News Article: Oilers the oldest team in the league

[tiger_80]

Yeah I think all three of those players are on the team for next year, likely for the entire year in fact. Broberg and Holloway both have roughly 80 GP in the NHL over the past few years and another 50-70 AHL GP over that same time span. So they aren't going to be raw-rookies by any stretch. Lavoie is likely the only real rookie of the bunch.

I could see maybe Perry being back on a league min deal, that wouldn't shock me. Foegele is gonzo for sure though, some team will offer him a 3 year deal at a number we'd be silly to match.

It's also a predicament of teams in the win-now mode: they cannot afford expensive free agents and fill much of their roster with cheap veterans. The Oilers have not drafted all that well unfortunately--Jay-Poo, Yamamoto, Broberg, even Holloway should have had a bigger role on the club than they ended up having so far.

So we traded away our top trading asset at the deadline not expecting to re-sign Henrique? Doubt it.

Henrique will be re-signed for 1 year. He's 34, not 40. Ryan may get traded or waived if he gets beaten out of the lineup by a prospect. Some bigger pieces may get moved too--maybe Ceci, Kulak, even Kane.

 

[Broberg Speed]

It's also a predicament of teams in the win-now mode: they cannot afford expensive free agents and fill much of their roster with cheap veterans. The Oilers have not drafted all that well unfortunately--Jay-Poo, Yamamoto, Broberg, even Holloway should have had a bigger role on the club than they ended up having so far.


Henrique will be re-signed for 1 year. He's 34, not 40. Ryan may be let go. Some bigger pieces may get moved too--maybe Ceci, Kulak, even Kane.

Henrique will not re-sign for 1 year. Two years at high compensation or 3 years with less compensation. And it's a good bet because he instantly becomes our most knowledgeable center after Ryan moves on.

We need more intelligent hockey players. We aren't exactly developing our own.

 

[tiger_80]

Henrique will not re-sign for 1 year. Two years at high compensation or 3 years with less compensation. And it's a good bet because he's instantly our most knowledgeable center after Ryan moves on.

We need smarter hockey players.

We don't know that. Depends how badly he wants to win. He could be a pure rental too.

 

[Broberg Speed]

We don't know that. Depends how badly he wants to win. He could be a pure rental too.

I doubt it but we'll see. The Oilers are tight, we rarely see anyone move on voluntarily.

 

[tiger_80]

I doubt it but we'll see. The Oilers are tight, we rarely see anyone move on voluntarily.

Except Gagner. He's in an abusive relationship with the Oilers. lol.

 

[Broberg Speed]

Except Gagner. He's in an abusive relationship with the Oilers. lol.

Battered Gagner syndrome?

 

[tiger_80]

Battered Gagner syndrome?

More like a girlfriend who always goes back to a serial cheater after he publicly dumps her.

 

[oobga]

GM loves UFA's to fill holes because he generally sucks at trading and doesn't have a single regular player in our lineup from 4 years of drafting. Holloway still can barely keep up and has been in and out.

Not that surprising really.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

GM loves UFA's to fill holes because he generally sucks at trading and doesn't have a single regular player in our lineup from 4 years of drafting. Holloway still can barely keep up and has been in and out.

Not that surprising really.

Thats the concern. We've nobody of significance coming up and the 2 that are in Holloway and Broberg are made out of glass and held together by duct tape.

 

[Soundwave]

Not terribly surprising, the Oilers can't draft for shit and haven't drafted well since like 1981, but Holland has been especially terrible as pointed out above there's not even one player on the active roster that Holland drafted.

Ken Holland has a hard on for signing/trading for old players as well.

He signed Dominik Hasek at age 43. Had Chris Chelios on the Red Wings roster until he was like 46 (!).

Mike Smith at age 39.

Traded for Mike Green at age 34.

Acquired Duncan Keith at age 38.

Signed Corey Perry at age 38.

Etc. etc. etc. etc.

Combine those two things and the average age of your team is going to be old.

 

[tiger_80]

Not terribly surprising, the Oilers can't draft for shit and haven't drafted well since like 1981, but Holland has been especially terrible as pointed out above there's not even one player on the active roster that Holland drafted.

Ken Holland has a hard on for signing/trading for old players as well.

He signed Dominik Hasek at age 43. Had Chris Chelios on the Red Wings roster until he was like 46 (!).

Mike Smith at age 39.

Traded for Mike Green at age 34.

Acquired Duncan Keith at age 38.

Signed Corey Perry at age 38.

Etc. etc. etc. etc.

Combine those two things and the average age of your team is going to be old.

It worked in Detroit. When they won in 2008, they were a veteran team. Lidstrom was 38, Rafalski 35, Holmstrom was 35, Draper 37, McCarthy 36, Maltby 36. And Chelios 46. Even Datsyuk was 30.

 

[Soundwave]

It worked in Detroit. When they won in 2008, they were a veteran team. Lidstrom was 38, Rafalski 35, Holmstrom was 35, Draper 37, McCarthy 36, Maltby 36. And Chelios 46. Even Datsyuk was 30.

It worked in Detroit because Lidstrom is the best D (one of the two I'd say with Pronger) of his era, probably one of the 5 best D ever to play period.

It doesn't work without that, frankly we need to stop hiring GMs that never have had to build a blue line without the benefit of a Norris trophy caliber D.

Chiarelli had Chara his entire tenure in Boston, Holland had Lidstrom and then when Lidstrom left the team cratered.

 

[VainGretzky]

Holland free-agent signings have accounted for 37% of all the Oilers' goals scored this season and account for 16% of the cap with an average age of 33.8 years old That's great GM work no matter how you look at it

 

[CROTT]

And this is with out factoring Bouchard’s actual age of 45…

 

[Pavel10]

This is going to come down significantly when Ryan and Perry are gone.

 

[Fourier]

The Oilers need to be aggressive in pursuing NCAA and European free agents to augment their prospect pool. This year it seems some of the top undrafted free agents are scoring wingers. Collin Graf from Quinnipiac and Maxim Tsyplakov are both RW's. (The Leafs are supposedly very interested in Tsyplakov.) The Oilers can certainly make a case that they have the centers to help a young RW succeed.

 

[WaitingForUser]

I think this is misleading if you remove Carrick Henrique Perry and Ryan we really are not that old.

 

[CROTT]

The Oilers need to be aggressive in pursuing NCAA and European free agents to augment their prospect pool. This year it seems some of the top undrafted free agents are scoring wingers. Collin Graf from Quinnipiac and Maxim Tsyplakov are both RW's. (The Leafs are supposedly very interested in Tsyplakov.) The Oilers can certainly make a case that they have the centers to help a young RW succeed.

The NCAA free agents always interest me. Yes the player has to want to play for the Oilers, currently the Oilers are a desirable team in terms of contending for a cup. But outside for 2nd line RW there really isn’t much opportunity as the top nine is a bit crowded for the remains of McDavid and Draisaitls currently contracts.

 

[WaitingForUser]

They said in 1990. The same people were burning jerseys, tarring Jason Arnott when they weren't picketing Peter Pocklington. The fanbase, that had just had 5SC's to celebrate were disgusted by the Oilers even a couple years later. By 93 the Oilers were considered the city joke and anything that had happened before largely forgotten. By 95 the team was financially on the ropes and in danger of departing.

Just saying. If the Oilers even won the cup now, this season, disatisfaction would be almost immediate the moment the team started losing its stars.

Nailed it! This is why I get upset when people rip on our superstars. By the time I was old enough to appreciate the dynasty guys they were already gone. Enjoy the brief period we have such amazing talent it may not last very long when you look back.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

next year: Perry, Ryan and Kulak out

Broberg, Holloway and Lavoie in

much younger team

 

[Drivesaitl]

I think this is misleading if you remove Carrick Henrique Perry and Ryan we really are not that old.

WE have 12 players currently dressing that are 30 or older. We have 13 any day we are starting Pickard. That is old. Thats the majority of our starting lineup. Even Connor Brown hit 30 before scoring another goal.

 

[tiger_80]

It worked in Detroit because Lidstrom is the best D (one of the two I'd say with Pronger) of his era, probably one of the 5 best D ever to play period.

It doesn't work without that, frankly we need to stop hiring GMs that never have had to build a blue line without the benefit of a Norris trophy caliber D.

Chiarelli had Chara his entire tenure in Boston, Holland had Lidstrom and then when Lidstrom left the team cratered.

The Oilers have the best player in the game. And they are not an old team, this discussion is misplaced.

 

[MoontoScott]

You can change the median age of the team fairly quickly by not renewing the contracts of players who are near or at the end of their careers ---and are not part of the core--- but the bigger concern is the lack of young guns in the system.

Go out and sign some younger guys but if they can't put the puck in the net then the median age isn't as relevant.

I don't think Brown, Ryan, Perry or Gagner will be with the team next year so that changes the numbers right there. Henrique will probably be gone too. So changing the numbers isn't that difficult but if you don't have guys on the farm who can play in the NHL then who do you sign as free agents?

 

[tardigrade81]

Not really looking forward to the decade of darkness 2.0

We will have each other still

And A and W!

 

[MessierII]

Good. Young teams don’t win cups in this era.