Rumor: Rumors & Trade Proposals Thread | Post Mortem '23-24 Season: Who Should Stay, Who Should Go & Who Should We Bring In?

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

My only question is who is taking Nurse?

That's not even the question to ask. It should be: In what world is Nurse going to agree to waive his NMC after getting within 1 game of a cup with his best buddies from the past like 7 years?

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

So Skinner was almost, but not quite, as good as a Kuemper who was all but blind in one eye during that run. A run that their backup was a perfect 6-0 with better numbers than either of them.

And I disagree with the notion that in the series we needed him to be good he was good. We needed him to be good in game 3. We needed him to be good in game 7 and he gave up a back breaker with 5 minutes left in the 2nd.

We need more from a starting goalie. Skinner is young and maybe can get there. Maybe as soon as next season. But in these playoffs? Our goaltending wasn’t enough.

And just to counter @CupofOil and his numbers regarding Skinner late in each series: Here are Skinners numbers in games 1-3 in these playoffs: 4 wins, 8 losses, 0.867 save percentage.

He shit his pants through the front half of every series. Set the Oilers behind the ball every single time forcing the Oilers to play catchup in every series after the first round.

So yes, I maintain my assertion that he was at best below average and realistically the weakest link in this run.

Dude you have to let it go. You on a long stretch of horrible takes here. Look at his stats in the back half of series.

Bob let in some bad goals. Helly got lit up this year. Even the most elite goalies have some bad goals in the playoffs but his overall work at the end of the day was more than enough to win a cup. Skinner is not the reason we didn't win. In fact, with another goalie we might not get past Dallas. He was better than a Vezina candidate caliber goalie in that series.

We have our guy in net for the foreseeable future. Now to both challenge him, and be prepared in case of injury, I'm always for finding the best possible guy that we can to back him up. Especially if that guy can play 25-30 games in the season to keep Stu rested.

 

[Broberg Speed]

No one, it's impossible, it's why those other guys got bought out and not traded.

What was that trade LA just pulled off... oh yeah, Pierre-Luc Dubois for Darcy Kuemper.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

What was that trade LA just pulled off... oh yeah, Pierre-Luc Dubois for Darcy Kuemper.

Yup that's the point.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

As far as any upgrades on the back end, we have to be creative. It isn't going to come from big money guys out there like Pesce or Parayko.

You need a Manager creative enough to find a guy like Montour before they break out like Florida did,

 

[NeverForget06]

I beg you to tell me which of the 4 or 5 games Skinner was better than Bobrovsky in the series lmao.

I’m just picking a random one of these because there are a lot - what would your plan be in the net for next season? What is a realistic proposal you have for a goaltender to replace Skinner who would outperform him in the playoffs ?

 

[Fourier]

Dude you have to let it go. You on a long stretch of horrible takes here. Look at his stats in the back half of series.

Bob let in some bad goals. Helly got lit up this year. Even the most elite goalies have some bad goals in the playoffs but his overall work at the end of the day was more than enough to win a cup. Skinner is not the reason we didn't win. In fact, with another goalie we might not get past Dallas. He was better than a Vezina candidate caliber goalie in that series.

We have our guy in net for the foreseeable future. Now to both challenge him, and be prepared in case of injury, I'm always for finding the best possible guy that we can to back him up. Especially if that guy can play 25-30 games in the season to keep Stu rested.

I'd love to have one of the league's best goalies. But there is a price for that as well. Shesterkin is supposedly looking for a deal in the $12M range. Bob has a cap hit of $10M. Hellebuyck is a relative bargain at $8.5M. My guess is that we will see a big jump in salaries for top goalies in the near future. With two more years at $2.6M Skinner with his flaws allows the team to spend on other important areas.

 

[Fourier]

As far as any upgrades on the back end, we have to be creative. It isn't going to come from big money guys out there like Pesce or Parayko.

You need a Manager creative enough to find a guy like Montour before they break out like Florida did,

Parayko is not really a big money guy at this time. Like it or not $6.5M is going to soon be the going rate for a solid #3. The Oilers could hypothetically afford him with some changes to the current roster that would be manageable. But he is probably not available and if he was the cost to get him would be high so there is that.

In the short term I agree that the Oilers will have to be creative. Replacing Ceci, if they go that way, will in particular require some real care.

 

[McDNicks17]

As far as any upgrades on the back end, we have to be creative. It isn't going to come from big money guys out there like Pesce or Parayko.

You need a Manager creative enough to find a guy like Montour before they break out like Florida did,

I don't think you even have to get all that creative. To me, Montour is a case of a guy who fit Florida's system to a T more so than him breaking out.

They just need to do the same here. Coffey wants D that want to make plays, so it's no surprise that the guys who struggle to move the puck have looked rough. Especially when you play team's like Florida whose main goal is to make breakouts from the D much harder.

It shouldn't be too hard to bring in a second pairing rightie around $4-5M with some puck-moving ability after cutting the fat.

 

[Jumptheshark]

No one, it's impossible, it's why those other guys got bought out and not traded.

And we do not save anything buying him oiu

 

[CupofOil]

As gross as it is, buying out both Campbell and Nurse makes us a better team next season. We have to go all in next year

You can't buy out Nurse, that would cripple the Oilers for a long time (the 4 years after the next 2 especially) much moreso than Nurse's full contract.

 

[Fourier]

I don't think you even have to get all that creative. To me, Montour is a case of a guy who fit Florida's system to a T more so than him breaking out.

They just need to do the same here. Coffey wants D that want to make plays, so it's no surprise that the guys who struggle to move the puck have looked rough. Especially when you play team's like Florida whose main goal is to make breakouts from the D much harder.

It shouldn't be too hard to bring in a second pairing rightie around $4-5M with some puck-moving ability after cutting the fat.

Cap wise they can certainly afford the bolded. The problem is that such players are not so easy to find. For RHD with existing contracts there are 11 players in the $4-5M range. There are 3 that I would describe strong puck movers: Rasmus Andersson, John Marino, and Noah Dobson. The only one of these three that might be even remotely available is Marino. The UFA class has a few guys who might fit that role but not a lot.

You can't buy out Nurse, that would cripple the Oilers for a long time (the 4 years after the next 2 especially) much moreso than Nurse's full contract.

Nurse's contract is buyout proof for any team wanting to compete.

 

[Kolja]

That's not even the question to ask. It should be: In what world is Nurse going to agree to waive his NMC after getting within 1 game of a cup with his best buddies from the past like 7 years?

If you are asked to waive your NMC, it means you are not wanted. I think a lot of players would rather play an important role in an environment where they are wanted and trusted upon than not.

I think it is possible to move a D with top-pairing potential and deep play-off expereience. For free.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I don't think Skinner is capable of being better. It's like putting me in there and being pissed off I'm not playing to the level that HHOF level goaltenders do.

Skinner is a milquetoast non-athlete guy who schemed his way into the league, overcame his lack of genetics with modern positional training and does it well. He isn't a goaltender. He isn't acrobatic. We'll never get more than this out of him. That's not his fault.

This is definitely a take of all time.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

And we do not save anything buying him oiu

Then, as I said, it's all impossible.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

No, I don’t refuse to give him credit for good games. I’m taking into account his entire playoffs.

.901 save percentage from a starter hasn’t won a cup since the 1980s. Newsflash, games 1-3 are just as important as games 4-7.

You have to know you’re grasping at straws when you’re trying to argue that Skinner had anything to do with an 8-1 win in game 4.

Don’t forget Kuemper & Francouz in ‘22 were outliers in recent history. Kuemper finished with a .902 and Francouz had a .906 for the Avs (Kuemper got injured in round 1)

As mentioned, Bobrovsky had a .906. A .901 to .906 save percentage is pretty marginal. Bobrovsky also faced just 19 more shots throughout the playoffs than Skinner. Those numbers were 583 shots against Bobrovsky and Skinner faced 564. If you were to break down the expected goals against vs saves made and expected saves vs goals allowed, that’s where Bobrovsky ran away with it, like in game 1.

Edmonton averaged over 3 goals a game over the playoffs. Allowing just 2 goals usually was enough for their offense to overcome and win but that didn’t happen. I still find it hard to blame Skinner for the loss in game 7 but he does need to run in a 1A/1B rotation next season.

 

[FlameChampion]

That's not even the question to ask. It should be: In what world is Nurse going to agree to waive his NMC after getting within 1 game of a cup with his best buddies from the past like 7 years?

People with nmc get moved all the time. But I can’t really see them asking him regardless. And if he’s actually good friends with McDavid and Draisaitl its even less likely. If hes going to be part of the team, then I really hope they have been doing rigorous job to find someone who compliments him. But good luck on figuring out who that player is. And good luck finding the cap space to pay that player because it’s probably expensive.

 

[Canovin]

Gosh I wish Nurse just ask for a trade. We essentially can get a 2nd pairing D and a top 6 player with his cap hit.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

Maybe it’s just me but I’d give Mark Stuart a raise so he doesn’t go anywhere. That PK got us to the SCF

 

[Paralyzer]

People with nmc get moved all the time. But I can’t really see them asking him regardless. And if he’s actually good friends with McDavid and Draisaitl its even less likely. If hes going to be part of the team, then I really hope they have been doing rigorous job to find someone who compliments him. But good luck on figuring out who that player is. And good luck finding the cap space to pay that player because it’s probably expensive.

Agreed. It's too bad we can't find a way to do like a Parayko (20% Retained) for Ceci, 1st, and 4th (upgrades to 3rd if we win the cup). That would be a perfect fit for Nurse IMO.

 

[Fourier]

People with nmc get moved all the time. But I can’t really see them asking him regardless. And if he’s actually good friends with McDavid and Draisaitl its even less likely. If hes going to be part of the team, then I really hope they have been doing rigorous job to find someone who compliments him. But good luck on figuring out who that player is. And good luck finding the cap space to pay that player because it’s probably expensive.

Most cases of players with nmc's being moved are either because the player wants to move on or the player is facing a possible buyout. In Nurse's case, I don't even see a plausible case that the Oilers would approach him anytime soon.

 

[GreeningOil]

If we had the space would anyone wanna sign Stamkos for a year?

Yes

 

[McDoused]

Gosh I wish Nurse just ask for a trade. We essentially can get a 2nd pairing D and a top 6 player with his cap hit.

even if he did, who is going to take him?

Like Buffalo might buyout skinner @9M and I dont think they would trade Skinner for Nurse (even with significant adds).

 

[FiveFourteenSixOne]

All that belief and yet in game 7 we ended up with the 2nd best goalie in net who gave up a garbage goal as the game winner.

We’ve got people seriously trying to argue with a straight face Skinner was better than Bobrovsky.

Bob wasn't consistently great the entire series, but his high-end was ultra high, and he did it enough times win the series. I'd argue that he is probably the biggest single reason they won games, 1, 3, and 7.

If your goalie is a major reason you won 3 out of 4 games in a series that you that you win, its hard to argue he wasn't the best goalie in the series even if he laid a couple of eggs throughout the rest of the series.

 

[Hockeylife2018]

So we're going to have to likely downgrade a lot of depth roles due to cap restraints and people want to upgrade on our goalie that led us to the scf for 2.6 mil? Nurse isn't being moved and a campbell buyout might let's us keep 1 or 2 of out ufas...where are we finding the money to replace skinner, are we trading drai?