Rumor: Rumors & Proposals | Moar NCAA Free Agents?

[misfit]

I agree with s7ark in that we don't need to make massive changes to the lineup, and the core is solid. With that said, there are definitely holes and areas in need of upgrading. Here's my quick shopping list:

1. 3rd line Center

- Whether it's Draisaitl making the move back to C on a more permanent basis or bringing in outside help, the Desharnais spot needs to be improved upon. McLellan loves versatility in his forwards, so I could see both.

- In all honesty, I would prefer that this spot be filled with a rental at the deadline, but looking at the potential 2018 UFA list for centers, anyone I would want is on a team who should be in a playoff spot on deadline day. A guy like Brian Little would be the ideal target here. Rentals might be the best way to stay under the cap and add a significant player at the position.

Trade Targets: Couturier
Free Agents: Hanzal
Deadline Targets: Little, Turris

2. 2nd pair RD

- Klefbom/Larsson aren't going anywhere, and Nurse/Benning are a perfect 3rd pair that could be a 2nd pairing within a couple of years. Sekera is still a great 2nd pairing defenseman. Russell performed well this year as a fill in (better than I expected), but I think we'd all agree that he's probably not the guy you hope for in that position. In a perfect world, this guy is also a RHS.

- The UFA market is either too pricey (Shattenkirk/Alzner), past their prime (Michalek/Seidenberg/Tyutin), or just not that great (Stone/Franson/Gryba). This is a position that may be best addressed via trade.

Trade Targets: Petrovic, Green
Free Agents: Smith (?...not many options out there)


3. Backup Goalie

- Nothing against LB, but we need a proven commodity that can actually spell Talbot for 15-20 games a season. Fortunately there are a lot of options available in free agency so we should be able to fill this reasonably well. Even if Brossoit ends up being the guy, that's probably fine. Just no more Gustavsson experiments please.

Free Agents: Darling, Bernier, Kinkaid, Condon
Other: Brossoit

4. Backfilling the expansion loss

- Whether it's Pouliot or Reinhart or whoever, we're going to be losing a player who contributes to depth on the roster. Assuming it's Pouliot for a second, I know his contract is a bit high for what he brings (is sure was this season), but he's still a useful player on the ice who gives us depth and meaningful minutes that will need to be replaced.

- We do have guys like Khaira and Puljujarvi on the farm who should be able to fill some spots, but Hendricks and Lander are also gone next year, so we'll need those two regardless of our losses in expansion. This also doesn't account for any players we give up in trades to fill the other 3 spots.



Maroon - McDavid - Draisaitl
Lucic - Nuge - Eberle
Pouliot - ***** - Kassian
Caggiula - Letestu - *****

Klefbom - Larsson
Sekera - *****
Nurse - Benning

Talbot
*****

 

[Paralyzer]

Would you guys be open to a Landeskog for Eberle trade? I was thinking, if Puljujarvi comes over, trade Nuge for Ellis and Pouliot get's claimed by Vegas, if we tried to sign Oshie for 6M, we could run a Top 6 of:

Landeskog-McDavid-Oshie
Lucic-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi

Change the Top 6 however fits best for the team. THAT'S a Top 6 that'd be dangerous night in, night out.

 

[Asiaoil]

How bad was he in Calgary though? I wouldn't expect the guy to be a world-beater but you'd probably be hard-pressed to find many guys in Colorado who put up decent stats on that team. Especially playing that low in the lineup.

That being said, yes. Mark Fayne has to be the other piece in that deal.

Crap for crap.

He had one decent year in CGY (14-15) and another year (15-16) driven by a crazy 19% SP - but he's a guy with generally bad possession numbers who cheats for offense and we really don't need that in our bottom six. But as you said - in a crap for crap deal - sending Pouliot or Fayne out for him straight up could help clear space.

 

[The Nuge]

2. 2nd pair RD

- Klefbom/Larsson aren't going anywhere, and Nurse/Benning are a perfect 3rd pair that could be a 2nd pairing within a couple of years. Sekera is still a great 2nd pairing defenseman. Russell performed well this year as a fill in (better than I expected), but I think we'd all agree that he's probably not the guy you hope for in that position. In a perfect world, this guy is also a RHS.

- The UFA market is either too pricey (Shattenkirk/Alzner), past their prime (Michalek/Seidenberg/Tyutin), or just not that great (Stone/Franson/Gryba). This is a position that may be best addressed via trade.

Trade Targets: Petrovic, Green
Free Agents: Smith (?...not many options out there)

ion loss[/B].



Maroon - McDavid - Draisaitl
Lucic - Nuge - Eberle
Pouliot - ***** - Kassian
Caggiula - Letestu - *****

Klefbom - Larsson
Sekera - *****
Nurse - Benning

Talbot
*****

I agree with you everything except one point. Stone. He's far from "not that great". He's a legit top 4, right shooting dman, who had 36 points last year. His injury caused some struggles this year, but that should just make him come cheaper

 

[Glass Eyes]

Stone is terrible.

 

[Asiaoil]

I agree with s7ark in that we don't need to make massive changes to the lineup, and the core is solid. With that said, there are definitely holes and areas in need of upgrading. Here's my quick shopping list:

1. 3rd line Center

- Whether it's Draisaitl making the move back to C on a more permanent basis or bringing in outside help, the Desharnais spot needs to be improved upon. McLellan loves versatility in his forwards, so I could see both.

- In all honesty, I would prefer that this spot be filled with a rental at the deadline, but looking at the potential 2018 UFA list for centers, anyone I would want is on a team who should be in a playoff spot on deadline day. A guy like Brian Little would be the ideal target here. Rentals might be the best way to stay under the cap and add a significant player at the position.

Trade Targets: Couturier
Free Agents: Hanzal
Deadline Targets: Little, Turris

2. 2nd pair RD

- Klefbom/Larsson aren't going anywhere, and Nurse/Benning are a perfect 3rd pair that could be a 2nd pairing within a couple of years. Sekera is still a great 2nd pairing defenseman. Russell performed well this year as a fill in (better than I expected), but I think we'd all agree that he's probably not the guy you hope for in that position. In a perfect world, this guy is also a RHS.

- The UFA market is either too pricey (Shattenkirk/Alzner), past their prime (Michalek/Seidenberg/Tyutin), or just not that great (Stone/Franson/Gryba). This is a position that may be best addressed via trade.

Trade Targets: Petrovic, Green
Free Agents: Smith (?...not many options out there)


3. Backup Goalie

- Nothing against LB, but we need a proven commodity that can actually spell Talbot for 15-20 games a season. Fortunately there are a lot of options available in free agency so we should be able to fill this reasonably well. Even if Brossoit ends up being the guy, that's probably fine. Just no more Gustavsson experiments please.

Free Agents: Darling, Bernier, Kinkaid, Condon
Other: Brossoit

4. Backfilling the expansion loss

- Whether it's Pouliot or Reinhart or whoever, we're going to be losing a player who contributes to depth on the roster. Assuming it's Pouliot for a second, I know his contract is a bit high for what he brings (is sure was this season), but he's still a useful player on the ice who gives us depth and meaningful minutes that will need to be replaced.

- We do have guys like Khaira and Puljujarvi on the farm who should be able to fill some spots, but Hendricks and Lander are also gone next year, so we'll need those two regardless of our losses in expansion. This also doesn't account for any players we give up in trades to fill the other 3 spots.



Maroon - McDavid - Draisaitl
Lucic - Nuge - Eberle
Pouliot - ***** - Kassian
Caggiula - Letestu - *****

Klefbom - Larsson
Sekera - *****
Nurse - Benning

Talbot
*****

That's a pretty solid take on our needs. I would however add another need that is related to all of this - RW. Whether it's the need to move Drai to 2C or salary cap issues - we need to get some cheaper effective ES offense on RW. My target here is Smith in Nashville who may be exposed in the Vegas draft. We have an extra forward slot open (zero need to protect Letestu) and Nashville may be open to trading Smith for cap and expansion draft reasons. He's had a down year but he is biggish, fast defensively solid and a proven elite ES scorer. A very nice wing man for McDavid all in all and it allows Drai to move to 2C and RNH to 3C. You do this deal BEFORE the expansion draft. RHS 3C is a bugger to fill and I'd be glad to let RNH run with the role until his contract becomes a cap burden.

With 1 RW 2C/3C taken care of you can bring JP back to be 2RW (and take Letestu's RHS position on the PP1) and deal Eberle for a 2RD. You correctly see this as a weakness and we need someone better than Russell who is a great 3rd pair LD who can jump up to 2nd pair on either side short term when injuries hit. He's a fine flexible player in that role but it's not what we need with Nurse solidly in place as our 3LD. CGY is a perfect fit for Russell and I bet he ends up back there. My target is Eberle for Hamonic. Eberle has rebuilt a lot of value this season and Harmonic had a down year but I'd take a chance on him. He's a perfect partner for a smaller 2LD like Sekera who is freed up to attack playing with Hamonic (like the role Larsson plays with Klef). If not Hamonic then LV will be desperate for offense and will probably have a few 2RD - so a deal will also likely be there.

That leaves 4C and I want someone better/bigger than Letestu who I "sell high" this summer. Again he's a vet forward who can post some offense and I think LV would be interested. My pick for his replacement is RHC Nic Dowd who is bigger, faster and a better ES player. Not sure about price but he's not worth a massive haul....yet. I see this guy breaking out soon as a 3C and want to grab him.

2G is an issue and either LB can do the job or he can't. Problem is with his one way contract that makes it hard to sign a good 2G who want a clear commitment from the team as the backup. This is what caused problems last year. Either LB is good enough now or you get rid of him and sign a proper backup like Kinkaid for next year. Another deal we might make is Ebs/Fayne for Hamonic/Halak which is a total match in terms of cap.

Maroon McDavid Smith
Looch Drai JP
Cags RNH Kass
Slepy Dowd Pitlick Khaira

Klef Larsson
Sekera Hamonic
Nurse Benning Reinhart

Talbot / Kinkaid

Out: Ebs, Pouliot, Letestu, Fayne (Russell - UFA)
In: Smith, Hamonic, Dowd, JP

 

[Mr Positive]

I'm thinking for sure Barrie will be available this summer. Roy has been vindicated in everything for Colorado, and Barrie was one issue he had there. I know he's not a perfect player to add, but to me a trade proposal is so much more exciting when there is some hope that the player is actually for sale.

I still wonder if Trouba wants out of Winnipeg, and if he was a bit of a distraction for the team because of that. As far as I can tell he never released any statement against his public trade demand. But, Winnipeg might drag that out for all his RFA years if they don't get a Klefbom type of return.

 

[belair]

With some of the possible deals that make some sense to me today:

Re-sign Draisaitl at around a $6.5M AAV (pessimistic).
Re-sign Kassian at around a $2.5M AAV (pessimistic).
Re-sign Russell at less than $4.0M AAV (realistic).
Re-sign Pitlick.

Trade Eberle ($6.0M OUT), Betker to NYI for Strome ($2.5M IN), Halak ($4.5M IN), Michael Dal Colle.
Trade Fayne ($3.6M OUT), Broissoit ($0.75M OUT) (assuming they lose a G) to Avs for Colborne ($2.5M IN) and Will Butcher w/cond pick in '18.
Use the powers that be to convince Vegas to take Pouliot ($4M OUT).

I'd sign Franson at less than $2.5m, one year.
I'd sign a RS winger Vanek, Hemsky, Williams, Sharp, Stafford at less that $4.0m AAV short term.

Training Camp Roster

Maroon - McDavid - Draisaitl
Lucic - RNH - Vanek/Hemsky/Sharp
Caggiula - Strome - Kassian
Colborne - Letestu - Pitlick
Slepyshev - Khaira - Puljujarvi
Dal Colle

Klefbom - Larsson
Sekera - Russell
Nurse - Benning
Reinhart - Franson
Butcher

Talbot
Halak


About $5m cap left with McDavid bonus accounted for. Not that any of those salaries or trades are actually feasible.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

With some of the possible deals that make some sense to me today:

Re-sign Draisaitl at around a $6.5M AAV (pessimistic).
Re-sign Kassian at around a $2.5M AAV (pessimistic).
Re-sign Russell at less than $4.0M AAV (realistic).
Re-sign Pitlick.

Trade Eberle ($6.0M OUT), Betker to NYI for Strome ($2.5M IN), Halak ($4.5M IN), Michael Dal Colle.
Trade Fayne ($3.6M OUT), Broissoit ($0.75M OUT) (assuming they lose a G) to Avs for Colborne ($2.5M IN) and Will Butcher w/cond pick in '18.
Use the powers that be to convince Vegas to take Pouliot ($4M OUT).

I'd sign Franson at less than $2.5m, one year.
I'd sign a RS winger Vanek, Hemsky, Williams, Sharp, Stafford at less that $4.0m AAV short term.

Training Camp Roster

Maroon - McDavid - Draisaitl
Lucic - RNH - Vanek/Hemsky/Sharp
Caggiula - Strome - Kassian
Colborne - Letestu - Pitlick
Slepyshev - Khaira - Puljujarvi
Dal Colle

Klefbom - Larsson
Sekera - Russell
Nurse - Benning
Reinhart - Franson
Butcher

Talbot
Halak


About $5m cap left with McDavid bonus accounted for. Not that any of those salaries or trades are actually feasible.

Joe Colbourne was brutal.

Ales Hemsky is a shade of himself, doesn't fit the Chiarelli mold and is constantly injured. No. We need to stop the idea of bringing back crappy ex Oilers.

Signing Franson to be a number 8 dman seems like a waste of resources.

 

[The Nuge]

Joe Colbourne was brutal.

Ales Hemsky is a shade of himself, doesn't fit the Chiarelli mold and is constantly injured. No. We need to stop the idea of bringing back crappy ex Oilers.

Signing Franson to be a number 8 dman seems like a waste of resources.

Fayne for Colbourne at the very worst saves us a million in capspace

 

[belair]

Joe Colbourne was brutal.

Ales Hemsky is a shade of himself, doesn't fit the Chiarelli mold and is constantly injured. No. We need to stop the idea of bringing back crappy ex Oilers.

Signing Franson to be a number 8 dman seems like a waste of resources.

Hemsky is one of the options. A RW to alleviate the production from the Eberle trade. Hemsky himself likely signs cheap and put up some decent numbers coming back from injury. And its not like we don't have some RW options looking to steal that spot...

Franson would be a substantial upgrade on Eric Gryba and provides a buffer for Matthew Benning in the instance of a sophomore slump.

And Colborne is good here or in Bako. It relieves us of $1m in cap and ships out Fayne.

 

[Mr Sakich]

If Chia thinks we are in a win ow mode next year, I could see him doing jp for trouba+

Winnipeg rarely makes trades but I bet they would like to reunite jp and laine. They would have to take back some salary like Fayne or pouliot

 

[oilers89]

If Chia thinks we are in a win ow mode next year, I could see him doing jp for trouba+

Winnipeg rarely makes trades but I bet they would like to reunite jp and laine. They would have to take back some salary like Fayne or pouliot

I agree. He would be a solid pick up. And I think people forget Trouba will play most of next seaon as a 23 year old also. You could have klef, lars, trouba, nurse, benning all under 24/25 as a d core. That would be just fantastic.

Saw a tweet this am that if philly rebuilds it would be a good idea to move Simmonds. He would be another guy that would fit in quite well.

If chia thinks this offseason is the time to go for it we definitely have the pieces to do so and not completely screw our depth.

jones,bear,nuge,ebs,benson, reinhart, 1st could all be used if need be to upgrade.

 

[Soli]

 

[Draiskull]

I am buying a Foo jersey if he ever makes the Oilers.

 

[belair]

If he was in Edmonton last night we might have the upperhand.

 

[Jet Walters]

I agree. He would be a solid pick up. And I think people forget Trouba will play most of next seaon as a 23 year old also. You could have klef, lars, trouba, nurse, benning all under 24/25 as a d core. That would be just fantastic.

Saw a tweet this am that if philly rebuilds it would be a good idea to move Simmonds. He would be another guy that would fit in quite well.

If chia thinks this offseason is the time to go for it we definitely have the pieces to do so and not completely screw our depth.

jones,bear,nuge,ebs,benson, reinhart, 1st could all be used if need be to upgrade.

Simmonds would be awesome. I'd love to find a way to get that done without sending the Flyers Puljujarvi.

With all those up and coming defense prospects and Klefbom and Sekera set as top 4 LHD for the foreseeable future, I wonder if Chia considers dealing Nurse for a big piece this summer. He is expansion exempt and might hold serious value around the league.

Also it might be a smart move to sell high on Maroon this summer. His value may never be higher and I'm not sure if it's a wise decision to sign him long term at 4-5 mil per.

Nurse + 1st for Simmonds

RNH to Van, Tanev to TB, Tyler Johnson to Edm

Eberle + to Vegas for two expansion picks like Petrovic and Smith

Maroon to STL for Sobotka

Draisaitl McDavid Simmonds
Lucic Johnson Puljujarvi
Caggiula Sobotka Smith
Khaira Letestu Kassian

Klefbom Larsson
Sekera Petrovic
Reinhart Benning

 

[PaPaDee]

I keep hearing his name come up, but don't know much about him. Looks like he's got some decent stats. What kind of game does he play? Is he a ways off from playing in the NHL?

 

[dem]

I'd be pretty surprised if Foo doesn't sign with the Oilers...

Local kid.. big Oilers fan.. and we are going to be deperate for cheap scoring options to play with McDavid.

Signing with the Oilers would be a real... Dream Come Foo

sorry.

 

[oobga]

Gene Principe is gonna love this signing if he ends up with the Oilers. Probably will buy a load of gold chains the same day.

 

[Canovin]

I think we can all agree at this point, Spencer signing with us would be Foo proof

 

[belair]

I pity the Foo who signs with Philly.

Ain't nobody got time fo' that!

 

[NeverForget06]

Do we give LB the backup spot next year? By that I mean the 15-20 games, and not 5 like this year? He's been pretty solid in a small sample size

 

[belair]

Do we give LB the backup spot next year? By that I mean the 15-20 games, and not 5 like this year? He's been pretty solid in a small sample size

Probably. But I wouldn't be opposed to trading him if we have the opportunity to grab a more seasoned backup. Our pipeline is looking pretty solid right now.

 

[FlameChampion]

Dont really see the point in discussing trade rumours at this point, but it is still fun to look at possible moves within the roster.

As others have mentioned, I dont think we should tinker with the team too much. I like the fact that the room is tight (for the first time in years). There are a lot of young players on this team who will continue to grow and make the team stronger.

As others have said I think he biggest holes are 3C and 2RD. Backup goalie could also be had but I would be ok with them giving Brossoit a chance as well.

I believe from impending UFA's that Hendricks will not be picked up. Descharnais, Russell and Gryba are maybes at this point depending on how they do, what they want and what is available. I assume that Pitlick will get a new contract.

Regarding RFA. I assume Kassian, Drai, Khaira, Reinhart etc will get new contracts. Pakarinnen would be a maybe I am guessing.

Roster will be:
Maroon - McDavid - Drai
Lucic - RNH - Eberle
Cagguila - 3C - Kassian
Pouillot - Letestu - Slepshev

Extras who may be in: Descharnais?, Khaira, Pulju, Pitlick

Defense:
Klef - Larsson
Sekera - 2RD
Nurse - Benning

Extras who may be in: Russell?, Gryba (7D), Reinhart (7D)

It is likely that expansion will open another hole.

Things I think PC should be focusing on:
Getting rid of Faynes contract
Getting rid of Pouillots contract

If he could get rid of either player in a deal with LV that would be optimum.

Next thing would be:
Signing Draitsaitl. This one will be interesting. Part of me wonders if it would be best to try and give him a bridge contract like Kucherov. This would help with cap concerns due to the contracts of RNH, Eberle, Pouillot, Fayne etc by keeping their depth or acquiring more depth via trades/free agents. I love Drai, great year from him. Some concerns for me with Draitsaitl is that we still dont know if he can run a line by himself, he has some endurance issues, and can be prone to really bad giveaways due to trying to be too cute. That being said if he ends up playing on RW with McDavid for the foreseeable future, theres nothing wrong with that either. With how previous management has handed out contracts to young players like Hall, Eberle, RNH just makes me a bit leery. I am ok with Drai getting a long term contract. Future cap would be less on long term than after bridge (most likely). From what I have seen from him, I think he is driven and is self critical to improve. I trust management with this decision.

As far as trading RNH and Eberle. I would be leery with trading RNH personally. I will admit I have some bias, as I have always liked the player. But as mentioned above, we still dont really know if Draitsaitl can run a line effectively as a center. I know RNH's offense hasnt been great, but I think hes still a useful/versatile player. Honestly just based on how this series has went, we still need RNH. I would give him some things to work in the offseason, and hope with a successful team year that he steps it up and improves to be the player that we think he is capable of being.

I think Eberle has been a lot better defensively this year, but I think hes still pretty one dimensional and is not overly useful if hes not scoring. If we run into cap problems with the Draitsaitl contract and cant get rid of the Pouillot/Fayne contracts, I could see him being traded. If PC can get rid of the Pou/Fayne contracts and make RNH/Eberle work under the cap, and theres no trades realistically that make the team better, I am ok with giving him another year.

As far as Russell goes. I would personally prefer someone whos a little more offensively capable and bit better at moving the puck out. I really do admire how hard Russell has competed this year and I think hes been a good addition. I would just be very leery of giving him a contract of too much $ and too many years. If hes willing to take a 2 year deal, I think something could be done. But if he wants a long contract, I think should walk away from him. I think the Oilers need to keep their defense stabilized but also allow some room for other defenders in the system to come up and make the team in a few years if they are ready.

If the Oilers can make some trades that solidy 3C and 2RD that make the team successful I am game. I think at this point we have a pretty solid team. I think going forward PC no longer feels like he has to trade away players for 75cents on the dollar so to speak. We have some holes, but every team does. Just need to make some smart trades to improve the depth, balance and compete of this team. Building up the farm system (mainly for our forwards) will be important going forward as we run into cap problems as our team becomes a contender. Something that PC has been successful at doing through college signings. We just have to hope that some of our draft picks turn out.

Hopefully the Oilers win the series against the sharks. This will allow them to continue to analyze the players on their team and learn what they have or dont have.