OEL 3.0 - Move Me Or Keep Me (Upd: You're Stuck With Me}

[GhostofTommyBolin]

In a flat cap world, I’m not entirely sure. Chicago may want to lose as many games as they can to get a high pick to start replacing aging vets

No team wants to lose as many games as they can in order to draft someone that they've no idea will even pan out unless it's a once-in-a-generation talent, i.e. Crosby or McDavid. I'm not saying tanking doesn't exist in some circumstances but teams want to win.

 

[Schemp]

No team wants to lose as many games as they can in order to draft someone that they've no idea will even pan out unless it's a once-in-a-generation talent, i.e. Crosby or McDavid. I'm not saying tanking doesn't exist in some circumstances but teams want to win.

You mean other than the Sabres?

 

[CLW]

The Sabres have been/was the worst run franchise for a good while. Solid organizations like Chicago, LA, Anaheim are not afraid to cycle a few years into lottery to rebuild their prospect pools. Obviously nobody wants to be a tire fire year after year, that's just too destructive.

To be neither a proper play off team preparing for a cup run, nor restocking quality prospects for future runs is the second worst option. A kind of eternal non-existence.

 

[TheLegend]

 

[RemoAZ]

I call BS. Then why is his agent texting the new GM right after he is announced? Kessel said he never requested a trade either even though Pittsburgh and Toronto said he did. They can always just blame the agent for deniability.

 

[Prarievarg]

I call BS. Then why is his agent texting the new GM right after he is announced? Kessel said he never requested a trade either even though Pittsburgh and Toronto said he did. They can always just blame the agent for deniability.

I see no reason to believe OEL requested a trade. If he wanted out, he most certainly would provide more than 2 teams to be traded to. I also don't think he's the type of person who wants to uproot his living situation. I mean he still lives with his father in Tingsryd during the summer.

 

[Jakey53]

I call BS. Then why is his agent texting the new GM right after he is announced? Kessel said he never requested a trade either even though Pittsburgh and Toronto said he did. They can always just blame the agent for deniability.

I know you are not a fan of OEL, but I for one I'm glad he is still here. We don't know all the facts, and I really don't care to know all the facts. We need better talent to surround OEL, not trading this type of talent.

 

[moosemeister]

If OEL REALLY wanted out, he would’ve given more than two teams. This could’ve been a play by his agent to see what he could do for his client. Give him a fresh start. Who knows, it’s water under the bridge now.


Let’s fire RT and see how OEL plays moving forward yeah?

 

[RemoAZ]

I know you are not a fan of OEL, but I for one I'm glad he is still here. We don't know all the facts, and I really don't care to know all the facts. We need better talent to surround OEL, not trading this type of talent.

Has nothing to do with whether I like him and for the record, I'd have much less issue with him if he wasn't the captain of this team...Captain Diver. I certainly didn't want them to trade him for peanuts. I think the right move was to keep him. I'm just going on Armstrong's comments about the agent texting him as soon as the announcement was made. 2 things: If the team felt pressured to move him, they'd have taken that Vancouver deal which while not enough imo, wasn't horrible. Second, why would the agent be texting him immediately and giving him demands on where he goes if he didn't want to go? Pretty clear to me the request came from his camp, not the team.

 

[Jakey53]

Has nothing to do with whether I like him and for the record, I'd have much less issue with him if he wasn't the captain of this team...Captain Diver. I certainly didn't want them to trade him for peanuts. I think the right move was to keep him. I'm just going on Armstrong's comments about the agent texting him as soon as the announcement was made. 2 things: If the team felt pressured to move him, they'd have taken that Vancouver deal which while not enough imo, wasn't horrible. Second, why would the agent be texting him immediately and giving him demands on where he goes if he didn't want to go? Pretty clear to me the request came from his camp, not the team.

We only hear the second hand news, and everything else is assumption. Like I said, I don't care what happened behind closed doors, I'm just glad he is here. Now, let's try and surround our CAPTAIN with more talent.

 

[rt]

Has nothing to do with whether I like him and for the record, I'd have much less issue with him if he wasn't the captain of this team...Captain Diver. I certainly didn't want them to trade him for peanuts. I think the right move was to keep him. I'm just going on Armstrong's comments about the agent texting him as soon as the announcement was made. 2 things: If the team felt pressured to move him, they'd have taken that Vancouver deal which while not enough imo, wasn't horrible. Second, why would the agent be texting him immediately and giving him demands on where he goes if he didn't want to go? Pretty clear to me the request came from his camp, not the team.

The Vancouver deal was close enough that you could pull the trigger without losing too much face, if in fact, you were under strict orders to move him and his contract out.

It was poor value, but there were a few decent enough pieces that you could get away with it and not have to face blow back from the hockey media over it. Getting the 1st and the 2nd and then Virtanen. Even Sutter is okay, but overpaid.

The fact that BA didn’t feel pressured to cave to that deal is a very good sign. Because if he had strict orders to move at all costs, that would actually be a damn good package given the circumstances. It’s actually a pretty good sign he was able to extract even that much while forcing Benning to basically negotiate with himself.

 

[cobra427]

We only hear the second hand news, and everything else is assumption. Like I said, I don't care what happened behind closed doors, I'm just glad he is here. Now, let's try and surround our CAPTAIN with more talent.

Agreed. Look at the return for Tkachuk/JR/Yandle, 3 of our best players that moved on. We didn't get much in return. Trading OEL would likely be the same result, we look back and it would be a bad deal. OEL is still a top 30 D in the NHL even though his performance has been poor the last few years. Keeping OEL and hoping he bounces back a little is a better bet than trading him for a so so return. If Chych was clearly a #1D and wasn't injured half the time, we could more afford to gamble with the return for OEL. If OEL really wanted out he would have named more than 2 teams. I am glad we kept him.

 

[_Del_]

Look at the return for Tkachuk/JR/Yandle, 3 of our best players that moved on. We didn't get much in return.

We never traded Roenick, and the return on Tkachuk was fine. The return of Yandle was as good as one could expect. I don't have a problem trading OEL for a decent return. The problem was the rumoured offers weren't good.

 

[cobra427]

We never traded Roenick, and the return on Tkachuk was fine. The return of Yandle was as good as one could expect. I don't have a problem trading OEL for a decent return. The problem was the rumoured offers weren't good.

We would have been a better team had we kept all 3 of them, we got worse when each of them left and we didn’t recover. 10 percent chance it helps us long term if OEL gets traded.

 

[_Del_]

Tkachuk didn't really want to be here, and we couldn't afford him; we got value. We got priced out on JR; we didn't trade him. We moved Yandle because of OEL, and we got pretty good value.
I guess if we had billionaire owners before, we could have kept two of them. So what?