Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
With the draft and July 1st now behind us. How are you feeling?
For me, what we did on July 1st was predicted by what we did in the draft.
Holland has a plan and while some may not like it and others may just got nuts over the idea
Holland pitched the idea of being patience when he interviewed for the job.
In his 25+ years in management, he has never really been known to be overly aggressive..he has a reputation preaching patience and picking his spots
Like I said right after Broberg was taken. I did not hate the pick--I just did not like it. Broberg is 4 years away from being a regular in the NHL. What he the BPA at the time? no. Did he address a organizational need? No. Right now we have lots of D men running around. But in 4 years time he will address an organizational need and that is why he was taken.
I am anything but patient but I understand other people are and understand they have a plan
Holland has a plan that may not make many of the people on this board happy or oiler fans in general.
He played his planning card on July 1st
1) No big contracts
2) No long term contract
3) Brought in stop gaps that will allow the prospects we have not to be rushed.
Like many, I saw some of the trades and signings and asked why didn't we do that?
In most cases, while we want to say we had a similar player or could have made a better offer--we couldn't
we spent almost no money--but we still sit with the 6th highest payroll with just under 4 mill available. But Smith has bonuses and if Bouchard, if he makes the team also will have bonuses in his contract and if we do not have enough cap left at the end of the year they will be carried over to next year.
The bigger picture of our problem is straight forward. Until the summer of 2021 we wont have any money to spend.
and here is where I really annoy those not annoyed so far. We can keep saying that "some team" will take Russel or Lucic without hurting us--the more I reflect on this weekend the more I think the other teams just have their own problems and we would need to add either high picks or our better prospects to move either of those two players.
I was holding out hope for a Lucic for Ericksson trade but listening to Vancouver talking heads over the past week or so--their talking heads believe Edmonton is on Ericksson's no trade list and that a perceived relationship with Tippett might not be a strong as some would think.
We can theorize as much as we like--but none of us truly have an idea what is going on behind closed doors and just who the oilers have talked to about moving one of our bad contracts and what the other team was willing to give up and what they wanted us to add
I look at the Toronto/Ottawa deal and at first I said we could have beaten that--but I think from the Ottawa perspective Brown was the key player in the deal for them and moving Ceci out for Zaitev was somewhat of a push--the other players were just movable pieces. Brown was the key. Leafs signed Ceci to a one year deal. Sounds like the leafs attached Brown to any deal that included Zaitev and the other moving pieces. Only player we have on the roster on the backend is Benning. But was adding Zaitev and his 4.5 contract worth adding Brown? We just bought out Sekera--would we want to keep Zaitev--who I think is more suited to European hockey then the NHL or do we buy out his contract adding more dead weight to our cap?
this is the stark reality of being in cap hell. There is no easy answers and while we can guess what is going on behind the scenes but we do not have an idea
But Holland, in my opinion, has just shown us his plan
He is not going to panic
1) Not trading picks or prospects to move a bad contract
2) Not trading a bad contract for a bad contract
3) Not giving long term deals
4) Building through the draft
5) Signing players around 25 years old looking for a change, second chance or first time coming over from Europe.
I find his signings interesting and do not hate them as much as some
With Haas and Nygard we are not sure what we have. I have seen them both play and while they may not be top end guys--They could be adequate for bottom 6 players who have more upside then the guys we just kicked to the street. Granlund is a guy I find interesting for two reasons. He scored 19 goals in the NHL a few years and has shown signs of being a good two way play. And him being Finish may help sooth Pizza Boy down a bit--I do not think so--but having a Fin closer in age to Pizza boy and who has also struggled in the NHL may help
as for our D-I am not as worried as some who want to throw the baby out with the bath water and go out and get a top 4 guy right now
Two years ago we thought Klefbom and Larsson were one of the top D pairing in the NHL and I think they can turn things around. We have Nurse who got 41pts last year and is in a contract year and the money we get back when Gagner and Manning leave the cap will be going to him(he is the main reason we need to be careful for how much money we tie up for next season--we spend silly now-we may not be in the position to match a 6 to 8 mill offer sheet). Russell, love him or hate him, he is somewhat reliable and we know what we have in him--even though he is over paid by 1 mill or so. I am shocked Benning is still here--he is the red haired child of the oilers D. No matter what he does he will be blamed. Then we have the wild cards. Joel Persson--He reminds me of Marc Andre Bergeron. If you are expecting him to play a lot in his own zone or in shorthanded situations--he is not your guy. He can skate and has a good first pass--he just has a bad habit of long passes through center ice. Then we have the kids, Bouchard, Jones, Bear, Laggesson and Day (I think Samorukov should spent the entire year on the farm). Bouchard is the future number 1 D of this team and will be brought along slowly. Jones and Bear are both 22 and are nearly ready for regular shifts. Laggesson has played pro in Europe, 2 years in Europe and a full year in the AHL--so at 23 he has played a lot of hockey at different levels and maybe the surprise of prospects. Day at 24 is still somewhat unknown and it will be interesting to see if he can go from being somewhat of a walk on in the AHL after starting out in the US prep leagues, to UNI and then to the AHL. Could be a good stop gap as he does have offensive upside
How are you felling right now?
Me, More calm then I was after the draft
Might just be me--but I can see what Holland has in mind and I am willing to give him time to see how it works our
For me, what we did on July 1st was predicted by what we did in the draft.
Holland has a plan and while some may not like it and others may just got nuts over the idea
Holland pitched the idea of being patience when he interviewed for the job.
In his 25+ years in management, he has never really been known to be overly aggressive..he has a reputation preaching patience and picking his spots
Like I said right after Broberg was taken. I did not hate the pick--I just did not like it. Broberg is 4 years away from being a regular in the NHL. What he the BPA at the time? no. Did he address a organizational need? No. Right now we have lots of D men running around. But in 4 years time he will address an organizational need and that is why he was taken.
I am anything but patient but I understand other people are and understand they have a plan
Holland has a plan that may not make many of the people on this board happy or oiler fans in general.
He played his planning card on July 1st
1) No big contracts
2) No long term contract
3) Brought in stop gaps that will allow the prospects we have not to be rushed.
Like many, I saw some of the trades and signings and asked why didn't we do that?
In most cases, while we want to say we had a similar player or could have made a better offer--we couldn't
we spent almost no money--but we still sit with the 6th highest payroll with just under 4 mill available. But Smith has bonuses and if Bouchard, if he makes the team also will have bonuses in his contract and if we do not have enough cap left at the end of the year they will be carried over to next year.
The bigger picture of our problem is straight forward. Until the summer of 2021 we wont have any money to spend.
and here is where I really annoy those not annoyed so far. We can keep saying that "some team" will take Russel or Lucic without hurting us--the more I reflect on this weekend the more I think the other teams just have their own problems and we would need to add either high picks or our better prospects to move either of those two players.
I was holding out hope for a Lucic for Ericksson trade but listening to Vancouver talking heads over the past week or so--their talking heads believe Edmonton is on Ericksson's no trade list and that a perceived relationship with Tippett might not be a strong as some would think.
We can theorize as much as we like--but none of us truly have an idea what is going on behind closed doors and just who the oilers have talked to about moving one of our bad contracts and what the other team was willing to give up and what they wanted us to add
I look at the Toronto/Ottawa deal and at first I said we could have beaten that--but I think from the Ottawa perspective Brown was the key player in the deal for them and moving Ceci out for Zaitev was somewhat of a push--the other players were just movable pieces. Brown was the key. Leafs signed Ceci to a one year deal. Sounds like the leafs attached Brown to any deal that included Zaitev and the other moving pieces. Only player we have on the roster on the backend is Benning. But was adding Zaitev and his 4.5 contract worth adding Brown? We just bought out Sekera--would we want to keep Zaitev--who I think is more suited to European hockey then the NHL or do we buy out his contract adding more dead weight to our cap?
this is the stark reality of being in cap hell. There is no easy answers and while we can guess what is going on behind the scenes but we do not have an idea
But Holland, in my opinion, has just shown us his plan
He is not going to panic
1) Not trading picks or prospects to move a bad contract
2) Not trading a bad contract for a bad contract
3) Not giving long term deals
4) Building through the draft
5) Signing players around 25 years old looking for a change, second chance or first time coming over from Europe.
I find his signings interesting and do not hate them as much as some
With Haas and Nygard we are not sure what we have. I have seen them both play and while they may not be top end guys--They could be adequate for bottom 6 players who have more upside then the guys we just kicked to the street. Granlund is a guy I find interesting for two reasons. He scored 19 goals in the NHL a few years and has shown signs of being a good two way play. And him being Finish may help sooth Pizza Boy down a bit--I do not think so--but having a Fin closer in age to Pizza boy and who has also struggled in the NHL may help
as for our D-I am not as worried as some who want to throw the baby out with the bath water and go out and get a top 4 guy right now
Two years ago we thought Klefbom and Larsson were one of the top D pairing in the NHL and I think they can turn things around. We have Nurse who got 41pts last year and is in a contract year and the money we get back when Gagner and Manning leave the cap will be going to him(he is the main reason we need to be careful for how much money we tie up for next season--we spend silly now-we may not be in the position to match a 6 to 8 mill offer sheet). Russell, love him or hate him, he is somewhat reliable and we know what we have in him--even though he is over paid by 1 mill or so. I am shocked Benning is still here--he is the red haired child of the oilers D. No matter what he does he will be blamed. Then we have the wild cards. Joel Persson--He reminds me of Marc Andre Bergeron. If you are expecting him to play a lot in his own zone or in shorthanded situations--he is not your guy. He can skate and has a good first pass--he just has a bad habit of long passes through center ice. Then we have the kids, Bouchard, Jones, Bear, Laggesson and Day (I think Samorukov should spent the entire year on the farm). Bouchard is the future number 1 D of this team and will be brought along slowly. Jones and Bear are both 22 and are nearly ready for regular shifts. Laggesson has played pro in Europe, 2 years in Europe and a full year in the AHL--so at 23 he has played a lot of hockey at different levels and maybe the surprise of prospects. Day at 24 is still somewhat unknown and it will be interesting to see if he can go from being somewhat of a walk on in the AHL after starting out in the US prep leagues, to UNI and then to the AHL. Could be a good stop gap as he does have offensive upside
How are you felling right now?
Me, More calm then I was after the draft
Might just be me--but I can see what Holland has in mind and I am willing to give him time to see how it works our