Proposal: Acquiring Cost Friendly Talent

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

It’s crazy how many times this needs to be said.

Really should be a stickied post

 

[Bryanbryoil]

there are only 7 players I would have back next year


McDavid
Draisaitl
Klefbom
Sekera
Chiasson
Kassian
Khaira



The rest can gtfo here for the proper return.Enough is enough. The turds and underachievers need to be jettisoned into hyperspace.

Stopped watching this garbage after the Jersey game. That was inexcusable. It was degrading as a fan watching these clowns try to play a minor league team in a middle of a playoff push.

Knew then this was a horrible team outside a couple of players.

if fans have any pride last 2 home games no one shows up the arena should look like Florida. Wishful thinking.

People here have some short memories. A month or in some cases a few months ago or at maximum 1/2 a season ago most people had little to no use for the bolded players. RNH was playing very well and was playing his best hockey since his rookie season. In the meantime:

Sekera was a guy whose career was seen to be in jeopardy, seen as injury prone and a straight up cap problem.

Chiasson was mired in a lengthy slump after shooting the lights out and many were fine with moving him out at the trade deadline.

Kassian was a guy that had a poor '17-18 season and wasn't putting up numbers again this season, wasn't hitting a whole hell of a lot, was a HS and had being traded on his mind.

Khaira has battled injuries and not buried many chances this season, either looking damn good or invisible. He still hasn't taken that next step to be a solid NHL 3rd liner.

Meanwhile I see post after post of people that are ready to trade RNH because after one hell of a solid 2/3's of the season his play has dropped either due to injuries, over use, exhaustion or whatever. Only the elite of the elite can be great pretty much every damn game. Not even Drai who has had an absolutely epic season has been great every step of the way. If we're being honest, nether has Connor. If we trade RNH away we had damn well better be getting a damn good established NHLer in his prime back. If we aren't there will be almost as much *****ing as when Hall was dealt and definitely more than when Ebs was dealt because we have even less forward depth now. If we are lucky, this years 1st rounder will be as good of a player as RNH is years from now unless we land Hughes or Kakko. Careful what you wish for.

 

[McFlash97]

People here have some short memories. A month or in some cases a few months ago or at maximum 1/2 a season ago most people had little to no use for the bolded players. RNH was playing very well and was playing his best hockey since his rookie season. In the meantime:

Sekera was a guy whose career was seen to be in jeopardy, seen as injury prone and a straight up cap problem.

Chiasson was mired in a lengthy slump after shooting the lights out and many were fine with moving him out at the trade deadline.

Kassian was a guy that had a poor '17-18 season and wasn't putting up numbers again this season, wasn't hitting a whole hell of a lot, was a HS and had being traded on his mind.

Khaira has battled injuries and not buried many chances this season, either looking damn good or invisible. He still hasn't taken that next step to be a solid NHL 3rd liner.

Meanwhile I see post after post of people that are ready to trade RNH because after one hell of a solid 2/3's of the season his play has dropped either due to injuries, over use, exhaustion or whatever. Only the elite of the elite can be great pretty much every damn game. Not even Drai who has had an absolutely epic season has been great every step of the way. If we're being honest, nether has Connor. If we trade RNH away we had damn well better be getting a damn good established NHLer in his prime back. If we aren't there will be almost as much *****ing as when Hall was dealt and definitely more than when Ebs was dealt because we have even less forward depth now. If we are lucky, this years 1st rounder will be as good of a player as RNH is years from now unless we land Hughes or Kakko. Careful what you wish for.

Look man, I like RNH, but he is not the guy you win hockey games with. Its taken me a few years to really dive deep into the guys intestinal fortitude. He is easily pushed out of tough games. He cannot will himself on opposing players, he is extremely docile. He doesn't have a killer instinct, he does not and cannot lead, he needs someone to lead him. He is extremely perimeter in his play. The game now is about using your speed and power to get into tough areas and tight spaces to score. he doesn't have a winners mentality. simply replacing RNH with Hall makes this team infinitely better. Perhaps RNH proves me wrong in the upcoming year, but at this point someone similar in age and production at 6 million or less with more aggressive game is what this team needs. RNH is like a Justin Schultz of forwards.

there is a reason this team has not moved needles. We are salivating over the wrong type of players. Chiarelli single handedly f***ed this franchise up even more by trading Hall instead of RNH.

People compare RNH's 2 way play as extremely underrated. Put him next to Patrice Bergeron and he looks like a twirp with less intestinal fortitude.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Look man, I like RNH, but he is not the guy you win hockey games with. Its taken me a few years to really dive deep into the guys intestinal fortitude. He is easily pushed out of tough games. He cannot will himself on opposing players, he is extremely docile. He doesn't have a killer instinct, he does not and cannot lead, he needs someone to lead him. He is extremely perimeter in his play. The game now is about using your speed and power to get into tough areas and tight spaces to score. he doesn't have a winners mentality. simply replacing RNH with Hall makes this team infinitely better. Perhaps RNH proves me wrong in the upcoming year, but at this point someone similar in age and production at 6 million or less with more aggressive game is what this team needs. RNH is like a Justin Schultz of forwards.

there is a reason this team has not moved needles. We are salivating over the wrong type of players. Chiarelli single handedly ****ed this franchise up even more by trading Hall instead of RNH.

People compare RNH's 2 way play as extremely underrated. Put him next to Patrice Bergeron and he looks like a twirp with less intestinal fortitude.

RNH helps you win hockey games a lot more than Khaira.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Look man, I like RNH, but he is not the guy you win hockey games with. Its taken me a few years to really dive deep into the guys intestinal fortitude. He is easily pushed out of tough games. He cannot will himself on opposing players, he is extremely docile. He doesn't have a killer instinct, he does not and cannot lead, he needs someone to lead him. He is extremely perimeter in his play. The game now is about using your speed and power to get into tough areas and tight spaces to score. he doesn't have a winners mentality. simply replacing RNH with Hall makes this team infinitely better. Perhaps RNH proves me wrong in the upcoming year, but at this point someone similar in age and production at 6 million or less with more aggressive game is what this team needs. RNH is like a Justin Schultz of forwards.

there is a reason this team has not moved needles. We are salivating over the wrong type of players. Chiarelli single handedly ****ed this franchise up even more by trading Hall instead of RNH.

People compare RNH's 2 way play as extremely underrated. Put him next to Patrice Bergeron and he looks like a twirp with less intestinal fortitude.

My main point is that expecting RNH to be Drai or Connor is asking too much. He's far enough from his draft year to say that he won't get there. As for Hall, would he be helping us on the IR? Neither guy stays all that healthy, the difference being that Nuge seems to play through more injuries because many of his are the lingering kind while Hall's seem more severe at times. RNH is a guy that battles when he's healthy. How many times do you see him around the net looking for deflections or battling hard to win board battles when he's healthy? Lots. When he's not healthy he looks like he does now. Now you could say that he's not built to play that way for a full season while also keeping consistent and even as a Nuge fan I'd have to agree. He is not the problem here and never was. We need to add to Nuge not move him and bring someone else in to replace him and then role with McDrai and the new guy. No 3 players have been asked to carry more than our big 3 have this season. They need help, RNH is not great like Connor or built like a tank like Drai, that is why he's the clear #3 among that group but he's still a very valuable piece to this team.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

We all know our cap situation so who are some players that would obviously add skill to the team that would not cost an arm and a leg cap or trade wise? We've seen guys like Domi, D. Strome, etc. make significant impacts on their new teams after fighting it for their old clubs, we could really use a player or two like that. Here are some candidates that the Oilers GM should be looking at IMO:

Forwards

UFA's
Richard Panik 65gp. 13-18-31 current AAV $2.8 million UFA
Joonas Donskoi 71gp. 14-40-34 current AAV $1.9 million UFA
Brett Connolly 71gp. 19-20-39 current AAV $1.5 million UFA
Brandon Tanev 70gp. 13-12-25 current AAV $1.15 million UFA
Alex Chiasson 61gp. 20-12-32 current AAV $0.65 million UFA, highest AAV to date $1.2 million
Brandon Pirri 27gp. 11-5-16 current AAV $0.65 million UFA, highest AAV to date $1.1 million
Tyler Ennis 44gp. 12-5-17 current AAV $0.65 million UFA

Trade Targets
Anthony Duclair 63gp. 13-11-24 current AAV $0.65 million RFA
Josh Ho-Sang (AHL) 45gp. 7-30-37 current AAV $1.076 million RFA
Andre Burakovsky 65gp. 11-12-23 current AAV $3.0 million RFA Arbitration eligible
Mattias Janmark 70gp. 6-16-22 current AAV $2.3 million RFA Arbitration eligible
Connor Brown 70gp. 6-18-24 current AAV $2.1 million Signed through '19-20 then RFA Arbitration eligible
Oliver Bjorkstrand 65gp. 14-11-25 current AAV $2.5 million Signed through '20-21 then RFA Arbitration eligible

Who would you add to this list? Which players on defense might you be looking at?

FYI Donskoi's assist number is wrong.

Of that bunch Donskoi and Bjorkstrand are the two I feel most confident in being able to produce top 6 offense. Next tier for me would be Connolly and Panik who I'd consider 2nd/3rd line tweeners (Connolly does have a chance at being a full-time 2nd line player, if he keeps progressing, his even strength production this year is very very good, but so was Benoit Pouliot's and that went sour). Janmark, Brown, and B. Tanev I'd consider to be high quality 3rd liners, I could see them potentially being compliments to an otherwise strong top 6 duo, but if they are the 2nd best player on a top 6 line, I'd expect very underwhelming results.

Bura, Ho-Sang, Duclair, Ennis, & Pirri I'd consider as players who could potentially fill a scoring niche, but to be fundamentally flawed NHL players, you are either getting a project or a player with established defensive weakness. Chiasson fits the role of solid 3rd/4th line tweener, his shooting percentage is not sustainable at this level, without the high conversion rate I'd also expect to see the PP time dry up, a 20-25 point player is what I'd expect if we brought him back.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

He'd be tied with Chiasson for 4th on the Oilers this year for non PP goals scored with 13, and that's from bottom 6 minutes in Winnipeg. He's a nice complimentary winger for a skilled duo like Drai and McDavid. Could bang in 20 ES goals and really help the PK.

I agree that he could be a good compliment to McDavid and Drai and would probably help the PK, but if the price-tag is $3.5M and he can only produce at that level with those two, that's a bad deal for us, paying a 3rd liner who compliments elite skill well big money almost never ends up being a good thing in the long-run.

Every time I see Anthony Duclair, I ask myself why this player gets shuffled around the league like a hot potatoe. Always been impressed and maybe he’s getting to the stage in his career where the light suddenly goes on. Just love all the tools this kid possesses. Would add a huge amount of speed to our lineup.

He certainly looks good on occasion and the tools for success are there, but he's more interested in playing his own game, rather than the team game. Every coach he's had hates him for a reason, maybe one coach gets through to him and he matures, but I think a veteran roster with a veteran coach is better suited to the task.

Here is a list of my buy low candidates for the Oilers. All young(ish), with potential, most of whom are struggling or the their team needs cap help.


Christian Fischer
Brendan Perlini
Alexander Kerfoot
Alexander Wennberg
Oliver Bjorkstrand
Radek Faksa
Mattias Janmark
Chris Tierney
Adrian Kempe
Connor Brown
Cody Eakin
Erik Haula
Andre Burakovsky

• Perlini just started heating up big time I don't think he is available.
• Wennberg isn't all that affordable salary cap-wise and is the purest of pure playmakers, we need some guys who can chip in 20 goals.
• Radek Faksa still seems to be in the teams good books last I heard, the appreciate his ability as a checking line C.
• Cody Eakins is an ideal situation for his skill set with the right coach to play his best, he should stay exactly where he is.
• Erik Haula was so tremendous last year, you'd think they'd have to ride out an injury plagued season with him, I'd guess the salary cap victim will be Reilly Smith.