race and they can't re-sign him.

Plus, we need Kulak in the playoffs.

Seattle is ofcourse more likely to trade him if their playoff dreams are dashed, but I believe his fate is already sealed, they brought in Montour pushing him down the depth chart and already extended Larsson, with Borgen's next deal likely over $4M, he should price himself out of a 3rd pairing role.

That doesn't mean they need to trade him now, so we would be paying a little premium over deadline pricing, but I think they'd see Kulak as only a moderate downgrade and locked at a price they more comfortable paying a 3rd line d-man longer term so it improves their cost certainty.

I also don't see Seattle's Management as being dumb, I think they recognize they aren't like Vegas and won't immediately hop into contender status, its going to be more of a process and they are kind of a bubble playoff team at the moment and bubble teams sometimes take 1 step back for 2 steps forward kind of trades.

I also see Kulak's playoff heroics being overblown, he elevates, but not to an extent that makes me forget that we have a 2nd d-pairing that falls flat on its face every post season.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Indeed. How many teams look like world-beaters in pre-season after going to game 7 of the SCF a few months prior?

Can't think of many, personally.

This place has become a bastion of hyperbole that is nearly as knee-jerk as Leafsland nowadays.

Sorry, I said it. It's felt like Leafsland West in here for a few seasons now, but the amount of nonsense being spewed in the pre-season has really made it obvious.

Embarrassing amounts of entitlement in here. Why does everyone think they were going to cruise through the season? They wouldn't have with those very inconsistent players either.

Why do we think this team will cruise through the regular season? Because they've done so the last 3 years