I'd be shocked if Yak netted anything more than scraps at this point and if he continues that chemistry with McDavid and goes on a tear to end the season, I'd rather hold on to him.
The chemistry with McDavid is highly overstated imo. He scored a couple goals. Yeah, I guess he did. Any of Eberle, Pouliot, Purcell would score goals with McDavid. Its not a reason to keep him.
However imo he is not without value strictly on his first overall status, good rookie campaign and the extent to which everyone in the league knows what a gong show of suck the Oilers have been for Yak's entire tenure with the club. As a package with the first rounder ... that is the best way to maximize Yakupov's value imo. Not saying we deal that for nothing but a number one d-man obviously. Maybe we only get a second pairing guy plus a couple of different forwards that help the team more than Yakupov does.
If you add Eberle or RNH to that package, it easily reaches the value of a top pairing d-man plus a cheaper, or younger, or more versatile center to fill the gap. Honestly, do you not think Chiarelli is sitting here with a bunch of chips in his hand and doing nothing but sweat all over them? He needs to make an extremely critical deal, or series of deals, for the future of this club, and we cannot afford to see it be anything other than an unqualified success. I think every club in the league wants a first round lotto pick. That gets him in the conversation. A good GM can turn that into the trade we need. The pick needs to go for sure imo.
The Oilers need to manage their long term cap. McDavid is due for an enourmous contract, probably $12M or so if he is who we think he is and Drai's price will likely go up more and more with each passing month of solid production. Plus the Oilers are going to need to pay some good Dmen. The cap crunch is coming and it's essential that the Oilers keep replenishing with cheap young talent. Their pipeline is pretty much a barren wasteland at this point, it leaves little margin for error in case of injury.
Why do people talk like it is essential to keep replenishing? Look at the freaking wasteland that the Oilers farm system and development has been for the last decade. Now at least we have a good setup. I'm not too concerned if we have a gap in certain positions on the farm in three years time. That's part of a good GMs job. He is supposed to move talent around. Figure out early which guys aren't going to cut it and trade them to someone else for a player that does fill a need for yourself. Kinda like the Kings did when they
grudgingly let us take Teubert off their hands.
The cap crunch is coming? Oh well. It usually does for most good teams. When it comes you bite the bullet and moves someone along. If a GM is making astute trades, and evaluating his prospect pool correctly his team will never be crippled by being forced to deal away good players for cap reasons.
Instead of worrying about the coming cap crunch, why don't we try and put together a playoff caliber squad before Mcdavid gets $12 million and Hall's deal runs out?
I'm not adverse to dealing the pick but I'd prefer to deal one of the pricey forwards to offset the cap add.
I'd like to do both. I think they need to do both.
Kessel has been a much better player than Eberle. His production has been more on par with Hall than Eberle and he's a better goal scorer than Hall even.
I'd say the only reason his value dropped is because of the PR disaster that the Leafs were last season.
Kessel has a couple sweet seasons I'll give him that. Two to be exact. The rest of the time he's been no better than Eberle. He's no defensive specialist either, nor is he particularly gritty. He's also three years older than Eberle, done all his scoring in the East, always seems to be playing ten pounds overweight to me, and has a contract that makes Eberle's look like lunch money. Laugh all you want, but I would not trade Eberle straight up for Kessel.
If all else was equal, I'd prefer Shattenkirk as well but not all else is equal. Hamonic is signed long term to a sweetheart contract and wants to play in this area of the continent while they would only have a year to negotiate with Shattenkirk (an American) which could go either way so for the Oilers, I'd say that Hamonic is the much safer target. Plus he plays a rough and tumble style that the Oilers could really use. Ideally, they could add Hamonic and Vatanen. I'd like Buff short term if not Vatanen but long term, it gets scary.
Yeah, the Oilers have a very poor record with American defensemen. I understand why people are leery. Still, Shattenkirk knows how to run a PP. He could put up a lot of points playing on this squad. Maybe get himself into the conversation for some awards. But yeah, all things being equal Edmonton has a long way to go toward proving itself to be a rehabilitated franchise in the eyes of players wondering where to sign their next longterm deal.
