Oilers

[The_People1]

What a big loss for VGK.  The Kings leading CBJ 2-1 in the 3rd period.  The Kings need the win badly or they're done because VGK has a game in hand.

[travel_dude]

And the Kings up to 90 points.

Vegas may have lost the playoffs today.

NAS and DAL both hit 91 today.

[The_People1]

20 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

And the Kings up to 90 points.

Vegas may have lost the playoffs today.

NAS and DAL both hit 91 today.

 

VGK has a tougher schedule too playing WAS, NAS, DAL, and STL among the final 6 games... meanwhile Kings final 5 games are against non-playoff teams.

[travel_dude]

25 minutes ago, The_People1 said:

 

VGK has a tougher schedule too playing WAS, NAS, DAL, and STL among the final 6 games... meanwhile Kings final 5 games are against non-playoff teams.

 

EDM plays DAL, COL and PIT, but also has 3 non-playoff teams.

If Vegas and LA stay in the hunt, EDM's season could be decided by VAN.

VGK max = 99

LA max = 100

EDM max = 106, but they realistically could get just 98.

 

I have no idea what may happen.

LA is a team that can win games 2-1.

Vegas either kills it or craps the bed.

EDM is riding the hot hand of the Old Guy.

Shaping up to running him into the playoffs, should they get there.

 

NAS is really playing strange.

No idea what team they are anymore.

They might actually fall out of the hunt.

They have 8 games left, but a tough schecule.

[The_People1]

16 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

 

EDM plays DAL, COL and PIT, but also has 3 non-playoff teams.

If Vegas and LA stay in the hunt, EDM's season could be decided by VAN.

VGK max = 99

LA max = 100

EDM max = 106, but they realistically could get just 98.

 

I have no idea what may happen.

LA is a team that can win games 2-1.

Vegas either kills it or craps the bed.

EDM is riding the hot hand of the Old Guy.

Shaping up to running him into the playoffs, should they get there.

 

NAS is really playing strange.

No idea what team they are anymore.

They might actually fall out of the hunt.

They have 8 games left, but a tough schecule.

 

As much as it would be hilarious for EDM to miss the playoffs, they only need 2-points for 96 which should get it done.  VGK needs to go 4-1-1 to hit 96 against some pretty tough teams.

[travel_dude]

44 minutes ago, The_People1 said:

 

As much as it would be hilarious for EDM to miss the playoffs, they only need 2-points for 96 which should get it done.  VGK needs to go 4-1-1 to hit 96 against some pretty tough teams.

 

If they both end up at 96, Vegas finsihes ahead.

Unlikely scenario, but the two SO by Smith is setting them up to fail.

They next play DAL and COL, two team they have trouble with.

Follow with a roadie to CBJ and PIT

If they haven't won at least one game by then, the last two will have them freaking out.

[Thebrewcrew]

Are the Oilers 1 loss away from hiring Barry Trotz?

[travel_dude]

47 minutes ago, Thebrewcrew said:

Are the Oilers 1 loss away from hiring Barry Trotz?

 

Hope for the first part and hope not to the 2nd part.

They will probably make permanent Woodcroft as head coach.

Had a good regular season record.

And the players are responsible for their showing in the playoffs.

The GM is responsible for the players he had available.

Can't believe Guddy is still the A/coach there.

[Thebrewcrew]

24 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

 

Hope for the first part and hope not to the 2nd part.

They will probably make permanent Woodcroft as head coach.

Had a good regular season record.

And the players are responsible for their showing in the playoffs.

The GM is responsible for the players he had available.

Can't believe Guddy is still the A/coach there.

Barry Trotz would be absolutely terrifying behind the Oilers bench. 
 

Woodcroft has done a nice job and if the Oilers comeback and win this series, I think he’ a certainly losing the interim tag

 

If the Oilers don’t win though, they’ve gotta at least ask Trotz. Lots of smoke around Winnipeg, but Edmonton has better pieces, aside from the goalie 

[travel_dude]

11 minutes ago, Thebrewcrew said:

Barry Trotz would be absolutely terrifying behind the Oilers bench. 
 

Woodcroft has done a nice job and if the Oilers comeback and win this series, I think he’ a certainly losing the interim tag

 

If the Oilers don’t win though, they’ve gotta at least ask Trotz. Lots of smoke around Winnipeg, but Edmonton has better pieces, aside from the goalie 

 

EDM has less coaching issues than WPG.  I may not like Gully, but he's served his purpose.

Woodcroft's record behind the bench is as good or better than Bruce Boudreau.

He actually instilled a defensive structure in EDM and cut back the stars minutes to get the team to buy in.

 

[cross16]

I think Woodcroft has done a nice job in Edm. He's got them playing the best they can given how their roster is built IMO and they've played pretty well in the series. Couple rookie mistakes here and there but overal I've been impressed. I'd be surprised if they weren't interested in him to be the permanent coach. 

 

Now it is Trotz and I get that but honestly he can take the job if he wants it, it wouldn't worry me. That roster has enough holes that Trotz wouldn't be able to patch. 

 

Key thing is would Edm pay him and would Holland give up some control? Lots of buzz that Trotz will command some say in his next job. 

[travel_dude]

10 minutes ago, cross16 said:

I think Woodcroft has done a nice job in Edm. He's got them playing the best they can given how their roster is built IMO and they've played pretty well in the series. Couple rookie mistakes here and there but overal I've been impressed. I'd be surprised if they weren't interested in him to be the permanent coach. 

 

Now it is Trotz and I get that but honestly he can take the job if he wants it, it wouldn't worry me. That roster has enough holes that Trotz wouldn't be able to patch. 

 

Key thing is would Edm pay him and would Holland give up some control? Lots of buzz that Trotz will command some say in his next job. 

 

Holland doesn't even have a clue anymore.  I suspect people are telling him who to go get.  Not the owners, the Old Boys Club.  Considering the amount they spend on buy-outs and a GM, I suspect the owner would have no issue paying for a coach like that.  But, I don't believe that they want a coach like that.  They want a run and gun offense with some defensive structure.  

 

Woody is their guy.  A first round exit doesn't matter, since there would be enough excuses.  The result would be a fall guy in the lineup.  Maybe even Holland himself.  I hope not, since he's killed the cap there. 

[Thebrewcrew]

Objectively, this is the year EDM has to win. This is as good a spot as they'll be in from a roster standpoint for a few years. 

 

14 NHL players signed, with less than 8m in cap space. 

 

Their two big in-season additions, Kulak and Kane are both UFA. I think Kulak gets in the 3-3.75 range on a 3 or 4yr deal, if there's a bidding war maybe he gets closer to the Oleksiak deal. You can pencil Kane in for 20 every season, it's hard to find a power-forward these days. I think he ends up going to the team that will give him the most term. I think the AAV could be as high as 6, recency bias is a thing and he's had a great playoff.

 

Yamamoto and Puljujarvi are both RFA. JP has been a 0.38pt/g and Yamamoto is sitting at 0.5pt/g for his career. Those two would likely chew up a minimum of 5m of their 7.9 in cap space. Ryan Mcelod has been a good find for them and he's also up.

 

Without deleting any NHL players, there's 3m in space and 6 or 7 spots to fill, including a top 4D and a goalie to play with Smith. Skinner may be an NHL goalie out of necessity next year as he only makes 750k.

 

Two easy moves to make to free up cap space. Buyout Kassian, it only costs 667k. Bigger issue for the Oilers is that leaves them with 4.8 in dead cap thanks to buyouts of Neal, Sekera, Lucic retention and in this scenario Kassian. 

Secondly, I think they'll be able to trade Barrie, but they may have to take some money back. 

 

 

Long post, just didn't realize how big a series this is for Edmonton, because it's hard to see them being as deep next year

 

[cross16]

1 hour ago, Thebrewcrew said:

Objectively, this is the year EDM has to win. This is as good a spot as they'll be in from a roster standpoint for a few years. 

 

14 NHL players signed, with less than 8m in cap space. 

 

Their two big in-season additions, Kulak and Kane are both UFA. I think Kulak gets in the 3-3.75 range on a 3 or 4yr deal, if there's a bidding war maybe he gets closer to the Oleksiak deal. You can pencil Kane in for 20 every season, it's hard to find a power-forward these days. I think he ends up going to the team that will give him the most term. I think the AAV could be as high as 6, recency bias is a thing and he's had a great playoff.

 

Yamamoto and Puljujarvi are both RFA. JP has been a 0.38pt/g and Yamamoto is sitting at 0.5pt/g for his career. Those two would likely chew up a minimum of 5m of their 7.9 in cap space. Ryan Mcelod has been a good find for them and he's also up.

 

Without deleting any NHL players, there's 3m in space and 6 or 7 spots to fill, including a top 4D and a goalie to play with Smith. Skinner may be an NHL goalie out of necessity next year as he only makes 750k.

 

Two easy moves to make to free up cap space. Buyout Kassian, it only costs 667k. Bigger issue for the Oilers is that leaves them with 4.8 in dead cap thanks to buyouts of Neal, Sekera, Lucic retention and in this scenario Kassian. 

Secondly, I think they'll be able to trade Barrie, but they may have to take some money back. 

 

 

Long post, just didn't realize how big a series this is for Edmonton, because it's hard to see them being as deep next year

 

Koskinen is UFA. They also have the Klefbom situation to sort out. If he can’t plan they’ll gain 4mill in LTIR, if he can well then they don’t need Kulak. 
 

it’s tight but it’s not horrible. Kane is the real wildcard. Does he take another discount to rebuild his value alongside McDavid or does he go to the highest bidder (which likely can’t be Edmonton). 
 

[Thebrewcrew]

5 hours ago, cross16 said:

Koskinen is UFA. They also have the Klefbom situation to sort out. If he can’t plan they’ll gain 4mill in LTIR, if he can well then they don’t need Kulak. 
 

it’s tight but it’s not horrible. Kane is the real wildcard. Does he take another discount to rebuild his value alongside McDavid or does he go to the highest bidder (which likely can’t be Edmonton). 
 

Koskinen expiring ends up being essentially washed out by Nurse's extension.

 

If I was Edmonton, I wouldn't extend Kane. They did a good job getting tremendous value out of him this year. The player has a tendency to wear out his welcome. I would be avoiding term with him, If I was Holland. 

 

If they really want to keep Kane though, Barrie is tradeable. The RHD market in UFA is quite thin. 

[cross16]

14 hours ago, Thebrewcrew said:

Koskinen expiring ends up being essentially washed out by Nurse's extension.

 

If I was Edmonton, I wouldn't extend Kane. They did a good job getting tremendous value out of him this year. The player has a tendency to wear out his welcome. I would be avoiding term with him, If I was Holland. 

 

If they really want to keep Kane though, Barrie is tradeable. The RHD market in UFA is quite thin. 

I would never want Kane playing for me either so I get it. 
 

but it is really tough to find players who can play at McDavid speed. Kane has really helped moved that line forward so if he is willing to stay there I think they will push hard to keep him. 

[travel_dude]

18 hours ago, Thebrewcrew said:

Koskinen expiring ends up being essentially washed out by Nurse's extension.

 

If I was Edmonton, I wouldn't extend Kane. They did a good job getting tremendous value out of him this year. The player has a tendency to wear out his welcome. I would be avoiding term with him, If I was Holland. 

 

If they really want to keep Kane though, Barrie is tradeable. The RHD market in UFA is quite thin. 

 

With Klefbom aiming to come back, they have $7M left.

That's for 8F and 7D and Smith.

Kane set himself up for $6M with term.

Teams that missed signing him will be all over him.

Without re-signing him, they can't even sign a full roster.

The players they don't need, nobody really wants.

Barrie isn't even a top 4 on this team.

Kassian is a joke.

 

The players that helped them get there will be on the open market.

And they can't even fix the goalie issue.

So many teams will be trying to fix issues, but not by taking on overpaid players.

So a Barrie may be tradeable, but for another crap contract.

 

Holland wasn't a genius.

The injuries helped him fill a team for part of the year.

Klefbom's situation allowed him to be compliant for the year.

 

I get that we have as many issues, but only to maintain the toughness we had.

And re-sign the guys worth more. 

[tmac70]

Hate the Coilers always have and I will leave this here... The best team didn't win this series the team that played better did, Period. 

[conundrumed]

17 hours ago, travel_dude said:

 

With Klefbom aiming to come back, they have $7M left.

That's for 8F and 7D and Smith.

Kane set himself up for $6M with term.

Teams that missed signing him will be all over him.

Without re-signing him, they can't even sign a full roster.

The players they don't need, nobody really wants.

Barrie isn't even a top 4 on this team.

Kassian is a joke.

 

The players that helped them get there will be on the open market.

And they can't even fix the goalie issue.

So many teams will be trying to fix issues, but not by taking on overpaid players.

So a Barrie may be tradeable, but for another crap contract.

 

Holland wasn't a genius.

The injuries helped him fill a team for part of the year.

Klefbom's situation allowed him to be compliant for the year.

 

I get that we have as many issues, but only to maintain the toughness we had.

And re-sign the guys worth more. 

Holland was great in the no cap era. He has struggled mightily since. Left Detroit in an abysmal situation. Also of note, his draft record in Detroit was also abysmal with 1st and 2nd rd busts.

Yzerman went to TBay because Holland refused to move to upper mgmt, so there's that too. While Stevie built Tampa, Holland collapsed HockeyTown with all sorts of bad signings/drafting. At a time when Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Zetterberg were still fantastic, he couldn't figure out how to manage the cap.

[travel_dude]

2 hours ago, conundrumed said:

Holland was great in the no cap era. He has struggled mightily since. Left Detroit in an abysmal situation. Also of note, his draft record in Detroit was also abysmal with 1st and 2nd rd busts.

Yzerman went to TBay because Holland refused to move to upper mgmt, so there's that too. While Stevie built Tampa, Holland collapsed HockeyTown with all sorts of bad signings/drafting. At a time when Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Zetterberg were still fantastic, he couldn't figure out how to manage the cap.

 

Post-Kennie DET looks a lot better.

 

[Thebrewcrew]

The Oilers have to upgrade at goalie this summer. 

 

Smith heading into his yr 41 season isn't going to carry you to a cup. 

 

There are some UFA goalies available. Campbell, Husso, maybe even Kuemper. They need to land one.

 

Heck, throw a ridiculous offersheet at Oettinger. 

[cross16]

Gonna be tough for them though. Puljujarvi and Yamamoto to sign, 15 players under contract and only 7 mill cap space. 11 if Klefbom is done but even then that’s tight. 
 

probably want to move Barrie but I’m not sure that’s gonna be easy. 

[Thebrewcrew]

6 minutes ago, cross16 said:

Gonna be tough for them though. Puljujarvi and Yamamoto to sign, 15 players under contract and only 7 mill cap space. 11 if Klefbom is done but even then that’s tight. 
 

probably want to move Barrie but I’m not sure that’s gonna be easy. 

I think they buyout Kassian.

 

Theres always a market for RHD, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they can deal Barrie.

 

I think they have to make a decision, Yamamoto or Puljujarvi. If they want to improve their roster, I don’t know that they can keep both, especially with arb for both. They don’t have many picks, could probably get a couple back for one of them.

 

The blueline will be an issue next year. Nurse is gonna miss some significant time. That leaves Keith as their top LD. Not sure about Klefbom or what he looks like having missed multiple years.

 

I would just be absolutely amazed if they go with Smith/Skinner next year

[travel_dude]

1 minute ago, cross16 said:

Gonna be tough for them though. Puljujarvi and Yamamoto to sign, 15 players under contract and only 7 mill cap space. 11 if Klefbom is done but even then that’s tight. 
 

probably want to move Barrie but I’m not sure that’s gonna be easy. 

 

Klefbom was talking about coming back next season.

Not sure when he recovered, but it has to be one of the longest IR's short of retiring.

Add to the list of RFA's - McLeod.

Can bridge him but the other two probably should get raises.

Personally, Puljujarvi always looks like he doesn't get hockey.

Heavy shot, skates well, fast, good hands, but lacking hockey sense.

Yamamoto shows what happens when you get a Phillips size player in the game.

He doesn't play like he's 5'7",

A bit too close to the edge and he gets creamed too often.

 

Coach said that they can take the next step.

The players admitted how hard it is just to get back to the playoffs.

The group that played this series played together the last game together.

 

It's funny how this series looked similar to the CGY series.

The AVS got average goaltending but shut down the top line, mostly.

The Oilers went from okay to good goaltending to below average.

Make no mistake, the team game we played against the Oilers would have lost us this series as well.

 

[Thebrewcrew]

The Oilers are already half way through the McDavid deal. 
 

Draisaitl has 3yrs left.

 

Have the Oilers done everything they can to build around these two elite talents? I don’t think so. They need to be more aggressive in their approach to building this roster, because they have 3yrs to win something. Their 2022 1st should be in play. Best case scenario for that pick, that player is a rookie when Leon is a pending UFA.