cross16

I get where you are going with this and while I think you have a point I don't think just making the playoffs (barely) with the best player in the game is really meeting your standard. Especially when you've seen very little success when you took the team over 4 years ago and continue to made bad decision after bad decision. With the talent he inherited and being gifted McDavid, there is zero question in my mind that the OIlers should be more than a team that barely gets into the playoffs. I think that's different than the other teams you mentioned. I think the "best season in recent franchise history" speaks more to the level of failure of the organization then it does the work of Chiarelli. Could also look at it this way. The whole Jordan Eberle mess was a GM disaster and probably would be the worst move previous GM like Tambellini or MacT ever made and i'ts probably 3rd or 4th on the list of bad moved Chiarelli made. Why it makes the OIlers job a bit of a double edged sword as well. I do really wonder if they are going to get qualified people that are interested in.

I would suspect this will be a CBA issue. From what i've read the NHL hates these deals but has no grounds to overturn them as they are legal. Was a loophole they likely didn't forsee. Agents and the NHLPA are pretty crafty and are usually ahead of the NHL and NHL GMs when it comes to using the CBA to their advantage.

It has to do with the breakdown of his contract and salary vs signing bonus. When you buyout a player you still have to pay them 100% of their signing bonuses and those count 100% against the cap. Cap relief in the form of a buyout only comes by applying 2/3 of the remaining salary against the cap spread over over the years remaining. In Lucic's case his salary is small relative to his cap hit, so the Oilers get almost no relief by the buyout. Here is what it would look like. You can see they basically get no cap relief except the first season. Cap Savings 2019-20 $3,000,000 $6,000,000 $625,000 $2,375,000 $3,625,000 2020-21 $1,000,000 $6,000,000 $625,000 $375,000 $5,625,000 2021-22 $2,500,000 $6,000,000 $625,000 $1,875,000 $4,125,000 2022-23 $1,000,000 $6,000,000 $625,000 $375,000 $5,625,000 2023-24 $0 $0 $625,000 -$625,000 $625,000 2024-25 $0 $0 $625,000 -$625,000 $625,000 2025-26 $0 $0 $625,000 -$625,000 $625,000 2026-27 $0 $0 $625,000 -$625,000 $625,000

No, and Yes, sort of. He got his start in minor player development and coaching, but since the 90s his roles have been more business development roles. He oversaw everything at Hockey Canada and while he would help pick the management terms for international events, he wasn't involved in the player selection process. He worked more on everything from grassroots development, safety in minor hockey but also growing the revenues of Hockey Canada through sales/Marketing (he negotiated the TV rights deal for the World Juniors with TSN as well as the agreement that Canada hosts every 3rd WJC) So while he does have a bit of a technical background in Hockey it was't his focus at Hockey Canada.

He's like King for the Flsmes, the CEO of the whole sports and entertainment corp. He is responsible for much of the business side of things with hockey reporting up to him. I think the Oilers need that "hockey guy" President of Hockey Ops role in between Nicholson and the GM.

As fun as it has been to dump on Chiarelli, you're right it's not just him and it goes deeper becuase like you say who is recommending these guys? Their pro scouts are clearly no good either and it's not realistic for chiarelli to scout everyone. Has to rely on his team and his team is to blame as well. Why i think while you had to do this, simply replacing him with someone else and not making deeper changes it not going to change anything. I've said this before and i'll keep saying it, it is not difficult to see why the Oilers suck, it lies right in this fact: Since 2006 (that's 13 drafts) they have 7 players currently on their roster. That includes 4 1st overall picks and a total of 9 picks in the top 10 (not including Bouchard so it's actually 10 but not fair to count him). Only 5 players they drafted are regular and contribution players elsewhere (Petry, Nash, Eberle, Pitlick,Gustafasson) That predates him and spans across multiple GMs. That is an atrocious draft record. Until you fix that, they'll stay a joke.

I wonder if the Oilers are going to go the route of the Flames and find someone like Brian Burke to fix this. One thing you notice about all of their management staff from their owner right down to their scouts is a ton of nepotism and a desire to stay with the Old Boys club. Messier Brother, Gretzky's brother. Scott Howson (who has limited experience outside of Edmonton) etc etc. I'ts not hard to see what the problem is in Edmonton, they consistently do not hire the best people they hire the people that certain people just want to work with. King started down this path in Calgary and if it weren't for the decision to bring in Burke i'm not sure he would have changed course. Oilers need to bring in someone who can be the bad guy to fire all these guys and get actual qualified scouts, GMs etc.

On the future goalie front, Tyler Parsons stopped Heat record 49 shots in a win the other day. Faced 51 shots and stopped 49 of them. He's been better since he came back from injury. Won 5 of his 8 starts with 4 games of a Save % over .95. Facing a ton of rubber too, as he's average over 30 shots against a start. Heat are very bad defensively form what I understand.

Worth about 4.1 million in today's dollars. However, tricky one here is the Pens didn't buy any UFA years. Murray remains and RFA for the duration of the contract so it's not a great comp for Rittich who is UFA in 1 year.

But only 1 more year of RFA, with arbitration s rights and he's been the better goalie. Maybe it does but I'm skeptical. unfortunatly it doesn't work this way.

This is dumb by the Oilers here but probabaly your floor for a Rittich deal. Gonna be real toogh for his camp to accept less.

Yes your correct if a player is injured long term they don't get penalized for it. You can exceed the cap by that injured players salary but when they are healthy enough to play you need to be under the cap again. Perhaps what the person was referring to was current the Oilers are using thst extra cap space so they will have to send players down. They could also be referring to potential bonuses that would result in a cap charge for next year as the Oilers don't have room to account for those. That's not really related to Sekera though as the Oilers came into the season a cap heavy team

Not sure the article, but I don't see an issue. They have barely used the LTIR credit with Sekera so sending someone down when he is ready should get them under the cap pretty easily from what I see. they also have the option if converting Klefboom to LTIR as it currently shows him on just IR. looks like they have some options

I think you have to throw the Blues and the Coyotes in there too. Blue's were playing well below their talent level early in the season and seem to have levelled out and the Coyotes are right there despite a ton of injuries. Both are only 4 back. I get your point and you may be right but if I were a betting man I would be they won't get it. The only reason they are even close is they got an unreal run out of Koskinen. Team wise, this has been a lottery pick team basically all year. But sign me up for watching them deal their first round pick while they are close.

I don't disagree, as I said i think there is cleaning up to do. I'm just willing to acknowledge a "weakness" in Peters system. I think some like lock down hockey form start to finish and I don't think that will be under Peters. But agree, situational defending can be better for sure on this club. Their whole game can be better to be honest, it's still not great.

You definitely have not been to the dome yet this season. Or seen/heard the fan reaction to Rittich making even an average save So far your the only poster on multiple boards i've read multiple times suggest Rittich was at fault last night, even in sarcasm. That vast majority of people have already moved on.

I have definitely come to the conclusion that under Peters the Flames are going to give up some high danger chances no question. It's an aggressive system so you are going to get caught probably a couple times a game even when you are playing well. However, I do think it's worth the trade off especially in today's game so i'm taking the trade off personally. But I think if you are expecting a lock down team that doesn't give up much I don't think they will be that under Peters system. Not to say they can't clean some things up, but it won't be Sutter hockey around here.

Horrid is a large stretch.. haven't been at their best but last 10 games NHL rankings at 5 on 5: 7th in Corsi 7th in Fenwick 7th in Shots against 5th in scoring chances against 1st in high danger chances against And just so we are clear i'm not pointing the finger his direction nor am I suggesting they are winning in spite of him or anything like that. I am simply stating, and using stats to support that, that for me i've seen a small decline in Rittich's game for a few weeks now and it could be due to workload. Could be me pushing a narrative, could be nothing, I don't know but that's what i'm seeing.

Where did I blame Rittich? I think in this case the stats match the eye test, he's not as sharp these last couple of weeks as he was early. Maybe it has nothing to do with his workload but I'ts something i'm personally monitoring. He hasn't really been a starter in 3 years so handing over a starter workload is something i've been concerned about for a while.

Certainly don't want to sound the alarm here but i think it's time to revisit Rittich's workload. .890 Save percentage his last 7 starts and was not very good last night IMO. Not trying to create and issue but I do think he is playing too much and it might be starting to show.

IIRC this is actually a Flames requirement.

Definelty agree it's not a smart plan that's for sure... but it's plan. Maybe?

Because they want playoffs at all cost. I doubt they could find another GM who would both want the job, and be willing to take it with that in mind.

Was definetly an coaching problem in Edmonton too. Again.....