StickShift
In a pickle 🥒
From Elliotte Friedman's interview on the Donnie and Dhali show today. I will edit this post with the full interview when it is available.
The tweet from Rick Dhaliwal that summarizes what Friedman said:
I have a few different thoughts about this—I've speculated before that the Canucks see moving OEL as their primary way to free cap space and fix the age alignment of their core players.
(1) Vancouver's new management does not want OEL—or more specifically, they don't want his contract.
Jim Rutherford has made particular mention of how complicated the Canucks salary cap is, and how they need to align the age of their team around their core players like Pettersson, Hughes, and Demko.
(2) OEL has stated before he does not want to play where he is not wanted—and Vancouver apparently does not want him.
There was a quote from OEL earlier this year about why he finally waived his NMC to leave Arizona and he said something like “you don’t want to be where you are not wanted”. The Athletic: ‘You don’t want to be somewhere they don’t want you’: Oliver Ekman-Larsson on leaving Arizona, transition with Canucks
(3) OEL's agent Kevin Epp has not said good things about Vancouver.
And his agent Kevin Epp has been on Donnie and Dhali since complaining about the Vancouver Twitterverse and media and how no players wants to be here because of how critical they can be towards players.
(4) If the Canucks do trade OEL—they would be wise to retain as much salary as they can
OEL at his current 5y x 7.26m contract is an albatross around any GM. But if the Canucks were to retain the maximum amount $3.14 AAV that they can on his contract... then 5y x $4.13m becomes a very reasonable contract for a defenseman of OEL's age and caliber. Especially when you compare it to what Hampus Lindholm signed for in Boston (8y x $6.5m) or what John Klingberg will sign for as a UFA this off-season. If the Canucks were to go down this salary retention path—they could yet transform OEL into a very nice trade package. And even if they were to retain that much salary for 5y—it is still a lot less onerous to their cap than if they were to buy-out OEL at any point and have to extend his cap-hit into the future.
(5) OEL holds all of the cards because of his NMC... but I think there are teams who would kick the tires
But if there were teams that I think could make sense... two stand-out to me. Anaheim has a glaring need on their LD and strikes me as a very similar market to what OEL had enjoyed in Phoenix. Detroit who could use a mentor like OEL to help bring in Edvinsson teach the right habits to their young d-corps.
The tweet from Rick Dhaliwal that summarizes what Friedman said:
I have a few different thoughts about this—I've speculated before that the Canucks see moving OEL as their primary way to free cap space and fix the age alignment of their core players.
(1) Vancouver's new management does not want OEL—or more specifically, they don't want his contract.
Jim Rutherford has made particular mention of how complicated the Canucks salary cap is, and how they need to align the age of their team around their core players like Pettersson, Hughes, and Demko.
(2) OEL has stated before he does not want to play where he is not wanted—and Vancouver apparently does not want him.
There was a quote from OEL earlier this year about why he finally waived his NMC to leave Arizona and he said something like “you don’t want to be where you are not wanted”. The Athletic: ‘You don’t want to be somewhere they don’t want you’: Oliver Ekman-Larsson on leaving Arizona, transition with Canucks
(3) OEL's agent Kevin Epp has not said good things about Vancouver.
And his agent Kevin Epp has been on Donnie and Dhali since complaining about the Vancouver Twitterverse and media and how no players wants to be here because of how critical they can be towards players.
(4) If the Canucks do trade OEL—they would be wise to retain as much salary as they can
OEL at his current 5y x 7.26m contract is an albatross around any GM. But if the Canucks were to retain the maximum amount $3.14 AAV that they can on his contract... then 5y x $4.13m becomes a very reasonable contract for a defenseman of OEL's age and caliber. Especially when you compare it to what Hampus Lindholm signed for in Boston (8y x $6.5m) or what John Klingberg will sign for as a UFA this off-season. If the Canucks were to go down this salary retention path—they could yet transform OEL into a very nice trade package. And even if they were to retain that much salary for 5y—it is still a lot less onerous to their cap than if they were to buy-out OEL at any point and have to extend his cap-hit into the future.
(5) OEL holds all of the cards because of his NMC... but I think there are teams who would kick the tires
But if there were teams that I think could make sense... two stand-out to me. Anaheim has a glaring need on their LD and strikes me as a very similar market to what OEL had enjoyed in Phoenix. Detroit who could use a mentor like OEL to help bring in Edvinsson teach the right habits to their young d-corps.
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