Rumor: Rumour and Proposal Thread: Now the fun begins

[McDNicks17]

Last one hit 1k.

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[Jimmi McJenkins]

Thinking about this offseason, hounding the Jets until they give up Hellebyuck and Pionk in a deal, the Oilers would be pushed forward significantly, imo.

 

[AddyTheWrath]

@Burnt Biscuits is Campbell’s sample size large enough to make that bet between him vs Hellebuyck?

The only reason I lean towards Hellebuyck is because he’s one of those unicorns that has both proven consistency (.910+ save percentage) and work rate (GP).

As for the poll, if those are the only options I’d probably target one of Husso or Campbell, and make the decision based on their contract demands. Longshot scenario would be Gibson with retention but that seems unlikely and I fear it would raise the acquisition cost astronomically.

 

[Paralyzer]

We are gonna have to remember that our direct competition for next year, is the Avs. We need to build our team that can beat them at their games and hopefully we find our diamond in the rough in prospects.

 

[fuswald]

Another goalie thread?

 

[Staghorn]

I can't see what the Oil can legitimately give up to get Hellebuyck. Later round firsts and mid-range prospects - and Winnipeg cant just take every contract on to make the $$$ work... Sign Husso and ride him for the next X years, keep your young prospect pool and picks.

 

[russ99]

None of the above. UFAs (if they would sign here) are overpriced and each member of this year’s crop is flawed.

So we could easily end up with an overpriced goalie for multiple years who could flop.

Rather trade for a young up and coming goalie. Give the new guy and Skinner a shot and then trade for a veteran rental at the deadline if they aren’t getting it done yet.

 

[fuswald]

Avs won on defensive play in the finals. Kept Tampa to 4 shots last period. They limited us as well.
Goalie is important but not to a dire extent.

That said I don't want an real expensive goalie. Husso or Smith from that list. Maybe both and Smith goes ltir for much of the season. Smith gets waived if Husso looks good enough.

 

[BarDownBobo]

I’ve mentioned him before but Mackenzie Blackwood is the guy I’d like to see targeted. He’s had a couple tough injury riddled years but if he’s healthy he could be a long term answer. His cap hit next year is only $2.8m so he’s cheap enough to allow them to try to retain Kane or bring in a replacement like Domi/Rakell etc in free agency.

 

[McDNicks17]

I’ve mentioned him before but Mackenzie Blackwood is the guy I’d like to see targeted. He’s had a couple tough injury riddled years but if he’s healthy he could be a long term answer. His cap hit next year is only $2.8m so he’s cheap enough to allow them to try to retain Kane or bring in a replacement like Domi/Rakell etc in free agency.

I don't think you can really bet the season on a guy like Blackwood.

I feel like you'd have to trade Skinner and bring in a good veteran to split time with Blackwood if you did get him.

 

[nally]

Is our team good enough to go with Smith and Skinner until the trade deadline?

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

I don't think Ken Holland is a good GM so i am setting my expectations very low and hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

I wonder what Perlini, Turris type are we going to acquire this year. Beagle? Eakin? Sutter?

 

[McSuper]

Is our team good enough to go with Smith and Skinner until the trade deadline?

I doubt Smith is back .

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Is our team good enough to go with Smith and Skinner until the trade deadline?

no
Smith is old as dirt, takes forever to get going and often injured

Skinner is too raw to play a ton of games

 

[Mr Positive]

Is our team good enough to go with Smith and Skinner until the trade deadline?

No team can survive a weak link that critical. If things pan out, like Smith stays healthy and/or Skinner takes a step forward then great. But in all likelihood it goes wrong.

The team should put priority on supporting Skinner. I don't think Smith is the guy to carry him through his development. Smith's fundamentals aren't that great anymore and he might do the ultimate let down by being injured and putting too much workload and pressure on Skinner

 

[FlameChampion]

Is our team good enough to go with Smith and Skinner until the trade deadline?

It could be.

I just think its really risky not addressing the goaltending in the offseason.

Last year for example, wasnt really many goaltenders available. Did anyone get traded beside Fleury? And he didnt want to move here. And if Smith goes through the same injury troubles, its again really risky. The Team would have to sign someone in the offseason, similar to Forsberg to mitigate some of the risk.

We will see though. Smith might just want to retire or LTIR.

 

[JarvisFunk]

Is our team good enough to go with Smith and Skinner until the trade deadline?

Yes, we've done it for the last three seasons.

But no, it's not good enough to win anything meaningful.

 

[Little Fury]

We are gonna have to remember that our direct competition for next year, is the Avs. We need to build our team that can beat them at their games and hopefully we find our diamond in the rough in prospects.

Need a new GM first. Hopefully Katz was watching the finals and sees you can't win with dinosaurs in the FO and on the ice.

 

[Mr Positive]

I don't think Ken Holland is a good GM so i am setting my expectations very low and hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

I wonder what Perlini, Turris type are we going to acquire this year. Beagle? Eakin? Sutter?

That's the flaw in the thread. It's a fine question and fun but options like Gibson require too much creativity, and ones that require a bigger cap hit like Campbell or Kuemper require too much GMing to clear the cap to do it. For Holland, you might as well put Vasilevskiy on the list because there's about as much a chance.

A guy like Husso is really interesting because even if he has more risk of coming down to earth at least signing him would be easy, if he wants to be here

 

[Rengorlex]

Has anything leaked on Smith's decision to retire or not?

 

[SDig14]

Has anything leaked on Smith's decision to retire or not?

Not yet, but they said July 1 deadline so probably by end of week or weekend we will hear something.

 

[Paralyzer]

Not yet, but they said July 1 deadline so probably by end of week or weekend we will hear something.

Well, we should hear it mid-week, as the 1st is Friday. Either way, I'm expecting them to both be here. Better to have that expectation than assume they won't be. Will make the disappointment of them not retiring lessen.

 

[Rengorlex]

It's going to be a busy offseason with the draft in a week, the free agency in two weeks and then only a couple of weeks until the WJC starts.

 

[Mr Positive]

Not yet, but they said July 1 deadline so probably by end of week or weekend we will hear something.

pretty much, although that isn't a real deadline. Smith and Keith will probably go along with it.

I do see the value in a Smith-Skinner tandem in that it is a simple and cheap solution that could really work. I just don't like gambling the whole season on that tandem beause there's too many ways for it go wrong

 

[CupofOil]

No team can survive a weak link that critical. If things pan out, like Smith stays healthy and/or Skinner takes a step forward then great. But in all likelihood it goes wrong.

The team should put priority on supporting Skinner. I don't think Smith is the guy to carry him through his development. Smith's fundamentals aren't that great anymore and he might do the ultimate let down by being injured and putting too much workload and pressure on Skinner

The Oilers survived with Koskinen and Skinner the majority of the season and went to the Conference Finals with Smith. The better question is if they can cup contend with Smith and Skinner and the answer is likely no unless Skinner is indeed the real deal but they can certainly roll with Skinner/Smith until the deadline and make a move then if need be.

Of course a lot will depend on the team in front of them which I'm sure will have a lot of moving parts.
I think the Oilers can afford to use the first half of the season as an evaluation period for Skinner so to speak because the team is strong enough up front to keep them in playoff contention while they figure out the goaltending. Of course the issue is the inevitable Mike Smith injury (assuming that he comes back at all) so they're going to need to bring in somebody to share duties with Skinner as insurance, somebody who has proven capable of playing 35-40 games a season.