Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | Savoie Gets an Audition With the Trade Deadline Looming

[McDNicks17]

I find surprisingly that so many people are high on Saros.

Obviously I wish we had any upgrade over Skinner but I think with the Saros contract now, he’s pretty meh.

Maybe I am biased after watching Edmonton dump on Nashville over the years. I just don’t see him as a solution with what he is paid now.

Just think what his numbers would look like without having to play Leon.

 

[McDrai]

This year might be a write-off with so many teams thinking that they still have a shot of making the playoffs. Lack of sellers will mean that any teams looking to add will need to pay through the nose to improve their rosters. I see this upcoming offseason as an excellent chance to improve the team with the cap going up significantly.

 

[McDNicks17]

They'll have to over pay, and I suspect players see them like I see them. They'll play "meaningful games" right to the end of the year and finish 10th tops. They aren't good enough.

I don't really see that as an issue. Maybe you run into a few guys who won't waive a NTC for Utah, but there's plenty of LW/LD options that you could trade for without one of those.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

You are right, I've also remember the Oilers going through the "Playing important games" at the end of the year to accomplish nothing. They have a new market, so fair, but pretending your team is somewhere it's not can limit the growth that needs to be affected in the offseason.

They aren't making the playoffs, they aren't deep enough.

Utah's flush with their prospect pool and draft collateral. And their market conditions is also entirely different than any comparison to the Oilers decade of darkness. I'm not sure why you think adding some more secondary picks which they have aplenty would be better than - and let's be honest here - its about retaining or trading a prospective prime years UFA goaltender whose been a big part of their season's positive results.

Their team is loaded with cap space and full boat draft picks for next three years minus a 7th round pick this year. They've got 5 top 3 round picks next year in what's supposedly a stronger, deeper draft

https://puckpedia.com/team/utah-hc

This isn't the Oilers forgiving market or transient multiple management groups and coaching staffs which was a case study in what not to do for scorched earth rebuilds.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Utah's flush with their prospect pool and draft collateral. And their market conditions is also entirely different than any comparison to the Oilers decade of darkness. I'm not sure why you think adding some more secondary picks which they have aplenty would be better than - and let's be honest here - its about retaining or trading a prospective prime years UFA goaltender whose been a big part of their season's positive results.

Their team is loaded with cap space and full boat draft picks for next three years minus a 7th round pick this year. They've got 5 top 3 round picks next year in what's supposedly a stronger, deeper draft

https://puckpedia.com/team/utah-hc

This isn't the Oilers forgiving market or transient multiple management groups and coaching staffs which was a case study in what not to do for scorched earth rebuilds.

I guess you're missing my point, fair enough. Maybe Peter Nedved will get them over, they can play meaningful games.

Again, good for the Yotes for trying, they are not a playoff team.

I don't really see that as an issue. Maybe you run into a few guys who won't waive a NTC for Utah, but there's plenty of LW/LD options that you could trade for without one of those.

Like the example mentioned above, paying too much for say a Brayden Schenn would be really really bad, the kind of move that teams "trying to play meaningful games" while not being good enough tend to make.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I guess you're missing my point, fair enough. Maybe Peter Nedved will get them over, they can play meaningful games.

Again, good for the Yotes for trying, they are not a playoff team.

Weird deflection but alright. Add $23 million in available cap space which they could probably use to clone a prime years Peter Nedved. It's no longer a flea market franchise but one in a shiny new market with an owner who will spend to be competitive and a GM that's bulked up their personnel and futures to finally lurch into a competitive phase organization.

 

[McDNicks17]

Like the example mentioned above, paying too much for say a Brayden Schenn would be really really bad, the kind of move that teams "trying to play meaningful games" while not being good enough tend to make.

Why do you think they'd have to pay too much compared to other teams though?

If anything, they might be cheaper since they wouldn't need retention on anyone, I'd say.

 

[Canovin]

I find surprisingly that so many people are high on Saros.

Obviously I wish we had any upgrade over Skinner but I think with the Saros contract now, he’s pretty meh.

Maybe I am biased after watching Edmonton dump on Nashville over the years. I just don’t see him as a solution with what he is paid now.

One down year doesn't make Saros a terrible goalie. He's still an upgrade on Stuart by a long shot. If Stuart re-signs he's looking at 6M any way. So Saros 7.5M > Stuart 6M

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

One down year doesn't make Saros a terrible goalie. He's still an upgrade on Stuart by a long shot. If Stuart re-signs he's looking at 6M any way. So Saros 7.5M > Stuart 6M

Im sorry but there isn’t a team in the league that will give skinner close to 6 million.

 

[Canovin]

Im sorry but there isn’t a team in the league that will give skinner close to 6 million.

If there's one, it'd be the Oilers and that would essentially close the window for the Oilers

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

This year might be a write-off with so many teams thinking that they still have a shot of making the playoffs. Lack of sellers will mean that any teams looking to add will need to pay through the nose to improve their rosters. I see this upcoming offseason as an excellent chance to improve the team with the cap going up significantly.

We don't have the time for it to be a write off. We pissed away majority of our cup winning years with bad management.

This may be our last true shot at it. Our aging core combined with the rest of the league being a little weaker means we must go for it.

Savoie, Sam O Reilly, multiple firsts all should be on the table. Pay a higher price if we need to.




We let Broberg and Holloway walk. We can't back out now........

 

[Arpeggio]

You aren't wrong that our bottom 6 isn't good enough, but why not add to the top 6 which also isn't good enough? That would move a top 6 player down to the bottom 6 and you kill two birds with one stone.

I'd be thrilled if they did that, but I'm saying there might be something to spending some cheaper assets to just get a better mix in the bottom six. Especially if the cap situation forces them to be money in money out.

 

[Mr Positive]

One down year doesn't make Saros a terrible goalie. He's still an upgrade on Stuart by a long shot. If Stuart re-signs he's looking at 6M any way. So Saros 7.5M > Stuart 6M

Except it would be nice to get a goalie who is hot now. I agree Saros is worth it but maybe there is a reason he isn't the best right now, and we are looking for a goalie who will play great to finish the year and through the playoffs.

 

[Scrapin Ice]

Do you think that maybe this very morning the Oilers hockey management staff is sitting in the boardroom attempting to make a final decision on whether the team goes for it or plays a bit more conservative and gets a middling D and a bottom 6 guy only? I certainly have two fairly major trades in my mind that would certainly empty most of the vault....Stan probably has a couple too but has to balance his future and his teams future and McDavid's future on one plate.
Does he pull McDavid aside (with or without his agent) and involve him in the decision as well perhaps in an attempt to appease him if things go sideways in the playoffs?

I did enough ...we should have been able to win with the changes I made. --Stan Bowman (2025) This is how i see it playing out as opposed to "Lets go for it".

My career is not on the line but have considered for some time... have moved into the 'Lets go for it" group.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

I'd be thrilled if they did that, but I'm saying there might be something to spending some cheaper assets to just get a better mix in the bottom six. Especially if the cap situation forces them to be money in money out.

Kane will be out until playoffs. If he does come back early they will ONLY do it because they struck out on the deadline. We literally let Holloway, Broberg walk away....... For what? So we could add at the deadline.

We need to stop being naive with the Kane situation. They only bring him back early to save face.

Anything below a B+ deadline and the fans should riot. At that point JJ somehow screwed up worse than prior management.

 

[Canovin]

Except it would be nice to get a goalie who is hot now. I agree Saros is worth it but maybe there is a reason he isn't the best right now, and we are looking for a goalie who will play great to finish the year and through the playoffs.

Cause it costs a fortune for a hot goalie.

Florida built a team on reclamation projects and guys who had down years. Saros is a safe bet to rebound. 7.5M is meh next year but in 2 years and beyond we would be laughing when the cap is 105M+

 

[oXo Cube]

Do you think that maybe this very morning the Oilers hockey management staff is sitting in the boardroom attempting to make a final decision on whether the team goes for it or plays a bit more conservative and gets a middling D and a bottom 6 guy only? I certainly have two fairly major trades in my mind that would certainly empty most of the vault....Stan probably has a couple two but has to balance his future and his teams future and McDavid's future on one plate.
Does he pull McDavid aside (with or without his agent) and involve him in the decision as well perhaps in an attempt to appease him if things go sideways in the playoffs?

Well, I'll say this.

If management decides not to go for it because they don't believe what they have this year is good enough, while I heavily disagree that's at least a decision that requires some balls.

 

[aspin3]

We don't have the time for it to be a write off. We pissed away majority of our cup winning years with bad management.

This may be our last true shot at it. Our aging core combined with the rest of the league being a little weaker means we must go for it.

Savoie, Sam O Reilly, multiple firsts all should be on the table. Pay a higher price if we need to.




We let Broberg and Holloway walk. We can't back out now........

Our oldest players ARE NOT our core. They are our issue. Perry, Henrique, Arvidsson, Brown, etc. ARE NOT our core. The issue is not bringing in youth and speed is our very issue. To trade Savoie who is already better than 7 of our forwards is pulling the pin on a gernade. McDavid do not want to be playing with all AHLers on our third and 4th line because we have no ELCs to keep our cap down. We already gave up Broberg, Holloway, Kesselring, etc. To keep down that pathway is ludicrous. Draft picks are further away but Savoie is a top 9 next year for sure. O'reilly likely makes the team towards the end of next year. They traded a first to pick him in that spot. Time to be realistic of what they will do based on that.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Utah ain’t making the playoffs let’s be real here.

Utah won’t make the playoffs, and while I’d love for them to bump out Vancouver / Calgary for the last spot, it would also mean no Vejmelka (assuming management even traded for him).

But I could see them not selling so they can sell hopium to the fans either way

They likely will not considering how well/overachieving Calgary has been and of course Vancouver & the Blues were always going to be in the hunt.

The optics though…first year in a new city, the shine off the new toy isn’t worn off yet so fans are likely excited. The owner & GM would be sending a dagger into that if they were to start selling. Maybe they fall out over their next 4 games before the deadline. If Vejmelka is dealt, it won’t be until deadline day in my opinion.

 

[VeteranPresence]

Cause it costs a fortune for a hot goalie.

Florida built a team on reclamation projects and guys who had down years. Saros is a safe bet to rebound. 7.5M is meh next year but in 2 years and beyond we would be laughing when the cap is 105M+

This is where that darned “pro scouting” thing comes in. You need seasoned eyes who are good at spotting talent. Unfortunately we have Zack Kassian, the former commissioner of the NWHL, and an Oilers lifer with no other experience who are making those recommendations. No one should be shocked we are where we’re at and getting the results we’re getting.

 

[Arpeggio]

Kane will be out until playoffs. If he does come back early they will ONLY do it because they struck out on the deadline. We literally let Holloway, Broberg walk away....... For what? So we could add at the deadline.

We need to stop being naive with the Kane situation. They only bring him back early to save face.

Anything below a B+ deadline and the fans should riot. At that point JJ somehow screwed up worse than prior management.

I disagree with this. Kane seems like exactly the type of person that would take on some kind of weird players rights stance and come back as soon as he's healthy enough to return. Of course this is all conjecture and none of us know anything, but we've seen countless numbers of guys be ruled out for the rest of the regular season pretty soon after an injury. With Kane, we never got anything close to that type of clarity, and it's nearly March.

To me, the simplest explanation for Seravelli's recent reporting is that he's hearing that they legitimately don't have a timeline from Kane. No one really knows, but we'll find out pretty soon.

In my opinion, there's no world where they know Kane is down to sit out until the playoffs and the Oilers don't go into LTIR at the deadline. Even if they strikeout, they'd find enough additions to go over.

 

[bobbythebrain]

I said this in another thread, but it would be nice if the Oilers could pick up a couple of players for the bottom six that can drag the rest of the team into a fight. Feels like this team relies on McDavid and Draisaitl to do it every night. We never get a big game from anyone in the bottom six, and for the most part they just skate around for 60 minutes.

Janmark, Brown and Henrique all stepped up in playoffs. The bottom 6 may not be as bad as we think right now

 

[Scrapin Ice]

Well, I'll say this.

If management decides not to go for it because they don't believe what they have this year is good enough, while I heavily disagree that's at least a decision that requires some balls.

Requires balls either way. Looking into Bowman's history--there was that one year where he made some fairly major surgery at the deadline and it was successful. But its been some time. Hard to predict.
I'm guessing he goes down the middle....probably wanting too but fear is a powerful motivator.

 

[McShogun99]

Kane will be out until playoffs. If he does come back early they will ONLY do it because they struck out on the deadline. We literally let Holloway, Broberg walk away....... For what? So we could add at the deadline.

We need to stop being naive with the Kane situation. They only bring him back early to save face.

Anything below a B+ deadline and the fans should riot. At that point JJ somehow screwed up worse than prior management.

I never understood the trying to accrue cap space at the deadline when we really don't have much asset wise to give up. With so many teams fighting for wild card spots this year it looks like the trade deadline will be a dud for most teams looking to add.

Janmark, Brown and Henrique all stepped up in playoffs. The bottom 6 may not be as bad as we think right now

I think we'll see a bunch of the vets step up for the playoffs.

 

[Canovin]

Arvid+Pickard+2nd for Saros would be money in money out.

Still have Kane on LTIR. 2025 1st+St Louis 2nd+Stecher for Rakell