Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | The Road to the Draft June 28th and 29th Part 3

[Jimmi McJenkins]

This offseason, so damned funny. $2.4M for Kampf is terrific.

 

[K1984]

They're able to do that because of their cap structure though. They were spending like $10-15M less in their top6.

The Oilers are way too top heavy to ever roll 4 lines/3 pairings.

They might not have all 6 D men be as solid as Vegas, but we shouldn't create a liability where there currently isn't one.

As of now I see the defense like this:

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Ceci
Kulak - Desharnais

The bolded are guys that can be relied on, the rest are varying degrees of wild cards. Ideally we should only run with one wild card at most. Two is already too many, move Kulak and you have three. We have an injury to one of the others, and all of a sudden you have two. Winning a series against a good opponent then becomes borderline impossible.

Trading Kulak is cutting off your nose to spite your face IMO. Try and upgrade #2RD at the deadline if there's nothing there now, but don't open another hole under any circumstance. By then if we don't move Broberg we might have a better idea of what he can do and it could create flexibility.

 

[McDNicks17]

They might not have all 6 D men be as solid as Vegas, but we shouldn't create a liability where there currently isn't one.

As of now I see the defense like this:

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Ceci
Kulak - Desharnais

The bolded are guys that can be relied on, the rest are varying degrees of wild cards. Ideally we should only run with one wild card at most. Two is already too many, move Kulak and you have three. We have an injury to one of the others, and all of a sudden you have two. Winning a series against a good opponent then becomes borderline impossible.

Trading Kulak is cutting off your nose to spite your face IMO.

You're going to have to open a hole to fill another.

Right now Derek Ryan is the team's second best RWer. You're far better off spending $2M in the top6 than on the bottom pairing.

 

[K1984]

You're going to have to open a hole to fill another.

Right now Derek Ryan is the team's second best RWer. You're far better off spending $2M in the top6 than on the bottom pairing.

I think quality #3 LD is much more important on this team than quality #2 RW. Also much harder to find.

 

[McTonyBrar]

I don’t get that tweet from annoying Boob. How will Broberg show anything he’s got when

Ekholm
Nurse
Kulak
Desharnais

Are all ahead of him?

 

[Arpeggio]

I think quality #3 LD is much more important on this team than quality #2 RW. Also much harder to find.

I would agree if it wasn't Ekholm and Nurse playing infront of Kulak. I see them both as top pairing guys (I know that's controversial here). I'm not sure if this is the case, but let's say (in my best case scenario dreamland) that Blake Wheeler is willing to come here at minimum + bonuses, but if you move Kulak you can also bring in Connor Brown. I think Connor Brown probably makes a bigger difference to the team's success than Brett Kulak does.

 

[McDNicks17]

I think #3 LD is much more important on this team than #2 RW. Also much harder to find.

How so?

That spot is going to play very limited minutes behind Nurse/Ekholm and bottom pairing guys are extremely easy to find. And they have Broberg, so it's not like they have to find one either.

 

[CycloneSweep]

I don’t get that tweet from annoying Boob. How will Broberg show anything he’s got when

Ekholm
Nurse
Kulak
Desharnais

Are all ahead of him?

I don’t like Desharnais or Broberg but I think Broberg is ahead of him at least.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

When you're goaltender puts up a historic turd, you better swing big. Either for more defensively sound forwards, D upgrades, or some random goalie upgrade being creative.

Here, it's just "meh, we are a playoff team. It's all good" lol

We have low standards in Edmonton. When Drai and McDavid are gone with no cups, people will bi*** and moan about how we didn't do enough. I can already see it

No, we were alot closer than you make it out to be.

Too many in here want to blow it up when we were one of the best teams in the league.

 

[K1984]

How so?

That spot is going to play very limited minutes behind Nurse/Ekholm and bottom pairing guys are extremely easy to find. And they have Broberg, so it's not like they have to find one either.

I think we could win a Conference Final/Final playoff series with Derek Ryan playing #2 RW (if it came to that). I don't think we can win one with a bottom pair of Broberg/Desharnias, and am dead certain we wouldn't win one if there is an injury and either of those guys have to play top 4 minutes against a contending team.

 

[Slats432]

Anyone know about this guy? Logan Brown at eliteprospects.com (Not qualified)

 

[brentashton]

Remember when Flame fans thought they could sell really high on Toffoli after his big season? I remember....

Does Pepperidge Farms?

 

[Arpeggio]

I think we could win a playoff series with Derek Ryan playing #2 RW (if it came to that). I don't think we can win one with a bottom pair of Broberg/Desharnias, and am dead certain we wouldn't win one if there is an injury and either of those guys have to play top 4 minutes against a contending team.

I think you're really undervaluing that spot in the lineup. If the Oilers had one extra good middle-six winger they probably win the series against Vegas. Depth scoring pushes this team into cup contender territory.

Edit: Though strong goaltending probably makes up the difference in either scenario.

 

[McDNicks17]

I think we could win a Conference Final/Final playoff series with Derek Ryan playing #2 RW (if it came to that). I don't think we can win one with a bottom pair of Broberg/Desharnias, and am dead certain we wouldn't win one if there is an injury and either of those guys have to play top 4 minutes against a contending team.

I'd personally be trading Desharnais. Broberg and a veteran like a Luke Schenn would be a fine third pairing.

And I don't think the injury argument holds a lot of water. What if one of McDrai get hurt and now you've got a Kane-McLeod-Ryan second line? Injuries happen. You can't make your roster worse just in case they happen.

 

[Davo Ikinzom]

Team doesn't even have an actual RW but their biggest need is another bottom pair dman.

Okay.

 

[K1984]

I think you're really undervaluing that spot in the lineup. If the Oilers had one extra good middle-six winger they probably win the series against Vegas. Depth scoring pushes this team into cup contender territory.

Edit: Though strong goaltending probably makes up the difference in either scenario.

Bingo.

We lost the series because of goaltending, Nurse playing like absolute dog shit in Game 3, and Nurse being out in Game 5 when we didn't have the depth to match. Further down the list of reasons was Hyman and Kane being injured and RNH playing like shit (and possibly injured). We could have won that series with all of Hyman, Kane and RNH playing like shit if the defense and goalie played better.

I'd personally be trading Desharnais. Broberg and a veteran like a Luke Schenn would be a fine third pairing.

And I don't think the injury argument holds a lot of water. What if one of McDrai get hurt and now you've got a Kane-McLeod-Ryan second line? Injuries happen. You can't make your roster worse just in case they happen.

If one of McDrai get hurt we're probably f***ed either way. That one kind of is what it is.

 

[ManofSteel55]

I don’t get that tweet from annoying Boob. How will Broberg show anything he’s got when

Ekholm
Nurse
Kulak
Desharnais

Are all ahead of him?

I think Broberg is bait at this point. He needs NHL playing time to improve, and he isn't going to get that ahead of Nurse, Ekholm or Kulak, and he's the wrong type of defenseman to go on his off-side to play with either Ekholm or Kulak. I don't think he's shown enough to get gifted a spot next to Nurse either. He's got potential, but I feel that we would be better off looking for an upgrade to #3RD and keeping Vinny as our #7 than trying to find a way to get Broberg ice time.

 

[Slats432]

Also, very cool tool I found. Projected contracts.

 

[ThreeOfAPerfectPair]

Gazzola was right.

 

[Oilhawks]

Gazzola was right.

Guess he can graduate from his new jersey drops success

 

[aspin3]

I think Broberg is bait at this point. He needs NHL playing time to improve, and he isn't going to get that ahead of Nurse, Ekholm or Kulak, and he's the wrong type of defenseman to go on his off-side to play with either Ekholm or Kulak. I don't think he's shown enough to get gifted a spot next to Nurse either. He's got potential, but I feel that we would be better off looking for an upgrade to #3RD and keeping Vinny as our #7 than trying to find a way to get Broberg ice time.

And one injury to any of them and we have a very suspect top 6

 

[FlameChampion]

If I were a betting man, I'd put money on Holland kicking all 3 of the RFA cans down the road until mid summer once all the dust has settled.

For better or worse, I get the feeling Holland likes the wiggle room of not having contracts signed.


Right now, he doesn't have to move Foegele, as Koskin isn't signed; Thus it's not as much of a cap dump. It's crappy reasoning, I can at least see it.

Plus it's far easier to show the RFAs what's left in the budget and tell them that's all you can afford at the end of summer vs. the start. He did that with McLeod last year, who basically got every last dollar of cap space the team had to start the season.

Not sure if he will qualify Kostin though. I think he doesnt want to go to arbitration. I think thats why he indicated he needs to figure out something in the next 3-4 days. But I agree with you on McLeod and Bouchard.

 

[Anarchism]

There is lots of <1m quality vet defenseman that will make free agency.
Pluggin holes at 2rw and 3RD with a vet is a start. Its not enough to beat Vegas--a little adjustment by them and a similar strategy beats us again.

 

[brentashton]

I don’t get that tweet from annoying Boob. How will Broberg show anything he’s got when

Ekholm
Nurse
Kulak
Desharnais

Are all ahead of him?

He should be able to be #3 on that list if his time is now.

 

[McTonyBrar]

I think Broberg is bait at this point. He needs NHL playing time to improve, and he isn't going to get that ahead of Nurse, Ekholm or Kulak, and he's the wrong type of defenseman to go on his off-side to play with either Ekholm or Kulak. I don't think he's shown enough to get gifted a spot next to Nurse either. He's got potential, but I feel that we would be better off looking for an upgrade to #3RD and keeping Vinny as our #7 than trying to find a way to get Broberg ice time.

Then why does Stauffer tweet garbage? He should stick to stuffing his face with mediterranean chicken and listen to his 1970s songs