HFOil: Where people are more concerned about being right or wrong than cheering for the team. It’s like they hope certain people and players fail or succeed just to be correct.
I don't think it is even a matter of being right or wrong, but I think a lot of people want something to gnash their teeth about. It sorta makes sense with the Oilers, since things have been bad for a long time, but even teams that are successful get jumped on by their fans the minute something doesn't go the team's way.
The reality is that the NHL is incredibly tough to make, and very few players sustain good production consistently. If you take the negative position about every transaction, you are going to be right way more than you are wrong. But, if one Koskinen works out (i.e. becomes an above average starter) out of ten tries, that is a huge success.
The reality is Talbot and Brassoit were both crap last year. I think Talbot will bounce back, but there are no guarantees. As long as Koskinen has more potential upside than the available crop of free agent goalies (would any of them be considered likely to progress into a starter's role?), then it is a good bet to make. Either he is starter quality, in which case the 2.5M is a great investment (far more important than having an extra 1.5M to spend on a winger), or he goes back to Europe. I think the chance that he finishes the season in the AHL weighing down our cap is basically nil.
Francouz is completely irrelevant to this discussion. Even if he becomes a superstar, that will be nice for the Avs, but has nothing to do with us. The only thing that matters is if Koskinen has a reasonable (which I would say is maybe 10%) chance of being something. No one here has any real way to know that, but hey if you take the negative position your chance of being right is at worst probably 90%, so why not?