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[Soundwave]

Both Galchenyuk and Yakupov really tanked their NHL careers huh?

At least Galchenyuk had 5 decent seasons though, that's kind of the rub, he actually showed he could play OK at this level (5 seasons of 19-25 goal scoring rate).

He definitely has NHL level talent but it looks like he's had big issues between the ears.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Shit Heatley killed a guy and pleaded guilty to charges and didn’t even have his contract terminated.

 

[Soundwave]

I still think the Oilers may throw a league minimum contract or PTO at Zack Kassian.

We still lack right shot call up options and our bottom 6 is back to being buttery soft, and while Kassian is not ideal in any way, at least he is a big bodied RW that can come into the system and it not really be a big deal in case of injuries or in a game where we might need some size.

He's probably cooked, but hence the PTO. I mean we did give one to Jake freaking Virtanen a year ago (lol).

 

[Beerfish]

I still think the Oilers may throw a league minimum contract or PTO at Zack Kassian.

We still lack right shot call up options and our bottom 6 is back to being buttery soft, and while Kassian is not ideal in any way, at least he is a big bodied RW that can come into the system and it not really be a big deal in case of injuries or in a game where we might need some size.

He's probably cooked, but hence the PTO. I mean we did give one to Jake freaking Virtanen a year ago (lol).

If the oilers think about bring him back then i will have lost all hope. I would 100% refuse to believe they can;t find someone better. He was washed for about his last two years here, awful notion,

 

[McSuper]

I wonder what he did.

He was late for a team meeting. He tried but couldn't find a NHL arena so he asked someone and they said we don't have one. He thought the guy was lying and punched him in the mouth

 

[RegDunlop]

I met Laz in NYC at an event around the Opening Bell Ceremony at the NYSE. I found him to be very down to earth. Pretty much everyone I knew who knew Laz liked him. I can't say the same for Balsille.

Laz has a very interesting backstory. He was an engineering student who wanted to make a fortune so that he could one day fund a physics institute which he did do. The Perimeter Institute ha snow become a very well respected independent research institute. Before his death Hawking held a Distinguished Visiting Research Chair. The Director at the time, Neil Turok was a colleague of Hawking at Cambridge.

History | Perimeter Institute

From notion to groundbreaking research & discoveries in theoretical physics & award-winning ideas about the origin of our universe, it’s Perimeter history.

perimeterinstitute.ca

He is also a major contributor to the the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing and Institute for Nanotechnology.

Before I met Laz I use to see him around town a lot often in small local restaurants. One of the last time I saw him was at the height of RIM's success. He would have been worth about $6B at that time. He and his son were in front of my wife and I in the HMV at the local mall. He was buying DVD's and the clerk, who was in his early 20's, was trying to hard sell him on signing up for their points program. Laz's order came to about $120 and the first big sale was that he'd get a 10% discount on the purchase. Laz declined and then the guy asks Laz if he likes music. Laz said yes and the clerk asked who he was listening to these days. Laz kind of shrugged and said he liked U2. He then pointed to a reproduction of an autographed photo of Bono behind the counter and said that with enough points Laz could get one of those. What the kid did not realize is that Laz actually knew Bono personally. RIM had signed a partnership deal with U2 and that RIM rented out the Skydome for a concert for the RIM employees. Rather than saying anything Laz politely declined, paid for his dvd's and left.

When I got to the counter after listening to this hard sell I asked the kid if he knew who that guy was. He said no. I told him it was Mike Lazaridis...The kids response was classic. He dropped his head and out loud said... Ah sh## I blew it. I should have asked him for a job. Turns out the kid was a computer science student working part-time to make some extra cash who would have killed to work at RIM.

That is awesome!

 

[KCC]

I still think the Oilers may throw a league minimum contract or PTO at Zack Kassian.

We still lack right shot call up options and our bottom 6 is back to being buttery soft, and while Kassian is not ideal in any way, at least he is a big bodied RW that can come into the system and it not really be a big deal in case of injuries or in a game where we might need some size.

He's probably cooked, but hence the PTO. I mean we did give one to Jake freaking Virtanen a year ago (lol).

Hard pass on Kassian. We need players that will actually contribute. Kassian is only good for running around and hitting people nowadays. Holland needs to figure out the bottom 6 though. He upgraded the top 6 with Connor Brown but made the bottom 6 much worse. Losing Kostin and Bjugstad two big bodies who did actually contribute is a huge blow. Banking on up and coming players helping out is not what the team needs right now when they are in the middle of trying to get over the hump and win a cup. Bad contracts are normal on any team but man, giving Nurse over 9 million is still a gut punch. Yes I get that was the market at the time but still. Giving him 6 or 7 would have been perfect. That extra few mill would have helped. lol

 

[Soundwave]

Hard pass on Kassian. We need players that will actually contribute. Kassian is only good for running around and hitting people nowadays. Holland needs to figure out the bottom 6 though. He upgraded the top 6 with Connor Brown but made the bottom 6 much worse. Losing Kostin and Bjugstad two big bodies who did actually contribute is a huge blow. Banking on up and coming players helping out is not what the team needs right now when they are in the middle of trying to get over the hump and win a cup. Bad contracts are normal on any team but man, giving Nurse over 9 million is still a gut punch. Yes I get that was the market at the time but still. Giving him 6 or 7 would have been perfect. That extra few mill would have helped. lol

For league min it doesn't really impact our cap, it's just someone you can call up if there are injuries. Especially if Lavoie isn't ready to play at this level/or is too soft for the bottom 6 or gets hurt himself.

I'd consider signing Mark Pysyk for the same reason. As long as these are league min salaries, it doesn't really matter for us.

 

[Anarchism]

For league min it doesn't really impact our cap, it's just someone you can call up if there are injuries. Especially if Lavoie isn't ready to play at this level/or is too soft for the bottom 6 or gets hurt himself.

I'd consider signing Mark Pysyk for the same reason. As long as these are league min salaries, it doesn't really matter for us.

Not in terms of cap dollars but it does in opportunity cost. Also in motivation from management if you want to consider that.

 

[Soundwave]

Not in terms of cap dollars but it does in opportunity cost. Also in motivation from management if you want to consider that.

I'd prefer either Nick or even the other Ritchie brother, but I'm not sure if they'll sign for league minimum and every 100k counts for us. Brett Ritchie for league min or close would be OK, but I'm not sure if he's willing to do that.

Past that, the pickings for some insertable toughness in the bottom 6 is very slim.

Right now our presumed bottom 6 is

Foegele McLeod Janmark
Holloway Ryan X-Spot

X-Spot between Drake Caggiula, Raph Lavoie, or Pederson.

I suspect Drake Caggiula will probably actually take that spot, but that's 5 left shots in your bottom 6. Not much size down there either if that's the case.

 

[McTonyBrar]

Can McLeod and Bouchard be signed already... I'm sick of this offseason.

I still think the Oilers may throw a league minimum contract or PTO at Zack Kassian.

We still lack right shot call up options and our bottom 6 is back to being buttery soft, and while Kassian is not ideal in any way, at least he is a big bodied RW that can come into the system and it not really be a big deal in case of injuries or in a game where we might need some size.

He's probably cooked, but hence the PTO. I mean we did give one to Jake freaking Virtanen a year ago (lol).

No thank you.

 

[Anarchism]

I'd prefer either Nick or even the other Ritchie brother, but I'm not sure if they'll sign for league minimum and every 100k counts for us. Brett Ritchie for league min or close would be OK, but I'm not sure if he's willing to do that.

Past that, the pickings for some insertable toughness in the bottom 6 is very slim.

Right now our presumed bottom 6 is

Foegele McLeod Janmark
Holloway Ryan Lavoie or Pedersen

I dont' think Lavoie is ready.
Holloway you can pencil in but may need to be in and out as well.
We need one or two guys.

 

[Soundwave]

I think Drake Caggiula makes the opening night roster so our bottom 6 would be

Janmark McLeod Foegele
Holloway Ryan Caggiula

Not the worst bottom 6 we've ever had (cuz we've had some stinkers), but not great either. Not a lot of size and all the wingers are LWs.

I guess that's the price you pay though when you overpay Nurse and Campbell and Foegele and still have the ghost of Lucic's contract haunting you to the tune of 2 mill per year as well.

Might be a while until we have bottom 6 depth like last year, shame the goaltending, Nurse, Ceci, Desharnais, Hyman/Kane/RNH all had to crap their pants in the playoffs and not let us go on a run.

 

[belair]

Both Galchenyuk and Yakupov really tanked their NHL careers huh?

At least Galchenyuk had 5 decent seasons though, that's kind of the rub, he actually showed he could play OK at this level (5 seasons of 19-25 goal scoring rate).

He definitely has NHL level talent but it looks like he's had big issues between the ears.

If teams gave Yakupov the same rope Gally received, he would've posted similar numbers IMO. They were both stubborn, one-dimensional players who lacked any sort of willingness to improve.

I'm not sure Nail did himself any favors endearing himself to coaches and teammates, which is why he had such a difficult time finding those opportunities in any of his NHL stops.

Neither was ever a player you can win with though.

 

[Anarchism]

I think Drake Caggiula makes the opening night roster so our bottom 6 would be

Janmark McLeod Foegele
Holloway Ryan Caggiula

Not the worst bottom 6 we've ever had (cuz we've had some stinkers), but not great either. Not a lot of size and all the wingers are LWs.

I guess that's the price you pay though when you overpay Nurse and Campbell and Foegele and still have the ghost of Lucic's contract haunting you to the tune of 2 mill per year as well.

Might be a while until we have bottom 6 depth like last year, shame the goaltending, Nurse, Ceci, Desharnais, Hyman/Kane/RNH all had to crap their pants in the playoffs and not let us go on a run.

So you think those player just crap their pants ...all at the same time and thats why we couldn't go on a run? Really ?

 

[Soundwave]

If teams gave Yakupov the same rope Gally received, he would've posted similar numbers IMO. They were both stubborn, one-dimensional players who lacked any sort of willingness to improve.

I'm not sure Nail did himself any favors endearing himself to coaches and teammates, which is why he had such a difficult time finding those opportunities in any of his NHL stops.

Neither was ever a player you can win with though.

I think Nail was dumber than Galy. Galchenyuk is more traditionally skilled and can actually pass the puck on top of shooting.

Galy would probably score 20-25 with Connor or Leon without much fuss.

So you think those player just crap their pants ...all at the same time and thats why we couldn't go on a run? Really ?

I mean ... yes? Kind of hard for Connor and Leon to drag that much dead weight around. Connor, Leon, Kostin, Kulak, Ekholm, Bouchard were basically the only Oilers that would get a passing grade for their playoffs. Bjugstad was ok but got murdered by the Eichel line, though some of that is on Woodcroft for idiotic line management. A lot of the so-called key support players and goaltending were no-shows outside of like 1 game each here and there.

 

[belair]

I think Nail was dumber than Galy. Galchenyuk is more traditionally skilled and can actually pass the puck on top of shooting.

Galy would probably score 20-25 with Connor or Leon without much fuss.

I think he was more stubborn than anything. He always thought that his shot was his bread and butter so he was hyper-focused on honing his craft. There was nothing wrong with Yak's ability to pass but he just didn't process the game at NHL speed.

Yakupov would've probably put up Yamamoto numbers stuck to 97's hip that year where he was close to a PPG over a dozen game stretch, but he got tangled up with that ref and never really recovered.

 

[Soundwave]

I think he was more stubborn than anything. He always thought that his shot was his bread and butter so he was hyper-focused on honing his craft. There was nothing wrong with Yak's ability to pass but he just didn't process the game at NHL speed.

Yakupov would've probably put up Yamamoto numbers stuck to 97's hip that year where he was close to a PPG over a dozen game stretch, but he got tangled up with that ref and never really recovered.

Think Galchenyuk has hands and skill level above what Yamamoto and Yakupov have.

Yakupov is the dumbest of the three (none of the three are winning a trophy for hockey I.Q.) and his hands at the NHL level were shockingly poor. Decent hand/eye coordination to bat the puck out of the air sometimes, but how many goals can you score like that.

Yamamoto is probably the smartest of the three, but limited by his tiny frame and crap hands.

If Galchenyuk didn't get hurt in his draft year, I think the Oilers would've taken him no.1 overall that year.

Given the same amount of time with McDavid/Draisaitl I suspect Galchenyuk would give you the best production.

 

[iCanada]

Think Galchenyuk has hands and skill level above what Yamamoto and Yakupov have.

Yakupov is the dumbest of the three (none of the three are winning a trophy for hockey I.Q.) and his hands at the NHL level were shockingly poor. Decent hand/eye coordination to bat the puck out of the air sometimes, but how many goals can you score like that.

Yamamoto is probably the smartest of the three, but limited by his tiny frame and crap hands.

If Galchenyuk didn't get hurt in his draft year, I think the Oilers would've taken him no.1 overall that year.

Given the same amount of time with McDavid/Draisaitl I suspect Galchenyuk would give you the best production.

Honestly I don't think Yaks problem was hockey sense, but rather ego.

Same as a guy like Brule.

They saw themselves as big strong power forwards and wanted to play that way. Though being amazing at it in junior, they were too small to be that in the NHL. But rather than adapt, they kept on trying to make that work when they were smaller than the average defenseman and ultimately failed.

Yakupov wanted to be (young) Ovechkin or Bure, and it killed his career.

Ironically if he adapted to being small in the NHL compared to being large in junior the way Ovechkin has adapted to becoming old, slow, and relatively weak for his size? He'd have been a stud. He had all the skills, tools, and instincts to be a Steven Stamkos style sniper in the NHL, but he wasn't interested in that. He wanted to carry the puck, beat guys one on one, and be physically dominant... And that was his downfall. He couldn't stop seeing himself as the bull in the China shop he was in junior, which was never going to work when he was 40 lbs and 4" smaller than the average NHL defender.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Does it though? Lots of shitty contracts handed out as recently as last year. Look at the mess Vancouver and Calgary are in. We're 17 years into the cap and GMs still hand out braindead contracts to middling players.

There will always be poor contracts. Bad bets made, breakdowns in scouting and player analysis, unexpected player regression, etc there’s no perfect method.

I do agree there are always two or three teams that make questionable decisions.

 

[Shathar]

Galchenyuk arrested July 9 on a number of charges including private property hit and run

Sweet baby Jesus.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Yeah that’ll do it.

 

[McDoused]

August 4th cant come soon enough.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I actually agree that McLeod is probably getting $2M+ in arbitration if it goes that far. I think Holland has to be brutally honest with McLeod. If he wants to be part of the team going forward there is ceiling that he can take over the next two years.

You can't please everyone and expect to win. Tough decisions must be made from time to time. I like McLeod but he is not irreplaceable.

Ditching both Foegele and Kulak is a pretty obvious move to me.

Replace them with Holloway and Broberg. If they falter, you can trade like a 4th rounder for wingers and defensemen better than Foegele and Kulak at the deadline that are also probably cheaper on the cap.

If the idea is to go all-in with the Brown contract, you can't have $4M in deadweight at the bottom of your roster.

I agree with Foegele but not Kulak in terms of trade value at the deadline. I wouldn't move Kulak until Broberg shows he's the real deal.

 

[McDoused]

You can't please everyone and expect to win. Tough decisions must be made from time to time. I like McLeod but he is not irreplaceable.

I agree with Foegele but not Kulak in terms of trade value at the deadline. I wouldn't move Kulak until Broberg shows he's the real deal.

To play devils advocate, how is Broberg supposed to prove himself if he doesnt get regular reps in the lineup?

It just seems like poor asset management to throw a guy on his off-side with Kulak while also having to share shifts with VD? Like why cant Kulak play the right side? Oh right because he sucks at it. Seems like favoritism to me. The guy with more experience and making more money should be able to help the younger player, not the other way around.