Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | With Klingberg in the Mix Who Are Our 7D After the Deadline?

[belair]

And who is this joker

Andy Strickland. St Louis guy, who's somewhat connected. Has had hits. Many misses. I don't believe it for a second, but we're in silly season with the cap and this is an ultra-competitive team.

With the cap potentially going up to $97m this summer, how unrealistic is it where a team like Chicago could be convinced to take the last year on a couple deals like Kane's, RV's or Henrique's and the Oilers suddenly have a significant amount of cap flexibility?

 

[OilerTyler]

The concerns about Skinner cratering at some point and concerns about him being shaky in the playoffs are completely valid. However, the way some can't even just admit that he's been pretty good for a solid stretch of play is confounding to me.

Nobody is disputing he started the season like shit. I just don't understand why that needs to continue to be the fixation after much, much more good play than bad this year.

It was more than just Skinner that started the season like shit. No one outside of Draisaitl was scoring and our penalty kill was dead last. It’s pretty clear that whatever was going on was a team problem.

I think most of us know that our play since mid-November is more indicative of the team that we really are than the early season struggles. That includes Skinner.

 

[CupofOil]

Hopefully some will apply this same train of thought to one John Gibson.

Good comparable actually. Gibson had more early career success than Blackwood but, yeah, pretty much the same situation.

 

[Canovin]

Wait for Dobson's 10.5M x 8 after he finishes a ~40 point season this year. Then we'll be golden.

Dobson has never set his price at 11M. Bouchard's camp did.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Vegas and Florida are just far better run you can't compare them to the gong show that is the Oilers front office. Vegas' scouting ID-ed Adin Hill as having decent numbers on bad teams and that move paid off huge dividends for them by winning them a Cup basically. But they have pro scouting wins all over the place in their roster, they pull good players out of their ass all the time. Even the guy they let go (Logan Thompson) this year is a Vezina candidate, that just shows their scouting is pretty damn good.

In 10 years with McDavid here we haven't found one Hill or Thompson type break out goalie, Vegas just casually had two of those guys sitting on their roster.

The Oilers front office are still patting themselves on the back for acquiring Ekholm two years ago now and haven't done jack shit to really improve the roster since then despite spending a ton of money on several underperforming players.

Saying vegas is so good cause a player they let go is now in talks for the vezina.

What kind of argument is that?

I guess the oilers scouting is so good cause they let Holloway go and now he’s gonna be a 30/30 guy.

 

[belair]

@Soundwave Where are the other examples where a rebuilding team is willing to eat 50% of a player's contract for three seasons? Do you understand how much that would cost from an asset standpoint to compensate them for the financial cost, which is about $14m?

It just doesn't happen. Anaheim would have no reason to do that.

 

[Soundwave]

@Soundwave Where are the other examples where a rebuilding team is willing to eat 50% of a player's contract for three seasons? Do you understand how much that would cost from an asset standpoint to compensate them for the financial cost, which is about $14m?

It just doesn't happen. Anaheim would have no reason to do that.

So it's better for them to pay his full 6.4 million per for three years? Because that makes more sense? On top of having to pay Dostal probably north of 5 million on an extension he will want.

We would be doing them a favor by saving them 3.2 million/year from where I sit.

 

[belair]

So it's better for them to pay his full 6.4 million per for three years? Because that makes more sense? On top of having to pay Dostal probably north of 5 million on an extension he will want.

We would be doing them a favor by saving them 3.2 million/year from where I sit.

Or they wait until a more favorable deal appears. Likely when there's less term remaining on his deal. He's still in Anaheim. That should tell you something about how flexible they're willing to be.

 

[Soundwave]

Or they wait until a more favorable deal appears. Likely when there's less term remaining on his deal. He's still in Anaheim. That should tell you something about how flexible they're willing to be.

Who is in the market for a goaltender exactly? Markstrom's injury is not season ending so that hope is out for them. Andersen is back to playing great for Carolina and they already likely blew their wad on that massive Rantanen deal.

It's basically just us. We can save them 3.2 million next year and the year after which they can use to pay Dostal with, who they have to sign this summer or let walk. And they can likely get a 1st out of it.

I would say that it's much smarter for them to take a 1st + 3.2 million in savings than sit around waiting for a "better package" in years down the line that may never come. Gibson is playing well now, they can cash out with a nice return and save themselves a significant amount of money now. They'd be stupid to pass on a deal like that quite frankly.

A year from now who even knows, maybe he is frustrated again being on a shit team and his numbers are not so good and now what? They're stuck paying him 6.4 million + Dostal north of 5 million probably and have nothing to show for it.

For us, I don't see an available player on the market that brings us closer to a Cup than Gibson would playing behind a top defensive structure as we have here. 3.2 mill isn't going to bring you a game changing D or forward. Gibson has top end athletic ability similar to what Roloson did, put him behind a really good D core and give him something to play for and there's a good chance he does well here.

 

[MessierII]

Who is in the market for a goaltender exactly? Markstrom's injury is not season ending so that hope is out for them. Andersen is back to playing great for Carolina and they already likely blew their wad on that massive Rantanen deal.

It's basically just us. We can save them 3.2 million next year and the year after which they can use to pay Dostal with, who they have to sign this summer or let walk. And they can likely get a 1st out of it.

I would say that it's much smarter for them to take a 1st + 3.2 million in savings than sit around waiting for a "better package" in years down the line that may never come. Gibson is playing well now, they can cash out with a nice return and save themselves a significant amount of money now. They'd be stupid to pass on a deal like that quite frankly.

For us, I don't see an available player on the market that brings us closer to a Cup than Gibson would playing behind a top defensive structure as we have here. 3.2 mill isn't going to bring you a game changing D or forward.

If Gibson got bought out or something and you could sign for him 1 year 1.5 million or something I would actually be 100% down for that. There’s no scenario where I touch him on his current deal. Even at 50%.

 

[K1984]

Saying vegas is so good cause a player they let go is now in talks for the vezina.

What kind of argument is that?

I guess the oilers scouting is so good cause they let Holloway go and now he’s gonna be a 30/30 guy.

Their scouting is so good they had the foresight to deal Thompson for peanuts so they could bring in star Ilya Samsonov.

That's a level of brilliance we just won't ever see here. Sad.

 

[Soundwave]

If Gibson got bought out or something and you could sign for him 1 year 1.5 million or something I would actually be 100% down for that. There’s no scenario where I touch him on his current deal. Even at 50%.

3.2 million to potentially seal the deal on winning a Cup is not a big investment. The fact that the Oilers don't even want to spend that much is embarrassing frankly, like are we trying to actually win a Cup or be a science experiment on how cheap you be on goaltending while simultaneously putting the McDavid era in jeopardy?

I doubt very much for that amount you can bring in a forward or D that moves the needle as much as a Gibson would if he ever got into a zone here (ala Roloson in 2006) playing behind the top end defensive structure we have.

 

[CupofOil]

Yeah, sorry but I'm not patting myself on the back for having "bargain basement priced" goaltending.

This is also the budget version:

Of this:

You get what you pay for, and it's not even like our front office uses the "cap savings" on anything smart, we just turn around and waste the cap savings on doing stupid shit like signing (and then not playing) Jeff Skinner or buying out Jack Campbell (who we shouldn't have signed in the first place) or giving Connor Brown a 3.25 million dollar bonus.

I'd gladly pay more to have what Florida has than what we got.

The Panthers beat the Oilers by 1 goal, the margins were razor thin. You act like there was a wide gulf between the teams.
Their $10m goalie barely outplayed the Oilers $2.6m goalie.

This "failed" Oilers roster was within a goal of winning a Cup and is a top team again this season.
Sure there are some flaws but every team has them and, yes, the Oilers have a few holes that needs to be fixing but that's why there's a trade deadline. I'd go to war with this team against anybody.

 

[Soundwave]

Their scouting is so good they had the foresight to deal Thompson for peanuts so they could bring in star Ilya Samsonov.

That's a level of brilliance we just won't ever see here. Sad.

They'd also have won 1 or 2 Cups already if you gave them McDavid and Draisaitl to start with and have won one without benefit of a player that good already. When the Oilers actually win a Cup they can look down on Vegas' front office until then you can't say jack shit.

The fact that they had two great goalies just says their scouting is pretty good at finding players.

 

[MessierII]

3.2 million to potentially seal the deal on winning a Cup is not a big investment. The fact that the Oilers don't even want to spend that much is embarrassing frankly, like are we trying to actually win a Cup or be a science experiment on how cheap you be on goaltending while simultaneously putting the McDavid era in jeopardy?

I doubt very much for that amount you can bring in a forward or D that moves the needle as much as a Gibson would if he ever got into a zone here (ala Roloson in 2006) playing behind the top end defensive structure we have.

It’s not one year though he has multiple years left on his deal that you’d have to pay for retention on. On top of that he’s not even a distinct upgrade. The term left and the assets you would need to get retention are not even close to worth it.

 

[Soundwave]

The Panthers beat the Oilers by 1 goal, the margins were razor thin. You act like there was a wide gulf between the teams.
Their $10m goalie barely outplayed the Oilers $2.6m goalie.

Well you can put that on the Western Conference banner then,

*We almost won with a 2.6 million dollar goalie!

To me that actually makes losing worse than better, it just says you should have probably won if you had properly managed your f***ing cap and not messed it up to the point where you're spending 2.6 million on a middle of the road goalie.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

It’s not one year though he has multiple years left on his deal that you’d have to pay for retention on. On top of that he’s not even a distinct upgrade. The term left and the assets you would need to get retention are not even close to worth it.

With extensions for McDavid and Bouchard looming we're also not really in a spot to take on long term deals.

 

[Soundwave]

It’s not one year though he has multiple years left on his deal that you’d have to pay for retention on. On top of that he’s not even a distinct upgrade. The term left and the assets you would need to get retention are not even close to worth it.

It's not like he's 39 years old like Mike Smith, he's 31, if you're operating under the assumption that he can play better behind one of the best teams defensively in the league, then him being under contract for only 3.2 million dollars is a benefit, not a detriment.

I'd rather deal a 1st on a player I know we can at least get a few years use out of too and isn't going straight to UFA.

 

[VeteranPresence]

Well you can put that on the Western Conference banner then,

*We almost won with a 2.6 million dollar goalie!

To me that actually makes losing worse than better, it just says you should have probably won if you had properly managed your f***ing cap and not messed it up to the point where you're spending 2.6 million on a middle of the road goalie.

This is a very uncomfortable truth that our fanbase just refuses to admit. Skinner is not an NHL starter, the numbers just do not back it up and haven't ever since he began taking on a starter's workload.

It goes just beyond the Finals too. How much better rested are we if we don't need to fight tooth and nail to overcome Skinner's goaltending for almost every win in the previous three series? McDrai doesn't need to be deployed as much, you can roll four lines, all that stuff matters in the playoffs.

We need better. I mean, we need better all over the f***ing place, but priority #1 now that we're hellbent on giving Klingberg a lengthy look is a goalie. We're never going to win anything with Stu as the default option. Might as well trade McDavid now if that's how stubborn Bowman et al are going to be.

 

[McShogun99]

With extensions for McDavid and Bouchard looming we're also not really in a spot to take on long term deals.

Mcdavid's extension will be between 14-16 million. Easily manageable with the cap increases. I have no idea what's going to happen with Bouchard. Bridge deal? Long term? Probably anywhere between 8 to 11 million.

 

[MessierII]

It's not like he's 39 years old like Mike Smith, he's 31, if you're operating under the assumption that he can play better behind one of the best teams defensively in the league, then him being under contract for only 3.2 million dollars is a benefit, not a detriment.

I'd rather deal a 1st on a player I know we can at least get a few years use out of too and isn't going straight to UFA.

All of this is under the assumption that Gibson regains his peak form which is unlikely at best. You could very well end up trading a 1st + for an expensive backup.

 

[CupofOil]

Well you can put that on the Western Conference banner then,

*We almost won with a 2.6 million dollar goalie!

To me that actually makes losing worse than better, it just says you should have probably won if you had properly managed your f***ing cap and not messed it up to the point where you're spending 2.6 million on a middle of the road goalie.

Way to miss the point, in typical Soundwave fashion.

You're crowing on about how "embarrassing" the Oilers management has been and how embarrassing the spending was on the goaltending yet they damn near won a Cup moneyballing the goaltending and are a top team again this season. For all the handwringing that you and others do, the Oilers have been an elite team the last two seasons. Winning the Cup is hard, the Oilers have had as good a chance as anybody last year and probably this year too.

Does it mean that I'm a big fan of them hitching their wagon to Skinner? No, but you act like it's an abject failure when it hasn't been.
I'd love for them to upgrade on Skinner somehow but I don't see that option out there and all of you that were crowing about how amazing Blackwood is after 25 games of good goaltending following 4 years of garbage goaltending deserve to have it thrown back at you now that he slumps after incessantly polluting these threads about how awesome and proactive Colorado's management is while Edmonton's management is a pile of garbage for weeks basically making this place unreadable at times.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

This is a very uncomfortable truth that our fanbase just refuses to admit. Skinner is not an NHL starter, the numbers just do not back it up and haven't ever since he began taking on a starter's workload.

It goes just beyond the Finals too. How much better rested are we if we don't need to fight tooth and nail for every win in the previous three series? McDrai doesn't need to be deployed as much, you can roll four lines, all that stuff matters in the playoffs.

We need better. I mean, we need better all over the f***ing place, but priority #1 now that we're hellbent on giving Klingberg a lengthy look is a goalie. We're never going to win anything with Stu as the default option. Might as well trade McDavid now if that's how stubborn Bowman et al are going to be.

The team came within a goal of winning the Cup with Stu. It doesn't matter whether or not you think he had any part of it, it's the reality of the situation.

As for the bold, ifs and buts, etc. The playoffs are hard. That's why there's only one champ every year and most teams don't get back there. Hell the Panthers won against the Leafs and Canes in a combined 9 games in 2023 and that didn't help them at all in the Finals.

 

[Soundwave]

All of this is under the assumption that Gibson regains his peak form which is unlikely at best. You could very well end up trading a 1st + for an expensive backup.

Well if the Oilers didn't want to be in this situation, maybe they should have f***ing done something about goaltending definitively in the time period between 2015 and 2025.

They've had 10 f***ing years, no one wants to hear a pity party excuse from this management group now about "gee shucks this is tough".

The situation being what it is, at this point I would say taking a chance here gives us the best odds of winning a Cup rather than spending $3 million on another probably mediocre/middling forward or D add (hello there Adam Henrique).

 

[SupremeTeam16]

So it's better for them to pay his full 6.4 million per for three years? Because that makes more sense? On top of having to pay Dostal probably north of 5 million on an extension he will want.

We would be doing them a favor by saving them 3.2 million/year from where I sit.

Well clearly the Anaheim Ducks don’t share your view. It was reported back in Dec by Friedman and Lebrun that Carolina had discussion about him but price was too high. At 50% retained on the remainder of his contract that alone is going to cost considerable assets plus whatever Ducks believe Gibsons market value at 50% is. They seem unwilling to bend on their ask which is why we’ve been hearing about Gibson for literal years but he’s still a Duck. It’s a big price to pay both in assets and cap to gamble on if Gibson can find his form again and if he doesn’t, well you’ve just wasted a large portion of your cap and tradeable assets.