Confirmed Signing with Link: [STL] F Dylan Holloway (2 years, $2.290457M AAV) and D Philip Broberg (2 years, $4.580917M AAV) sign offer sheets with the Blues (not matched)

[Three On Zero]

I’m not certain if you understand where I’m coming from here, but I’m not blaming him; this is absolutely on management. We’re in agreement there.

The problem isn’t what the players did or wanted; it’s how mgmt should have prioritized contract maintenance and/or bringing these guys along in a way that didn’t have them rushing the exit rather than signing the vet and flashy winger you mentioned.

Holloway + Broberg is likely to be a better net positive than Perry + Skinner.

 

[mouser]

We're going to make a deal at the deadline that will require big salary going out anyway, might as well have Kane be the salary dump in the process, this is what happened with the Ekholm deal, Nashville had to take Barrie back to make the deal work, in return for that they got the futures. We're trading the 1st at the deadline more than likely, but a team is going to have to take salary back in the process of that.

If you're a retooling/rebuilding team you don't care about eating salary for a year, the futures are what you're looking to work with down the line when you're hoping to be good again.

Assuming Kane misses all of the 2024-25 season leading up to the trade deadline then the cost to dump him at the trade deadline is likely going to be roughly a 1st round pick. Maybe only two 2nd round picks.

Kane would have approximately $4.5m in real cash remaining on his contract with no guarantee he’ll be a high level contributing player or eligible for LTIR insurance on the new team acquiring him.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Edmonton is a team built that they will either do well or they will flame out early. I don’t think anyone would bat an eye either way. They need another solid year to get into the contender status

I’d have them in contender status already.
In a group with Colorado, Dallas, Florida, and Boston. So top five imo.
I’m not convinced in their goaltending and their D which really hangs on Eckholm continuing to play at an elite level when he’s another year older. I know it was good enough to get them to the SCF but like I said a lot of things went right including an elite PK throughout the playoffs.

 

[Junohockeyfan]

I suspect the Oilers are waiting to schedule Kane's surgery to align with him returning sometime in the playoffs and not before (like Stone). That would make the most sense. But the question is, how long is the recovery?

 

[Three On Zero]

I’d have them in contender status already.
In a group with Colorado, Dallas, Florida, and Boston. So top five imo.
I’m not convinced in their goaltending and their D which really hangs on Eckholm continuing to play at an elite level when he’s another year older. I know it was good enough to get them to the SCF but like I said a lot of things went right including an elite PK throughout the playoffs.

I’m a bit of a stickler when saying teams are contenders, I want to see more than one good season strung together. They had a phenomenal resurgence last year, if they can have a good season next year. They will slip to contenders

I suspect the Oilers are waiting to schedule Kane's surgery to align with him returning sometime in the playoffs and not before (like Stone). That would make the most sense. But the question is, how long is the recovery?

If it’s for a hernia, 8-12 weeks
If it’s for a hip impingement, up to 6 months

 

[Junohockeyfan]

I’m a bit of a stickler when saying teams are contenders, I want to see more than one good season strung together. They had a phenomenal resurgence last year, if they can have a good season next year. They will slip to contenders


If it’s for a hernia, 8-12 weeks
If it’s for a hip impingement, up to 6 months

They would have to schedule the surgery for November. lol

 

[Jacob582]

I suspect the Oilers are waiting to schedule Kane's surgery to align with him returning sometime in the playoffs and not before (like Stone). That would make the most sense. But the question is, how long is the recovery?

I doubt it.

 

[Dempsey]

Edmonton is a team built that they will either do well or they will flame out early. I don’t think anyone would bat an eye either way. They need another solid year to get into the contender status

I don't believe for a second people would give us this credit. If we have another good year without winning it all people will won't say we've reached contender status, they'll use it as an opportunity to say we're never going to win.

Honestly it's a bit of a drag being a fan of a Canadian team in this day and age of social media. I've cut out 90% of hockey content coming from social media unless it's just about prospects. I've watched this team for 34 years and I'm back to just watching the games with my own eyes and forming my own opinions.

 

[Stelmacki]

I'm saying going into next year, most people will have the Oilers as a top 3 team, and that's actually being modest, they will be the no.1 Cup favorite for a lot of people.

Which is entirely reasonable, they have the best regular season under their current coach, they have a better version of the team that just went to game 7 of a Cup Final, they have the best player in the world.

When you have a season like the Oilers had last year you get to enjoy the perks. You can whine and cry about it, doesn't change anything. That's going to be the overwhelming perception of the team.

What are the perks? Do they get better parking?

 

[eviohh26]

I’d have them in contender status already.
In a group with Colorado, Dallas, Florida, and Boston. So top five imo.
I’m not convinced in their goaltending and their D which really hangs on Eckholm continuing to play at an elite level when he’s another year older. I know it was good enough to get them to the SCF but like I said a lot of things went right including an elite PK throughout the playoffs.

I agree but I'm not sold on Boston at all. NYR have a better chance. or even Carolina.

 

[Breakers]

I’d be shocked if anyone wants Cody Ceci

Dude sucks, plain and simple

 

[McJedi]

"TSN" stated it would take a 1st to move Ceci? And a 1st to move Kulak?

It wasn’t clear which was which. They said it’s what teams are demanding from the Oilers. So I should have started by saying TSN said the Oilers are shopping Ceci and Kulak. And teams want those picks to be the cap dumping ground.

 

[Three On Zero]

I’d be shocked if anyone wants Cody Ceci

Dude sucks, plain and simple

Ceci actually does “adequately” when away from Nurse. Not good, but becomes a serviceable bottom pairing guy

 

[Soundwave]

A little optimism is always a good thing.
They were just as close to being out in the 2nd round. They didn’t really improve that much and they are in the verge of losing young depth. I will say they probably take the Pacific this year though

Florida was the 8th seed a year ago (not even the no.1 team in the league from mid November of that season onwards as the Oilers were), made the Cup Final, got absolutely embarrassed by Vegas in the Final (Marchessault said straight up the Oilers were the best team they played in the playoffs *that* year) and most people had Florida as a top 3 team going into this season.

And that's perfectly fair. You make the Finals, your critics can shut the f*** up and sit down for a minute, you get the benefit of the doubt because you made it there when 30 other teams were sitting at home golfing. That's how that works.

You add in that there's only 1 Connor McDavid on the planet and that just reinforces that.

 

[Three On Zero]

Florida was the 8th seed a year ago (not even the no.1 team in the league from mid November of that season onwards as the Oilers were), made the Cup Final, got absolutely embarrassed by Vegas in the Final (Marchessault said straight up the Oilers were the best team they played in the playoffs *that* year) and most people had Florida as a top 3 team going into this season.

And that's perfectly fair. You make the Finals, your critics can shut the f*** up and sit down for a minute, you get the benefit of the doubt because you made it there when 30 other teams were sitting at home golfing. That's how that works.

No, it not really is how that works.


But this is an off topic discussion anyways

 

[Soundwave]

No, it not really is how that works.


But this is an off topic discussion anyways

It is how it works, the Oilers will be the pick for a lot of the press as Cup favorite, I believe they are the odds favorite in Vegas right now, if not no.1 then no.2.

If Florida got the benefit of it last year it doesn't magically change a year later because you happen to live in Edmonton but have decided to take up a dumb vendetta against the only thing in town worth watching.

 

[Frenzy31]

I don’t quite follow some Oilers fans logic on this.

1st Broberg only played well in 8 games. Not a great player. Tried to trade him last year but he wouldn’t bring back any value.

Holloway is a bottom 6 winger. He is replaceable and they have other players to replace him that are cheaper.

Than why aren’t you happy to take a 2nd and a 3rd for them? The way you guys are describing them, I would think you would be celebrating as you fleeced the Blues……

Ceci is a good player and has value. Well, why would you want to trade him to keep these two players?

 

[Robtom18]

I’m not certain if you understand where I’m coming from here, but I’m not blaming him; this is absolutely on management. We’re in agreement there.

The problem isn’t what the players did or wanted; it’s how mgmt should have prioritized contract maintenance and/or bringing these guys along in a way that didn’t have them rushing the exit rather than signing the vet and flashy winger you mentioned.

You sir are correct

I don’t quite follow some Oilers fans logic on this.

1st Broberg only played well in 8 games. Not a great player. Tried to trade him last year but he wouldn’t bring back any value.

Holloway is a bottom 6 winger. He is replaceable and they have other players to replace him that are cheaper.

Than why aren’t you happy to take a 2nd and a 3rd for them? The way you guys are describing them, I would think you would be celebrating as you fleeced the Blues……

Ceci is a good player and has value. Well, why would you want to trade him to keep these two players?

Cause they are b hurt

 

[Soundwave]

I don’t quite follow some Oilers fans logic on this.

1st Broberg only played well in 8 games. Not a great player. Tried to trade him last year but he wouldn’t bring back any value.

Holloway is a bottom 6 winger. He is replaceable and they have other players to replace him that are cheaper.

Than why aren’t you happy to take a 2nd and a 3rd for them? The way you guys are describing them, I would think you would be celebrating as you fleeced the Blues……

It's a prospects oriented message board, people like to collect prospects like a fat kid collecting Pokemon cards or something I guess.

One should be leery of Broberg's performance a bit too ... because really I think the dramatic improvement in the Oilers D is largely based on Knoblaugh/Coffey system play, much like how Daryl Sutter made Erik Gudbranson look good enough that Columbus got suckered into giving him 4 million dollars/year.

Aside from Nurse + Ceci together, virtually everything else they did on D worked. Now is that a player specific thing or a coaching system thing ... lots of teams get fooled by a coaching system thing and end up overpaying.

 

[Frenzy31]

Again, why are you not celebrating? If Broberg is only going to work in a system, that’s he clearly isn’t worth a lot out of that system.

 

[Three On Zero]

Again, why are you not celebrating? If Broberg is only going to work in a system, that’s he clearly isn’t worth a lot out of that system.

It’s odd because Holloway is far more easily replaced than Broberg. The team lacks defensive depth

 

[Soundwave]

Again, why are you not celebrating? If Broberg is only going to work in a system, that’s he clearly isn’t worth a lot out of that system.

He could still be a player, but sure it could certainly be a system's thing.

The Oilers D shut down basically all 4 playoff opponents even Florida the longer each series went on, Florida for example was averaging 2 goals/game the final 4 games of that series, Vancouver was even below that, LA was below 2 the last 3 games of their 5 game series, Dallas was right at averaging only 2 goals per game in the final 3 games of their series. And Broberg didn't play in half the playoffs.

Now either all the Oilers D got magically that much better and were also some how a top 6-7 defensive team in the regular season from November 12 onwards coincidentally ...

Or Knoblaugh/Coffey's system was doing some serious, serious work. Because it's not like Stuart Skinner is a Vezina candidate, so that can't be it.

Florida is much the same too, they don't have some all world D corps, Ekblad was honestly pretty poor in the Finals, it's Maurice's system that overall gets results. They'll be good again next year even though they lost some big minute guys on their back end, because they'll just keep cycling new guys into that same system.

 

[Mike Liut]

Saving the cap room and adding a 2nd and a 3rd makes the most sense given who they have to re- sign in the next 2 years.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Saving the cap room and adding a 2nd and a 3rd makes the most sense given who they have to re- sign in the next 2 years.

I agree. But I think pride is going to come into play here and they match Holloway. Losing two RFA’s when you’ve just taken over as GM is beyond embarrassing. They won’t let that happen.
Overpaying Holloway and then having to trade another player when Kane is healthy is likely going to be the end result.

 

[Soundwave]

Are you of the impression that you start this season with a 10 point head start on everyone or something because of last year? Everyone starting back at 0 there my guy.

Ask Florida if they started "back at 0" and didn't improve a lot because of their playoff and Finals experience in 2023. Some teams do grow, of course that seems to be lost on certain teams also (cough, cough).