Friedman: Oilers, Flames have looked into Ekman-Larsson, many other teams also interested

[KlefDown]

You don't move one of your best players to cut budget. There are far better ways to do that. Moving OEL has nothing to do with budget.

how is his morale with the team/front office after the GM debacle? are there indications he wants out?
genuinely curious

 

[Fatass]

how is his morale with the team/front office after the GM debacle? are there indications he wants out?
genuinely curious

Professionally OEL can’t be happy with the direction of team’s play on the ice, or with all the financial and management issues. But personally, he’s got to be a happy guy living there with dollars he makes.

 

[rt]

how is his morale with the team/front office after the GM debacle? are there indications he wants out?
genuinely curious

OEL, like the rest of the players the GM cycled in and out, had struggled mightily under the wholly inept coaching staff that was installed here. Reports of OEL and Tocchet clashing go all the way back to the first camp. They don’t work well together and it’s pretty clear to most neutral observers that Tocchet’s complete failure does vindicate OEL in some ways.

The Coyotes have been left in a complete no man’s land. They had the league’s 10th worst P% before the plague stoppage. The veteran core was failing. Despite catching a sleeping Nashville team in a gimmicky play-in tournament, they got absolutely exposed again for what they are by Colorado. Their older players are absolutely not good enough as a whole to be a meaningful playoff team.

That’s a big problem when you don’t have any draft picks this year or any draft picks next year and they only meaningful prospects outside of the NHL are Jan Jenik, Matthias Maccelli, Ivan Prosvetov and Victor Soderstrom. That’s a mediocre prospect pool, and one that gets worse and worse with the passing of each successive draft wherein it doesn’t get restocked AT ALL.

This leaves the Coyotes with really just Keller, Dvorak, Garland, Hayton, Schmaltz, and Chychrun their core, young roster pieces. And that just isn’t nearly good enough. Ideally Keller should be no better than your 3rd best forward and Chychrun no better than your 2nd best D. The rest are at best 2nd/3rd line tweeters. And there is precious little coming up to support this core. There is no Calvary on the way.

Chayka really left the team absolutely no choice but to trade as many over 25 players as they can possibly move while getting any type of younger assets back that they can.

I’m sure OEL has no interest in enduring this. Even if he doesn’t want to waive his NMC right now, how will he feel once Kuemper, Raanta, and Stepan are gone? How about when Hjalmarsson and Goligoski are asked to waive their clauses? Certainly they won’t fight it once the other vets have been moved. Does OEL want to be alone on an island? A sinking island?

The writing is on the wall. The Chayka plan was a complete failure and it has to be totally burned down and rebuilt.

These players with No Movement Clauses demanded them in their contracts in order to avoid situations like these, not so they can force themselves to stay in them.

 

[BudBundy]

The stats seem to indicate, huh? Well, there you go.

Well, I could go on ad nauseum about his corsi, wowy, or controlled zone exits all being bad to average, but I expected someone knowledgeable would look it up if they doubted me.

 

[rt]

Well, I could go on ad nauseum about his corsi, wowy, or controlled zone exits all being bad to average, but I expected someone knowledgeable would look it up if they doubted me.

I’d look it up but I can’t. My eyeballs just rolled all the way the f*** outta my skull.

 

[BudBundy]

I’d look it up but I can’t. My eyeballs just rolled all the way the f*** outta my skull.

All I hear is “denial.” Well, there you go.

 

[BudBundy]

OEL, like the rest of the players the GM cycled in and out, had struggled mightily under the wholly inept coaching staff that was installed here. Reports of OEL and Tocchet clashing go all the way back to the first camp. They don’t work well together and it’s pretty clear to most neutral observers that Tocchet’s complete failure does vindicate OEL in some ways.

The Coyotes have been left in a complete no man’s land. They had the league’s 10th worst P% before the plague stoppage. The veteran core was failing. Despite catching a sleeping Nashville team in a gimmicky play-in tournament, they got absolutely exposed again for what they are by Colorado. Their older players are absolutely not good enough as a whole to be a meaningful playoff team.

That’s a big problem when you don’t have any draft picks this year or any draft picks next year and they only meaningful prospects outside of the NHL are Jan Jenik, Matthias Maccelli, Ivan Prosvetov and Victor Soderstrom. That’s a mediocre prospect pool, and one that gets worse and worse with the passing of each successive draft wherein it doesn’t get restocked AT ALL.

This leaves the Coyotes with really just Keller, Dvorak, Garland, Hayton, Schmaltz, and Chychrun their core, young roster pieces. And that just isn’t nearly good enough. Ideally Keller should be no better than your 3rd best forward and Chychrun no better than your 2nd best D. The rest are at best 2nd/3rd line tweeters. And there is precious little coming up to support this core. There is no Calvary on the way.

Chayka really left the team absolutely no choice but to trade as many over 25 players as they can possibly move while getting any type of younger assets back that they can.

I’m sure OEL has no interest in enduring this. Even if he doesn’t want to waive his NMC right now, how will he feel once Kuemper, Raanta, and Stepan are gone? How about when Hjalmarsson and Goligoski are asked to waive their clauses? Certainly they won’t fight it once the other vets have been moved. Does OEL want to be alone on an island? A sinking island?

The writing is on the wall. The Chayka plan was a complete failure and it has to be totally burned down and rebuilt.

These players with No Movement Clauses demanded them in their contracts in order to avoid situations like these, not so they can force themselves to stay in them.

The Yotes have been a train wreck their entire existence and for the entirety of OELs career thus far. Yet he chose to sign a long term contract extension last year, locking him up in Arizona for the rest of his career. Did he sign that contract, complete with NMC, expecting the Yotes were going to become a contender? More likely he doesn’t give two figs about winning and instead enjoys the sun, total anonymity, and full value + contract a non-contender can offer him. Expecting some huge revival were he moved elsewhere is a big reach.

 

[rt]

The Yotes have been a train wreck their entire existence and for the entirety of OELs career thus far. Yet he chose to sign a long term contract extension last year, locking him up in Arizona for the rest of his career. Did he sign that contract, complete with NMC, expecting the Yotes were going to become a contender? More likely he doesn’t give two figs about winning and instead enjoys the sun, total anonymity, and full value + contract a non-contender can offer him. Expecting some huge revival were he moved elsewhere is a big reach.

Your first sentence answers your last.

As for the middle, yeah, he should have gone to a really good team like Edmonton or Toronto. That would have been way better.

 

[_Del_]

The only way to prove you want to win is demand a trade from the sunny playoff team to one of the "better" Canadian teams that missed the playoffs... Otherwise, it's fig newtons.

 

[ToDavid]

Nylander + Dermott + Liljegren + Andersen + 4th + 6th in 20

For

Crouse + Ekman-Larsson + Kuemper

No thanks.

 

[57special]

So, OEL has been on a dysfunctional, trainwreck of a team for his entire career, so he is willing to waive his NMC in order to be traded to ...Edmonton?

@rt I think you meant cavalry. If you actually meant Calvary, then things are worse than i thought in ARI.

 

[blankall]

I really don't see how it make's sense for Calgary.

Gio's gotta be part of the trade, which i assume Arizona would flip to a contender or something.

Dube is a no go.

The Flames need more offence. Particularly they need a better puck moving d-man on the point with a booming shot. OEL, doesn't have the most impressive offensive numbers lately, but that's true of the entire Yotes organization. Maybe the Flames scouting staff sees the fit.

I seriously doubt the Flames are sending Gio back the other way. OEL would be the replacement for Brodie. Brodie may already be headed back home to the East Coast, which leaves a hole on defence for the Flames, which they don't think Valimaki or Andersson is ready to fill yet.

 

[rt]

So, OEL has been on a dysfunctional, trainwreck of a team for his entire career, so he is willing to waive his NMC in order to be traded to ...Edmonton?

@rt I think you meant cavalry. If you actually meant Calvary, then things are worse than i thought in ARI.

LOL - yes of course!

 

[Mobiandi]

Putting the context of the Coyotes issues aside, the Flames have worked an inordinate amount of time under the Gio cap. I can't see us throwing it out the window to make a stranger with no history of success and a declining points total the highest paid player on the team.

 

[Ainsy01]

Can anyone take a swing at the ARI return from CGY for OEL? I cant even wrap my head around it, and the fact they are also interested in Keumper, and signing Hall, just insane.

 

[Finnish your Czech]

Hoping the Leafs don't go after OEL. an 8 million dollar D that isn't an elite D makes their depth issues even harder to fix.

 

[895]

Wash 1st 2020
Wash 2nd 2021
Arizona 3rd 2020
Michael Kempny
Richard Panik

For

OEL

@rt

 

[rt]

Can anyone take a swing at the ARI return from CGY for OEL? I cant even wrap my head around it, and the fact they are also interested in Keumper, and signing Hall, just insane.

19th, Dube, and more stuff?

 

[Kranix]

19th, Dube, and more stuff?

Nope

 

[viper0220]

I feel like this should be a case of buyer beware. He’s got a massive contract, and his underlying stats these past few years have been pretty terrible.

Maybe I’m wrong but it seems as though some team is going to majorly over pay for him.

Agree with this, hopefully the Flames stay away.

 

[rt]

Nope

OEL and Fischer for 19th, Dube and Lucic with an additional 25% retained.

 

[Kranix]

OEL and Fischer for 19th, Dube and Lucic with an additional 25% retained.

NOT!
Dube off the table. Even if it gets rid of Lusik.
That's just me though.

 

[rt]

Wash 1st 2020
Wash 2nd 2021
Arizona 3rd 2020
Michael Kempny
Richard Panik

For

OEL

@rt

That’s tempting. I wish the 1st wasn’t so late and I know the 2nd will be too. Also that Kempny dump is fine because the cash is low. But Panik is signed for three more years which is tough. The buyout on that is kinda pricey from a cash perspective.

 

[William Shattenkirk]

That’s tempting. I wish the 1st wasn’t so late and I know the 2nd will be too. Also that Kempny dump is fine because the cash is low. But Panik is signed for three more years which is tough. The buyout on that is kinda pricey from a cash perspective.

I have read this nonsense long enough. In what world in a flat cap era is OEL worth a first round pick? He has 3 good years left and then on to the water slide. 5 more years after that at 8.25. That’s ridiculous!

 

[_Del_]

Wash 1st 2020
Wash 2nd 2021
Arizona 3rd 2020
Michael Kempny
Richard Panik

For

OEL

@rt

OEL, Keumper, and Hinostroza for Kuznetsov, Alexeev, Kempny