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.