Rumor: Rumors and Proposals Thread | PRussell resigned to a 1-year extension $700K

[SupremeTeam16]

I like the moves Holland has made to loan guys out overseas to ensure they’ll have a somewhere to skate next year.

It’ll be interesting for guys like Benson, McLeod, Marody. With the flat cap, getting contributions out of guys on elc’s will be huge and for the players, if you don’t seize the opportunity and grab a spot then it’s a very real possibility you may end up without a place to play for the season if the AHL doesn’t go.

I’m curious if we might see expanded rosters next season to allow teams to carry a few more guys in the case that the AHL doesn’t play so at least teams can have prospects with the team instead of sitting at home not playing. The issue is most teams are already against the cap, maybe something like each team can carry an additional 3 elc/two way contracts that wouldn’t count against the cap.

 

[Nostradumbass]

This is the correct take. Move out Russell and Benning to open spots for Bouchard and Jones with Lagesson (or a cheap vet) at 7.

Although, I would also move Larrson or Klefbom (not both) if there was a good hockey trade there.

The way I see it, Larsson could be replaced by someone in FA. When you move him depends on whether you could maximize the return for him now or later in the season.

As for Klefbom, I would move him, but it would take a bit of an overpay from another team. That is the only way I would move Klefbom, but I am open to moving him.

I do not consider moving Bear or Nurse (unless there is a ridiculous overpay for either).

I agree with most of what you're saying except replacing Larsson in FA. If other teams can sign a Larsson-tier FA at around his salary, why would they trade for him?

 

[McDoused]

The only way I'm trading Nurse or Klefbom is if you are upgrading on them.

My issue with the defence was once Larsson went down with injury and Green opted out it decimated our right side.

We need to improve that right side. In order to do that we need to move cap.

Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Barrie
Jones-Bear

Try to spread out the minutes a bit more. Make Bouchard and Broberg earn their spot and force us to trade someone up the lineup.

 

[gordonhught]

I agree with most of what you're saying except replacing Larsson in FA. If other teams can sign a Larsson-tier FA at around his salary, why would they trade for him?

It would be a drop off for the Oilers to be sure, but not as much as one would think. Take Gudas (R) or Edmundson (L) for example. Both are FA. Would not one or more of them be able to fill Larsson's role adequately? Either could be signed for close to what Larsson makes currently and then you have those players under contract for a few years.

Larsson could be moved for a good third line forward and maybe some picks now.

Having said that, the key is getting someone to replace Larsson first, then seeing what you can get for Larsson. If you hold Larsson and then move him at the deadline, who do you replace him with then? Assuming the Oilers are contending next year, you can't move out Larsson at the deadline and not fill that spot (presumably 2nd pairing RHD). Who are you going to trade for at the deadline to replace him? Can't get Gudas at the deadline.

If the Oilers are moving on from Larsson, the time to do it is now. If you are not moving on from Larsson, well then you should be looking to resign him so he does not leave in free agency.

 

[Nostradumbass]

It would be a drop off for the Oilers to be sure, but not as much as one would think. Take Gudas (R) or Edmundson (L) for example. Both are FA. Would not one or more of them be able to fill Larsson's role adequately? Either could be signed for close to what Larsson makes currently and then you have those players under contract for a few years.

Larsson could be moved for a good third line forward and maybe some picks now.

Having said that, the key is getting someone to replace Larsson first, then seeing what you can get for Larsson. If you hold Larsson and then move him at the deadline, who do you replace him with then? Assuming the Oilers are contending next year, you can't move out Larsson at the deadline and not fill that spot (presumably 2nd pairing RHD). Who are you going to trade for at the deadline to replace him? Can't get Gudas at the deadline.

If the Oilers are moving on from Larsson, the time to do it is now. If you are not moving on from Larsson, well then you should be looking to resign him so he does not leave in free agency.

I completely agree. I think you can also gauge Larsson's value while working up a deal/contract to replace him at the same time. Once the replacement is lined up, then pull the trigger on the deal.

Conversely, I think if you were to make a run in the playoffs, keeping Larsson would be considered a 'rental' if Bouchard hasn't taken over the 1/2RD role. If Bouchard does take over that role, you can make a trade to grab a 3rd pairing RD at the deadline while still getting some value for Larsson from a playoff team in the East.

 

[gordonhught]

The only way I'm trading Nurse or Klefbom is if you are upgrading on them.

My issue with the defence was once Larsson went down with injury and Green opted out it decimated our right side.

We need to improve that right side. In order to do that we need to move cap.

Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Barrie
Jones-Bear

Try to spread out the minutes a bit more. Make Bouchard and Broberg earn their spot and force us to trade someone up the lineup.

An issue with this approach is contracts. Take Jones for example. He should have been playing third pairing minutes last season. He did not because Russell had that spot. Now the Oilers are stuck with Russell for another year and the Oilers may need to move an asset to get a team to take his contract (and Russell has no move provisions in his deal making that harder). Better to move out a player a year early than a year too late. The Oilers have to find a taker for Russell or else he is your 4th LHD.

Looking ahead to Larsson, you either have to replace him next offseason (and lose him for nothing) or you resign him. If you resign him then he is on your roster for at least 3-4 more years. If signed and he continues to regress, then he could be clogging up your right side two years from now and you can't move him either.

Your left side is Nurse, Klefbom, and Jones. The right side is Bear and Bouchard with a FA to be signed for right side. And you hope that Bouchard continues to develop while playing third pair minutes.

 

[belair]

RNH (6) - McD (12.5) - Kassian (3.2)
XXXX - Drai (8.5) - Yamamoto (0.9)
Neal (5.8) - Haas (0.9) - Chiasson (2.2)
Nygard (0.9) - Khaira (1.2) - Archibald (1.5)
XXXX - XXXX
(43.6)

Klefbom (4.2) - Larsson (4.2)
Nurse (5.6) - XXXX
Jones (0.9) - Russell (4)
XXXX
(19.3)

Koskinen (4.2)
XXXX
(4.2)

Dead Cap (4.6)
(4.6)

Total Salary: (71.7)

RFAs: Bear, Benning, Lagesson, Athanasiou, Puljujarvi

The only way I'm trading Nurse or Klefbom is if you are upgrading on them.

My issue with the defence was once Larsson went down with injury and Green opted out it decimated our right side.

We need to improve that right side. In order to do that we need to move cap.

Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Barrie
Jones-Bear

Try to spread out the minutes a bit more. Make Bouchard and Broberg earn their spot and force us to trade someone up the lineup.

To get Barrie signed you would need to move a lot of salary out. You'd also have difficulty addressing any other aspect of that roster.

Assuming we let Benning walk while signing all other RFAs to short term extensions, we've got between $2-3m to sign a winger, a 3C and 1B goalie.

 

[gordonhught]

The question running thru my head is how many new players will we have next season and how many are ship out?

Need to replace 25% of the roster. That is 1-2 d and 2-4 forwards and a goalie.

 

[McDNicks17]

Let him continue developing and gaining experience. He's 25 and has been improving every year, Dmen are rarely a finished product until they're in their late 20s. The exception is elite dmen like Doughty, Nurse was never that. There is no substitute for experience and you're kidding yourself if you think there is. He's progressed to taking on the toughs, with a rookie partner, and was surviving. Him and Bear had this team 2nd in the division, we haven't had a pairing capable of that since Sekera got hurt. We need a top pairing RD to play with Klefbom, the Nurse and Bear pairing still has a TON of room to grow given their age and talent. They just need the reps. Believe it or not but the other teams top players are going to force even the best D into making mistakes.

Nurse played 20:30 minutes of 5v5 per night after Christmas this year. That put him second in 5v5 toi/GP in the entire league between Chabot and Seth Jones without anyone else over 20:00. During that 30 game stretch(probably the team's best stretch of the season), he was -1 at 5v5.

The people that want to "get rid of" someone playing some of the hardest minutes in the NHL and basically being even while doing it are in for a rude surprise.

 

[gordonhught]

Nurse is not going anywhere unless a team offers up something incredible. Something like the Avalanche offer up Byram and Kadri/Rantanen.

 

[McDNicks17]

To get Barrie signed you would need to move a lot of salary out. You'd also have difficulty addressing any other aspect of that roster.

Assuming we let Benning walk while signing all other RFAs to short term extensions, we've got between $2-3m to sign a winger, a 3C and 1B goalie.

I don't think it would be too tough assuming you move Larsson.

Larsson + Benning out = $6.1M

Barrie + Lagesson in = $6.75M or so?

 

[belair]

I don't think it would be too tough assuming you move Larsson.

Larsson + Benning out = $6.1M

Barrie + Lagesson in = $6.75M or so?

Benning out? I'm letting Benning walk in this instance. Benning = $0.

AA, Bear, Lagesson and Puljujarvi are going to cost between $7-8m to get signed. Even if you trade Larsson with no salary coming back, you'd only have about $6m to sign the three or four players I mentioned. Barrie would take that all.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

I agree with most of what you're saying except replacing Larsson in FA. If other teams can sign a Larsson-tier FA at around his salary, why would they trade for him?

I also have the same thoughts as you and the only realistic reasoning I can think of would be that a team likes Larsson, he’s still relatively young, a right shot and a physical minute muncher that can play in the top 4. There’s not that many similar options on the UFA market. Also in free agency your likely handing out term and possible ntc, with Larsson you have the option to test drive him for a year, leave him exposed as a pending ufa and then re-sign him after, if the cost to aquire is reasonable.

From the Oilers pov if they feel like their blue line could use some more transition ability this might be a good year to dip into UFA while there won’t be as much competition and prices might be reasonable. A guy like Vatanen could fit the bill and not be much more expensive then Larsson aav wise. It’s definitely worth looking into, of course it could toss a wrench into your expansion draft plans but cross that bridge when you come to it. If you can recoup a couple picks from the AA trade and swap Larsson for Vatanen at a similar AAV I think you have to consider it.

 

[gordonhught]

Benning out? I'm letting Benning walk in this instance. Benning = $0.

AA, Bear, Lagesson and Puljujarvi are going to cost between $7-8m to get signed. Even if you trade Larsson with no salary coming back, you'd only have about $6m to sign the three or four players I mentioned. Barrie would take that all.

Barrie in at $6 m per year (Larsson out) would do wonders for the team. Barrie is pie in the sky.

Klef/Barrie
Nurse/Bear
Jones/Bouchard

Good puck movers on each pair. Klefbom can focus on defense on that pair and not try to make himself the puckmover. No #1, but you have Broberg and Bouchard who are still developing.

That third forward line is still a bit of an issue, but maybe you can make something work with AA and JP.

 

[McDNicks17]

Benning out? I'm letting Benning walk in this instance. Benning = $0.

AA, Bear, Lagesson and Puljujarvi are going to cost between $7-8m to get signed. Even if you trade Larsson with no salary coming back, you'd only have about $6m to sign the three or four players I mentioned. Barrie would take that all.

I'm just saying you can likely sign Barrie without spending much more on the defense than you are now.

 

[Nostradumbass]

I'm just saying you can likely sign Barrie without spending much more on the defense than you are now.

I don't think you're replacing Benning with Lagesson though, you're most likely replacing him with Bouchard with Lagesson as the #7. That's $0.925MM plus performance bonuses which can potentially get him to the $1.1-1.25 range (maximum of ~$1.6MM)

 

[joestevens29]

I like the moves Holland has made to loan guys out overseas to ensure they’ll have a somewhere to skate next year.

It’ll be interesting for guys like Benson, McLeod, Marody. With the flat cap, getting contributions out of guys on elc’s will be huge and for the players, if you don’t seize the opportunity and grab a spot then it’s a very real possibility you may end up without a place to play for the season if the AHL doesn’t go.

I’m curious if we might see expanded rosters next season to allow teams to carry a few more guys in the case that the AHL doesn’t play so at least teams can have prospects with the team instead of sitting at home not playing. The issue is most teams are already against the cap, maybe something like each team can carry an additional 3 elc/two way contracts that wouldn’t count against the cap.

I don't see why they couldn't just allow teams to carry as many Black Aces as they want for next season.

However you still have the 23 man limit towards the cap. If you want to move one guy from the Black Ace group onto the NHL club then it would come at the costs as if you were calling him up from the AHL. Waivers would still be applicable, NHL vs AHL salary would still be applicable etc..

 

[belair]

I also have the same thoughts as you and the only realistic reasoning I can think of would be that a team likes Larsson, he’s still relatively young, a right shot and a physical minute muncher that can play in the top 4. There’s not that many similar options on the UFA market. Also in free agency your likely handing out term and possible ntc, with Larsson you have the option to test drive him for a year, leave him exposed as a pending ufa and then re-sign him after, if the cost to aquire is reasonable.

From the Oilers pov if they feel like their blue line could use some more transition ability this might be a good year to dip into UFA while there won’t be as much competition and prices might be reasonable. A guy like Vatanen could fit the bill and not be much more expensive then Larsson aav wise. It’s definitely worth looking into, of course it could toss a wrench into your expansion draft plans but cross that bridge when you come to it. If you can recoup a couple picks from the AA trade and swap Larsson for Vatanen at a similar AAV I think you have to consider it.

This is exactly what I'm saying when it comes to keeping Larsson. The preference to capitalize on the asset that is there is tempting, but it's also assuming that the player will be walking away from the organization a year from now. I'm not convinced that it's the case. And if he does end up re-signing, I don't think his salary increases all that much either.

It depends on whether the team values the limited return he'd receive over what he offers to the organization. I'd really like to know how the team views the player internally.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

RNH (6) - McD (12.5) - Kassian (3.2)
XXXX - Drai (8.5) - Yamamoto (0.9)
Neal (5.8) - Haas (0.9) - Chiasson (2.2)
Nygard (0.9) - Khaira (1.2) - Archibald (1.5)
XXXX - XXXX
(43.6)

Klefbom (4.2) - Larsson (4.2)
Nurse (5.6) - XXXX
Jones (0.9) - Russell (4)
XXXX
(19.3)

Koskinen (4.2)
XXXX
(4.2)

Dead Cap (4.6)
(4.6)

Total Salary: (71.7)

RFAs: Bear, Benning, Lagesson, Athanasiou, Puljujarvi


To get Barrie signed you would need to move a lot of salary out. You'd also have difficulty addressing any other aspect of that roster.

Assuming we let Benning walk while signing all other RFAs to short term extensions, we've got between $2-3m to sign a winger, a 3C and 1B goalie.

What about a move like Russell for an LTIR contract like Gaborik?

That could gain us some extra space as long as we can do paper transactions to get under the cap to put that contract on ltir.

 

[belair]

Barrie in at $6 m per year (Larsson out) would do wonders for the team. Barrie is pie in the sky.

Klef/Barrie
Nurse/Bear
Jones/Bouchard

Good puck movers on each pair. Klefbom can focus on defense on that pair and not try to make himself the puckmover. No #1, but you have Broberg and Bouchard who are still developing.

That third forward line is still a bit of an issue, but maybe you can make something work with AA and JP.

Who actually defends there?

 

[belair]

What about a move like Russell for an LTIR contract like Gaborik?

That could gain us some extra space as long as we can do paper transactions to get under the cap to put that contract on ltir.

It's something that I've mentioned previously. But LTIR can be tricky to navigate. We'll definitely need some additional cap somewhere to address the positions of need. I think we're looking in the wrong place if we're throwing all of our money at what's essentially Bouchard as a finished product.

 

[gordonhught]

Who actually defends there?

No need for defense. Puck will be in the offensive zone all the time.

But seriously, I cannot imagine that Klefbom and Barrie would be much worse than Klefbom and Larsson/Russell.

Nurse and Bear would be the same (just fine).

You might have a drop off from Russell/Benning to Jones/Bouchard, but the uptick in puck moving from that pairing would be significant.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

This is exactly what I'm saying when it comes to keeping Larsson. The preference to capitalize on the asset that is there is tempting, but it's also assuming that the player will be walking away from the organization a year from now. I'm not convinced that it's the case. And if he does end up re-signing, I don't think his salary increases all that much either.

It depends on whether the team values the limited return he'd receive over what he offers to the organization. I'd really like to know how the team views the player internally.

I’m definitely not advocating trading him just for the sake of it. For me it comes down to two simple questions, how’s Larsson long term outlook for his health? And in that spot would the team be better with a defensive minute muncher like Larsson or a guy like Vatanen/Barrie with more transition and offensive ability. Personally of the 3, I like Vatanen more as I believe he is the most well rounded of the bunch.

If they stick with Larsson, I agree that they likely re-sign him at an aav similar to what he currently makes and that they could probably get it done after the expansion draft so they don’t have to protect him.

 

[McDNicks17]

I don't think you're replacing Benning with Lagesson though, you're most likely replacing him with Bouchard with Lagesson as the #7. That's $0.925MM plus performance bonuses which can potentially get him to the $1.1-1.25 range (maximum of ~$1.6MM)

I'd probably be keeping Russell on the bottom pairing, having Lagesson in the press box and be calling up Bouchard for any injuries in that scenario.

 

[Mr Positive]

Jones hasn't shown that he would slot in above Nurse or Klefbom, so the only person you'd need to ship out to make room for him is Russell. Same thing for Bouchard. The only person he'd fight with for a spot is Benning. Ship off Benning for a 3rd/4th line forward and then let Bouchard dip his toes in the NHL. If he thrives, you can start to give him top 4 minutes and potentially move Larsson at the deadline for F help. Otherwise you keep Larsson for the playoff run and worry about an extension/replacement in the summer.

I agree that Jones and Bouchard ideally would be on a bottom pairing.

However, I don't think that they should be on a bottom pairing together since that pairing is too young. I like having each play with a veteran.

I'm not sure how, but I'd like Jones in the top 4. He's played 62 NHL games now and has been looking better and better. He's also a great skater, and a big fault with our top 4 in the playoffs was the lack of mobility. Nurse is the only truly good skater there.

I know the problem. Jones is LHD, and Nurse and Klefbom are cemented there. Although, I believe Jones has played the right side, but that's not ideal.

But, if we are trading out a LHD in the top 4, it becomes easier.