The Case For Buying Out Andrei Sekera

[Bryanbryoil]

Andrei Sekera is our highest paid defenseman at $5.5 million AAV. He is signed for 3 more years beyond this one. He is coming off of a massive injury and looks like it will be awhile before he's back to 100% if he ever gets there.

With another impending cap crunch and the bulk of our defensive depth on the left side with Nurse looking for a substantial raise it maybe worth looking at buying out Andrei if we couldn't deal him and retain a little for the remainder of his contract.

Ideally we could move him for futures and retain $1.5 million on the remainder of his 3 years.

If that is not a possibility because he will not waive his NMC or no one wants him then we may need to bite the bullet to improve the team without moving RNH or Klefbom.

Here is what a buyout of Sekera this offseason would look like:

'18-19 Actual Salary $5.5 million AAV $5.5 million Buyout Cap Hit $1,611,111 Savings $3,888,889
'19-20 Actual Salary $4.5 million AAV $5.5 million Buyout Cap Hit $2,611,111 Savings $2,888,889
'20-21 Actual Salary $4.5 million AAV $5.5 million Buyout Cap Hit $2,611,111 Savings $2,888,889
'21-22 Actual Salary $0 AAV $0 Buyout Cap Hit $1,611,111 Dead Cap $1,611,111
'22-23 Actual Salary $0 AAV $0 Buyout Cap Hit $1,611,111 Dead Cap $1,611,111
'23-24 Actual Salary $0 AAV $0 Buyout Cap Hit $1,611,111 Dead Cap $1,611,111

If we could buy out Sekera or preferably trade him with some retention we could make a play for an upgrade on D whether it be Mike Green or someone via trade. Pouliot's buyout comes off the books in '21-22 so in theory Sekera's would be the only buyout on our books at that point.

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[LemmyUlanov55]

LTIR. I wonder if FA will change within the next couple of years, those buyouts are just brutal and the contracts that come with them hardly work for the majority of teams.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I'd give him another year before considering a buyout. But there's no denying he's been dreadful since his return.

Which was entirely predictable.

 

[Fourier]

It's an option that could be used if there is someone else already in place or if you really need the cap space. But I would not buy him out unless there is an actual better player to spend the money on.

This goes for dealing Nuge as well. It would be foolish to lose another trade just in case.

 

[LMFAO]

He deserves another year to prove himself

 

[oXo Cube]

The case for not buying out Andrej Sekera:

Judging anything off of 30 game sample sizes is utterly moronic. It's even stupider when doing it to a player who is essentially still rehabbing a serious knee injury.

Reggie is not even 80 games removed from being a key piece for us.

 

[Soundwave]

Can we just buy out all of Chiaturd's additions and go back to May 2015?

 

[Little Fury]

He should have spent some time in Bako getting up to speed instead of jumping back into the lineup.

As to the thread subject itself, buying him out is stupid. Worst case scenario, you get him to waive his NMC, a guy like that will always return an asset.

 

[MessierII]

Can we just buy out all of Chiaturd's additions and go back to May 2015?

Yeah that 10 year playoff drought was great. I loved having the worst D, goaltending, and prospect pool in the nhl.

 

[Aerchon]

Why jump through all these hoops just so we can keep Klefbom.

At least as good a chance Klefbom will continue to suck as it is Sekera wont return to form.

Just trade Klefbom for a ham sandwich and be done with it. Besides Talbot Klefbom is very clearly the next biggest goat. Id rather sell low on Klefdoh than cripple our cap management by buying out Sekera.

 

[Soundwave]

Yeah that 10 year playoff drought was great. I loved having the worst D, goaltending, and prospect pool in the nhl.

Which is basically right back to where we are today except now we are going to have a Tambo era finish with a 100 point player lol.

 

[McBigYak]

The case for not buying out Andrej Sekera:

Judging anything off of 30 game sample sizes is utterly moronic. It's even stupider when doing it to a player who is essentially still rehabbing a serious knee injury.

Reggie is not even 80 games removed from being a key piece for us.

Bingo. This whole Sekera and Lucic stuff is getting really painful.

These two players were key cogs last year, and we are talking about buyouts because they've had a bad 25-30 games.

I completely expected this from Sekera, you can probably look back on posts where I tell guys to calm down when he was returning and to not expect much from him this year. Lucic has no excuse, but nonetheless neither of these players are even close to the buyout conversation yet.

 

[Spawn]

Would be incredibly short sighted. Especially if the plan was to just replace him with an older, injury prone d-man who is going to cost more money in Green.

When Chiarelli first announced his injury he was expected to be out 6-9 months.

We just passed 9 months a couple weeks ago. Dude isn't healthy yet. When healthy he's a top 3 d-man. Was our most consistent defender last season. But yeah, lets buy him out, incur massive buyout penalties for the next 6 years and oh yeah... find a top 3 d-man that isn't going to cost more than.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Yeah that 10 year playoff drought was great. I loved having the worst D, goaltending, and prospect pool in the nhl.

It's not like much has changed.

 

[MessierII]

It's not like much has changed.

Last year did in fact occur

 

[t0nedeff]

Would be incredibly short sighted. Especially if the plan was to just replace him with an older, injury prone d-man who is going to cost more money in Green.

When Chiarelli first announced his injury he was expected to be out 6-9 months.

We just passed 9 months a couple weeks ago. Dude isn't healthy yet. When healthy he's a top 3 d-man. Was our most consistent defender last season. But yeah, lets buy him out, incur massive buyout penalties for the next 6 years and oh yeah... find a top 3 d-man that isn't going to cost more than.

lmao he's played 70+ games each of the last 5 years and his worst year in that span production wise is Sekera's second best.

 

[Little Fury]

Bingo. This whole Sekera and Lucic stuff is getting really painful.

These two players were key cogs last year, and we are talking about buyouts because they've had a bad 25-30 games.

Did Lucic have a major injury and no one told me?

I completely expected this from Sekera, you can probably look back on posts where I tell guys to calm down when he was returning and to not expect much from him this year. Lucic has no excuse, but nonetheless neither of these players are even close to the buyout conversation yet.

Can't talk buyout with Lucic because of his contract. But he's been crap since the day he put on the Oilers jersey, he needs to get gone for this team to improve.

 

[nabob]

Why jump through all these hoops just so we can keep Klefbom.

At least as good a chance Klefbom will continue to suck as it is Sekera wont return to form.

Just trade Klefbom for a ham sandwich and be done with it. Besides Talbot Klefbom is very clearly the next biggest goat. Id rather sell low on Klefdoh than cripple our cap management by buying out Sekera.

Maybe we could get your boy Marincin back? You always insisted he was so much better than Klefbom.

 

[McBigYak]

Did Lucic have a major injury and no one told me?



Can't talk buyout with Lucic because of his contract. But he's been crap since the day he put on the Oilers jersey, he needs to get gone for this team to improve.

The reference to Lucic was made because of the part I bolded in the quoted post. Nothing to do with injuries.

He hasn't been crap. He's been crap the past 25 games. He put up fairly decent numbers last year. I will take 50 points and 200 plus hits for 6 million bucks a year. Prior to this absolutely horrendous stretch, he was on pace to almost break his career high in points.

That contract is not as bad as a lot of people make it out to be

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Way too early. We all knew this season would be a write-off for him.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Last year did in fact occur

So did this year.

 

[Jumptheshark]

I'd give him another year before considering a buyout. But there's no denying he's been dreadful since his return.

Which was entirely predictable.

People are either forgetting or just over looking do not care he came back from a serious injury.. my guess is he is still not at 100%

 

[MessierII]

So did this year.

Right so what will happen next year? I don’t know and neither do you. There’s more outlandish statiscal anomalies this year than last that’s for sure.

 

[SomeDudeOTI]

Andrei Sekera is our highest paid defenseman at $5.5 million AAV. He is signed for 3 more years beyond this one. He is coming off of a massive injury and looks like it will be awhile before he's back to 100% if he ever gets there.

With another impending cap crunch and the bulk of our defensive depth on the left side with Nurse looking for a substantial raise it maybe worth looking at buying out Andrei if we couldn't deal him and retain a little for the remainder of his contract.

Ideally we could move him for futures and retain $1.5 million on the remainder of his 3 years.

If that is not a possibility because he will not waive his NMC or no one wants him then we may need to bite the bullet to improve the team without moving RNH or Klefbom.

Here is what a buyout of Sekera this offseason would look like:

'18-19 Actual Salary $5.5 million AAV $5.5 million Buyout Cap Hit $1,611,111 Savings $3,888,889
'19-20 Actual Salary $4.5 million AAV $5.5 million Buyout Cap Hit $2,611,111 Savings $2,888,889
'20-21 Actual Salary $4.5 million AAV $5.5 million Buyout Cap Hit $2,611,111 Savings $2,888,889
'21-22 Actual Salary $0 AAV $0 Buyout Cap Hit $1,611,111 Dead Cap $1,611,111
'22-23 Actual Salary $0 AAV $0 Buyout Cap Hit $1,611,111 Dead Cap $1,611,111
'23-24 Actual Salary $0 AAV $0 Buyout Cap Hit $1,611,111 Dead Cap $1,611,111

If we could buy out Sekera or preferably trade him with some retention we could make a play for an upgrade on D whether it be Mike Green or someone via trade. Pouliot's buyout comes off the books in '21-22 so in theory Sekera's would be the only buyout on our books at that point.

I'd give him another year before considering a buyout. But there's no denying he's been dreadful since his return.

Which was entirely predictable.

Yeah Bryan I'm with Keith on this one, talking buyout at this time is premature.
See what he looks like by the 20 game mark next year and then make a decision, I feel confident he will be better than he is now. In a way we're in the same spot as last off season, we need to add a high end D both to hedge our bets with Sek and to improve the D overall.

As others have mentioned, he should have gone to Bako for a conditioning stint before returning to the big club. Unfortunately we were still hoping for the big win streak to get us back in the playoff picture so he came straight to the Oil. Imo this whole situation is on Chia for not doing anything last summer.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

His first year here was very meh, he will be 32 before the start of next season and the reality is that he may never return to his previous form as time is not on his side. Add in that he is our highest paid defender, isn't very good on the PP, is a LHD and that he has already bought us time for guys like Nurse and yes even Klefbom to develop a bit and IMO it's best if he moved on. If he is willing to waive his NMC and another team wants him, trust me, I'd MUCH rather go that route. The reality of the situation is that he won't be up to speed by seasons end so I suspect that his trade value will be a negative. The only thing that we have going for us is that his actual pay is lower than his cap for the last 2 years of his deal.

Once Nurse is signed we will have way too much invested in LHD on this club. Can we afford to wait 1/2 a season next year for Sekera to hopefully rebound?