1) Why would you bring up Hall? His situation isn’t remotely relevant. For starters, we didn’t wait to try to sign him. We were trying to sign him on day one of free agency (just like Eakin). Hall is the one who chose to wait not us. Plus Hall decided to come here primarily due to the strong connection he developed with Krueger as an Oiler. Which would have zero relevance to any free agent with no connection to Krueger.
You are right, we did try to go after him from day one. Going by the reports, there were several teams that made pitches. My argument should have been that there was legit competition for Hall. Hall didn't only mention Krueger. He also mentioned Eichel. And he didn't have to mention the money. Re: Eakin, I've looked at the Center contracts that were signed after Eakin, the teams that made the signings, and the salary cap situations of those teams. When I'm sitting at home and not on my phone I can type all of that out. I think we weren't competing for Eakin at all, certainly not like the Hall competition. If you assert that Wennberg for example would not have taken an extra 750 to play with us, i wouldn't agree. I think Eakin could have signed for 750 less if we would have waited a few days. Reasons for signing are always given, and Krueger is a great reason to give the reporters. The money quotes are never about the money! No doubt they though Eakin was the ideal bottom 6 center this team needs. Id like to know what other teams wanted him ( we know at least a few of the teams that wanted Hall ) and how the salary cap sitch of those teams would have worked with those teams and that contract. You just have to see the below market deals for basically all the centers who signed after Eakin. That's the extent of my point. Lets make a list of all the sub-3 million center contracts this offseason and identify the overpays and underpays. Your point is Eakin had to be an overpay because Buffalo. My point is 10 other guys were underpays because of salary cap reality. We are a max cap team with rookie bonuses, we had no problem signing our 23 man team, and the Ottawas and Detroit of the NHL also had no problem signing players. Its about money.
2) We’re not a desirable location for free agents or at the very least not a top choice. There are annual player surveys done by various media outlets (TSN, Hockey news, ESPN, etc) and one of the questions always asked is ‘which city would you least like to get traded to?’ Buffalo is consistently near the top of the list (usually top 5) every single year.
So Eakin would not have taken 750k less to sign here? I get the big point you are making, but, in Eakins case, if we were competing with ourselves I dont agree that waiting a few days to sign someone so a lower cap contract could be had would be a reason Eakin wouldn't have signed here. Again, what other teams are we talking about. The data exists we can go back to October and sort it out.
Limited 23 man roster spots. Limited salary cap dollars. You just have to do the math. Lets take Haula. Lets assume Haula would have wanted 750k more last week to sign with us. Are you saying that he would have chosen to play in Europe or Russia over the NHL contract? I dont agree. I dont see how this mentality helps us in the future. Other 3rd line centers signed for a lot less than Eakin. We could have waited him out.
