News Article: Oilers release Burdasov from PTO

[Draiskull]

Kind of wanting him signed then waived (if possible)
.... Then I could use my -
Burd on a waiver wire line!

we didn't have enough time to domesticate it …

 

[ZenOil]

So dumb. This team lacks skill. Teams loaded with a bunch of guys lucky to score 5 to 10 goals. Goalie and coach praised his shot. You have to shoot to score. Oilers suck at scoring. Dumb

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Sad to think how much better we would be with Strome, and Caggiula.

 

[Drivesaitl]

So dumb. This team lacks skill. Teams loaded with a bunch of guys lucky to score 5 to 10 goals. Goalie and coach praised his shot. You have to shoot to score. Oilers suck at scoring. Dumb

Exactly. We have a chance with Burdasov to right some previous wrongs in getting a Russian that can shoot and finish.

We do this every f***ing time we get a Russian forward. Just get rid of them.

Meanwhile we play tonight and the gang can't buy a goal until garbage time and at times looked like a team that wouldn't score forever.

just frustrating.

Burdasov is big, physical, smart, positionally sound and can score. So we punt his ass. We'll start the season with 8 forwards who can't buy a goal.

 

[nexttothemoon]

I agree.
It may well be that the team wasnt willing to use up a contract and put themselves to the cap max based on what they were able to witness first hand.
Unfortunately there were a lot of things working against him and it really is too bad.
I think that there is a player there.

It just irks me a little to see posts like...he has a wicked shot...because we only know about his shot based on youtube clips. That simply doesnt have much currency when it comes to a tryout and nor should it.

Of course some posters are looking under rocks for spurious evidence to criticize the team.

I have to take some issue with some of this.

The fact that either you or I or anyone else here may or may not have personally seen him play (or even seen or not seen just youtube clips) doesn't mean that somehow no one else on Earth knows what type of player and type of shot the guy has.

He's played in the KHL for a decade... there's many, many people who have obviously seen his shot and seen him play... ex-NHL players have seen his shot ie Scrivens (shit goalie or not he has eyes and likely knows a bit about shot quality of pro level players)... Koskinen has seen his shot... played on the same team... coaches/scouts have seen him play... etc etc.

It's safe to say Holland and his scouts over the years have likely come across this guy in their last decade of experience scouting overseas as the KHL isn't some completely obscure league.

Point being... he's not a complete enigma wrapped up in a mystery and contained inside an unknown box of goods. The guy plays in the 2nd best pro league in the world and just because guys like me and you and others here haven't watched him much (or at all) doesn't mean that no one has any idea about this player.

We've seen basically the same amount of pseudo "NHL action" from each of Haas/Nygard/Persson... maybe a couple more exhibition games each... which essentially is bugger all difference as those games are vs subpar rosters and I would say until tonight vs Calgary... Haas has been a bigger dud so far and Nygard is just coming around as well recently.

Persson looked good in one game... decent in another and got injured... certainly not a lot to go on there either in terms of how well he'll do at the NHL level.


We do agree on the fact that I think there is a player there (in Burdasov)... and I think we are actually both long time members (all of a few days ... of the Burdasov fan club.

I personally think they didn't want to risk another contract (49th) on a player that might not work out... when they have several others in the same boat... Nygard/Haas/Persson... hell even guys like Granlund/Jurco/Neal/Sheahan are no guarantees to be net positive players.

Maybe they just felt they have enough gambles and darts for the moment and tying up a "little" more cap space when a "little more" cap space is all they've got isn't a prudent move... so I agree with you there as well.


I personally (of course I'm not the one making the decisions... and many here are grateful for that ) would have signed him and dumped the likes of Cave and Patrick Russell on waivers... those players are hard workers but no real loss even if the truly surprising thing happens that they are picked off waivers, because you can pick up other similar players on waivers in the future to replace them again. Every team has those players going up and down often.



This was a long message so I'll wrap it up... but I made one other observation when I was doing a little research in the KHL stats.

I think Burdasov is more of a PP specialist... who plays fairly limited minutes in the KHL... like ~15 minutes per game and his relative +/- stats are nothing spectacular... so my 25 cent sleuthing and deductive reasoning says that there may also be some questions on just how defensively reliable Holland/Tippett might have thought he is... since obviously the majority of time played will be at 5 on 5... especially with the Oilers who don't seem to ever be a favourite with refs to draw their fair share of penalty calls so PP opportunities aren't exactly numerous .

So in the end... maybe a little of everything contributed to his not being signed.

Maybe a player that wanted a little too much money... was going to be a little too much work to communicate systems/methods of play... a little too much of a PP specialist who relied mainly on his shot and possibly just a little bit of a defensive liability (or at least defense isn't his strong point)... on a team that already isn't great defensively or at least has "issues" in that area.

Maybe all the "littles" just added up to just enough to let his release happen... even when they pretty much admitted (in Tippett's media scrum) that they were intrigued by the player... especially that shot.



So we agree on the release being "reasonable"... just not on the reasons that there was no possible way to properly assess this player because truth is... probably half of this roster isn't really properly assessed yet.. and that will really only happen when the games actually mean something and the lines and combos start to gel and build some chemistry (or not).

 

[SwedishFire]

Tippet said he just didn't have enough time to get adjusted and his English was a problem. And Visa problems were why he showed up as late as he did else he would have been here a lot earlier. Hoping he gets a PTO next year. I'd like to see more of what he can do.

I get they didnt get enoguh time on him, ut its also obvious it isnt all that, they couldnt met on contract and dollars, and they want to keep it closed. That part I dont like, Im sure he would be useful. He showed more than the other Euros with a contract, so why in heck didnt Holland sign Burdasov on a 1$m contract instead of ex. Granlund. I read it as Holland really wanted Granlund, that he bealive he is a good PK.

Language barrier, yeah OK, its not nice, but I think it can be overcome. Coming late, yeah, this part is ugly to take up, becuase it was a bit par of the org also. Yes! It was,they could helped him better here with the process.

I want to be clear; I dont want to turn Granlund into a whipping boy, cause he got a spot on the cost of Burdasov.
I dont dislike Granlund and Cave, but I dont see them as a part of a playoffteam. They are the classic fill outs. Granlund will get 10 goals, some penatly killing, and maybe its just what the Oilers needed? Cave, as a 4C is not an issue in the way that 4th line will get 5-6 minutes, that line is just for the other 3 better line to rest, so that is not of a big issue.
I have more faith in Granlund then Cave though. But a line with Khaira + Granlund doesnt scream offensive pressure to me. IF Sheahan is a 3C, there will be none offensive pressure from our bottom 6, the part Oilers wished more scoring oh well, oh sigh.

McDavid Draisaitl, Nuge - The heavy scoring lifter
The secondary scoring : Neal, Jurco
The lone bottom scoring, with 15- 20 goals in best case : Gagner, Chiasson, Kassian
After that there is now none.

Archibald, Khaira, Granlund, Sheahan, Cave, P Russell, Haas.
That is now our important bottom 6 scoring. Sheahan and Cave known for no-offense.
Archibald, I dont know anything about, may score up to 15 goals. Khaira is Khaira. I see P Russell as the same player as Khaira.
Nygård start in AHL, could actually reach 20 goals if he finds a new self.
If any of them scores more than 8 goals, they have overcame the excpectitions.

This team really needed a gamble like Burdasov if you ask me.
Holland could have bought out Manning, and signed Burdasov efore the season. Like, why not?

 

[SwedishFire]

Sad to think how much better we would be with Strome, and Caggiula.

Strome I can actually miss. That trade really hurted the team and Chiarellis value, altough he didnt do a squat at the defence is what actually got Chiarelli fired.

Yes, Caggiula was a good player, better than Manning. But do not think he will reach more than a energyplayer right now. But dumb, dumb trades by Chiarelli.

 

[guymez]

I have to take some issue with some of this.

The fact that either you or I or anyone else here may or may not have personally seen him play (or even seen or not seen just youtube clips) doesn't mean that somehow no one else on Earth knows what type of player and type of shot the guy has.

He's played in the KHL for a decade... there's many, many people who have obviously seen his shot and seen him play... ex-NHL players have seen his shot ie Scrivens (**** goalie or not he has eyes and likely knows a bit about shot quality of pro level players)... Koskinen has seen his shot... played on the same team... coaches/scouts have seen him play... etc etc.

It's safe to say Holland and his scouts over the years have likely come across this guy in their last decade of experience scouting overseas as the KHL isn't some completely obscure league.

Point being... he's not a complete enigma wrapped up in a mystery and contained inside an unknown box of goods. The guy plays in the 2nd best pro league in the world and just because guys like me and you and others here haven't watched him much (or at all) doesn't mean that no one has any idea about this player.

We've seen basically the same amount of pseudo "NHL action" from each of Haas/Nygard/Persson... maybe a couple more exhibition games each... which essentially is bugger all difference as those games are vs subpar rosters and I would say until tonight vs Calgary... Haas has been a bigger dud so far and Nygard is just coming around as well recently.

Persson looked good in one game... decent in another and got injured... certainly not a lot to go on there either in terms of how well he'll do at the NHL level.


We do agree on the fact that I think there is a player there (in Burdasov)... and I think we are actually both long time members (all of a few days ... of the Burdasov fan club.

I personally think they didn't want to risk another contract (49th) on a player that might not work out... when they have several others in the same boat... Nygard/Haas/Persson... hell even guys like Granlund/Jurco/Neal/Sheahan are no guarantees to be net positive players.

Maybe they just felt they have enough gambles and darts for the moment and tying up a "little" more cap space when a "little more" cap space is all they've got isn't a prudent move... so I agree with you there as well.


I personally (of course I'm not the one making the decisions... and many here are grateful for that ) would have signed him and dumped the likes of Cave and Patrick Russell on waivers... those players are hard workers but no real loss even if the truly surprising thing happens that they are picked off waivers, because you can pick up other similar players on waivers in the future to replace them again. Every team has those players going up and down often.



This was a long message so I'll wrap it up... but I made one other observation when I was doing a little research in the KHL stats.

I think Burdasov is more of a PP specialist... who plays fairly limited minutes in the KHL... like ~15 minutes per game and his relative +/- stats are nothing spectacular... so my 25 cent sleuthing and deductive reasoning says that there may also be some questions on just how defensively reliable Holland/Tippett might have thought he is... since obviously the majority of time played will be at 5 on 5... especially with the Oilers who don't seem to ever be a favourite with refs to draw their fair share of penalty calls so PP opportunities aren't exactly numerous .

So in the end... maybe a little of everything contributed to his not being signed.

Maybe a player that wanted a little too much money... was going to be a little too much work to communicate systems/methods of play... a little too much of a PP specialist who relied mainly on his shot and possibly just a little bit of a defensive liability (or at least defense isn't his strong point)... on a team that already isn't great defensively or at least has "issues" in that area.

Maybe all the "littles" just added up to just enough to let his release happen... even when they pretty much admitted (in Tippett's media scrum) that they were intrigued by the player... especially that shot.



So we agree on the release being "reasonable"... just not on the reasons that there was no possible way to properly assess this player because truth is... probably half of this roster isn't really properly assessed yet.. and that will really only happen when the games actually mean something and the lines and combos start to gel and build some chemistry (or not).

Fair points although I get the impression that first hand viewings of a player carry more weight than 2nd hand recommendations from an entirely different League.

Also...the difference between assessing most of the other players is that there is some relevant history in terms of their NA resume. They are more known quantities.
Haas and Nygard are the exception but both of those players had a full camp and they managed to stand out at some point which is something Burdasov didnt do.
The small ice can and often does in fact make quite a difference in terms of time and space for a lot of shooters from other Leagues. As you mentioned Burdasov appears to be primarily a specialist player (which differs from both Haas and Nygard) so that makes it even more difficult for him to stand out in such a short period of time.

So I dont blame the coaches one bit if they needed to see if in fact Burdasov could adjust.
Once again his limited time here hurt him in terms of getting properly evaluated.

That aside (as you mentioned) there may well be contractual issues and that actually makes sense to me. The Oilers might actually want to sign this player but just cant agree to terms.
That might be the primary reason why Burdasov was released without being signed,

I said right from the start that I really hoped that we would see evidence of his shot but that his shortened camp would be a problem for him. I think we can agree that it sure didnt help his cause.

I think you would obviously agree that its too bad it turned out the way it did.
Its hard to step off that train.

I think we agree more than we disagree here.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Strome I can actually miss. That trade really hurted the team and Chiarellis value, altough he didnt do a squat at the defence is what actually got Chiarelli fired.

Yes, Caggiula was a good player, better than Manning. But do not think he will reach more than a energyplayer right now. But dumb, dumb trades by Chiarelli.

Cags is a reliable double digit goal scorer who played the right way.

We could use 4-5 more of them.

 

[voxel]

I'd love to have Sleppy back. I thought Burdasov could replace him but he lacks grit. He does seem to be in the right position and make nice passes.

I wonder what his contract ask was?

 

[Patch101]

I didn't see it with him, so it made sense to me personally.
I know of lot of you where high on him though

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Cags is a reliable double digit goal scorer who played the right way.

We could use 4-5 more of them.

Being bad defensively is playing the right way?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

He's as free as a Burd now, and that Burd you cannot change.

 

[Tyrolean]

Strome I can actually miss. That trade really hurted the team and Chiarellis value, altough he didnt do a squat at the defence is what actually got Chiarelli fired.

Yes, Caggiula was a good player, better than Manning. But do not think he will reach more than a energy player right now. But dumb, dumb trades by Chiarelli.

Chia last year was one of the worst in Oiler history. He seems to deliberately sabotage the team with all the bad trades in a row. I hope he is airbrushed out in all old Oiler photos.

 

[Tyrolean]

Burd was better than a few player si his short time. Strange er lease to be sure. Never had a chance.

 

[King1s]

A scrub did not get a contact. I am shocked.

 

[Zguy370]

Don't like this move, at this point anyways, all the hype and drama in bringing him over, just to use him in 2 games for a total of 27 min in all and cut ties. Hmmm., how could he not of helped out particularly on the PP.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Being bad defensively is playing the right way?

At some point Oiler fans are going to have to accept that not every winger needs to be defensively responsible.

Of course we could just give the scoring wingers we do have away for more Brandon Mannings I suppose.

 

[harpoon]

Caggiula is not a ‘scoring winger’. Nor is he particularly good defensively. He’s a scrub who tries hard.

 

[RegDunlop]

He's as free as a Burd now, and that Burd you cannot change.

Too bad we didn't have another one to s**tcan...
Two Burds - one stone...

 

[Dan Kelly]

Cags is a reliable double digit goal scorer who played the right way.

We could use 4-5 more of them.

And when we trade guys like this for guys who are worse it continues to set us back and prolongs the endless rebuild !!

 

[Drivesaitl]

Possible found gold was one of the most common statements about Burdasov during the games he played. Lots of posters were impressed with his shot, his positioning, his reads, and on ice anticipation and awareness. Myself I stated I was impressed how quickly he was seemingl picking up the NA game which I said was amazing. Add to that his size, his passing, his being able to hold and cycle the puck and he had very interesting attributes.

my bias though is always feeling McD and Drai play best, to their peak, with big wingers. Drai particularly has that tendency.

My other bias is I love good big players that can steamroll the opposition and give all kinds of trouble with down low pressure.

So Burdasov checked off a lot of my wants. Damn. Not for the first time the Oilers didn't see it the same way.

If they don't recognize Jurco is good enough to stick then blindness has set in.

 

[McClelland]

Possible found gold was one of the most common statements about Burdasov during the games he played. Lots of posters were impressed with his shot, his positioning, his reads, and on ice anticipation and awareness. Myself I stated I was impressed how quickly he was seemingl picking up the NA game which I said was amazing. Add to that his size, his passing, his being able to hold and cycle the puck and he had very interesting attributes.

my bias though is always feeling McD and Drai play best, to their peak, with big wingers. Drai particularly has that tendency.

My other bias is I love good big players that can steamroll the opposition and give all kinds of trouble with down low pressure.

So Burdasov checked off a lot of my wants. Damn. Not for the first time the Oilers didn't see it the same way.

If they don't recognize Jurco is good enough to stick then blindness has set in.

Seems Gagner doesnt see any primetime if follow your own standard!

Burd had a so so khl season riding omarks tail mostly in PP, 28 years old average 25 p in khl isnt any good, Omark has doubled his teamates points true the years, and he ouldnt make it in a worse team!

Nygaards is intresting, todays Nhl is about speed and if we can have us a Hagelin lite of him, that would be great.

Loob adviced Flames to go hard after him, but he choosed Oilers! Adjusting to Na rinks, i think we have a player in him, also a first scorer with good numbers in Shl, using him in pk and save some years for McD.

We will see what happens!

 

[Drivesaitl]

Seems Gagner doesnt see any primetime if follow your own standard!

Burd had a so so khl season riding omarks tail mostly in PP, 28 years old average 25 p in khl isnt any good, Omark has doubled his teamates points true the years, and he ouldnt make it in a worse team!

Nygaards is intresting, todays Nhl is about speed and if we can have us a Hagelin lite of him, that would be great.

Loob adviced Flames to go hard after him, but he choosed Oilers! Adjusting to Na rinks, i think we have a player in him, also a first scorer with good numbers in Shl, using him in pk and save some years for McD.

We will see what happens!

I've rarely been keen on small players. tbh I didn't initially even like the Gagner, Nillson, Cogs rookie line. I called it a flash in the pan. But Gagners spirit slowly won me over. He had such enthusiasm for the game back then. He seemed willing to offset his size with indomitable determination. That element is now hit and miss. This is not the same Gagner and I watched Gagner pretty much give up in Vancouver. But so did Granlund. Wasn't a pretty look for either.

 

[McClelland]

I've rarely been keen on small players. tbh I didn't initially even like the Gagner, Nillson, Cogs rookie line. I called it a flash in the pan. But Gagners spirit slowly won me over. He had such enthusiasm for the game back then. He seemed willing to offset his size with indomitable determination. That element is now hit and miss. This is not the same Gagner and I watched Gagner pretty much give up in Vancouver. But so did Granlund. Wasn't a pretty look for either.

It seems you goes all in on a player you like and never look back whatever happens!
Burdasov arent any special , his Khl numbers arent any special, a pp specialist 28 years old!

Nygards has elite speed and showed scoring ability(Shl), 26 years late bloomer who can be useful in pk, skating is life supporting to survive in Nhl today! He isnt any saviour,very happy if he can be useful in pk and pot 15+15 at that price !