You're MacT: What do you do now?

[Tarus]

I think Arco going to the 4th line and potentially using that 4th line a bit more can help. Right now it doesn't really get used.

Acrobello is a product of playing in the top 6 with the team's best player.

He'll become useless second he gets put between Gadzic/Jones and Brown, just like anyone else would.

 

[McShogun99]

Id try and acquire Hartnell and Coburn from Philadelphia. I'd offer Hemsky plus either Klefbom or two other prospects of Philedalphias choice not named Nurse.

After this deal I'd trade Smid for a defensive specialist RW for the 3rd line .

I'd sign Bryzgalov for a year and put Labarbera on waivers.

Trade N.Schultz for an upgrade on Brown, then trade Brown for a pick.

Hall - Gagner - Yakupov
Joensuu - RNH - Eberle
Perron - Gordon - New guy
Smyth - Arcobello - New guy

Coburn - Petry
Ference - Belov
Larsen - Schultz

Dubnyk
Bryzgalov

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

We've played 8 games this year. We've outshot our opponents in 5 of them. The teams that have outplayed us have been the #1 team in the East, the team that lead our division for the last 5 years, and last night's Islanders. Our goaltenders are 50th and 52nd in SV% (fun fact, often proposed trade target Brian Elliot is 54th). Our record sucks, but we have 74 games to make up the 7 points we're down, and we've outplayed our opponents in 63% of our games so far.

If I'm MacT, it's all hands on deck in the goalie hunt. Also, if an opportunity comes up to add a decent defenseman (y'know...because that happens all the time this time of year) I do that too. Gagner will be back in another week or two which will help a lot. Arcobello has been as good as you could possibly ask a guy from your farm team to be, but his play hasn't been as good as his 8 points and +5 would suggest, and Gagner is still a clear upgrade. Adding some big men with skill who can play in the top 6

Trade Yakupov? No. Nobody is going to be offering anything that would be worth giving up a player like that so there's no point.

There are some special teams concerns that I would look at. I personally think PK results are mostly goaltender driven anyway, so getting better netminding will help our special teams a lot as well. There is a lot more about our powerplay that I don't like despite being around the middle of the pack percentage-wise. I don't like that Nuge and Eberle aren't on the same unit, and ditto for Hemsky/Yakupov, but it's not just personnel.

Can't say I agree. I think outside of Perron and maybe spurts of Hall he has been our best forward. He's good defensively (even between Hall and Ebs), great at FO's and more physical than Gagner...despite Gagner weighting 25lbs more. Gagner had a good season last year, hopefully he improves but he also went to sleep for a good while near the end. He isn't good at faceoffs and had some pretty awful defensive gaffs at times. I'd sooner move him to LW to fill a spot.

 

[joestevens29]

Acrobello is a product of playing in the top 6 with the team's best player.

He'll become useless second he gets put between Gadzic/Jones and Brown, just like anyone else would.

Best +/- on team, winning draws, working his way to tough spots, throwing the odd hit.

I don't expect to keep up the pace, but his drive is really helping us.

 

[Moose Coleman]

I think Arco going to the 4th line and potentially using that 4th line a bit more can help. Right now it doesn't really get used.

I can't imagine something like Jonesuu/Smyth-Arco-Acton/Jones could be worse than the garbage bags on skates that are 2/3 of our usual fourth line.

 

[Mav3rick07]

Trade first round pick next year + Prospect (Lander?) for a goalie. Miller doesn't want to come here and Reimer is now hurt so scratch those two. Hiller would be ideal, and I'd even take Elliot at this point.

I'd only trade Yakubov, if we were getting a good quality goaltender in return, such as Hiller. But there's no way you deal Yakubov for Elliot. I'd take Elliot for a first round pick though.

Bringing in a new, more consistent goalie will give the kids confidence and they will play better in front of him.

I like Eakins. This team has been through way too many coaches, and we have to trust his system. He works the kids hard, he got Oil Change out of the dressingroom because he didn't want it to distract the kids(love this), and he also took down the Oilers memorabilia in the locker room to show the kids that this is their locker room and those days are in the past and now is the time to start winning.

We've put together some good efforts, our record is really misleading, and had we had a goaltender who can stop the puck for the first 5 games, things would be different. We need to trust Eakins, since I don't believe the problem is coaching after been through so many.

 

[NewBoysClub97*]

Oil Change premiere is this Sunday! wooooot *sarcasm*

they never got rid of it

 

[dyzfunctioned]

Trade first round pick next year + Prospect (Lander?) for a goalie. Miller doesn't want to come here and Reimer is now hurt so scratch those two. Hiller would be ideal, and I'd even take Elliot at this point.

I'd only trade Yakubov, if we were getting a good quality goaltender in return, such as Hiller. But there's no way you deal Yakubov for Elliot. I'd take Elliot for a first round pick though.

Bringing in a new, more consistent goalie will give the kids confidence and they will play better in front of him.

I like Eakins. This team has been through way too many coaches, and we have to trust his system. He works the kids hard, he got Oil Change out of the dressingroom because he didn't want it to distract the kids(love this), and he also took down the Oilers memorabilia in the locker room to show the kids that this is their locker room and those days are in the past and now is the time to start winning.

We've put together some good efforts, our record is really misleading, and had we had a goaltender who can stop the puck for the first 5 games, things would be different. We need to trust Eakins, since I don't believe the problem is coaching after been through so many.

You would give up Yakupov for one year of Hiller? And a 1st round pick for Elliott, who can only play in a Hitchcock system behind the leagues best d-corps?

 

[AlowlyMcOilersfan]

Oil Change premiere is this Sunday! wooooot *sarcasm*

they never got rid of it

oh god...

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

Bask in my reflected glory.


Nail Yakupov
Jeff Petry


PK Subban
-------

Oscar Klefbom


Malcolm Subban
--------

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
1st round pick
Ladislav Smid
Teemu Hartikainen


Eric Staal (30% retained)
Jordan Staal
--------

Darnell Nurse
Anton Lander
1st round pick


Marc Staal
--------

Justin Schultz
Marco Roy


Brayden Schenn
Luke Schenn
Chris Pronger (thereby ending the curse)

[FIELDSET="BOLD"]

CAPGEEK.COM USER GENERATED ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Taylor Hall ($6.000m) / Eric Staal ($5.775m—30.0%) / Ales Hemsky ($5.000m)
David Perron ($3.813m) / Sam Gagner ($4.800m) / Jordan Eberle ($6.000m)
Brayden Schenn ($3.110m) / Jordan Staal ($6.000m) / Boyd Gordon ($3.000m)
Jesse Joensuu ($0.950m) / Mark Arcobello ($0.660m) / Tyler Pitlick ($0.851m)
DEFENSEMEN
Marc Staal ($3.975m) / P.K. Subban ($2.875m)
Andrew Ference ($3.250m) / Philip Larsen ($1.150m)
Taylor Fedun ($0.709m) / Luke Schenn ($1.800m—50.0%)
GOALTENDERS
Devan Dubnyk ($3.500m)
Malcolm Subban ($1.494m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled with the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $64,710,917; BONUSES: $600,000
CAP SPACE (20-man roster): $189,083[/FIELDSET]

 

[Hockey Monkey]

I throw a grenade into the locker room, and dramatically look away while biting onto my closed fist.

I cannot stop laughing at this and I don't know why.

 

[Master Lok]

Firstly I know its mostly gallows humor, but really four pages of so called "comical" posts to a serious question by the OP is a bit much.

What to do....

a) Stay the course with the coach. Its outright ridiculous to suggest that a fifth coaching change is necessary. Utterly stupid suggestion - after eight games, and four coaching changes to even entertain the though. Idiotic posters.

b) Change the penalty killing. The Oilers are near dead last with their penalty killing. I'm utterly unconvinced that having Hemsky or any offensive forward has helped the penalty killing this year.

c) Waive/buyout Steve MacIntyre. It was an utterly stupid, reactionary move by Mact to pick up this guy. What does it matter? BECAUSE ITS AN EXTRA CONTRACT and the Oilers are now stuck at 49 contracts. They can only have 50. In order to get more guys, they need contract flexibility.

d) Call up a defender from AHL. I see that the Oilers have recalled Grebeshkov. Sit out one of the defenders - Justin Schultz in particular has been wretched in his own zone. Have him watch the game, and game tape, and take a lesser role (i.e. not top 4) but give him oodles of PP minutes. He was not ready for top 4 last year and the team suffered for it, he still is not ready for top 4 minutes this year.

e) Bring in Jose Theodore for a look-see. Is he better than Dubnyk? Maybe not - but he's probably better than Labarbera, and can hopefully push Dubnyk as 1b goaltender. It will cost zero in assets.

f) Wait for injured players to return. Will Sam Gagner help? Jesse Joensuu probably will. Heck, will Corey Potter help?

g) need more guys who can play with grit, block a shot, play two way hockey. Who is that guy? New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, Philly Flyers, New Jersey Devils are four teams who are in the same boat as Edmonton.

NYR's Dan Girardi is a UFA, paid 3.325 M. He's a genuine top 4 guy, who can do everything. I doubt NYR would be interested in Schultz and Petry would be too much to give up for a UFA. Would Musil be of interest?

Buffalo - no on Vanek, no on Miller. Too much money, too much to give up for two UFAs. Buffalo's Marcus Foligno hasn't put up the points and is a RFA. Could he be a big body winger that could help? Henrik Tallinder is tempting as a veteran top 4 defender who is UFA. Steve Ott is a UFA, but I'm assuming a lot of teams will pay more than the Oil for Ott if he was available.

Philly - No on Scott Hartnell. Like the player, but he's getting injury prone and he's getting paid 4.75 Million for the next SIX years. SIX! He's 31 now, that's a cap killer contract. Brayden Schenn or Maxime Talbot are the guys that the Oilers should be looking at, but I just can't see Philly wanting to give up these guys. Would I do a Nick Schultz for Andrez Meszaros trade (UFA for UFA)? Maybe - but would Philly?

 

[Master Lok]

Bask in my reflected glory.

These are just fantasy trades for NHL 2014. Will never happen. Waste of space.

 

[Up the Irons]

We've played 8 games this year. We've outshot our opponents in 5 of them. The teams that have outplayed us have been the #1 team in the East, the team that lead our division for the last 5 years, and last night's Islanders. Our goaltenders are 50th and 52nd in SV% (fun fact, often proposed trade target Brian Elliot is 54th). Our record sucks, but we have 74 games to make up the 7 points we're down, and we've outplayed our opponents in 63% of our games so far.

If I'm MacT, it's all hands on deck in the goalie hunt. Also, if an opportunity comes up to add a decent defenseman (y'know...because that happens all the time this time of year) I do that too. Gagner will be back in another week or two which will help a lot. Arcobello has been as good as you could possibly ask a guy from your farm team to be, but his play hasn't been as good as his 8 points and +5 would suggest, and Gagner is still a clear upgrade. Adding some big men with skill who can play in the top 6

Trade Yakupov? No. Nobody is going to be offering anything that would be worth giving up a player like that so there's no point.

There are some special teams concerns that I would look at. I personally think PK results are mostly goaltender driven anyway, so getting better netminding will help our special teams a lot as well. There is a lot more about our powerplay that I don't like despite being around the middle of the pack percentage-wise. I don't like that Nuge and Eberle aren't on the same unit, and ditto for Hemsky/Yakupov, but it's not just personnel.

that's probably true. overall, pretty good post. i'm depressed and becoming disinterested, but.... it is what it is. they are not making the playoff unless they .600 the rest of the way.

I'm going to watch the NBA and keep an eye on the Canadian phenom Andrew Wiggins in Kansas State University. follow the Oilers from affair with passing interest until they make it interesting, (very big) IF that happens.

 

[joestevens29]

c) Waive/buyout Steve MacIntyre. It was an utterly stupid, reactionary move by Mact to pick up this guy. What does it matter? BECAUSE ITS AN EXTRA CONTRACT and the Oilers are now stuck at 49 contracts. They can only have 50. In order to get more guys, they need contract flexibility.



e) Bring in Jose Theodore for a look-see. Is he better than Dubnyk? Maybe not - but he's probably better than Labarbera, and can hopefully push Dubnyk as 1b goaltender. It will cost zero in assets.

Can't buyout Macintyre and waiving him doesn't exactly help the cause.

As for theodore isn't picking up some that is marginally better that what we have the definition of a wasted contract?

The rest I agree with.

 

[nally]

When has that happened last? 5 months ago?

5 months--7 games ago...same thing
Practice and playing games are very different.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

These are just fantasy trades for NHL 2014. Will never happen. Waste of space.

Accept them, cherish them, become one with them.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Firstly I know its mostly gallows humor, but really four pages of so called "comical" posts to a serious question by the OP is a bit much.

What to do....

a) Stay the course with the coach. Its outright ridiculous to suggest that a fifth coaching change is necessary. Utterly stupid suggestion - after eight games, and four coaching changes to even entertain the though. Idiotic posters.

b) Change the penalty killing. The Oilers are near dead last with their penalty killing. I'm utterly unconvinced that having Hemsky or any offensive forward has helped the penalty killing this year.

c) Waive/buyout Steve MacIntyre. It was an utterly stupid, reactionary move by Mact to pick up this guy. What does it matter? BECAUSE ITS AN EXTRA CONTRACT and the Oilers are now stuck at 49 contracts. They can only have 50. In order to get more guys, they need contract flexibility.

d) Call up a defender from AHL. I see that the Oilers have recalled Grebeshkov. Sit out one of the defenders - Justin Schultz in particular has been wretched in his own zone. Have him watch the game, and game tape, and take a lesser role (i.e. not top 4) but give him oodles of PP minutes. He was not ready for top 4 last year and the team suffered for it, he still is not ready for top 4 minutes this year.

e) Bring in Jose Theodore for a look-see. Is he better than Dubnyk? Maybe not - but he's probably better than Labarbera, and can hopefully push Dubnyk as 1b goaltender. It will cost zero in assets.

f) Wait for injured players to return. Will Sam Gagner help? Jesse Joensuu probably will. Heck, will Corey Potter help?

g) need more guys who can play with grit, block a shot, play two way hockey. Who is that guy? New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, Philly Flyers, New Jersey Devils are four teams who are in the same boat as Edmonton.

NYR's Dan Girardi is a UFA, paid 3.325 M. He's a genuine top 4 guy, who can do everything. I doubt NYR would be interested in Schultz and Petry would be too much to give up for a UFA. Would Musil be of interest?

Buffalo - no on Vanek, no on Miller. Too much money, too much to give up for two UFAs. Buffalo's Marcus Foligno hasn't put up the points and is a RFA. Could he be a big body winger that could help? Henrik Tallinder is tempting as a veteran top 4 defender who is UFA. Steve Ott is a UFA, but I'm assuming a lot of teams will pay more than the Oil for Ott if he was available.

Philly - No on Scott Hartnell. Like the player, but he's getting injury prone and he's getting paid 4.75 Million for the next SIX years. SIX! He's 31 now, that's a cap killer contract. Brayden Schenn or Maxime Talbot are the guys that the Oilers should be looking at, but I just can't see Philly wanting to give up these guys. Would I do a Nick Schultz for Andrez Meszaros trade (UFA for UFA)? Maybe - but would Philly?

I think the bolded really emphasizes my view point.

 

[jmoss45]

IMO, the biggest reasons for the terrible start:

• no top pairing D
• PK is horrid (need a bottom 6F that can PK)
• no size in the top 6 (hence the need to dress the worst line in the nhl of Gadzik-Acton-Brown)
• no capable of icing at least 3 lines that can hold their own against good opposition with this lineup

Send Yak, N Schultz and Klefbom/Marincin to Philly for Simmonds, Coburn, Talbot

Hall-RNH-Eberle
Perron-Gagner/Arco-Simmonds
Joensuu-Gordon-Hemsky
Talbot-Acton-Brown
Smyth/Gadzik

Coburn-Schultz
Ference-Belov
Petry-Smid
Grebs

 

[Up the Irons]

IMO, the biggest reasons for the terrible start:

• no top pairing D
• PK is horrid (need a bottom 6F that can PK)
• no size in the top 6 (hence the need to dress the worst line in the nhl of Gadzik-Acton-Brown)
• no capable of icing at least 3 lines that can hold their own against good opposition with this lineup

Send Yak, N Schultz and Klefbom/Marincin to Philly for Simmonds, Coburn, Talbot

Hall-RNH-Eberle
Perron-Gagner/Arco-Simmonds
Joensuu-Gordon-Hemsky
Talbot-Acton-Brown
Smyth/Gadzik

Coburn-Schultz
Ference-Belov
Petry-Smid
Grebs

not sure if Philly does this, but if yes, you make that deal today.

 

[Raab]

not sure if Philly does this, but if yes, you make that deal today.

I don't see Philly giving us Coburn and Simmonds for Yak

 

[Beerfish]

Since when did Brayden friggin Coburn become Bobby Orr? This guy is being massively overated here. Desirable player for our team? Yes. Give up really sig resources for him? Why? Big but not really physical. Mobile but not a big offensive contributor.

 

[Raab]

Since when did Brayden friggin Coburn become Bobby Orr? This guy is being massively overated here. Desirable player for our team? Yes. Give up really sig resources for him? Why? Big but not really physical. Mobile but not a big offensive contributor.

Simmonds scored 28 goals two years ago, then scored at a similar pace last year. He's 25 and has potential and I don't see Philly exchanging him plus Coburn for Yak. I don't think anyone is thinking Coburn is going to be the next Chris Pronger but He is going to be better then Smid IMO and will be a big body to clear the front of the net. So he does make the team better. If you can get a 25+goalscoring power forward+ a top pairing d man for Yakupov you do it.

 

[Up the Irons]

Since when did Brayden friggin Coburn become Bobby Orr? This guy is being massively overated here. Desirable player for our team? Yes. Give up really sig resources for him? Why? Big but not really physical. Mobile but not a big offensive contributor.

why is Yak so untradeable? his value may be the highest it will ever be because his ceiling hasn't been revealed yet, and still has the '1st overall' mystic. we don't know how good he's going to be. i haven't seen anything in Yak that tells me he's the next Bure. he certainly isn't Kovalchuk. If he was he would have shown it by now. Bure did on his first shift (first time he touched the puck in fact, with an own zone blueline retrieval, thru everyone and a near goal)

Yak is probably right smack dab in the middle between Bure and Samsonov. A clear level above Samsonov, a clear level below Bure.

 

[jp7]

Simmonds scored 28 goals two years ago, then scored at a similar pace last year. He's 25 and has potential and I don't see Philly exchanging him plus Coburn for Yak. I don't think anyone is thinking Coburn is going to be the next Chris Pronger but He is going to be better then Smid IMO and will be a big body to clear the front of the net. So he does make the team better. If you can get a 25+goalscoring power forward+ a top pairing d man for Yakupov you do it.

I wouldn't call Coburn a top pairing d man... maybe on this team.