travel_dude

Not to start rumour but there are reports out of NJ that Johnny Gaudreau was involved in a hit and run by a drunk driver. Some reports say that him and his brother were both on bicycles and were hit by a vehicle. Can't confirm but if true but some suggestions is loss of life. Don't really want to start something unfounded, just looking to see if anyone has any better sources.

The take I last heard on Pelletier is that he wants a deal that makes it attractive to another team if he gets waived by Calgary. A little off the wall, but in some ways maybe it makes sense. Not taking a certain term because that would have teams considering it to be a throw-away deal? I don't know. Not like he has leverage, and not like he has put up killer numbers in a shortened season. With Honzie, I think he has to have an injury free season in the A before he really gets noticed. A specialized position doesn't help you get a callup unless you are killing it on that side. If you show some versatility, then maybe you get a call with lesser numbers. Regardless, he needs to have a injury free start to the season and build from there.

Are there any remaining players that seem to be like cancer everywhere they go? EDM would love to hear from them.

So, is the max salary 20% of the cap? I read where the cap will be $93M when his new contract is due. Does he deserve that? McD will be the following year, which would be even higher. I guess I am reluctant to pay a guy like that $18M. Just before he scored 50 goals, he had 25, 29 and 19. Seeing a lot of his PP goals, they were one timers. Without the perfect pass, it's not in the net. You have a Johnny Hockey or McDavid setting you up you can score a lot. Does that make you worth the max?

I wasn't born here and only have lived here for 12 years. Capital cities rarely come from the "nicest" or most populous; they tend to be rooted in Fort X or trade routes from the 1800's. I don't mean to trash a city. They are what they are. Some people love it. Some people hate CGY for the excessive traffic, poor snow clearing and (now) substandard water services. I think it means that big cities will experience that at some point.

So, cities in the middle of nowhere, with a lack of any perceived natural beauty don't appeal to you? JK. I suppose you can find beauty in any city if you get out of the gridlock and find the spaces that show off the natural beauty of place. I'm still looking for the beach.

As it is, we have now $20M in cap space, and without taking into account guys that could be kept or get small raises, we have $35M the end of the year. Kuzmenko and Mantha may be offered or traded. Zary, Bahl and Coronato get new dals, which could be significant or minor increases. Have to replace or re-sign Vladar. It's a weird time to have all that cap. I would hate to spend it on lesser players just to reach the floor, but it may allow us to take on a few bad deals for payment. Even so, we stand to be not worse than we are today. May even improve with new guys coming up the ranks.

The pick was unprotected when it was sent to the Sharks, but the Sharks protected it in the trade to Nashville. I would imagine they hope Vegas implodes.

Essentially, they traded Hertl for Askarov. Same player, same 1st rounder.

So, the Oilers have $945k in cap. That's for a 22 man roster. Not enough to bank much cap, and if Kane is on LTIR they gain nothing. They can however bring in a player. 14F with the extra guy making less than $945k and they have zero cap space with Kane on the team. Putting Kane on LTIR gains them the full amount of cap space for his salary, but only while he is off.

In effect, we would be getting the FLA pick back that would be theirs in 2025. The cap hit is no big deal. His salary goes $7M, $5M, $3.5M. It's still $15.5M which is a lot. If we hung onto him until the final year, he might fetch something. As a player? I don't mind him that much. Plays what used to be rough hockey. Might save some wear and tear on Kadri. Will fight. Worth getting the 1st back? Yup. Get something for the extra salary? Sure, but would best be a prospect that had waiver exemption.

I guess you could say that his goals in two playoff games against FLA were game winners. 2-1 goal in the 8-1 win and 2-1 goal in the 5-1 win. Is defense never important to them? Ryan McLeod could be used to get D? Needed to sign 3 UFA forwards? Strengthen the area they were not weak in. You don't need three forwards added in FA.

Had they not bothered with Henrique, they may have been able to sign the guys they lost and still had Ceci. Not sure about that, but it would have been easier to sign when they weren't up against the cap and it was late summer. But, hey lets add forwards from FA and re-sign a guy that wasn't that much help. I get Skinner or Arvidsson, but not all three plus Perry. Kulak or Brown a top 4D? Yikes. Maybe short term replacement, but not expecting to contend.

If the idea was guaranteed ice, why would he need to be okay with WB/S. Anyway, I can see the issue with going to Winnipeg. Long winter bus rides. Unlikely to get to the team anytime soon. I can see ruling out MTL and perhaps Ottawa, which are cities you have to love or you hate. I'm okay with visiting MTL, but might have an issue living there. VAN used to remind me of California North. Not so much now. TOR would be close to living in NYC or CHI in the proximity to large downtowns. CGY would be a lot more attractive to someone that likes outdoorsy stuff. EDM, still haven't figured out the attraction.

The Oiler bloggers are mind numbing. "The Oilers had until 9:30 a.m. MT on Tuesday to make their decisions on Holloway and Broberg. The trade (which was announced at 7:30 a.m. MT) was brought upon by the Oilers threatening to match both offer sheets, leaving the Blues with nothing, if St. Louis didn’t sweeten the pot for them a little." The Oilers deserve credit for strong-arming the Blues into giving up another third-round pick and a solid defensive prospect the same day they had to make their decision, but it only improves their grade by a little bit. No matter how you slice it, it’s a bad look to lose two highly touted young players at the same time. Now, it’s up to the Oilers to pivot. If they can flip these assets for players who can help them win, they could still come out ahead. I suppose the STL picks could be worth something if STL is out of the playoff picture by TDL. But one would question of logic of having no draft picks in the draft until the 6th round.

Is that you Jethro?

For perspective, I would give up a 1st for a player like Mercer. A 2nd for a goalie like Askaraov. Neither of them was available when we drafted. Askarov may be getting a bum rap. There was some aspectes of his game that has tailed off. So, it's a risk to overpay while someone is a bit down. But the reward could be a #1 goalie for the next 10 years.

Know any top level C's available? You build the team when players are available in the draft or in trade or sometimes passed over in FA.

I tend to like the idea of a PTO when we have cap. I just don't see any top guys signing up for a PTO spot here. The one group of players it hurts is our fringe NHL prospects; the ones that have to go through waivers. As long as we don't sign a 70 year old vet with cup experience, it shouldn't send the wrong message.

If you look at signed player for the year McD is a UFA, it is fascinating. Between him and Drai they are looking at 30M. Add in 10M for the two signed D and perhaps 8M for Bouchard. At that point they don't have a signed goalie that they are paying for; just one paid to not play.

Maybe the oops was not having him a regular before the playoffs this year. He had 79 NHL games prior to those two end of season games. Seeing Desharnais ahead of him must have PO'd him. STL scouts the players they may want. The Oilers caused the OS with the big middle finger to the league with the large number of UFA signings.

Well, they traded out a player and a pick and got back almost $2M of the $3.1M they sent out. They now have cap space of $985k. Kane is not yet 100% going to have surgery. If he does, they gain the cap space (sort of). If not, then they would be stuck with him likely just recouping to start the season and be stuck with his salary. I think if you get away with getting value for a player you need to trade anyway is going to make you seriously look at the trade.

Kadri will be the new Backlund in 3 years. I do expect Huberdeau to recover his magic, but will never be the player here that Johnny Hockey would have managed to be. Only saying that because he was our franchise player. We could have a franchise player already in the system, but since we have so few players that were ranked super high or were rookie of the year or won some NHL award, we won't know it for some time. One thing about the vets. They are the ones that will bring out the best in our top young players and prospects.

I don't even care at this point what EDM drafted. They haven't gotten it right in so long. Drafting the top scoring D from the Knights (Bouchard) wasn't exactly a coup. If he played with most other teams he would just have medium numbers. So, when SOR gets to the NHL, he will be stuck in the bottom of the lineup with Sucky McSuck and put up pedestrian numbers. It's fair to say that there were players available that we could have drafted with the VAN pick. For whatever reason, we went elsewhere. By the same token, we took players others passed on. In 5 years, someone can say I told you so. I know you won't.

It was a strange days for STL. Give a player plus a 2028 3rd rounder to appease Stan. Grab the two players they wanted. Force EDM to react anyway with Pos and the SJS trade. They still have cap problems and the rest of the league won't let them out of cap jail.