Speculation: Oilers off season targets

[bellagiobob]

I think Kenny won’t do a whole lot this off season, maybe trading Yamo, and tinkering with the 4th line. Will make his moves at the trade deadline when we have accrued cap space and our needs are more defined. Gives him time to see how Holloway fits in, if Ceci gets back to his form of two years ago when healthy again, etc.

 

[Broberg Speed]

As hard as it was to lose this year the optimist in me is coming around. This is literally the best team weve had in decades. Even with the "holes" that we have, the Oilers are still a top 6 team in the league by both regular season and playoff standings.

We could honestly leave the team as is for next year and probably still be a very a good team. Meanwhile worse teams are in considerably worse positions. Vancouver is already over the cap for next year. Calgary has like 1M in cap and is set to lose Lindholm, Toffoli, Backlund, Tanev, Hanafin, etc to free agency next offseason. Winnipeg might be forced to trade Hellebuyck and Toronto might not be able to sign Matthews.

We are in good shape and are only going to get better.

Open discussions with Craig Conroy? There are some targets I've had in mind for years.

Then again I expect the Flames to make the playoffs next season so I can't imagine what direction they're headed.

 

[Dr Awesome]

Update right D, sign Rw on show me deal and fire current goalie coach and bring someone new in.

 

[tiger_80]

I think Kenny won’t do a whole lot this off season, maybe trading Yamo, and tinkering with the 4th line. Will make his moves at the trade deadline when we have accrued cap space and our needs are more defined. Gives him time to see how Holloway fits in, if Ceci gets back to his form of two years ago when healthy again, etc.

Kenny should trade Woody to Maple Leafs for Badcock))

 

[CookiesAndMilk]

Just fire Schwartz into the next nearest sun and hire someone that actually can improve our goaltenders. It's so f***ing sad to know that every tender that arrives in EDM is exposed to this absolute buffoon of a goalie coach.

That move alone would improve Soup and Skinner significantly and would cost much less.

Other than that I think the important things have been said. Use Yamo's money for Bouch, try to fill gaps on the wings and on D. Can't and won't go crazy this offseason. Bjugstad would be really nice to have and a defensive D.

 

[Fourier]

Aside from maybe signing a guy like Brown on a bonus laden deal I think the off season may well not be the best time for any big move. The trade deadline, or possibly a little earlier could be a much better opportunity to fill a key hole. There are always player who become available that you would not have thought might be. Ekholm is a perfect example. But mostly, this is a cap issue. Making a bigger move in the off season will be very challenging and could lead to a significant mistake.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Kenny should trade Woody to Maple Leafs for Badcock))

Make no mistake about it.

Babcock is TMac v2.0.
He won't make adjustments in a playoff series Which is why he gets exploited. He can only win with a ridiculoualy stacked team.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

I voted RD cause I think that's upgrade we need the most, but I'm doubtful we have the capspace to pull that off this offseason.

I'm going to agree with CookiesAndMilk, I think the most impactful change we can make right now is upgrading our goalie coach.

 

[ehhteen]

Scott Mayfield and Connor Brown

 

[bucks_oil]

Yamo out, Holloway in (Yamo's money goes to Bouch). I think that's probably the only thing you do. You run it back with the rest of the skaters.

I don't know how you're supposed to upgrade Ceci @ 3.5m...

I would try adding to Campbell to somehow land Hellebuck but doubt that happens. If it doesn't, I feel really good going with Skinner into next season

McDavid, Draisaitl, RNH combined for 10 posts... so much about winning the playoffs is about luck. We're pretty muich right there, I wouldn't do anything too drastic.

You upgrade Ceci by taking his salary and one of Foegele or Kulak's and having one more winger or bottom pairing D playing at league minimum. That gives you $5.5M to use in UFA or trade for a better RD to pair with Nurse.

Alternately, you keep Ceci for now trade one of Foegele or Kulak and just save the $2M in cap until the deadline... by then it is worth $5M and you can trade for whomever you want.

 

[bucks_oil]

As hard as it was to lose this year the optimist in me is coming around. This is literally the best team weve had in decades. Even with the "holes" that we have, the Oilers are still a top 6 team in the league by both regular season and playoff standings.

We could honestly leave the team as is for next year and probably still be a very a good team. Meanwhile worse teams are in considerably worse positions. Vancouver is already over the cap for next year. Calgary has like 1M in cap and is set to lose Lindholm, Toffoli, Backlund, Tanev, Hanafin, etc to free agency next offseason. Winnipeg might be forced to trade Hellebuyck and Toronto might not be able to sign Matthews.

We are in good shape and are only going to get better.

Hence why I think the best strategy is to accept that there isn't anything out there in UFA that can help us now. Not with our cap.

So hand over a wing spot, some bottom six and bottom pairing time to youth and save cap for the deadline. Being out of LTIR is HUGE for this team, especially with limited holes to fill.

Ride it out until the deadline and be the team that can make a big splash.

We have potentially 4 spots to fill and each have great UFA options potentially available at deadline:

Goalie: Hellybucyck, Sorokin, Fleury
RD: Hannifin, Tanev, Toews
Wingers: Vrana, Perron, Mantha, Eberle, Wilson
Center: Scheifele, Guentzel, Lindholm, Wennberg

Play our cards right (trade and hold $$$) and we could have effectively $10M to spend at the deadline with the core of our current lineup all intact (and keep in mind Kane/Ekholm available from day 1).

 

[Lacaar]

Just fire Schwartz into the next nearest sun and hire someone that actually can improve our goaltenders. It's so f***ing sad to know that every tender that arrives in EDM is exposed to this absolute buffoon of a goalie coach.

That move alone would improve Soup and Skinner significantly and would cost much less.

Other than that I think the important things have been said. Use Yamo's money for Bouch, try to fill gaps on the wings and on D. Can't and won't go crazy this offseason. Bjugstad would be really nice to have and a defensive D.

I have no idea if he's good, bad, etc. And I'm not usually one to call for peoples jobs etc.

I don't know if he's part of the problem.

What I do know is this team has had 1 season of good goaltending since what feels like forever.
He definitely hasn't been part of the solution, so with this history.. I'm in agreement that it's time to move on from him. Management needs to dig in and find/steal whatever a new goalie coach.

 

[trick91]

Not sure why people keep saying to get rid of Yamamoto and replace with Holloway. Holloway is a left winger, he wont be playing on the right. If we get rid of Yamamoto, it would be either Lavoie or getting another right winger.

 

[CookiesAndMilk]

I have no idea if he's good, bad, etc. And I'm not usually one to call for peoples jobs etc.

I don't know if he's part of the problem.

What I do know is this team has had 1 season of good goaltending since what feels like forever.
He definitely hasn't been part of the solution, so with this history.. I'm in agreement that it's time to move on from him. Management needs to dig in and find/steal whatever a new goalie coach.

He's the only one I've been calling out. I did not with Chia, didn't with TMac, didn't with any of the other people that eventually got fired. This guy actively makes our goalies worse and for a team that struggles with defence it's just another slap in the face.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Scott Mayfield and Connor Brown

Not loving a potential Nurse-Mayfield pairing. Like it or not we have to add an all around guy for that 2RD spot. Nurse ices the puck like crazy. We basically need a lesser version of Ekholm to wipe Darnell's butt on the 2nd pairing. That means being able to break the puck out while we are under pressure and cover for Nurse's brain farts around our own net.

 

[tiger_80]

Yamamoto out, UFA in (maybe Toews). But the priority should be to re-sign Bouchard, Kostin, McLeod. Janmark would be good to keep too.

 

[duul]

Our best defenceman all playoffs was far-and-away was an offensive-only, essentially rookie Dman who was essentially a 2nd/3rd pairing guy all year.

If you don't think adding a top pairing defenceman is the #1 priority I don't know what to tell you. We have a ton of holes but that one is the most obvious.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Not loving a potential Nurse-Mayfield pairing. Like it or not we have to add an all around guy for that 2RD spot. Nurse ices the puck like crazy. We basically need a lesser version of Ekholm to wipe Darnell's butt on the 2nd pairing. That means being able to break the puck out while we are under pressure and cover for Nurse's brain farts around our own net.

Not the ideal choice, but I'd be curious to see Nurse with Kulak.

I don't think Brett is that far behind Ceci in a vacuum defensively, but he is a far better skater and doesn't get Ceci's "deer in the highlights" when the puck ends up on his stick. Both elements I can see working well with Nurse.

That let's you drop Ceci to the 3rd pairing with Broberg, or more likely due to the cap: move Ceci and sign a vet replacement for about half the price (think like Hamonic or Schenn.


Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Kulak
Broberg-Schenn/Hamonic
Niemo, Vinny


You'd still need an upgrade towards the deadline if Broberg doesn't take a step forward, but I'd be fine to start the year with that.

 

[foshizzle]

I have no idea if he's good, bad, etc. And I'm not usually one to call for peoples jobs etc.

I don't know if he's part of the problem.

What I do know is this team has had 1 season of good goaltending since what feels like forever.
He definitely hasn't been part of the solution, so with this history.. I'm in agreement that it's time to move on from him. Management needs to dig in and find/steal whatever a new goalie coach.

Was that one season Talbot’s or Smith’s? Whoever it was, it was not due to Schwartz. Smith got outside goaltending where they spent the whole summer working on his stance and hand postioning. His coach thought they were too locked down and he wasn’t able to use them. At his age- Smith’s hands were still quick and his coach they’d be his best asset.

With Talbot- he had a horrible start to his stint in Edmonton and went back to work with his old coach I believe- had an MVP seasons- went back to Schwartz and started letting in the first shot of the game.

 

[foshizzle]

Our best defenceman all playoffs was far-and-away was an offensive-only, essentially rookie Dman who was essentially a 2nd/3rd pairing guy all year.

If you don't think adding a top pairing defenceman is the #1 priority I don't know what to tell you. We have a ton of holes but that one is the most obvious.

This is such a bad assessment- lol. Bouchard isn’t an offense only defenseman. All season he was the Oilers best defence man- (see my posts before Ekholm got here). He was by far the best at getting the puck out, retrievals, zone entries, and had the least amount of high danger chances against. People only saw the mistakes and decided he sucked. When paired with Ekholm- he finally got the recognition and his numbers got even better. He was always that guy.

 

[fireantz]

In October Ceci was our best dman. He was overplayed til Ekholm arrived. Healed and playing less minutes as 2RD he is still a CHEAP top 4 dman. Leave the seven alone and address need at the tdl to put us over the top. Spend now to secure Bouchard. Use assets like Broberg McLeod Holloway and/or Bourgualt to acquire veteran help later if needed. McD, Holland and Woody said “all in”. Git er dun.

 

[Canovin]

Provorov/Pionk/Karlsson

Saros/Helle/Gibson

 

[joestevens29]

I think Kenny won’t do a whole lot this off season, maybe trading Yamo, and tinkering with the 4th line. Will make his moves at the trade deadline when we have accrued cap space and our needs are more defined. Gives him time to see how Holloway fits in, if Ceci gets back to his form of two years ago when healthy again, etc.

I'd add McLeod, Broberg and Desharnais to guys he's going to be waiting to see develop as well.

Then the goaltending as a whole. Maybe come deadline he adds someone. They already have Rodrigue, Fanti and Pickard for potential AHL goalies, so I don't really see them chasing after a depth goalie.

 

[McDoused]

Our best defenceman all playoffs was far-and-away was an offensive-only, essentially rookie Dman who was essentially a 2nd/3rd pairing guy all year.

If you don't think adding a top pairing defenceman is the #1 priority I don't know what to tell you. We have a ton of holes but that one is the most obvious.

Bouchard was actually tied with Desharnais and Kulak with 2 even strength points in the playoffs, behind Nurse and Ekholm.

Bouchard has been fantastic on the powerplay but lets not get carried away here.

 

[Oilers in NS]

Provorov/Pionk/Karlsson

Saros/Helle/Gibson

If u could get Pionk, we would be set.RD, nasty, youngish, not bad contract. Id trade multiple 1st's, Yamamoto, Ceci, Campbell, for Hellybuyck and Pionk. There would have to be salary retention involved but that is what the 1st rounders are for