How are you feeling about the Oilers right now?

Jumptheshark

Rebooting myself
Oct 12, 2003
99,858
13,840
Somewhere on Uranus
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
 

Beerfish

Registered User
Apr 14, 2007
19,513
5,665
Patience. The problem is that each new regime. Lowe to Tambo to MacT to Chia to Holland all have come in and said 'patience'

We have made the playoffs 1 out of the last 13 years or so.

Even with two of the top 10 forwards in the league we are still not 'close'

It is easy to preach 'patience' when you have just arrived in town and just unpacked your bags. Fans have had 15 years of 'patience'

The whole reason you bring in a new GM right now is to make moves to make the team better NOW not 5 years from now. Anyone can just make draft picks and sign lo cost FA's. Good Gm's make moves to make you better now and for the future and we are paying a guy 5 mill a year to do that.

If the whole mantra was to do nothing but wait for draft picks to arrive and let contracts expire we may as well have saved 3 million a year, hired keith gretzky and told him to do nothing for 4 years until all the bad contracts are gone.

There is zero reason a good front office cannot improve a team tangibly year by year, many many other teams in the NHL do it every year even facing cap issues.

Once again, we have come full circle. We now have Tambellini version 2 in charge who will only sign o cost value free agents who will not make any major moves and who will sit on his hands for 3 years.

Just because Chia was so awful does not mean as an organization that you should be 'terrified' of making a smart bold move.

If you miss the playoffs 3 years in a row with McDavid and Draisaitl on your team you are a disgrace.
 

CycloneSweep

Registered User
Sep 27, 2017
47,835
39,721
I feel like we are a bad team still. The best of our bottom 6 will be top 6 guys. The best will fight for 3rd line aka 4a
 

dem

Registered User
Mar 17, 2002
6,732
2,584
We would have been so much further ahead if we drafted basically anyone instead of Jesse Puljujarvi...
 

KeithIsActuallyBad

You thrust your pelvis, huh!
Apr 12, 2010
71,822
30,733
Calgary
I'm not really feeling much different than before the draft. There were two big opportunities to make a big move and both have passed. Sure, a trade could still be made but the more time passes the less likely it becomes. There could still be a signing or two but hard to believe anyone that moves the needle is coming here.

And I just don't get the Sekera buyout. I understand that injuries have hampered his play and I even agree that he's lost a step, but he could still be useful on a third pairing role even if he's overpaid for it. The thought of a Benning/Jones third pairing frightens me. Or worse, putting Benning in the top 4 yet again. That defense is shaky on a good day and we are one significant injury from bottom 5 in the league. I wouldn't have had an issue with the buyout if there was some kind of plan that didn't involve inexperienced players.

I don't really love the Smith signing but I do hope he plays well for us. I have more faith in him than I do Koskinen at the very least.

The forwards are still an absolute mess of AHLers, tweeners, and players that would only make the Oilers. Our best natural winger is probably Kassian, and that's so hilarious I'm struggling to breathe. McDavid has to look around him and wonder what he did to deserve such a wasteland of forwards.

I don't expect Holland to fix this mess in one summer. Hell I'm not sure he could fix it next summer either. But at the same time it's tough to look at this roster and get excited about it. McDavid, Draisatl, RNH, and a few others had career years and we still missed the playoffs by 11 points (and it was because the WC race included a bunch of turtles).

The best thing you can say about the offseason so far is that there haven't been any braindead signings. But just not screwing up shouldn't be the bar around here. A team with two elite centers shouldn't be pushing up daisies at Christmas yet again. I know it's taboo to talk about it around these parts but how many years out of the playoffs before McDavid starts wondering if the grass is greener elsewhere? He wants to win. And I can't imagine how much this losing hurts him.

It hurts everyone, Connor. Trust me.
 
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Weitz

Registered User
Sep 23, 2014
2,786
1,162
The team wasn't good enough last year. It isn't better now.

Going to be another long season with no playoffs unless there are a ton of trades, which there won't be with Holland.
 

Aerchon

Registered User
Jul 20, 2011
10,491
3,668
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

I disliked the Holland acquisition to start with. But hoped, prayed Holland would do nothing rash. That he would be patient.

He was not patient. He made a serious mistake. He wanted to make a splash in UFA and failed. This is clearly telegraphed by the myriad UFAs we were linked to, his extremely rash and short sighted buyout of Sekera, and his own comments that they didn't get done what they wanted.

I have no idea how you can possibly spin this the way you have.

The plan, so far, has fallen on its face.

The overall plan that I see with Holland, Hitchcock, and Tippet is one that disgusts me. Boring trap hockey that doesn't even work in today's NHL, and certainly not with the players we have.

Anyone who hates dump and chase hockey. Hate to tell you this but the Oilers have doubled down on it. Russell is a lifer with this current management group. Skill will be always be a low priority. Winning... in this age of hockey with these geezers in charge... you can forget it.

Russell and Smith and Lucic that's the direction this group is going with by choice. Well Lucic most likely isn't but he fits their style just fine.

As you mentioned with Bouchard and Smiths bonuses we are basically at the cap and have nothing to show for it. You can't blame Chiarelli forever. Right now. The person responsible for the crap moves right now, is Holland. Extremely poor start.
 

The Safe Play

Registered User
Jul 8, 2011
4,351
4,911
Glad he didn't sign any crazy contracts. I predicted at the end of Chiarelli's tenure it would take until the Seattle expansion to fix this team since we have no positions of strength to trade from and our assets are worthless.

Going to be patient and still tentatively hopeful.
 

McJesusSaves97

I see the light
May 17, 2015
1,821
1,336
Cowtown: Behind Enemy Lines
I honestly think that the plan might be to tank. I understand that Holland is aware that this roster needs work, but it needs it everywhere. You are foolish if you are holding out hope for that one trade or signing & believing that it will make us "good". This team needs a nuke + a 12th rebuild. Overreaction at this point? Maybe...but I will be happy to be wrong on this. The entire roster needs improvements and a shake up imo. Coming back with nearly the same team, is a bad idea.
 
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ThePhoenixx

Registered User
Aug 7, 2005
9,285
5,751
Gone:

Sekera
Reider
Rattie
Petrovic
Talbot
Gravel
Pulju?

In:

Mike Smith
Marcus Granlund
Thomas Jurco
Gaeten Haas
Joakim Nygard

Better or worse?
 

Mowzie

Registered User
Sep 17, 2003
9,966
2,030
Teams that were already much better than us, vastly improved while we are in no better position, replacing question marks with other question marks. I don't have a lot of confidence in this iteration of the team, and any improvement will likely be from a change in coaching style.

Chiarelli set this team back 2-3 years. If the Spooner/Manning/Koskinen transactions could be undone, add in the Sekera buyout and we would have went in to UFA season with 16-18m in cap space. Enough to take advantage on cap teams in trades and/or sign better bets like Lehner in net, and a forward with a legitimate chance and helping in our top 6.
 

Stud Muffin

Registered User
Jan 2, 2014
5,356
921
Manitoba
Just Waiting for Prospects is not ok and isnt good enough at this point. I think in 20/21 were going to be a playoff team, but Holland’s job is to bridge the gap by finding players who can fill legit holes on this team because we can’t just expect prospects to fill everything. Hopefully we make the Playoffs in the process of building this team the but there’s no doubt he needs to find players.
 

ThePhoenixx

Registered User
Aug 7, 2005
9,285
5,751
Different.

Looking at the gone list the only one who contributed last year was Sekera and that wasn't until the last month of the season.

If the newcomers can contribute then it might make up for the loss of Sekera. The Oilers only became a half-decent team when he returned.
 

BudBundy

Registered User
May 16, 2005
5,765
7,512
Weve got three decent defensemen and some good ones on the horizon. Unfortunately we also only have three good forwards and a whole bunch of replacement level plugs. Huge question marks in goal. Welded to Lucic. Sigh. Holland really couldn’t do much. I was hoping for a minor miracle like signing Tanev and Connelly, maybe Simeon Varlamov on reasonable contracts but I knew that was wishful thinking. I wouldve kept Sekera and dumped Russell instead but thats inconsequential in the long run.

Our way out of this is to keep smart on spending so that we can take advantage of cap moves likes NJ did and hope like hell Benson, McLoed, Yamamoto, Bouchard and Jones are ready to make big splashes in 2021. 2019/20 season was lost by Chiarelli before it started. We also need to pray McJesus and Nuge stay bought in.
 

Mr Positive

Cap Crunch Incoming
Nov 20, 2013
35,799
16,187
I see the wisdom of these 1 year deals. Holland has a long term focus.

I like the players he got. He is also probably not done.

But if he is, I am not on board with this defense. Not enough puck handling ability and no offensive dimension. Our forwards wont matter if we cant fix this massive issue. When I see what the Canucks have done, I think they have a legit shot at the playoffs and for us it is a longshot
 
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Fixed to Ruin

Come wit it now!
Feb 28, 2007
23,521
25,080
Grande Prairie, AB
The only way this team improves now is if the young players currently playing in the farm step up and find a place in the NHL. No UFA signing at this point is going to make this team significantly better. The Oilers are exactly the same as they were at the end of April.

To further illustrate my point. Look at the two wildcard teams in the West. Colorado added Kadri, Burakovsky, Donksoi, Bellemare and still have a ton of cap space. Dallas added Pavelski, Sekera.

Arizona who missed the playoffs by 4 pts traded for Phil Kessel & Carl Soderberg.

Edmonton finished almost dead last in the West and we added Mike Smith and a couple of euro guys and some NHL tweeners. :thumbd:
 

Ritchie Valens

Registered User
Sep 24, 2007
28,201
38,971
How do I feel about the Oilers?

I knew Holland was handcuffed to the radiator and wouldn't be able to do much which is why I'm apathetic to it all so far.

I think I'll be keeping the paper bag avatar for a while yet and I'll leave it at that.
 

iCanada

Registered User
Feb 6, 2010
18,876
18,295
Edmonton
I think this is an insightful post.

I don't think this team will be competitive this year. And that f***ing sucks.

But I do think we really need to buckle down and pay for our past errors. You can only kick the can down the road for so long. Chia basically spent resources like an 18 getting his first Fort Mac paychecks; we financed a house, a boat, a 5 tonne truck, and spent everything else we had on hookers and blow. Now works dried up and with all the money we spent that we didn't have we can barely afford to live.


We have no cap space or assets people want in order to trade with. We're in a sinkhole of suck and the only way out is to tie up our boots and live off of austerity measures until we can pay off our debt.

And it sucks. I'm pissed off that we got here, because I saw this coming years ago and tried to say something before, but the fanbase and the team didn't listen. We watched chia trade his F350 with 50k owing on it for a beat up Ford Ranger, and now we owe 50k on a Ranger, too.

Only way out is time. But boy is it going to suck. Best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago, but second best time is today, I suppose.
 
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Kaniac

Registered User
Sep 11, 2018
686
751
Gone:

Sekera
Reider
Rattie
Petrovic
Talbot
Gravel
Pulju?

In:

Mike Smith
Marcus Granlund
Thomas Jurco
Gaeten Haas
Joakim Nygard

Better or worse?
It's honestly too early to tell.
At least all of these guys (even Smith) will outscore Rieder. So I guess that's an upgrade. I think the only out move that hurts is Sekera. I think he's going to play big minutes for Dallas on a steal of a contract.
 

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