Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | What Do Our RFA's Sign For Edition

[McJadeddog]

I was curious how true this was, 2 of the last 7 Cup winners also had the highest Goals For in the regular season (the Pens in 16/17 & TB in 19/20).

Its clearly a positive indicator though and a potential forebearer of good things to come:
- TB was the top scoring team in 2017/18, 18/19, and 19/20 and then won Cups in 2019/20 and 20/21
- COL was the top scoring team in 2020/21 and then won the Cup in 2021/22
- FLA was to the top scoring team 2021/22 and was a SC finalist in 2022/23

Yeah, it should be blatantly obvious that in a sport where scoring more goals than the other team is the point, that scoring goals is important, lol. The thing those other teams had, that this Oilers team does not right now, is good D and G play. I think the G play is so freaking random that it wouldn't surprise me if we got either stellar or crappy tending this upcoming spring, or anything in between. I have no idea what level of tending we'll get, and I don't think anybody else in the world has any idea either. The D is the area where we should be able to make progress, likely through some maturation of players, and hopefully through a TDL top-4 D addition to the team that pushes Ceci down one rung.

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-<new guy>
Kulak-Ceci
Broberg

The above isn't a world-beating D corps, but it is likely good enough to go far in the playoffs as long as tending doesn't implode again.

 

[Vagabond]

I wonder out of curiosity reasons what kind of money Dumba is asking for..

 

[joestevens29]

I wonder out of curiosity reasons what kind of money Dumba is asking for..

Wonder if he signs for cheap back in Minny. Tough spot for him. Played whole career for one team, but has also not made it very far.

Maybe a similar situation to Klingberg, albeit at less money? Sign for most you can get with crappy team and get flipped at deadline?

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I wonder out of curiosity reasons what kind of money Dumba is asking for..

I keep circling back to him too. The Oilers can't pay him, but there's a fit where he can compete for a year and maybe "build" some value. As an option for 3RD he would be great, imo.

 

[Oilers in NS]

What’s everyone think of Denis Gurianov? Scored 20 goals a few years ago and has wheels. Could be had for under 1,000,000

 

[Soundwave]

What’s everyone think of Denis Gurianov? Scored 20 goals a few years ago and has wheels. Could be had for under 1,000,000

Sign him. Would prefer a right shot, but he's worth taking a risk on. If we have the contract space I'd also throw a min contract at Mark Pysyk pending a physical.

 

[Magnum23]

Losing Kelfbom and then Larsson was a huge blow for this team.

Really ?

 

[oil Leaks]

What’s everyone think of Denis Gurianov? Scored 20 goals a few years ago and has wheels. Could be had for under 1,000,000

I'd bring him in as PTO

 

[McDNicks17]

Where does a guy like Gurianov play? Aren't we pretty much locked in for wingers?

They could maybe use a guy at #3RW, but I would assume one of Janmark or Holloway play their off side there since one of them would be knocked out of lineup if they bring someone else in.

 

[duul]

Where does a guy like Gurianov play? Aren't we pretty much locked in for wingers?

They could maybe use a guy at #3RW, but I would assume one of Janmark or Holloway play their off side there since one of them would be knocked out of lineup if they bring someone else in.

Seems like we have a spot in the bottom 6 unless we plan on Holloway + one of Borugault/Lavoie playing regularly right? Or is my math wrong here.

Kane-McDavid-Hyman
RNH-Draisaitl-Brown
Foegele-Ryan-Janmark
Holloway-Mcleod-

Seems like we have room for him but I'd rather have Lavoie or Bourgault playing instead personally, as we're at a point where we should be able to make the playoffs without a fourth line player being the difference of missing or not.

 

[McDNicks17]

Seems like we have a spot in the bottom 6 unless we plan on Holloway + one of Borugault/Lavoie playing regularly right? Or is my math wrong here.

Kane-McDavid-Hyman
RNH-Draisaitl-Brown
Foegele-Ryan-Janmark
Holloway-Mcleod-

Seems like we have room for him but I'd rather have Lavoie or Bourgault playing instead personally, as we're at a point where we should be able to make the playoffs without a fourth line player being the difference of missing or not.

They were using Ryan primarily as a winger and he looks a lot better there, IMO.

I'd bet he's the #4RW next year.

 

[duul]

They were using Ryan primarily as a winger and he looks a lot better there, IMO.

I'd bet he's the #4RW next year.

Do you envision Holloway playing C? RNH at 3C?

 

[McDNicks17]

Do you envision Holloway playing C? RNH at 3C?

McLeod at #3C and probably an 11-7 with no #4C.

 

[Soundwave]

Gurianov is a left shot but like a lot of Russian wingers it looks like he prefers to play RW. So that could work.

If you wanted to run a deeper lineup to try and exploit some matchup issues for example, maybe you could do like

Kane McDavid Brown
Foegele Draisaitl Gurianov
Holloway RNH Hyman
McLeod Ryan Janmark

If Drai has some chemistry with him. Not saying you run this lineup all the time, just could be useful to have a setup where RNH + Hyman could theoretically exploit an opponent that's hyper fixated on stopping McDavid/Drai's lines.

 

[Canovin]

Why are we penciling in Holloway like he's guaranteed to be a difference maker on the bottom 6. If Gurianov is willing to sign for cheap, you do it.

 

[duul]

McLeod at #3C and probably an 11-7 with no #4C.

11-7 through the regular season is Pejorative Slured in my opinion. What a way to tire out your star players. This team has to be built 12-6 like any other team in the history of the league.

 

[FlameChampion]

Where does a guy like Gurianov play? Aren't we pretty much locked in for wingers?

They could maybe use a guy at #3RW, but I would assume one of Janmark or Holloway play their off side there since one of them would be knocked out of lineup if they bring someone else in.

I think if you could get a good winger, you could move Nuge to the 3C. I dont think you can trust Gurianov to really play in the top 6 though. If we were getting a Tatar, Kane, Tarasenko etc for 900k, running Nuge as the 3C probably makes sense.

 

[McDNicks17]

Why are we penciling in Holloway like he's guaranteed to be a difference maker on the bottom 6. If Gurianov is willing to sign for cheap, you do it.

I'd agree if you're bringing in a difference maker, but a guy like Gurianov was worse than Pulju last season.

It's Holloway's last season with waiver exemption. Time to see what we have in him. No point blocking him with replacement level guys.

 

[Soundwave]

I'd agree if you're bringing in a difference maker, but a guy like Gurianov was worse than Pulju last season.

It's Holloway's last season with waiver exemption. Time to see what we have in him. No point blocking him with replacement level guys.

There is room for both Holloway and Gurianov to play here though.

Gurianov had 5 goals in 23 games with the Habs to end last year ... that's an 18 goal pace give or take ... perhaps he could replicate/exceed that given some time with Drai or McDavid or RNH here and there.

 

[Spawn]

There is room for both Holloway and Gurianov to play here though.

Gurianov had 5 goals in 23 games with the Habs to end last year ... that's an 18 goal pace give or take ... perhaps he could replicate/exceed that given some time with Drai or McDavid or RNH here and there.

Gurianov wouldn’t be my first choice but your point stands that we could fit a RW in instead of a C if we wanted to roll RNH at 3C at times.

 

[GOilers88]

Ken Holland inherited a team that was wading-pool deep and cap f***ed to Tuesday. A team that missed the playoffs twice in a row. A team that would immediately lose its under-priced top defenseman to a career-ending injury at 28 years old, which would put them into LTIR for four years. A team that based its top contracts around the idea of the cap going up, only for a pandemic to induce a three-year flat cap. A team that already had the challenge of being the Edmonton Oilers. And he's done a very good job with it despite all that IMO.

The Oilers have gone from a team that was pushing Ty Rattie and Alex Chiasson in the top six to a team that has Kane, Nuge, Hyman and Brown on a collective AAV of 16.5M dollars. It's the best top-six group in the league and they just put up one of the highest-scoring seasons in modern NHL history. Their bottom six, still a work in progress, just finished the year with 10+ goals each. At the time he started, it could politely be described as a group of non-NHL players.

The Oilers are identifying pro players far better than they have in decades. They're developing later picks into actual, promising young players. I don't think the Oilers have been a more functional organization since the 1980s. Seriously.

"The Oilers aren't good enough" Yes, they are. They've lost to a Colorado team at the height of their possible power which immediately lost half of its forward depth to the cap. They lost to a Vegas team running a 96M dollar roster (and gave it a better fight than anyone), and even that series turned on a goalie injury and a hot back-up.

No team is without flaws on July 1 in a flat cap. The Knights gave away Reilly Smith for nothing just to become cap compliant. Boston just lost so much talent. Toronto shuffled Bunting, O'Reilly and Holl for Bertuzzi, Domi and Klingberg. Tampa had to let Killorn walk. Florida replaced Gudas with Ekman-Larsson. Colorado added two players with negative contracts in order to rebuild some of its depth semi-affordably. The Wild are the same team pretty much completely. *THESE ARE THE OTHER GOOD TEAMS*

These are the good times. You can say "should have won the Cup" or "the Cup is the only success". I get it, I do, but you're calling a B+ job an F because it isn't an A and you're missing the good times. The times when we know the Oilers go into a season as maybe one of seven teams most people wouldn't blink at winning the Cup. The times where the Oilers make the playoffs with home ice advantage for 4 straight years. The times where the Oilers have their handcuffs off at the deadline.

My man.

 

[GOilers88]

Yeah I really hate the whole hindsight nonsense. Zegras was clearly the consensus best player available. Me and all my friends at the draft party wanted him. But the Oilers needed to show how smart they were and pass on him.

Also it cannot be stated enough what a hero Duncan Keith is retiring for this team. We wouldn't have ekholm if he came back again last year.

Do you think that Holland had no inclination whatsoever that Keith wasn't going to play out his contract when he acquired him? That it was all purely coincidental and luck?

Sort of makes the acquisition cost make more sense to me if you think that maybe they had discussed it prior. I'm also aware that some people think he's a completely oblivious old man who doesn't know his own asshole from a hole in the ground, so I'm just wondering.

 

[NeverForget06]

Really ?

Yes? - Don't remember the way each shot off hand but
Nurse - Klef
Bouch - Ekholm
Larsson - any scrub

is miles better than what we have now

 

[GOilers88]

Yes? - Don't remember the way each shot off hand but
Nurse - Klef
Bouch - Ekholm
Larsson - any scrub

is miles better than what we have now

Ekholm probably isn't here if Klef and Larsson still are.

 

[commie]

Yes? - Don't remember the way each shot off hand but
Nurse - Klef
Bouch - Ekholm
Larsson - any scrub

is miles better than what we have now

If they could fit this in:
Nurse - Larsson
Ekholm - Bouch
Klef - Ceci

literally, that would be a top 10 D of all time or at least Oilers all time.
Don't think they could fit them all in from a cap standpoint.

Loosing Klefbom was a huge lost for the last 4 years. Plus with Klefbom still healthy, maybe Broberg won't be drafted, and they draft one of the stud forwards, Boldy was my choice. That one injury changed the direction of this team dramatically.