That's just how it goes for RFAs though. There's basically two groups. The ones that prove themselves on their ELC and get big money 8 year deals and the others that get >$1.5M deals to prove themselves.
I don't even know how the Oilers could be playing the Dallas Stars in a series and not realize that at worst Holloway is a bigger Stankoven. Its just incredible that we played the Stars with 3 very good young playes that were huge for them and didn't realize the contributions of those players, or any of our own prospects. Sometimes its harder to follow this org. Margins are so fine in playoffs. Win/lose often on a thread. Now the Oilers have to make up in TDL what they lost in offseason. Still a good team but the club could have a lot more youth legs than it has.
Fair comment but how many orgs put a bluechip prospect like Broberg and Holloway on rotated AHL carousel and riding bench up here for so many years? Not many teams would do that in the first place, and especially with quicker to unpack forwards. I'm on record fwiw saying that both Bro and Holloway should've been up in the show playng games more than they were given by the club.
JJ was part of one of the most successful agencies in the NHL, they 100% knew of any potential offer sheets. They're just playing it off as not knowing to the fan base to make it look like it came out of nowhere instead of management not taking it seriously and planning poorly for it.
Hard to say who is to blame for the carousel.
I wouldn't get any Star Wars reference because I've only watched one of the movies ever, and only once. heh. I even watched Spaceballs instead.
Holloway was also coming off a 7 point, 25 game Cup run. His 5 goals including the one below was tied for six on a team that came up one goal short of a Stanley Cup. Solid proof points for an age 22 who worked himself into line 2 playoff ice-time.
www.nhl.com
It's not even surprising. Oilers management has been shit since the lockout. There's not a single thing this org does well besides win draft lotteries. If we didn't win the McDavid lottery there's zero doubt in my mind we're in the midst of a worse playoff drought than Buffalo.
I'll ask you the same question. Can you find any examples of an RFA getting a ~$2M deal after their ELC?Holloway was also coming off a 7 point, 25 game Cup run. His 5 goals including the one below was tied for six on a team that came up one goal short of a Stanley Cup. Solid proof points for an age 22 who worked himself into line 2 playoff ice-time.
HIGHLIGHTS | Holloway Goal | Edmonton Oilers
Holloway hits the jets & goes five-hole on Silovs to make it 1-0
Oilers management complacency walked their two young talents to the exit door.
The combination of chronically underplaying Bro and Holloway and then featuring them in playoffs in front of the largest audience possible (every GM in the league watching) and then getting caught pants down with offersheets after their two prospects performed impeccably, is Keystone cops stuff. Its like featuring the players in primetime just to maximize chances of stirring interest and losing them. With Bro particularly the usage was incredibly daft. I guess they didn't expect him to hit the ground running either, even though they needed him to. We left Bro off lineup for close to two seasons in favor of Desharnais who just straight up fill, and then we bring up Bro in playoffs. jfc.Holloway was also coming off a 7 point, 25 game Cup run. His 5 goals including the one below was tied for six on a team that came up one goal short of a Stanley Cup. Solid proof points for an age 22 who worked himself into line 2 playoff ice-time.
HIGHLIGHTS | Holloway Goal | Edmonton Oilers
Holloway hits the jets & goes five-hole on Silovs to make it 1-0
Oilers management complacency walked their two young talents to the exit door.
Firstly, other teams have better managed their RFA's and mitigated vulnerability.
They needed to sign Jeff Skinner and Arvidsson! Because those players haven't been complete failures!Holloway was also coming off a 7 point, 25 game Cup run. His 5 goals including the one below was tied for six on a team that came up one goal short of a Stanley Cup. Solid proof points for an age 22 who worked himself into line 2 playoff ice-time.
HIGHLIGHTS | Holloway Goal | Edmonton Oilers
Holloway hits the jets & goes five-hole on Silovs to make it 1-0
Oilers management complacency walked their two young talents to the exit door.
What is it with this thread and people going off on whacky tangents? haha
My issue is a lack of organization priority setting and pro-active relationship work done with two homegrown pedigree players that showed well in the team's deep playoff run. Move quickly to sign or understand if your flight risk and damaged relationship can be mended on the glow of a Cup run or have aggressive contingency planning lined up.
Fact of the matter is they got blindsided because they just assumed that it wouldn't happen. Complete managerial incompetence and arrogance. They better make some damn good hay with those picks and I really don't trust them to do that.
Make a complete argument if you want to make a point. That's my point. Holloway and Broberg both showed well in NHL playoff competition. There was management opportunity and time to prioritize their re-signing most certainly with a relationship that had been damaged. Edmonton's super agent CEO ignored all the signs and inactivity paid a big price.
I'm open minded to how they might fix their self-induced problem at the trade deadline. It can be done. But my eyes are wide open that they are under resourced in a market driven environment in which top 4 d-man are a valuable commodity. Holland was a market taker in his trade deadline work able to wait out early buyers paying premium. I'm not sure Jackson and Bowman have that luxury with minimal trade collateral relative to many organizations. They've walked themselves into a tightrope precarious situation compounded with a team that's less healthy nibbling into 'player to be named later' cap space.
Holloway said they were upfront with the Oilers about the offer sheets coming. The Oilers knew about them. It came straight from Holloway's mouth. You can keep repeating that they had no idea, but it just isn't true.
I think we as a fanbase are just so used to rotten management that even the bare minimum seems foreign. As you stated, they should've been proactive whether it was signing or trading the players instead of being exposed to the worst possible outcome. I've said it for years that this org is reactive rather than proactive. A proactive org wouldn't constantly try to solve the glaring holes in the lineup through free agency and instead take a good hard look at their abysmal draft record and try to improve it. While free agency can help, we've seen an endless cycle of dead weight float in and out of the bottom six and then trade the one drafted and developed bottom six forward we actually had for futures. Just abysmal asset management.
I'm definitely taking a wait and see approach but their track record speaks for itself. The pro scouting for the Oilers is utter garbage. For every Ekholm we have at least 3 Josh Browns.
Then trade them. Simple as that. Ironically if true you're actually making management look even stupider.
Delusional is missing all the signs. Even moreso if they were communicated directly to you by one of the flight risk players. Poor helpless Oilers management.
This has been covered in here 100 times and always ignored for the sake of continuing complaining.
So what? Trade him and let their management figure it out. If our management is that bloody useless then fire them all right this second. What are we paying Bowman/Jackson to do, exactly? Be strung around by Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway?
