Speculation: Go All In or Be Patient?

[Satire]

Is this when I mention that our GM already went all in and failed miserably? We have lost almost all assets on the team we had (Yak, Hall, Eberle, 1st round pick 2015 and 2nd round) in a trade for Larsson (good), Reinhart (bad), Lucic (polarizing), Talbot (polarizing), Strome (okay).

Actually look at that list in total. I understand that there are some good trades on that list, but damn. I think we bounce back next year but you look at what went out for what came in and it is hard to argue we Would be a worse team if we had done nothing from 2015 on.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

how many more years are you willing to wait?

Considering I think this is a bubble team if they get league average special teams and goaltending, I’m willing to bet this year was a fluke year
They don’t need to blow it up because they have a young nucleus of talent
What they need are smart acquisitions

 

[shoop]

Be patient. It is amazing how quickly things can turn around.

Two years ago the Maple Leafs set a team record for most losses in a season. This year they set a team record for most wins.

The Oilers aren't really all that far away. If only Tablot hadn't sabotaged the start of the season...

 

[Cypress]

Not sure how to vote, but i would vote for patience. We don't have assets or cap space to go all in, and need to build prospect depth anyway. With decent planning we can have more cap freedom in a couple years, but we've got to make do with budget signings for now. I think any big moves at this time are most likely a mistake long term.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

patience

this organization lacks depth...in the NHL and AHL

they desperately need to build it up

We can add some players for sure but what this team has needed seemingly forever is to stock their system with quality prospects.

 

[McFlyingV]

You win by building through the draft, and developing players. The Oilers already have their stars, and need to build around them through prospects, or buy low candidates. Their only option is to be patient and hope they can develop guys or find hidden gems from other organizations to compliment their group.

The only possible option I see for going all in would be to trade away picks and prospects for a #1D, but they don't have the cap space to do that with the Sekera, Russell, Lucic contracts stuck on the books.

 

[oobga]

All in was what we should have been doing 2 years ago. Now we're in cap hell and have to be patient, waiting for the cap to go up, and to build up assets. I feel like an all in move now has a better chance of being crippling over a longer term, especially with this GM and coach.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

We should've gone all in this year but instead we opted for... well, that.

I don't know how many more years of "patience" I can take, and more importantly...

I don't know how many more years of "patience" McDavid can take.

 

[Asiaoil]

be patient? we have been for ten years

we have wasted McJuses ELC and we have not a lot to show for some of our high picks

No choice but to be patient and build organizational depth to support the elite talent. I posted this in the TMac thred but it fits better here.

This team was having a near-death experience the summer we won the McDavid lottery. It was an unmitigated disaster with all of 3 real NHL players on the roster (Hal, Ebs, RNH). Look at this team. It has no goaltending or defense. Nothing in the pipeline aside from Nurse and Drai.

Edmonton Oilers 2014 Roster

There is no way to improve that team without taking big risks on trades and UFA. So that's what happened. You gamble on a young defensman (first Hamilton and then GR). You trade your best winger (Hall) for the best RD you can get (Larsson). After 2 years with McDavid and Drai panning out you trade a winger with a big contract (Ebs) for a 3C (Strome) to fight off an offer sheet. You overpay Sekera to try build some depth, sign Russell for more depth, and over-pay Lucic to try replace some of Hall's production and make the team tougher to play against. There is nothing "extra" to trade so fixing one hole simply creates another in a hopefully less important place. There is no magic to this. The only way you get out of this place is to fix the drafting and development system so depth is created internally. That takes time.

Expecting to win a SC during McDavid's ELC starting with the NHL roster as it was in the summer 2015 and the totally abysmal prospect depth is totally unrealistic. Chia made a bunch of risky moves in year 1 and 2 which led to a playoff berth in year 2 when everything went right. Year 3 had a lot of stuff go wrong and without the organizational depth the results are not surprising. I'm not surprised he stood pat last summer and he should not make any big deals this summer either. What he needs to do is continue to draft well and add some smart short-term value signing (top 6 RW, 1B goalie, 4C) and continue to build organizational depth so you can overcome a year like this one where injuries and luck didn't cooperate. Getting a new coach also doesn't cost us assets (this time) and is the most important way we can improve this summer.

 

[TheNumber4]

All in. But I really think we are 1 piece away. So it won't be too much of futures giveaway. If our D becomes what it was last year, Klef plays normal, and Sekera can come back. I think we are 1 Offensive D-man away from being a Contender. The wings don't NEED to be super strong for us to be a playoff team, but adding some legit scoring wingers would help too, although I doubt that's in the budget. Get our Carlsson, OEL, or Karlsson, and fill the wings with guys like Aberg, Rattie, and eventually Yamamoto, Benson etc and we'll be looking good.

 

[hallhopkinseberle]

Patient, going all in and fixing our problems, is the reason for the current issues with this team. The Hall Trade, the Reinhart Trade,etc set this team back.

Peter should've ignored the last 10 years and approach this team with a mindset what do I have here?

There is no such thing as a quick fix.

 

[Zaddy]

Patience. The team is better than what they showed this year. This is not the time to go all-in. This is the time to make smart, low-risk acquisitions and build depth through the draft and potentially college FA signings. I want the Oilers to be successful long-term, not go all-in for 1-2 years and then have to blow it all up. There are a bunch of good core pieces in place already. Just need to find a few wingers who can play (and we may already have a couple of them in the system with Pulju, Yamamoto, Benson and Maksimov) and potentially an offensive d-man (or Bear develops into one). The draft will help us in one of those two areas if the pick isn't traded since there's a bunch of good defensemen and a few really good wingers available no matter where we draft. Oilers could be a perennial contender for a decade if they play their cards right over the next year or two.

 

[Spawn]

Be patient. It is amazing how quickly things can turn around.

Two years ago the Maple Leafs set a team record for most losses in a season. This year they set a team record for most wins.

The Oilers aren't really all that far away. If only Tablot hadn't sabotaged the start of the season...

Two years ago the Maple Leafs didn't have Matthews, Nylander or Marner in their lineup

We don't have that infusion of talent coming. We've already added that talent with McDavid and Draisaitl. We still suck.

I agree the Oilers probably aren't that far away. I'm not sure patience is the key. But I don't think "all in" is the answer either.

I just want a GM who is going to win more moves than he loses.

 

[Ragdoll]

It's sad cause we have nothing to be patient with, our prospect pool is weak af. Can't go all-in either cause Chia got reemed on almost every major deal. But to answer your question, we can't sit around waiting for prospects to come around. We'd be pissing away years of the best player in the world so I guess go all-in.. kind of lol

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

We should've gone all in this year but instead we opted for... well, that.

I don't know how many more years of "patience" I can take, and more importantly...

I don't know how many more years of "patience" McDavid can take.

Calgary went "all-in" this year
worked well for them

 

[Aerchon]

OEL is very overrated and should not be pursued. Cant imagine a world where he could conceivably make our team better. Especially as a left shooting, soon to overpaid, epicly one dimensional defender.

Karlsson is interesting but imo has only really had one year where he played "amazing". The rest he is just a better, right handed, one dimensional defender like OEL. His cap hit would warp the team in a bad way.

Carlsson is the best of the bunch imo. Maybe thats because I follow him least but what little I have paints a much better picture of an impact 200 foot defender. To get him of course would mean clearing massive cap space.

I think our cap space and no movement clauses only really leaves the be patient method. Which is good because I believe in this team and what it has coming down the pipeline.

Puliarvi and Yamamoto + others give solid options moving forward in one area of weakness.

Nurse is developing very nicely.

Some better luck with health and a bounce back from guys like Sekera, Lucic, and Talbot would go a long ways.

 

[Nostradumbass]

Patience. We are no longer in danger of burning up an important player's ELC or contract years, so let's spend a couple years to build it right and ensure it's sustainable.

 

[Asiaoil]

The team made a bunch of high risk trades and UFA moves the first 2 summers after McDavid was drafted (GR, Sekera, Lucic, Larsson, Talbot) ) to try put some kind of team around him and convince him to sign long-term. High risk means some work - some don't - and nobody can look at the summer 2015 roster and tell me that's a SC contender by just adding McDavid. Success to me is that McDavid and Drai actually signed longterm and I consider the Ebs trade last summer a salary cap move to head off an offer sheet on Drai. The cap space was never used as mgmt was not sure last season was real. Turns out it was only partially real and we avoided doing what CGY (and a lot of people on this board) wanted to do last summer.

No major moves should be expected unless someone offers crazy value (eg young top 4 RHD) for a guy like RNH. Sekera contract can be traded next summer and internal development starts supporting the NHL roster then as well, until then, we have to add smart short-term value contracts that help us make the playoffs this coming season. That's how I will jusdge this coming off-season. There are no shortcuts in a cap league when you inherit a decimated development system and roster with only a couple real NHL players. Even with the McDavid draft.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

No choice but to be patient and build organizational depth to support the elite talent. I posted this in the TMac thred but it fits better here.

This team was having a near-death experience the summer we won the McDavid lottery. It was an unmitigated disaster with all of 3 real NHL players on the roster (Hal, Ebs, RNH). Look at this team. It has no goaltending or defense. Nothing in the pipeline aside from Nurse and Drai.

Edmonton Oilers 2014 Roster

There is no way to improve that team without taking big risks on trades and UFA. So that's what happened. You gamble on a young defensman (first Hamilton and then GR). You trade your best winger (Hall) for the best RD you can get (Larsson). After 2 years with McDavid and Drai panning out you trade a winger with a big contract (Ebs) for a 3C (Strome) to fight off an offer sheet. You overpay Sekera to try build some depth, sign Russell for more depth, and over-pay Lucic to try replace some of Hall's production and make the team tougher to play against. There is nothing "extra" to trade so fixing one hole simply creates another in a hopefully less important place. There is no magic to this. The only way you get out of this place is to fix the drafting and development system so depth is created internally. That takes time.

Expecting to win a SC during McDavid's ELC starting with the NHL roster as it was in the summer 2015 and the totally abysmal prospect depth is totally unrealistic. Chia made a bunch of risky moves in year 1 and 2 which led to a playoff berth in year 2 when everything went right. Year 3 had a lot of stuff go wrong and without the organizational depth the results are not surprising. I'm not surprised he stood pat last summer and he should not make any big deals this summer either. What he needs to do is continue to draft well and add some smart short-term value signing (top 6 RW, 1B goalie, 4C) and continue to build organizational depth so you can overcome a year like this one where injuries and luck didn't cooperate. Getting a new coach also doesn't cost us assets (this time) and is the most important way we can improve this summer.

exactly

people wonder why the Oilers couldn't do what the Penguins did in 2008, which is get to the finals
why not? well for one, the Oilers didnt have a generational player coming in the form of Malkin
secondly, the Oilers didn't have a 2nd overall player in the calibre of Jordan Staal adding 30 goals to the team
and also, where the Oilers Kris Letang on the backend?

 

[48g90a138pts]

Be Patient.

Gotta do things right and build some legitimate depth. When the time is right you can move some pieces without creating holes. The team has given up way too much the last few years.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Calgary went "all-in" this year
worked well for them

We were patient this year.

Worked well for us.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

We were patient this year.

Worked well for us.

at least we have our 1st rounder...and 2nd rounder.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

at least we have our 1st rounder...and 2nd rounder.

Great! Can't wait to either trade them for garbage or piss them away on players that won't be developed properly.

 

[russ99]

All in. We don’t have enough talent for three scoring lines, easy fix. - only run two, sign cheap NHL vets to add a defensive line against the toughs like the Jets do.

 

[guymez]

Great! Can't wait to either trade them for garbage or piss them away on players that won't be developed properly.

You never miss an opportunity to lay on the big time doom and gloom. Don't you ever get tired of yourself?