Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | Does Bowman Make His Mark on the Team Before Training Camp?

[Canovin]

I mean sometimes there are hidden gems that you sign or get on waivers, and he might be one. But I would take a proven Schultz over him.

He need someone who can defend. Schultz isn't it. Stecher can bring in offense just fine.

 

[foshizzle]

Why wasn't he qualified then and why is he still an UFA?

Happens all the time. Gus Forsling, for example- was traded and then put on waivers- he was passed on by every single team but Florida. He was on their top pair the last 2 years and was excellent.

 

[McBooya42]

St. Louis is so much better than Edmonton?

Better opportunity for Broberg to play on his natural side for sure. Holloway will be hard pressed to move beyond the 4th line (same as here) I think.

After thinking about the situation more part of me thinks Jackson was aware this offer sheet situation could happen and some of his actions make sense. For example signing all of Skinner, Arvidsson, Henrique as well as Perry, Stetcher, Brown. It seemed like a lot at the time but if he felt like someone was going to pull a move and put them in a position to have to overpay on question mark young players it makes sense sense that he would bring in more free agents to mitigate the possible loss. Then he went out and shed salary while also bringing in cheap young players who could be close to ready in Savoie and Jarventie.

Then I look at it from Broberg and Holloways agents point of view. Neither of them likely wanted to negotiate mid season when their clients are struggling to even be in the lineup and contracts aren’t getting negotiated during a playoff run so you get to the end of the playoffs which is a week before free agency. At that point they would have known at least one GM in Armstrong is looking at offer sheets (he had stated as much) and the agents would have known Edmonton was extremely vulnerable so what’s the point of advising your client to extend with the Oilers at that point? Why not just wait until free agency starts to see if any GM’s reach out.

I can see a situation where both agents were hesitant to sign a new deal with Edmonton before free agency started in order to see if an offer sheet comes. It’s not like they have anything to lose by waiting, as it wouldn’t change their negotiating position with Edmonton. If Jackson felt like this is what was going on then it makes sense that he went out and signed all these players on day one of free agency as an insurance policy in anticipation of Holloway and Broberg being offered contracts that would be tough to match.

I'm coming around to the same thoughts as well. The little moves and signings start to make sense in the context that this has occurred.

 

[foshizzle]

He need someone who can defend. Schultz isn't it. Stecher can bring in offense just fine.

I’m in the small minority who think Stetcher will surprise. His underlying numbers show he is strong transitionally, good zone exits and good zone entries playing top 4 mins. Pairing him with Nurse would make sense. My concern, as always, is Nurse sucks at all those things. That pair will get hemmed in because Nurse can’t make a play (or deny the other team in making a play). So frustrating- Nurse can’t play with a defensive D because Nurse can’t move the puck, he can’t play with a puck mover because Nurse can’t deny the zone. What an awful contract.

 

[Soundwave]

Sign Kubalik and Barrie to cheap-ish deals if they're amenable? Or do we want to leave spots potentially open for Jarventie and Savoie and Lavoie?

 

[McHelpus]

I know you never asked me but theres no way for the Oilers to win in this situation.

They are worse without these players. But the players also aren’t worth their contracts either.

Only way they win imo is if they use the cap space and assets to find better players than Holloway/Broberg and/or on better contracts.

I'd be way more in favor of letting Broberg walk if it's for a 1st and a 3rd (like it's suppose to be). But a 2nd and a 3rd rounder for our 2 former 1st rounders is just really bad.

 

[gordonhught]

I'd be way more in favor of letting Broberg walk if it's for a 1st and a 3rd (like it's suppose to be). But a 2nd and a 3rd rounder for our 2 former 1st rounders is just really bad.

They will match Holloway. Not so sure about Broby.

 

[Soundwave]

They will match Holloway. Not so sure about Broby.

I have some doubts on that. Holloway puts them over the cap when the roster is healthy, which then forces a Kane trade at gunpoint basically. I dunno.

You need to have a buyer for Kane and you need to get a yes/no from him on whether he'll even waive.

You can't dump Ceci or Kulak after losing Broberg, so that's a non-starter.

 

[belair]

I know you never asked me but theres no way for the Oilers to win in this situation.

They are worse without these players. But the players also aren’t worth their contracts either.

Only way they win imo is if they use the cap space and assets to find better players than Holloway/Broberg and/or on better contracts.

And that would cost additional trade capital and future assets. This is why you probably need to bite the bullet and match.

If it's as simple as LTIng Kane and facilitating a Ceci or a Kulak trade, those two contracts are manageable.

 

[Soundwave]

And that would cost additional trade capital and future assets. This is why you probably need to bite the bullet and match.

If it's as simple as LTIng Kane and facilitating a Ceci or a Kulak trade, those two contracts are manageable.

And then what exactly is supposed to be the plan when Kane inevitably comes off LTIR?

I doubt he will commit to missing the entire regular season.

 

[belair]

And then what exactly is supposed to be the plan when Kane inevitably comes off LTIR?

I doubt he will commit to missing the entire regular season.

Assuming the surgery occurs, that timeline falls in line with the deadline, where his NMC turns into a 15-team NTC.

The fact that we have Stecher and Josh Brown makes me a little more confident that we could live without Cody Ceci on our roster.

With the injury bug likely to come into play with the older roster, I'd prefer having two players who bring their footspeed to the table.

 

[McHelpus]

They will match Holloway. Not so sure about Broby.

They want us to match Holloway so they can get Broberg.

 

[gordonhught]

They want us to match Holloway so they can get Broberg.

They can have Broberg.

Guy is a f***twit.

 

[ottawah]

He need someone who can defend. Schultz isn't it. Stecher can bring in offense just fine.

Are we talking about the same Stecher? Offensively he's a poor man Cody Ceci, by a long shot.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Assuming the surgery occurs, that timeline falls in line with the deadline, where his NMC turns into a 15-team NTC.

The fact that we have Stecher and Josh Brown makes me a little more confident that we could live without Cody Ceci on our roster.

With the injury bug likely to come into play with the older roster, I'd prefer having two players who bring their footspeed to the table.

I think even with Kane nmc switching to ntc that could be a tough deal to make in season with him coming back from being out all year, not sure if it would be smart to bank on a Kane trade.

I do think it’s possible to to match on both and get through the season. Obviously Ceci would be gone before the season started and betweeen that and the Kane ltir they’d have more then enough room but when Kane comes back you’re gonna have to find about 4M in order to activate him so any of Kulak, Arvidsson, Henrique would have to be on the table for a trade in addition to a Perry or Brown sent down.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

If the Oilers choose to go Remainder Bin shopping on d, I wonder if they'd check in on Shattenkirk. Wouldn't play in Canada before but maybe that changes.

Played on a strong Bruins team with 15 min toi. Previous big minute guy on shitty Ducks teams including some evolution of his game to PK. Potential PP2 consideration. Cup ring and strong career results now adapting to lesser role and responsibilities. Henrique might help the convo.

I really liked Tyson Barrie's time here. But think they need more speed and better defender. Justin Schultz, not sure he can defend well enough and might have PTSD from round 1 here.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

After thinking about the situation more part of me thinks Jackson was aware this offer sheet situation could happen and some of his actions make sense. For example signing all of Skinner, Arvidsson, Henrique as well as Perry, Stetcher, Brown. It seemed like a lot at the time but if he felt like someone was going to pull a move and put them in a position to have to overpay on question mark young players it makes sense sense that he would bring in more free agents to mitigate the possible loss. Then he went out and shed salary while also bringing in cheap young players who could be close to ready in Savoie and Jarventie.

Then I look at it from Broberg and Holloways agents point of view. Neither of them likely wanted to negotiate mid season when their clients are struggling to even be in the lineup and contracts aren’t getting negotiated during a playoff run so you get to the end of the playoffs which is a week before free agency. At that point they would have known at least one GM in Armstrong is looking at offer sheets (he had stated as much) and the agents would have known Edmonton was extremely vulnerable so what’s the point of advising your client to extend with the Oilers at that point? Why not just wait until free agency starts to see if any GM’s reach out.

I can see a situation where both agents were hesitant to sign a new deal with Edmonton before free agency started in order to see if an offer sheet comes. It’s not like they have anything to lose by waiting, as it wouldn’t change their negotiating position with Edmonton. If Jackson felt like this is what was going on then it makes sense that he went out and signed all these players on day one of free agency as an insurance policy in anticipation of Holloway and Broberg being offered contracts that would be tough to match.

But wouldn't you think Jackson might re-sign Desharnais instead of cobbling together an investment of $1,787,500 in Brown (x3 years) and Stetcher? Oilers poised to lose two penalty killer d-man.

I think Oiler management got caught sleeping at the wheel on what they perceived as a low likely threat. Filled the cupboards July 1 and missed a real and present danger.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

But wouldn't you think Jackson might re-sign Desharnais instead of cobbling together an investment of $1,787,500 in Brown (x3 years) and Stetcher? Oilers poised to lose two penalty killer d-man.

I think Oiler management got caught sleeping at the wheel on what they perceived as a low likely threat. Filled the cupboards July 1 and missed a real and present danger.

Possible but I don’t think it’s a stretch that Brown can give you a fairly similar performance to Dez at less than half the cost. I loved Desharnais and was very sad to see him go but I think it’s a smart move splitting less money then you would have paid him between a guy who can bring a similar game and another guy who has shown he has the ability to play up the lineup at times, especially when in a cap crunch, splitting the dollars of one position into two and giving yourself some versatility and flexibility.


I think the mistake Jackson made was not calling around and putting it out there they were open to trading one or both of Holloway and Broberg. Maybe you get a good offer and pull the trigger but more importantly it likely draws the situation into the open and forces Armstrong to speed up his timeline on the offer sheets because if the Oilers traded either of then his plan goes down the drain. It was a very unique situation that requires the timing to be just right to maximize the likelihood of it working.

 

[Fourier]

I am not sure how many times in the past there have been diametrically opposite positions presented that both made so much sense. Right or wrong I usually find it relatively easy to pick a side in something like this, but not this time. As each day passes I am genuinely more and more unsure of what the best path is here.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

I am not sure who many times in the past there have been diametrically opposite positions presented that both made so much sense. Right or wrong I usually find it relatively easy to pick a side in something like this, but not this time. As each day passes I am genuinely more and more unsure of what the best path is here.

lol I said the exact same thing to my wife yesterday. I literally switch between match both, match one or the other, or let both walk by the hour.

I’m sure it would be much easier if we had all the relevant information though, like a better idea of Kane’s status and what options are out there for trading Ceci or others.

 

[Fourier]

lol I said the exact same thing to my wife yesterday. I literally switch between match both, match one or the other, or let both walk by the hour.

I’m sure it would be much easier if we had all the relevant information though, like a better idea of Kane’s status and what options are out there for trading Ceci or others.

The bolded is really crucial information in making this decision.

 

[FlameChampion]

I am not sure how many times in the past there have been diametrically opposite positions presented that both made so much sense. Right or wrong I usually find it relatively easy to pick a side in something like this, but not this time. As each day passes I am genuinely more and more unsure of what the best path is here.

I think because there is honestly no good option here. Both players are overpriced and without a crystal ball, who honestly knows what each player will turn into.

 

[Soundwave]

Assuming the surgery occurs, that timeline falls in line with the deadline, where his NMC turns into a 15-team NTC.

The fact that we have Stecher and Josh Brown makes me a little more confident that we could live without Cody Ceci on our roster.

With the injury bug likely to come into play with the older roster, I'd prefer having two players who bring their footspeed to the table.

His NMC doesn't become an NTC until next season.

Beyond that you'd be bargaining from a position of extreme weakness, everyone in the league would know you have to move that salary otherwise you will be over the cap, so they can basically charge anything to take the salary off your hands. A 1st round pick, for example wouldn't be an unheard of ask.

You have to then factor in that cost on top of the inflated price of these two players, who wants to spend like a 1st + double (more than that in Broberg's case) what we thought we'd be paying these guys to make this work.

This organization just needs to hold this L most likely and learn from it. You can't operate in a "one good contract, followed by one bad contract" level of management, eventually it comes back to haunt a team. Gotta be better than that. You want to be successful in this league, good cap management is a big part of that, Bowman better have learned some hard lessons from his last few years in Chicago.

 

[McJadeddog]

I am not sure how many times in the past there have been diametrically opposite positions presented that both made so much sense. Right or wrong I usually find it relatively easy to pick a side in something like this, but not this time. As each day passes I am genuinely more and more unsure of what the best path is here.

Yup, I've thought about the situation a lot, and while I still think they should just walk from both contracts, I don't have any real FAITH in that position. Its just the option I've hated the least. There is a still a lot of risk associated with it and I don't have a good feeling as to whether its really the right call or not. Strange situation indeed.

 

[Soundwave]

They want us to match Holloway so they can get Broberg.

They're getting him either way.