GDT: "A Oranje Summer" • FREE AGENT FRENZY • July 28 • 10 AM • SN/TSN

[Oilhawks]

What are the LD options that are even available that would be realistic at about a 1.5 mill ask?

Koekkoek again?

He would be an option I think. Seems like he fit in okay. Had a bit of a rough time after a nice start and that injury but is enough insurance to make sure that Russell doesn’t have to play every night if Lagesson and Samorukov don’t cut it

 

[Del Preston]

$6,153,032 when factoring in Klefbom's LTIR money.

I should add that's with a current roster size of 11 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 2 goalies, for 20 players total. So three spots to fill with the money. Foegele, Yamamoto, and maybe the defenseman Holland was talking about.

Forwards (11 for $42,084,167)
Archibald, Draisaitl, Hyman, Kassian, McDavid, McLeod, Nugent-Hopkins, Puljujarvi, Ryan, Shore, Turris

Defensemen (7 for $21,726,795)
Barrie, Bouchard, Ceci, Keith, Lagesson, Nurse, Russell

Goalies (2 for $6,700,000)
Koskinen, Smith

Injured Reserve (1 for $4,167,000)
Klefbom

Retained Salary (1 for $750,000)
Lucic

Buyouts (2 for $3,416,667)
Neal, Sekera

RFA: Foegele, Yamamoto

Roster size: 20 + 1 LTIR
Cap hit: $78,844,629
Carryover: $669,339
Cap space: $1,986,032 + LTIR

 

[Cloned]

What worries me about Elvis is what happened to the Matiss Kivlenieks (the prospect goalie that died in the firework incident). Matiss was living with Elvis at the time and save both him and his pregnant wife from the firework blast. I don't know what that does to a player's psyche to see a close friend die infront of you like that. Think how Larsson performed after the death of his dad, it's takes time I would say.

Kivlenieks 'died a hero,' Blue Jackets teammate says at memorial

That’s fair, but there’s no way of knowing either way.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Or he could be thankful for what his friend did and will dedicate the rest of his career in his memory and take his game to new levels. It's tough to say how people would handle such a situation. His teammate was a hero in every sense of the word.

Absolutely he could and yes his teammate was. Right now it's still a pretty raw memory. He may not want to leave Columbus so soon either and Jarmo may not want to deal him for all we know...dedication on both sides.

It's a very rare circumstance to have occur.

 

[Soundwave]

Ben Bishop is an option, but the dude hasn't played in an entire calendar year and has another year under contract past this one, that would be rough.

 

[Proko88]

$6,153,032 when factoring in Klefbom's LTIR money.

Elvis and Tatar!!

 

[Oilhawks]

I know Korpisalo might not even be much better than Koskinen (if at all, judging by stats), but maybe he does better on a better team?

Would anyone be willing to do a 2023 2nd and Koskinen (some retention) for Korpisalo? If he doesn't work out they can walk from him at the end of the season

 

[oobga]

Looks like we are gonna be using LTIR in the off season, so should go out and trade for some more! Do what the cool teams are doing.

 

[Cloned]

I suggested it earlier, but would anyone take the risk of signing Rask? Put him on LTIR to start, hope KoskoSmith can handle 40ish games to split, then when Rask is ready you hope Kosko’s trade value has improved a bit so you can trade him.

 

[Jet Walters]

To EDM: Merzlinkins

To NJ: Koskinen and Yamamoto

To CBJ: Blackwood

Add mid round picks if needed

 

[Soundwave]

To EDM: Merzlinkins

To NJ: Koskinen and Yamamoto

To CBJ: Blackwood

Add mid round picks if needed

I'd rather trade our 1st than Yamamoto to be honest.

 

[Jet Walters]

I'd rather trade our 1st than Yamamoto to be honest.

I’d be down with that too.

 

[iCanada]

With the dust settling a little bit, i like the moves we've made thus far. I still would like an upgrade at 3C, as well as an upgrade in goal, but I have to say... we added a lot of give a shit and jam.

Hyman, Foegele, and Ryan are all real smart players that play well positionally and work their f***ing ass off. Great compliments to a team that has McDrai. You add Yams & Pulju, there are a lot of lunchbox guys that play both sides.

You combine that to talent like McDrai and you will see good things. Next year might be the first year in McDrai's career where they aren't the ones doing the heavy lifting on the forecheck. Even makes a guy like Nuge's life a lot easier. You add a couple of role players like Archi and Kassian, and you have a decently deep and well rounded forward core.

Ceci over Bear, not sure I like... but Ceci is a fairly solid 5D that has some size and tenacity. Keith also has size and tenacity.

This club has gotten a lot harder to play against. Lots of guys in the lineup who always seem to be the hardest working guys on the ice at any given time, which is huge in my opinion. Just need to have the goaltending to make sure its not all for nothing...

Looks like we are gonna be using LTIR in the off season, so should go out and trade for some more! Do what the cool teams are doing.

Michael Ferlund, come on down!

 

[GRadio]

We should just roll the dice and pick up Henrik Lundqvist and let him and mike smith carry us to a championship.

He wants to play and definitely wants a shot at winning.

 

[McCombo]

Well maybe not 10, but at least like 6+. The Bruins for example have Bergeron, Pastrnak, Marchand, and Haula for the same price we’re paying for McDrai. Having those truly elite players means your depth is never going to be as good

If Bergeron, Pastrnak and Marchand signed their contracts same time as McDavid you have no chance you get them that cheap. 97 and 29 have discount contracts to what they bring.

Of course that has an affect, but the real problem is elsewhere. Kassian, Russell (old contract), Lucic/Neal, Koskinen just to mention few latest. You could have had 1mil players instead of those guys and the team would have been pretty much as good and saved well over 10mil to improve roster elsewhere.

 

[Soundwave]

Nevermind on Bishop from the Stars board it sounds like he's headed to LTIRetirement.

 

[North]

With the dust settling a little bit, i like the moves we've made thus far. I still would like an upgrade at 3C, as well as an upgrade in goal, but I have to say... we added a lot of give a shit and jam.

Hyman, Foegele, and Ryan are all real smart players that play well positionally and work their f***ing ass off. Great compliments to a team that has McDrai. You add Yams & Pulju, there are a lot of lunchbox guys that play both sides.

You combine that to talent like McDrai and you will see good things. Next year might be the first year in McDrai's career where they aren't the ones doing the heavy lifting on the forecheck. Even makes a guy like Nuge's life a lot easier. You add a couple of role players like Archi and Kassian, and you have a decently deep and well rounded forward core.

Ceci over Bear, not sure I like... but Ceci is a fairly solid 5D that has some size and tenacity. Keith also has size and tenacity.

This club has gotten a lot harder to play against. Lots of guys in the lineup who always seem to be the hardest working guys on the ice at any given time, which is huge in my opinion. Just need to have the goaltending to make sure its not all for nothing...



Michael Ferlund, come on down!

I think the thing with the d is that Holland wants this unit to be mobile and a bit bigger. You can tell that also by the d he drafts.

I think the one thing that was clear is with the d the way it was constructed, Bear’s lack of foot speed and even Larsson’s sometimes caused us to be pinned in our own zone and having to defend more than one would like.

In theory this d Holland is putting together should be able to move the puck to our forwards quicker. We’ll see if that happens.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

There's still time to bring a goalie in, a Kassian for Jarry/Georgiev deal seems possible. I'd do my DD on Bishop/Lundy/Rask health, worst case could be a cheap gamble if one can come back for the second half, limp through with Koskinen/Stalock backing up Smith and then put together the oldest goalie tandem in the league lol. Never know sometimes these old teddy's have renaissance moments.

The forward group improved and the D went in the other direction but overall I think we got better, hopefully Hyman can give us a few good years at least, I definitely like the type of players they targeted up front.

Back end, it definitely got worse, I don't love the acquisitions but gotta remember the blue line lost their #1 defender last year, who looks done (thank god Nurse did what he did) then this year Larsson decides he doesn't want to be here anymore, losing two of your top 3 defenders against your will isn't easy to overcome. They kept the Nurse/Barrie pairing together, Nurse really seemed to flourish alongside Barrie, who led the league in dman scoring, let's keep that going. Barrie's deal is great and if Bouchard progresses, Barrie is probably a nice trade chip in a year or two, depending on his trade clause. Second pairing is total wildcard, I'm hopeful Keith can turn back time with a reduced role and having his kid closer. Don't like the Ceci deal, would of liked a more capable defender even if he was a lefty and cheaper/shorter term but clearly the market put value on those types. Would of been nice to keep some cap flexibility to try and entice Parayko home if he we're to hit free agency next offseason.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Off topic, but did Jennifer Hedger from TSN have some facial cosmetic surgery done? She looks like a totally different person.

 

[Soundwave]

The problem with Ben Bishop is if he can't play and busts, he has another year at 4.9 million next season ... the Oilers can't afford to have more dead cap.

 

[WaitingForUser]

There's still time to bring a goalie in, a Kassian for Jarry/Georgiev deal seems possible. I'd do my DD on Bishop/Lundy/Rask health, worst case could be a cheap gamble if one can come back for the second half, limp through with Koskinen/Stalock backing up Smith and then put together the oldest goalie tandem in the league lol. Never know sometimes these old teddy's have renaissance moments.

The forward group improved and the D went in the other direction but overall I think we got better, hopefully Hyman can give us a few good years at least, I definitely like the type of players they targeted up front.

Back end, it definitely got worse, I don't love the acquisitions but gotta remember the blue line lost their #1 defender last year, who looks done (thank god Nurse did what he did) then this year Larsson decides he doesn't want to be here anymore, losing two of your top 3 defenders against your will isn't easy to overcome. They kept the Nurse/Barrie pairing together, Nurse really seemed to flourish alongside Barrie, who led the league in dman scoring, let's keep that going. Barrie's deal is great and if Bouchard progresses, Barrie is probably a nice trade chip in a year or two, depending on his trade clause. Second pairing is total wildcard, I'm hopeful Keith can turn back time with a reduced role and having his kid closer. Don't like the Ceci deal, would of liked a more capable defender even if he was a lefty and cheaper/shorter term but clearly the market put value on those types. Would of been nice to keep some cap flexibility to try and entice Parayko home if he we're to hit free agency next offseason.

The best thing about both Barrie and Ceci deals is the no trade protection attached on either one. Leaves lots of room to move one of them in a few years of our young guys blow the doors off.

 

[North Cole]

It seems like the expectations are always low, and that there's always an excuse that more is coming down the road.

Like last year was "next year Holland will finally have cap space, so just wait until then"

And today you're like "it's only the first day of free agency, off season's not over!"

It's not like all the free agents are almost all signed, and pretty much nothing big happens after for the rest of the summer usually...

I predict first day of the season when we're still running this lineup, you'll be "we can still bolster our roster during the season!"

Meh, objectively some of the moves in a vacuum arent great and leave some value on the table.

- Hyman 2 years too many. AAV seems to be market based on the shit Granlund, Danny, Goodrow and Coleman signed for.

- Keith 5.5 is too much, needed some retention there, but plugs are being signed to 2-3m and Jones must have comprimising photos of Bowman. Larsson at 4x4 looks good, but he honestly lost a bunch of money signing early.

- Bear trade is fine.
- Barrie contract is extremely good.
- Ryan signing is totally fine and cheap. Hes better than the corpse of Kyle Turris and the scrambled egg of Khaira.
- Ceci contract is 1 year too long. AAV seems market given that Forbort and Hammer got 3m, poolman got 2.5 (lmao atrocious). Pens and Sens fans seem happy with the player when you arent plugging him into a big role - Leafs fans are beside themselves talking shit, just like they were with Barrie (massive grain of salt required). Hammer is a better PK, but shit at EV defense compared to ceci.

Savard would have been nicer, but seems to have wanted to stay out east. Suter probably went to Dallas because he's being paid a shitload of annual money combining the 4 year contract and the buyout - so no state tax is a legit advantage for him personally.​

Goalies are all messed up. Seattle took Grub and sold their insurance back to Washington. Mrazek at 3.8 was a disappointing miss but a Wings fan mentioned that Holland treated him like utter shit back in the day, so we likely never had a chance. Holland doesn't seem to trust Ned, didn't take him last year for free and wasn't in on him this year. We missed out Kuemp because Sakic had a stroke and the board should be thanking their guardian angel we didn't beat that horrendous offer.

In a vacuum there was definitely additional value missed and other than Barrie and Ryan, we could have maximized more. That said, we are 100% a better team so far. We still need a damn goalie badly and I'm not sure we are "contending" but I expect this team to win some playoff games. A goalie would make me quite optimistic.

 

[iCanada]

Lots of salty flames fans on a certain other website.

Tells me the Ryan signing was likely as good or better as I thought it was.

 

[Soundwave]

Matt Murray @ 5.5 mill (some salary retained)

for

Koskinen + Kyle Turris (cap dump)

Who says no? Melnyk might not want to pay Murray big dollars in the coming years of that contract.

Is it too much of a risk for the Oilers to bank on Murray bouncing back?

 

[AddyTheWrath]

If we re-sign Foegele at a 2.5 mil cap hit and Yamamoto at a 2 mil cap hit, & send down Turris/Stalock, we actually still have around $3 million of space. Would love to add another defenseman and/or Tatar.

Obviously dumping Koskinen to a team that needs goaltending (e.g. Buffalo) and then acquiring a goalie should be priority #1 though.