Ceci has consistently gotten exposed in the playoffs and isnt very good.
Stetcher barely played in the regular season cause he's was 8th on the depth chart
it's worse for sure, but it would be even worse with an unproven Broberg making 4.6 million per imo. My guess is they move on, and hope Nurse bounces back, hope that one or two of Emberson, Stetcher, Brown or one of the guys on the farm Gleason, Wanner, Kemp, etc. step up and find a fit with this D core, at least until they find the right upgrade at some point during the season or at the deadline. It's far from ideal, but it's the situation that they now find themselves in. The Oilers are as strong or stronger than any team in the league when it comes to forward talent and depth, they are going to have to lean on that strength until they can upgrade their D.
Broberg played 5 more games for the oilers in the regular season than Stecher, and he was in the organization the whole year.
Stetcher is a career depth d-man that hasn't hit 20 point in 5 seasons
at 3.9m more a year?
not really, but I'm also not cool with going into the season with a young and unproven, untradable (for 1 year) Broberg @4.6 million per, playing his off side, with a partner (Nurse) coming off his worst season in over 5 years. Both options are less than ideal, I just don't think they can gamble on that Broberg with that cap hit, and no trade option.
it's clear the Oilers biggest hole/need/weakness is a 2nd pairing RD. it's going to need to be addressed and filled and upgraded at some point this year. The chances that the they have the answer on this team already in one of of Emberson/Stetcher/Brown/Wanner/Kemp/Gleason/Dineen is EXTREMELY unlikely.
which makes trading Ceci right now baffling...yes, he was bad and eventually needed to go
not really, the move does help the Oilers, it was clear Ceci was not the right right to be Nurse's D partner at this point. It clears up cap space, enough to give the Oilers options - the option to match on one of or both of the offer sheets in combination with Kane on LTIR and a player being sent down or - the option to start the season under the cap, not in over in LTIR and to start gaining cap space until the find the right opportunity to add the upgrade at 2nd pairing RD. While, at the same time adding a 24 year old, RH D, who while unproven, had solid numbers in a small sample size last year on a bad SJ team, who also has a history with the Coach Knoblock. To me, it was a smart first step, that is a temporary solution until they can fix it properly at some point during the season.
It’s a good thing the season doesn’t start tomorrow, they’ll have time to try and get another D with that “capspace”
And x2 with Josh Brown x3 to create poison pill deals to prevent waiver wire claims. Quite likely these two yo yo between Edmonton and Bakersfield. Though the way they're clearing out legitimate NHL defenders, they might be big minute guys like the good old non-playoff teams they came in from.
Pretty sure that was idle speculation by a known bullshitter. Have to think there would be a strong market if a greasy 50 point, .44 career avg, 21 minute toi, age 27 right shot d-man hit the market. Calgary trading him to Edmonton or the Oilers being able to scratch together best offer with their 2nd & 3rd pick gold rush from St. Louis is sketchy.
100 % correct. I feel that's exactly why they gave extra term to a couple of tweener dmen. It was just a little insurance policy to help out with our lack of salary cap space injuries and the uncertainty of the bottom half of our Dcore. Jackson is far from an idiot.
They didn’t make the defense worse in the name of cap space.
For sure, reasonable deals and thought behind them made sense when it looked like they were building up 3RD depth with two different player types and roles. Ease Desharnais size loss with Brown and Stetcher is a game small defender at end of roster.
no doubt, if we're talking futures (picks and prospects), I'm not sure Edmonton even has enough to land him. With us already owing one of next 2 first rounders because we traded up into the first round this year, our lack of prospects, and the need and demand around the league for quality, puck moving, top 4 RHD, even if we were to put Savoie in a package, I feel another team would be able to outbid us. That isn't even taking into account, that this Edmonton and Calgary, which may or may not matter, but it won't help that's for sure.
