Post-Game Talk: I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator

[joestevens29]

Ummm no thanks. We would still be stuck with Lucic then and Sekera is done. And if you think Nurse is that bad why would anyone trade a good winger and 3C for him?

I asked the question on the Stars board. I mean it's still rather early, but at 1.5mil I think he still has value and worth the risk. At 5 or whatever we were paying him, not so much. Even if he only plays half the year might not be bad thing for Heiskanen. Reggie was well liked in the locker room too, so that is a positive for them as well.

Much better than Oleksiak, Polak, and Fedun that's for sure. I've liked his game a lot so far and I know Monty has too. Should be a good partner for Heiskanen this season

 

[Slippery Fingers]

Not gonna lie I’m worried that McDavid was kept off the scoresheet against that dud AHL caliber lineup.

I've spent the better part of 25+ years now watching preseason hockey. If there is one thing I can say about it...never buy into the hype, good or bad. Let Ty Rattie last season be the most recent example. #97 is going to be just fine.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

I asked the question on the Stars board. I mean it's still rather early, but at 1.5mil I think he still has value and worth the risk. At 5 or whatever we were paying him, not so much. Even if he only plays half the year might not be bad thing for Heiskanen. Reggie was well liked in the locker room too, so that is a positive for them as well.

Much better than Oleksiak, Polak, and Fedun that's for sure. I've liked his game a lot so far and I know Monty has too. Should be a good partner for Heiskanen this season

Sekera was way overpaid for what was going to be a bottom pair D and it meant keeping Russell on his off side in the 2nd pairing and it tied up cap with which we were able to jettison Lucic with.

Moving on from Sekera was a no brainer for me.

 

[guymez]

Sekera was way overpaid for what was going to be a bottom pair D and it meant keeping Russell on his off side in the 2nd pairing and it tied up cap with which we were able to jettison Lucic with.

Moving on from Sekera was a no brainer for me.

For me too and I was probably one of the biggest Sekera supporters on here.
I would just add to your post by saying that this current version is not the Sekera we all remember from 2016.

 

[McSuper]

Ummm no thanks. We would still be stuck with Lucic then and Sekera is done. And if you think Nurse is that bad why would anyone trade a good winger and 3C for him?

I wouldn't . Plus I never said he was bad . Going by his contract demands and his current level of play he isn't worth 6 million + . I think Nurse is a tough physical guy that can put up ok offensive numbers but he needs to be paired with a very good defensive prospect . Personally every D man on the Oilers need to be upgrade . Klefbom is injured 20 games a year and then it takes him another 20 to get up to speed . Larsson has regressed since our playoff year . Russell is a battler but he is getting old and will not live up to his contract over the next 2 years .

As I stated I would have moved him in the off season as his value was probably higher then it ever will be . We need better D to show the kids the way . They can only learn bad habits from our current D . We been thru coach after coach and they can not beat the bad habits out of our D . Lets see it Tipps can do better

 

[McSuper]

For me too and I was probably one of the biggest Sekera supporters on here.
I would just add to your post by saying that this current version is not the Sekera we all remember from 2016.

Of course he not the same as 2016 with most of 2 years lost due to injuries . It was still poor timing to buy him out . Each year we kept him would reduce his buy out by 2 years . Plus if he played decent he was tradable at the trade deadline

 

[guymez]

Of course he not the same as 2016 with most of 2 years lost due to injuries . It was still poor timing to buy him out . Each year we kept him would reduce his buy out by 2 years . Plus if he played decent he was tradable at the trade deadline

Its not just the lost time...its the lost mobility and the fact that he is 33 years old. A loss of mobility for a dman in his 30's is a very bad sign.

So while not ideal Holland looked at all the variables and decided that Sekera was the best option for a buyout to try and open up some cap space.

What would you have had him do instead?

 

[Spawn]

Its not just the lost time...its the lost mobility and the fact that he is 33 years old. A loss of mobility for a dman in his 30's is a very bad sign.

So while not ideal Holland looked at all the variables and decided that Sekera was the best option for a buyout to try and open up some cap space.

What would you have had him do instead?

The exact projected roster with Manning out and Sekera in would be cap compliant once Broziak goes on IR.

Holland opened up cap space he couldn't use at the cost of 4 seasons of dead cap in seasons where we might want to.

Oh and he downgraded the backend in the process.

 

[Stoneman89]

Upgrades to the defense please.

Unfortunately we don't have any more Halls to use as trade bait. We blew that one on a 4th dman.

 

[Todd from Leduc]

I would take Sekera on league min right now.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

The exact projected roster with Manning out and Sekera in would be cap compliant once Broziak goes on IR.

Holland opened up cap space he couldn't use at the cost of 4 seasons of dead cap in seasons where we might want to.

Oh and he downgraded the backend in the process.

And then when smith hits his bonuses we would be over.

As much as people like to say sekera was good last year, he wasn’t.

 

[harpoon]

Holland opened up cap space he couldn't use at the cost of 4 seasons of dead cap in seasons where we might want to

I see your point. I really do because I’m not in favor of buyouts at all. But I think there are three counters to this point.

1) you don’t know that ‘he couldn’t use’ the cap space. Season hasn’t even started yet. There are still trades to be made. Most of the money saved with Sekera has already been spent so I agree with you that it’s unlikely they will be able to make a significant add ... unless the team is in the playoff hunt and can make a late addition when cap space isn’t that important.

2) Oilers have more cap space opening up next season. Manning, Benning, Gagner, Brodziak and Kassian = almost $11 million. Plus Pouliot’s buy out ends. Then all the little one year deals Holland just signed will also expire = about $5.5 million. That’s at least $17 million total meaning they should have some room to make a significant move next season. The following year it’s bye bye to Larsson and Russell for a combined $8 million. Of course if the team doesn’t have any replacement forwards to step up, and I fear they won’t, a lot of that money will be eaten up just plugging holes. But at least they should have some cheap players to fill the Manning, Benning, Larsson and Russell slots in the blueline.

3) people are going to complain about wasting McDavid if Holland doesn’t seem to be making a good faith attempt to make the playoffs this year. You and I both know it’s not happening, but I guess he felt he needed some available cap space in the unlikely event a miracle transpires.

 

[guymez]

The exact projected roster with Manning out and Sekera in would be cap compliant once Broziak goes on IR.

Holland opened up cap space he couldn't use at the cost of 4 seasons of dead cap in seasons where we might want to.

Oh and he downgraded the backend in the process.

This is rather simplistic and inaccurate.
Its easy to make a blanket claim but you need to take into account all of the other variables in terms of added players and contract in the bottom 6.

Try to break down the roster and show how the team would likely look had Sekera (a $5.5M ageing) bottom 6 dman stayed on the roster.

The bottom line for me is that with the mess he was handed by Chia Holland had to take steps to make changes to the team. Some steps are sideways moves...some steps are forward.

I dont see a single change that would be considered a clear backwards step that hurts this team moving forward. If Holland had to take a small step backwards on something so that he could take a large step forward later on then I am fine with that.

Sometimes improving a team is always a linear progression.

 

[I am the Liquor]

Sekera was way overpaid for what was going to be a bottom pair D and it meant keeping Russell on his off side in the 2nd pairing and it tied up cap with which we were able to jettison Lucic with.

Moving on from Sekera was a no brainer for me.

The defence has nary a nhl caliber defender in the bunch. I was told that we had a lot of depth and that one of the younger guys would seamlessly take his spot. How’s that workin out?

It’s one thing to get rid of a nhl dman for cap reasons or whatever the f***, but you’ve got to do something to replace him besides throwing low percentage euros at the problem. That’s some Tambellini shit right there. We saw last night a preview of what is one of the two bugaboos of this team this upcoming season. The defence ain’t near good enough.

I could give two shits and a f*** if Holland got rid of Lucic (really all he did was replace him with another possible shit mess), he didn’t do sweet f*** all to address the serious problems on the roster.

 

[Missing smitty]

The defence has nary a nhl caliber defender in the bunch. I was told that we had a lot of depth and that one of the younger guys would seamlessly take his spot. How’s that workin out?

It’s one thing to get rid of a nhl dman for cap reasons or whatever the ****, but you’ve got to do something to replace him besides throwing low percentage euros at the problem. That’s some Tambellini **** right there. We saw last night a preview of what is one of the two bugaboos of this team this upcoming season. The defence ain’t near good enough.

I could give two ****s and a **** if Holland got rid of Lucic (really all he did was replace him with another possible **** mess), he didn’t do sweet **** all to address the serious problems on the roster.

Nurse, Klefbom, Russell and Larsson are clear NHL calibre defensemen, even if they are playing higher in a lineup than they should be, you're just being deliberately obtuse.

What would you have done to improve the roster with $11 million in cap taken up by Lucic and Sekera?

 

[LTIR]

Sekera was way overpaid for what was going to be a bottom pair D and it meant keeping Russell on his off side in the 2nd pairing and it tied up cap with which we were able to jettison Lucic with.

Moving on from Sekera was a no brainer for me.

Sekera looked pretty good at the end of the year and very good at the world's.
Should've pulled a Flames and signed him to 1.5Mx1 after buying him out. He would not have been overpaid for bottom pair then

 

[LTIR]

Nurse, Klefbom, Russell and Larsson are clear NHL calibre defensemen, even if they are playing higher in a lineup than they should be, you're just being deliberately obtuse.

What would you have done to improve the roster with $11 million in cap taken up by Lucic and Sekera?

Lucic+Sekera are still taking up 3.25M of our cap while leaving a huge hole on D.
Joel friggin Persson as top 4 ..really?
This is worse than any D we have iced in recent years. Wait til injury bug hits.

 

[Missing smitty]

Lucic+Sekera are still taking up 3.25M of our cap while leaving a huge hole on D.
Joel friggin Persson as top 4 ..really?
This is worse than any D we have iced in recent years. Wait til injury bug hits.

Lol. I wasn't saying its a good D corps, just that they are all legitmate NHL defenceman. I was asking the guy what he would have done with Lucic and Sekera still on the roster, since apparently Holland had tons of options and just didn't do anything.

 

[LTIR]

Lol. I wasn't saying its a good D corps, just that they are all legitmate NHL defenceman. I was asking the guy what he would have done with Lucic and Sekera still on the roster, since apparently Holland had tons of options and just didn't do anything.

What has he done now? He could have kept Sekera and still signed Archibald, Nygaard, Sheahan,Jurco etc

 

[Missing smitty]

What has he done now? He could have kept Sekera and still signed Archibald, Nygaard, Sheahan,Jurco etc

Sekera at over $5 million was worse for the team than buying him out. It is absolutely atrocious cap management to have $7 million tied up in your bottom pairing defensemen. I don't get why people think he will ever be what he was before.

 

[guymez]

Sekera at over $5 million was worse for the team than buying him out. It is absolutely atrocious cap management to have $7 million tied up in your bottom pairing defensemen. I don't get why people think he will ever be what he was before.

Pretending that Sekera was still an effective player for $5.5M is the only way that narrative makes sense.

 

[ZenOil]

Gagner isn't great... but these "faster" players you want to plug in his place haven't shown to have half the offensive IQ or skill that Gagner shows. I mean we could have plugged a speedster like Reider in the top 6 last year and he would have got nothing done.

And Kass... yeh ideally he's a bottom 6 guy, but I have to say his offence is really underrated. He can hang onto pucks, he's fast, he'll crash and bang, and every now and then he makes a nifty play. I don't mind him next to McDavid and Drai... he looks good on that line most nights.

Good point. I just worry Gagner can be easily neutralized by deep, big and fast teams. Small and slow = easily shutdown. If Neal wasn't slow then maybe, but it just seems like a line with this make up could be dominated by better teams. Return of the snowpants. Maybe/most likely those Euro's don't have the skill (they do possess speed), I'd just like them to be given an opportunity. I'll be happy if Gagner proves me and other doubters wrong.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Sekera looked pretty good at the end of the year and very good at the world's.
Should've pulled a Flames and signed him to 1.5Mx1 after buying him out. He would not have been overpaid for bottom pair then

At the end of the year in the NHL?

He absolutely didn't, and the stats back that up, and who cares about the worlds. Larsson looks dominant there the last 2 years.

 

[Spawn]

And then when smith hits his bonuses we would be over.

As much as people like to say sekera was good last year, he wasn’t.

Using smiths shit contract as a reason why holland needed to buy out sekera is not a good argument for Holland doing a good job this summer lmao.

And the only way smith hits bonuses that would have any sort of legitimate overages would be if the team made the playoffs. Which it obviously won’t do.

 

[Spawn]

This is rather simplistic and inaccurate.
Its easy to make a blanket claim but you need to take into account all of the other variables in terms of added players and contract in the bottom 6.

Try to break down the roster and show how the team would likely look had Sekera (a $5.5M ageing) bottom 6 dman stayed on the roster.

The bottom line for me is that with the mess he was handed by Chia Holland had to take steps to make changes to the team. Some steps are sideways moves...some steps are forward.

I dont see a single change that would be considered a clear backwards step that hurts this team moving forward. If Holland had to take a small step backwards on something so that he could take a large step forward later on then I am fine with that.

Sometimes improving a team is always a linear progression.

It is simple, yes. But it’s also entirely accurate.

There was no reason to buy out sekera. We’d have been better off having him as the #7 never playing a single game if it came to that rather than having bought him out. Now we have 4 seasons of dead space.

And we probably get the pleasure of Brandon manning sitting in the press box.