Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | What Do Our RFA's Sign For Edition

[GOilers88]

I'd agree but on top of that I'd add the blue line still isn't good and the goaltending ... lol. No one here really even knows who the starter on this team is or if we even have one, just a lot of hopes and wishes. After 4 years of work there should be more stability on the back end and in net.

Is Holland better than Chiarelli sure. But even an average GM given McDavid and Draisaitl are even better players than they were 4 years ago should be able to have a team that can make the playoffs without much fuss and win a round here and there (McDavid was a 40 goal scorer 4 years ago ... today he's a 60+ goal scorer) ... so I view the results as average given having McDavid and Draisaitl.

I think everyone here knows who the starter is, you just don’t like it.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

The excuses for losing are completely internalized on this board. It's not hilarious it's sad.

Trade McLeod for starters. Holland, get your ass moving.

Nah keep McLeod because he's very effective and will only get better.

Signing him would be better, because then the rest can fall into place.

Also please sign Oskar Sundquist, he'd make a solid 4C

 

[FlameChampion]

McLeod probably looking at that Newhook deal and licking his lips. I really do wonder where the team/player are at in this negotiation. I mean Michael McLeod just signed a deal for 1.4m. I dont really see the difference honestly.

The contracts are all weird between the teams though. Theres like two groups. One group is the competitive team and the other group are the basement dwellers. The competitive group arent paying guys. The basement dwellers are just throwing money at players.

 

[backhandsauce]

Austin Watson?

 

[duul]

At least seeing the Newhook deal might show Holland he better move Mcleod. Wonder if anyone takes him. The guy has put us into the worst predicament imaginable.

Two first rounders to upgrade from Barrie to Ekholm. Hm.

 

[K1984]

Ken Holland inherited a team that was wading-pool deep and cap f***ed to Tuesday. A team that missed the playoffs twice in a row. A team that would immediately lose its under-priced top defenseman to a career-ending injury at 28 years old, which would put them into LTIR for four years. A team that based its top contracts around the idea of the cap going up, only for a pandemic to induce a three-year flat cap. A team that already had the challenge of being the Edmonton Oilers. And he's done a very good job with it despite all that IMO.

The Oilers have gone from a team that was pushing Ty Rattie and Alex Chiasson in the top six to a team that has Kane, Nuge, Hyman and Brown on a collective AAV of 16.5M dollars. It's the best top-six group in the league and they just put up one of the highest-scoring seasons in modern NHL history. Their bottom six, still a work in progress, just finished the year with 10+ goals each. At the time he started, it could politely be described as a group of non-NHL players.

The Oilers are identifying pro players far better than they have in decades. They're developing later picks into actual, promising young players. I don't think the Oilers have been a more functional organization since the 1980s. Seriously.

"The Oilers aren't good enough" Yes, they are. They've lost to a Colorado team at the height of their possible power which immediately lost half of its forward depth to the cap. They lost to a Vegas team running a 96M dollar roster (and gave it a better fight than anyone), and even that series turned on a goalie injury and a hot back-up.

No team is without flaws on July 1 in a flat cap. The Knights gave away Reilly Smith for nothing just to become cap compliant. Boston just lost so much talent. Toronto shuffled Bunting, O'Reilly and Holl for Bertuzzi, Domi and Klingberg. Tampa had to let Killorn walk. Florida replaced Gudas with Ekman-Larsson. Colorado added two players with negative contracts in order to rebuild some of its depth semi-affordably. The Wild are the same team pretty much completely. *THESE ARE THE OTHER GOOD TEAMS*

These are the good times. You can say "should have won the Cup" or "the Cup is the only success". I get it, I do, but you're calling a B+ job an F because it isn't an A and you're missing the good times. The times when we know the Oilers go into a season as maybe one of seven teams most people wouldn't blink at winning the Cup. The times where the Oilers make the playoffs with home ice advantage for 4 straight years. The times where the Oilers have their handcuffs off at the deadline.

Holland isn't a good GM for anyone that seeks instant gratification. I was apoplectic when he delayed firing Tippett (which still did take too long even in hindsight) and refused to punt Smith down to the minors when he was playing like a dog, but in the end Holland had it right. He is patient and makes sure what he's doing is the right direction before he panics. Panic is what got us into the mess that Chiarelli created.

Is he perfect? No, but I'm not sure there is a GM with a track record approaching perfect. Colorado maybe? Even the managers that everyone here drool over do dumb things fairly routinely.

At least seeing the Newhook deal might show Holland he better move Mcleod. Wonder if anyone takes him. The guy has put us into the worst predicament imaginable.

Two first rounders to upgrade from Barrie to Ekholm. Hm.

You need to take a timeout if you're going to start criticizing this.

The definition of whining to whine or spin to support a bizarre agenda.

 

[McShogun99]

The team should look into moving Foegele with no cap coming back and use that extra money to get more term for McLeod and Bouchard.

His 2.75 million could be broken down as around 775k for a 4th line LW, 500k to McLeod and 1.5 to Bouchard. Try and get Bouchard signed for as long as possible.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

The band is playing. Holland has done okay.
Lets look at some things

Broberg vs. Zegras (yzerboys suggestion)
Anthanasiou --- the boy had the worst plus minus on the planet. (Yzerboy bent him again)
Duncan Keith -- the height of wasted opportunity costs. And he paid a middling price to do it.
Middle 6 -- Holland has tried for 4 years to fix the bottom 6 and in creative ways. Its far from fixed now.
Goaltending -- He tried three summers here and finally got desperate and handed a 5 x 5 contract to an unproven with obvious consistency problems.

Holland has done ok ...but with Connor and Leon in the stable far from perfect.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Austin Watson?

I wonder a bit about Adam Erne. Big, likes to throw hits, will fight if necessary, spent the last four years with Detroit.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

At least seeing the Newhook deal might show Holland he better move Mcleod. Wonder if anyone takes him. The guy has put us into the worst predicament imaginable.

Two first rounders to upgrade from Barrie to Ekholm. Hm.

Arguably the best move of the TDL.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

At least seeing the Newhook deal might show Holland he better move Mcleod. Wonder if anyone takes him. The guy has put us into the worst predicament imaginable.

Two first rounders to upgrade from Barrie to Ekholm. Hm.

One: McLeod took a crazy team friendly deal last year. He did us a solid, and had a solid season. He deserves a raise. I'm sick of people bitching about McLeod when he took such a haircut it was damned near a scalping.

Two: Reid Schaefer was as borderline a first rounder as you could ask for and he had a pretty pedestrian draft+1 season. I'd still do that trade in a hot second today.

 

[Oilhawks]

Arguably the best move of the TDL.

True, to be fair you replied to a poster that could be confused with a deep cover CP poster nowadays.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Arguably the best move of the TDL.

Ivan Barbashev would have something to say about that.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

McLeod probably looking at that Newhook deal and licking his lips. I really do wonder where the team/player are at in this negotiation. I mean Michael McLeod just signed a deal for 1.4m. I dont really see the difference honestly.

The contracts are all weird between the teams though. Theres like two groups. One group is the competitive team and the other group are the basement dwellers. The competitive group arent paying guys. The basement dwellers are just throwing money at players.

I don't know how or if these market variances are considered by independent arbitrators ... I suspect not. However if McLeod is anywhere near the Newhook money in his demand, I'm aggressively talking to the Flyers about Laughton who is a better win now option fit with this team's need and cost certainty through the winning window.

And I like McLeod a fair bit...

 

[bobbythebrain]

At least seeing the Newhook deal might show Holland he better move Mcleod. Wonder if anyone takes him. The guy has put us into the worst predicament imaginable.

Two first rounders to upgrade from Barrie to Ekholm. Hm.

Not sure how you're connecting these two.. Newhook has draft pedigree still and has had 30points.
McLeod a 2nd rounder with 20points.

You never cease to dissapoint with your evals

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

At least seeing the Newhook deal might show Holland he better move Mcleod. Wonder if anyone takes him. The guy has put us into the worst predicament imaginable.

Two first rounders to upgrade from Barrie to Ekholm. Hm.

I think I said it to the other guy, but honestly if you find a team closer to the front, you run with them, then being a fan isn't so difficult. You should try it.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

I don't know how or if these market variances are considered by independent arbitrators ... I suspect not. However if McLeod is anywhere near the Newhook money in his demand, I'm aggressively talking to the Flyers about Laughton who is a better win now option fit with this team's need and cost certainty through the winning window.

And I like McLeod a fair bit...

Not sure I agree with you there.

Laughton had 27 points at even strength.

McLeod had 20. Paced over a full season, that's 28.

Something involving McLeod for Laughton would be a loss for the Oilers, IMO. Laughton is certainly more physical, but his underlying numbers are far worse and he's no better at faceoffs than McLeod is.

It's also worth noting that McLeod actually had more primary points than Laughton did 5v5, 17 to 14. Make no mistake, McLeod was the guy that stirred the drink in the bottom six and I sincerely think we'd massively regret moving him. IMO he's got future 2C all over him.

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

If McLeod wants 2 mil could you just sign the kid long term? I’m not convinced he’ll be worth it entirely but it wouldn’t take much for McLeod to score 40 pts in a season.

2x5 would you guys do it?

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Not sure I agree with you there.

Laughton had 27 points at even strength.

McLeod had 20. Paced over a full season, that's 28.

Something involving McLeod for Laughton would be a loss for the Oilers, IMO. Laughton is certainly more physical, but his underlying numbers are far worse and he's no better at faceoffs than McLeod is.

It's also worth noting that McLeod actually had more primary points than Laughton did 5v5, 17 to 14. Make no mistake, McLeod was the guy that stirred the drink in the bottom six and I sincerely think we'd massively regret moving him. IMO he's got future 2C all over him.

For the relative price point, I lean to the veteran guy who plays a more aggressive, physical and greasy game with PK ability and solid secondary scoring support. Laughton's had solid career face-off results. This past year is distorted a bit given he took far, far more draws due to the massive injury run of their top line centres. This of course helped to bump up his offensive counting numbers but that's actually a positive sign that there is solid support scoring ability that can elevate with minutes and more responsibility.

Laughton's true value will be the winning season. Where his harder, more assertive game in the hard areas of the ice become even more important. I want a goal suppression, hard to play against veteran player type who also PK's with support scoring ability as helpful add-on to the highest scoring team in the league. Hard for lottery team level personnel to rise above team mediocrity.

Fully value your points. I like McLeod a lot and a raise to $1.75 - $2 million gives this window team good value and runway for the player to fully strive to put the sum of compelling pieces of his game together. I think he can grow over time into a quality two-way 3C with top PK abilities. Unsure he can manifest the consistency to be a future 2C but on this team's centre spine competitive advantage it's not a necessity.

 

[GOilers88]

I'm all for moving prospects that have promise but have shown nothing at the NHL level yet for help. But this idea that the team needs to move on from a guy like McLeod because he isn't a world beater yet confuses me. He's shown he can play the NHL game, and is continuing to improve.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Not sure how you're connecting these two.. Newhook has draft pedigree still and has had 30points.
McLeod a 2nd rounder with 20points.

You never cease to dissapoint with your evals

They are also buying four years with that contract and are a bottom feeder right now.

 

[gordonhught]

I wonder if JP would come back to Edmonton on a minimum deal?

Fingers crossed!

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Another comparable for a Bouchard bridge

 

[McShogun99]

Arguably the best move of the TDL.

A late first and an even later 1st for what is going to end up being our best Dman for the next 3 years is a steal. By the time any of those picks potentially make an impact in the NHL, Mcdavid will be 30+.

 

[Oilers in NS]

One: McLeod took a crazy team friendly deal last year. He did us a solid, and had a solid season. He deserves a raise. I'm sick of people bitching about McLeod when he took such a haircut it was damned near a scalping.

Two: Reid Schaefer was as borderline a first rounder as you could ask for and he had a pretty pedestrian draft+1 season. I'd still do that trade in a hot second today.

U have to realize u r dealing with @duul
Most pessimistic view of the Oilers going. The trade for Ekholm was one of the best Oilers trades in a long time. Great contract, great player, great attitude , and it’s great we obtained him

On another note, I see Benson signed with Henderson.