Rumor: Rumors and Proposals Thread | Playoffs Edition

[LTIR]

In what universe do you keep Kulak over Broberg? Kulak costs more, is older, has far lower upside, and needs to be heavily sheltered just like a young bottom pair dman. The Oilers are gonna be in cap hell next year especially if Bouchard keeps playing the way he does and the way contenders get around cap hell is to have cheap ELC/veteran minimum contracts that play well above their pay grade so the money can go to the big boys. Broberg fits that bill, Kulak does not.

In a universe where we have the extra cap room and luxury to keep Kulak around on the third pairing. Kulak is better than Broberg short term and we are contending short term.

Unfortunately cap is real and we will have to downgrade at spots next season.

Then I guess it's over? It will be fine

It's not over but tough choices will be made and yes we will be fine even if we end up losing an Ekholm or Kane. I would lost Kulak/ Foegele etc over bigger pieces for sure.

 

[GOilers88]

Would be nice to get Bjugstad, Janmark, Ryan and Kostin all re-signed. That’s the majority of a good bottom six. Sprinkle in some cheapies like Holloway and maybe Lavoie or XB.

 

[PaPaDee]

I made the switch to adblocker and havent regretted it.

I’ve tried, didn’t make any difference.

 

[Fourier]

It won't happen of course because the risk is too great for the player but I'd love to see a situation where the Oilers offer Bouchard a one year deal at say $3M with a long term extension in hand to be executed on Jan 1. Next year is going to be tight if Bouch gets what he is likely in line for now.

 

[independent observer]

good that Holland signed Skinner early… imagine we would have to extend Bouch and Skinner at the same time

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Would be nice to get Bjugstad, Janmark, Ryan and Kostin all re-signed. That’s the majority of a good bottom six. Sprinkle in some cheapies like Holloway and maybe Lavoie or XB.

We are going to have to be stingy. Based on age, Mcleod and Holloway are the two most important pieces for the bottom 6. Kostin has no negotiating leverage and will be a cheap 1 year extension. Ryan won't get much more than league min elsewhere.

Bjugstad is a luxury we can't afford if he wants more than 1.5 IMO. We have to be careful on our spending. Not only that, but we might have to move on from Foegele. That will pain me greatly but he has value and Holloway needs to step into that role.

 

[oil Leaks]

I feel Holloway can easily fill in for Foegele if we move him.

Resigning Bjugstad and Janmark would be nice but they will both need to take a pay cut. Of our UFAs, I feel like only Ryan is the one who most likely is back next season.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Watch some playoff games sometimes starting with montreals run two years ago.

Kulak was healthy scratched nearly half of Montreal's playoff run averaging less than 13 minutes with sheltered competition. He has a low leverage role with us as well, mostly playing against opposing bottom 6 forwards and averaging only 15 minutes despite 3 of the games going to overtime, anywhere from 5-10 minutes less than Nurse/Bouchard/Ekholm/Ceci. He's decent in said sheltered bottom pairing LHD role but that's probably the easiest position to replace besides bottom 6 wingers and can be replicated by guys costing significantly less than 2.75 million per season. Heck I'd wager Broberg can put up something close to that as early as next season as an ELC.

In a universe where we have the extra cap room and luxury to keep Kulak around on the third pairing. Kulak is better than Broberg short term and we are contending short term.

Unfortunately cap is real and we will have to downgrade at spots next season.


It's not over but tough choices will be made and yes we will be fine even if we end up losing an Ekholm or Kane. I would lost Kulak/ Foegele etc over bigger pieces for sure.

We probably wont have that luxury though considering how Bouchard is driving his new contract further through the moon seemingly on every shift. I'd probably have Campbell/Yamamoto/Foegele all on the chopping block before Kulak, but nobody is touching Campbell with a 92380193829 foot pole and Yamamoto/Foegele might not be enough to cover for raises to Bouchard/McLeod/Kostin etc all of whom I'd like to keep. Also at the rate Broberg is improving it's entirely possible for him to be better than Kulak come 2024 playoff time. Also absolutely no to losing Ekholm, that guy has changed our team's entire complexion. If we need to cut a bigger fish it should be someone like Kane/RNH, not the guy whose stabilized our defense and unlocked Bouchard's Makar mode.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

It won't happen of course because the risk is too great for the player but I'd love to see a situation where the Oilers offer Bouchard a one year deal at say $3M with a long term extension in hand to be executed on Jan 1. Next year is going to be tight if Bouch gets what he is likely in line for now.

The problem with doing this is that if on January 1, 2024, Bouchard has 40 points in 35 games and is tearing the NHL apart, all the sudden that 6-7 million dollar handshake deal needs to start with a 9.

 

[mkatcherin00]

It is so annoying that we don't have a ton of cap. Our bottom 6 has been the best it's ever ben in the mcDavid era and we might not even keep most of it. Other teams have no problem making a good bottom 6. It seems impossible here in Edmonton to try and remake one

That's where you can't make a few dumb contract signings. Hell, Campbell's salary could retain our bottom 6, but we would also need to replace him too.

 

[belair]

It is so annoying that we don't have a ton of cap. Our bottom 6 has been the best it's ever ben in the mcDavid era and we might not even keep most of it. Other teams have no problem making a good bottom 6. It seems impossible here in Edmonton to try and remake one

That's where you can't make a few dumb contract signings. Hell, Campbell's salary could retain our bottom 6, but we would also need to replace him too.

You need opportunities for your prospects to earn significant roles. No team comes back with the same lineup year after year.

And when you look at the teams that find themselves in the Cup conversation every year, you see veterans willing to take on those depth roles there for pennies on the dollar.

If I'm penny pinching, it's the guys who play <12 minutes a night. You can replace them.

This is another reason why I'd sooner move on from Kulak in the offseason than I would Yamamoto.

 

[LTIR]

You need opportunities for your prospects to earn significant roles. No team comes back with the same lineup year after year.

And when you look at the teams that find themselves in the Cup conversation every year, you see veterans willing to take on those depth roles there for pennies on the dollar.

If I'm penny pinching, it's the guys who play <12 minutes a night. You can replace them.

This is another reason why I'd sooner move on from Kulak in the offseason than I would Yamamoto.

Yama shouldn't be getting 12+ minutes either

 

[belair]

Yama shouldn't be getting 12+ minutes either

Disagree. He can handle it. He routinely plays with the offensive drivers for a reason. He PKs for a reason. He can do it all. Is he a high level scorer? No. If he was, he'd be considerably more expensive. But he's a guy who consistently averages 17+ minutes a night in the regular season.

I see him as a player who you could potentially get to re-sign for a lower cap hit. And doing so would leave him here in the short term, but make him a more attractive trade piece in a future deal.

I don't see the upside locking up depth players if they're asking for premium salary for what they offer. Those are the types of guys who fall out of favor quickly when the production dries up. And nobody's looking at a struggling 30+ year old bottom six guy seeing possible upside.

 

[LTIR]

Disagree. He can handle it. He routinely plays with the offensive drivers for a reason. He PKs for a reason. He can do it all. Is he a high level scorer? No. If he was, he'd be considerably more expensive. But he's a guy who consistently averages 17+ minutes a night in the regular season.

I see him as a player who you could potentially get to re-sign for a lower cap hit. And doing so would leave him here in the short term, but make him a more attractive trade piece in a future deal.

I don't see the upside locking up depth players if they're asking for premium salary for what they offer. Those are the types of guys who fall out of favor quickly when the production dries up. And nobody's looking at a struggling 30+ year old bottom six guy seeing possible upside.

Yama can handle top 6 minutes like Puljujarvi can.
He gets top 6 minutes because he isn't good enough for bottom 6. Top 6 or bust player is only playing because we can't get rid of him with the contract we gave him.

Older depth player like Bjugstad would be much easier to get rid of extended to multi yr deal than someone like Yama. Bjug would have plenty of value around the league.

 

[belair]

Yama can handle top 6 minutes like Puljujarvi can.
He gets top 6 minutes because he isn't good enough for bottom 6. Top 6 or bust player is only playing because we can't get rid of him with the contract we gave him.

Older depth player like Bjugstad would be much easier to get rid of extended to multi yr deal than someone like Yama. Bjug would have plenty of value around the league.

He's played top six the past few seasons because the Oilers have never had anyone who could consistently force him out of it.

Nick Bjugstad isn't some found money player. He's a player with a long track record and he's a year removed from being that immovable player.

I have no interest in trashing him because he's been exactly what the team needed. But realistically he's a 30 year old vet coming off of a 20 goal season that pretty much saved his playing career that was derailed by injuries. He's going to have his options. And signing to any kind of term would be exceptionally high risk.

Yamamoto? He's 24 and he's looking like he'll put up 30-40 points a year at the very least. That's a movable player and the type of high motor depth winger that rebuilding teams might value in a deadline deal where offsetting salary may be required.

 

[LTIR]

He's played top six the past few seasons because the Oilers have never had anyone who could consistently force him out of it.

Nick Bjugstad isn't some found money player. He's a player with a long track record and he's a year removed from being that immovable player.

I have no interest in trashing him because he's been exactly what the team needed. But realistically he's a 30 year old vet coming off of a 20 goal season that pretty much saved his playing career that was derailed by injuries. He's going to have his options. And signing to any kind of term would be exceptionally high risk.

Yamamoto? He's 24 and he's looking like he'll put up 30-40 points a year at the very least. That's a movable player and the type of high motor depth winger that rebuilding teams might value in a deadline deal where offsetting salary may be required.

Yama's competition on the right side has been Kassian and Puljujarvi.
Going back to Eberle, Oilers have had no top 6 RWers the last 5 or so seasons. Strome was the closest one but he sucked as an Oiler.

Yama is another Caggiula/Kahun and not much else.

 

[FanOfSadTeam]

Maybe we can get Debrusk next year. I think he's just entering his prime

 

[McDoused]

Maybe we can get Debrusk next year. I think he's just entering his prime

Since you brought up the Bruins I heard they had 4.5M in cap overages for next season but dont see it on cap friendly. If they have 73M in cap for 14 players does that actually mean they would be at 77.5M? With a 83.5M cap that's 6M to sign 9 guys?

 

[belair]

Yama's competition on the right side has been Kassian and Puljujarvi.
Going back to Eberle, Oilers have had no top 6 RWers the last 5 or so seasons. Strome was the closest one but he sucked as an Oiler.

Yama is another Caggiula/Kahun and not much else.

The way his coaches have used him completely disproves that. Every year.

Caggiula and Kahun aren't in the league anymore and both were undrafted. Yamamoto is a guy who went in the 1st round, has seen his responsibilities increase year over year and he's seen his production improve to the point where he hit 20 goals on a season.

Fact of the matter is that the idea of moving anyone is to free up salary for roster flexibility. That flexibility wouldn't be used to address the top six. So minus Yamamoto, we're still staring at an area of poor quality depth dating back to Eberle.

 

[LTIR]

The way his coaches have used him completely disproves that. Every year.

Caggiula and Kahun aren't in the league anymore and both were undrafted. Yamamoto is a guy who went in the 1st round, has seen his responsibilities increase year over year and he's seen his production improve to the point where he hit 20 goals on a season.

Fact of the matter is that the idea of moving anyone is to free up salary for roster flexibility. That flexibility wouldn't be used to address the top six. So minus Yamamoto, we're still staring at an area of poor quality depth dating back to Eberle.

That's is certainly not the fact of the matter.
Fact is that we have 7.5M to sign 6 roster players.

Bouchard RFA would give us 7D still leaving us 5 forwards short. League minimum is close to 1M so unless Bouchard is signing for 2.5M and ALL of McLeod+Janmark+Bjugstad+ Kostin +Ryan for league minimum there is more than just roster flexibility required.

Fact is that hard decisions will be made.. and dumping Yama would not be one of the hard ones.

Let's see how Holland stick handles out of this one. Lucky for him and us our core players have NMC otherwise one or two of Kane/Hyman/Nuge could have been the casualties.

 

[belair]

That's is certainly not the fact of the matter.
Fact is that we have 7.5M to sign 6 roster players.

Bouchard RFA would give us 7D still leaving us 5 forwards short. League minimum is close to 1M so unless Bouchard is signing for 2.5M and ALL of McLeod+Janmark+Bjugstad+ Kostin +Ryan for league minimum there is more than just roster flexibility required.

Fact is that hard decisions will be made.. and dumping Yama would not be one of the hard ones.

Let's see how Holland stick handles out of this one. Lucky for him and us our core players have NMC otherwise one or two of Kane/Hyman/Nuge could have been the casualties.

You move Foegele and Kulak, replacing them either internally or UFAs near league minimum and that saves you an additional $3.5m. That's exactly what's meant by flexibility. The only player of real significance that needs to be extended this summer is Bouchard.

The roles you're likely filling on this roster this summer are the ones in the bottom six, on the bottom pair and in the pressbox. The role that Yamamoto fills on this roster is more difficult to replace. Also more costly. He's also the more valuable player assuming you get him extended to a favorable AAV.

I'm not saying that he won't be traded, but personally I'd sooner replace Kulak with Broberg next season or Foegele with Holloway than I'd move Yamamoto assuming we'd replace those 17 minutes he averages with some value option on the FA market.

When I look to the FA market, I foresee the Corey Perry type veterans willing to take on those types of roles in the future. That's the role you'd be paying Nick Bjugstad to fill if you extended him. And that will be costly.

 

[SwedishFire]

With Fogele new found game, Kostins relevation, Yamamoto at a 4th line, and Halloway and Lavoie knocking on the door, its a good bet that the only move Holland would need to do next summer is to resign all RFAs and UFAs,
and trade Yamamoto.

Resigning Bouch and Bjugstad feels like a priority.

Easy to sack Yama. But ai think they actually wave Lavoie and keep Yamamoto next start of the season. I dont really know what Holland is planning, but cap needs to be moved.

I dont know longer if Janmark is a need, but depth is nice. I think Fogele is a snap better. But maybe he has to go because cap, and thats to bad.
Better to sack just Campbell and Yamamoto. 7-8 million free'd up.

Only FA moves; Sign a backup/trade for in the yamamoto trade. And add a NHLish hard worker. Like anyone who just work hard and bang.

Skinner
Backup

All Ds intact

Kane McD Leon
Hyman Nuge Bjugstad
Kostin McLeod Janmark/Halloway
Fogele Ryan Lavoie/hardworking NHLer
Thats 14 fwds

I feel Holloway can easily fill in for Foegele if we move him.

Resigning Bjugstad and Janmark would be nice but they will both need to take a pay cut. Of our UFAs, I feel like only Ryan is the one who most likely is back next season.

I think resigning Bjugstad is a prio with Bouch. Janmark works well with Nuge, better than Yamamoto, and cheaper. Ryan is a yes too McLeod and Kostin. If you ask campbell to sign a list with potential tradetargets, its a win if you even only get a 7th rounder for him. Its so much need cap going out.

My take right now;
Bouch 3,5 million bridge x 3 years
McLeod 2 million x 2 year bridge
Bjugstad 2 million/ 1 year or 2,7 million 3 years/ 1 year for playing a year to boost his numbers.
Janmark taking a discount 1,25 millions x 1 year
Kostin 1,2 million x 2 year
Backup 2,3 millions

Thats around 11,5 millions.
Yamamoto has to go, and Campbell NEEDS to go.

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

It kinda doesn't matter because Holland isn't going to trade a Dman. That isn't his MO at all. He will trade a winger, very likely Yams or Foegele (or maybe even both) to make room for Bouchard's extension if need be. D affect the game 10x what a bottom six winger does, plus wingers can step in as young guys easier than on D. Finally, we actually have some wingers waiting in the wings (heh) whereas we don't on D. Holloway, Bourg, and Lavoie are all ready for a look in the bigs. Holloway is a lock for the team next year, and I would expect Lavoie (not being waivers protected anymore) will get a long look at camp and will likely break camp with the big team for a cup of coffee to see what we got. Bourg likely comes up as injury filler throughout the season. We have nothing like this on D in the prospects pool.

Agreed. But no shot Kulak is traded, he's a local and just signed a contract. Holland is too loyal imo


We need to bring up cheap contracts and be open to moving wingers for sure. Holloway is 100% playing considerable minutes next season and Lavoie has to get a good look so they know what they've got. Oilers need forwards to start coming up in cheap deals starting now.

There is finally enough organizational depth to create a pipeline at forward. I think you are bang on and would be surprised if we didn't have several prospects in the starting lineup game one

I like Yammo and would keep him over Foegele 100X over but there's a decent chance they both go. Foegele is almost guaranteed to be traded imo

 

[AlanHUK]

At what point do they actually announce what the cap will be? In March Forbes had an article stating 83.5m or 87m depending on revenue for the rest of the year.

However I've seen nothing about it since

 

[Fourier]

At what point do they actually announce what the cap will be? In March Forbes had an article stating 83.5m or 87m depending on revenue for the rest of the year.

However I've seen nothing about it since

It may not be until near or even after the draft. Frankly, I can't believe that teams allow that to be the case, but for some reason Bettman wants to keep the suspense up as a chip to bargain with the players. That makes planning for next year very tough for both sides.