travel_dude

The Oilers believed that no team would dare OS their players, so they were delaying for the fanfare of the new GM to ink any deals. I think STL looked at it and thought that the players were waving in the wind. Funny how there was little mention of the fact that both players signed the offer sheets. Unless I am missing some part of this to be necessary.

I can't see Bouchard even listening to $7M. I don't think he's complete, but he is better than Nurse in most situations. Would he take it to arbitration? Probably more benefit to him to do it.

You don't need a big player to be Rempe. Draisaitl isn't fast. He is hard to move off the puck with conventual methods. If all Klapka could do was dominate possession with his size 5-10 shifts per game, he could would help this team. I don't think we have a good read on him yet, so I think he might be better than we have seen.

Draisaitl turned out to be a steal but at the time there were big questions about him. They gambled on the contract and were paying him on what they hoped he would be worth. Hyman was a UFA that was getting paid for the first time at his value and signed max term. The cap was kept low enough because they start and end lower. He was going to be worth that contract at least until age 33. Nuge had one good year out of 3 in this contract. He is getting most of his points through assisting one of the big 2. 22 of his 49 assists this year came on the PP. Bouchard is following the Nurse tradition. Bridge deal to up his value and his next deal is an arbitration RFA year. While none of this can be considered a failure, I wouldn't say they have done a good job in managing their cap. They usually have to part with a good player because they are going in on another one.

Not bad for a late 2nd. D+1 will be interesting.

I know he's a lesser prospect, but I am interested to see what Klapka can do and whether he's able to actually make the team out of camp. Lord knows there isn't really room for him, but the big body does suggest he could make an impact. Had an alright AHL season; led the team in scoring. Barebones team from the last time we were in the playoffs, so it's hard to tell at this point what we are. It looks like it may be a fun team to watch, and I see less giving up than we had with guys playing out the year. Buh bye Zadorkov. Lindholm without Johnny G was a no show and looked engaged 50% of the time. Hanifin is getting paid so see ya. Wasn't a bad dude, but seemed intent on the US of A. Playoffs are always a possibility, but it would take some doing to get there, and honestly there is no point this year. No reason to believe we would make it past the 2nd round. The team is not mentally ready for a long run. It would just be a fun ride for them. Really they need to be prepared to regress a lot and build up on their deficiencies. And we need to ensure we have the right pieces going forward.

Ekholm would probably say that about any young D they have. He's a good team guy.

Ask them about the goalie they pay to not play there after the big contract they signed.

Adding Ceci or Kulak to make the money work is an insult. They may have value, but what do they give us for taking salary? So the other two oicks included are from STL. I think they would be looking like late round picks with STL always a threat to make the playoffs. It's Stauffer and he can be very sober in his assessments, but I'm not sure EDM in effect gives up a 2024 1st round pick, two previous 1st round picks, plus a future 1st round pick. It would be funny in seeing heads explode in the city.

Common theme. Old boys club hire, Nicholson, Holland. GM not there for drafting the best players on the team. GM given creds for building a champion team. GM give leeway due to previous GM screwing up cap. GM signs brutal contracts with lesser stars. GM trades away futures to go for it. GM signs players with less than stellar reputations after they are bought out. Then does it again. GM signs guy who's a buddy of McDavid but who hasn't played much. GM trades away futures to go for it. GM screws up cap. GM decides it's time to hang it up. Interim GM signs re-signs most expensive trade they made in some time. Interim GM signs new guys after being bought out or injury riddled seasons. INterim GM names new Old Club Boy to GM spot. See a pattern?

He had 10 playoff games with an average of 14-18 minutes per game. So an average of 16 minutes. He was plus 3 twice and both were routs of 8-1 and 5-1. 2 goals and an assist in 10 games. Not bad, just nothing deserving of $4M at this point. For STL it's a risk, but they need to get young D up to speed. EDM, where D go to die. STL where D go to live.

In their case, they looked at the guys they brought in and wanted to bring them back, plus add new guys that can score. Yeaaa, more scoring. That was their problem last year, only 25% on the PP. I am immune to what we did in the past. It's behind us. We have Coleman from that era and he's not a bad value.

Yeah, I think a young C who has improved is a better value than Broberg. Two years for Broberg, then what? Another bloated contract like Nurse? JK,. that's reserved for Bouchard. Cost/benefit might suggest that a 2nd rounder and ridding the cap long term is better than keeping getting a 3rd and being stuck with Broberg. But maybe I just don't see Broberg as being anything more than a 3rd pairing guy.

My bad for believing Flames-centric blogs. Misinformed by bad reporting. So we really only have to worry about FLA tanking this season and ending up top 10. Not much worry of course. Don't worry about Sam O. Oilers seem to manage to screw up players that seem to be on the way to developing into NHL players. Let me guess. He's a London Knights player? Only place the Oilers scout.

Perhaps FLA learned something about run and gun. They seemed like less focus on it last year, or at least experienced in the playoffs. Huberdeau was successful when his line got in scoring position, run and gun or possession. Right now, I see no viable options for a trade other than a cap dump. Haven't we screwed up enough to stop doing that? Cap space isn't even an issue right now. Sure, if some team offered up a young top winger/C and a good prospect we would have to seriously consider it, but not with salary retention. With Gaudreau, it was put a player with him you wanted to get goals. With Huberdeau, we assume that he should be able to feed our top player but assuming Hubie would be the puck carrier. That is both style and chemistry. I almost think the best idea would be to play him with Zary at C and Pospisil at RW. He then has two targets that can get in a scoring position and he can also try to actually shoot. Stop deferring. What that does to the lines is anyone's guess. Mantha-Kadri-Sharky? Might be something there. Kuzmenko with Backlund? Well, Backlund and Coleman do nothjing but gain the zone. Coleman's 30 suggests that. Ad Kuz and maybe you have a viable 3rd scoring line too. This is about trades, so I am inclined to look more to trade players that won't be here in 3 years. Hubie will be here. Kadri will. Both might be completer pieces for a team by then. And we have built up the team in the meantime. Coleman might be the guy you need to trade now.

The offer for Broberg is likely as much a wake up call to the Oilers that you can't just go and sign everyone you want without managing the cap. The Blues probably rolled their eyes when they heard that Kane might require surgery. It's odd that it's August and they are "thinking" about surgery. So, the Blues say put up or shut up. The total of the two offers is funny. More than what Ceci and Kulak make. More than what Ekholm makes. More than the LTIR savings of Kane. Interesting to see the details of the deals. Of the two, Holloway is the likely keeper, since they can't afford Broberg at that rate. They get a 2nd for Broberg in this OS.

The only saving grace for this being remotely fair is that they can't just claim LTIR on the day before the season starts. They have $300k of cap and have to sign two RFA's. I suppose they could sign both for cheap deals (less than $1.2M) and park them in the AHL until Kane goes on LTIR. I guess they miss out on camp. The downside to the LTIR is they bank no cap space using it. So, when Kane comes back, they still need to make a move. Likely Ceci is a goner if Kane is header for LTIR. If not, they are both traded.

My point was a 2nd overall finish onward for us and a FLA top 10 drafting results in us losing our pick this year. 1st overall for us in 2025 would move it to 2026 in that scenario. My understanding of the trade conditions is that only the 1st overall is protected. It's an unlikely scenario but key injuries can turn a team into a lotto team.

The Flames are going to be very much focused on what FLA is like this year. One thing I wasn't aware was that if FLA's pick is top 10, it goes to Philly (or kept by FLA). That sets up a worse case scenario of Flames having 2nd overall and losing it to MTL. I know you can't control where other teams end up in the draft, but if they were crapping the bed ad we were looking to be 5th overall or worse, we might have to do something about it. Can't guarantee a 1st overall (MTL can't take it), so the only other option is to make the pick worse for MTL. I'm inclined to think FLA is at least a 11th overall or better, so this should not play into things.

Nah, I'm not a fan of Paryko. STL fans are sick of him. That would be a waste for us.

I'm not sure you can refer to a team that had a killer D and budding superstar, along with a vet that did nothing but score, as being worse than what we have now. Gio and Brodie in their prime, plus Wideman. Hiller and Ramo in their one good season as a pair. We may have a similar but unproven G pair. D has one or two in their prime.

That's a pretty weak argument. We have more than enough challenges to make it outside top 5 this year. One player performing well isn't going to change that. We had breakout seasons by player we brought in and guys we traded for (Kuz played the best games of his seasone here). Markstrom played really well for portions of the season. We had three D we traded that were playing great. And now we have the remnants. I can't say whether Laine is bad in the room, but I do think he is respected. When he was blindsided playing against us, his team went after the player that hit him. Doesn't prove anything either. So, a guy that's 26. Not exactly old for this team. Closer to Zary than Weegar or Huberdeau. What do you want coming out of a re-tool? I would think a guy at top form would be on the list. I doubt he gets a first from any team. Would I trade a top prospect? Nope. Maybe a prospect that's blocked and can't seem to stick on the team. Maybe Coleman?

It's probably what makes the most sense at this point. Bahl adds some size where Andersson needs it. The top pair looks to be about right, since both can skate. No idea what Bean can do, but makes sense to default him to playing with Pachal. Poirier did well coming off an injury to basically repeat his season stats pace in the AHL. Almost the same p/gp. Exact same goals per game pace. Doing after an injury is impressive. Solo has the NHL experience, so more likely to get the call (or more likely stays on the 7D spot). He is waiver eligible, so I don't know we risk it. The rest are waiver exempt, except Hanley.

How about a thread where we debate why we lost the series against the Oilers; never mind, that's in every thread it seems. Sometimes that's me reacting to posts. Or one about past draft failures. Maybe one about the GM we used to have. Hey maybe a Doug Riseborough thread to spice things up. We all see things differently, sometimes a couple agree. I would be lying to you if I had a photographic memory. I remember certain things, but hopefully I don't just remember things trhat support my opinion.

Well, I think if he were to top out at a top 6 LW, that would pretty much be a huge win. Odd of getting anything close to that outside the first round are slim. Would you be upset if Zary tops out at that?