Proposal: Rumours and Proposals Thread: Our Offseason Begins

[Pointteen]

Is Kreider really an upgrade over having someone like Pouliot there?**

(Though I like a Maroon-McDavid-Pouliot setup)

Kreider is damn fast. He would help a lot with odd man rushes with McDavid as well as providing some grit. He's also a pain in the ass to play against.

Maroon, Kreider and Kassian really help change the team identity.

 

[Draiskull]

Why are people putting Davidson on our 3rd pairing? There were mumors that if he was healthy he would be in the running for the world championships. He was the best defenceman we've had since Whitney. Unless he regresses significantly heading into next year for some reason, he is a top 4 guy even on playoff teams. Honestly I think you can pair him with a Hamonic or Barrie or Pietrangelo (please) and he will play out of his mind. I was so impressed with him as the year went on. He was depended upon to be the guy and played #1 minutes for a lot of the games before his injury. He was handling it and looking good doing it. He is a far better player than Sekera and will only improve while Sekera regresses with age.

Because that is what he is. A 4/5 Dman. He is not a top 4 Dman on a playoffs team.
He was a top 4 Dman on the Oilers because we had half our Dmen injured or sucking.
Davidson looked great handling big minutes but so did Martin Marincin for a bit.

 

[Digger12]

Because that is what he is. A 4/5 Dman. He is not a top 4 Dman on a playoffs team.
He was a top 4 Dman on the Oilers because we had half our Dmen injured or sucking.
Davidson looked great handling big minutes but so did Martin Marincin for a bit.

I think it's a tad premature to be pigeonholing Davidson, given his rapid improvement as the year progressed do we really know for sure what we have in him yet? He was just starting to really find a groove before he got hurt.

 

[Birdperson]

I like Davidson a lot, but better than Sekera? Or best guy since Whitney? Petry?

 

[joestevens29]

I think it's a tad premature to be pigeonholing Davidson, given his rapid improvement as the year progressed do we really know for sure what we have in him yet? He was just starting to really find a groove before he got hurt.

Isn't it tad early to just assume he's a top 4 though? I mean the arrows are pointing up, but if people really believe what is said on these boards why are we even looking for d help? Between Klef, Sekera, and Davidson our top 4 is barely an issue.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

Why are people putting Davidson on our 3rd pairing? There were mumors that if he was healthy he would be in the running for the world championships. He was the best defenceman we've had since Whitney. Unless he regresses significantly heading into next year for some reason, he is a top 4 guy even on playoff teams. Honestly I think you can pair him with a Hamonic or Barrie or Pietrangelo (please) and he will play out of his mind. I was so impressed with him as the year went on. He was depended upon to be the guy and played #1 minutes for a lot of the games before his injury. He was handling it and looking good doing it. He is a far better player than Sekera and will only improve while Sekera regresses with age.

I don't know about everyone else, but personally, I'm a little hesitant to trust anyone after 1 good season. We've been burned too many times by people who have a good stretch.

Best case, you expose someone else in the draft, and he steps in and takes their place, worst case, he reverts to a bottom pairing guy, and you're covered.

 

[duul]

Because that is what he is. A 4/5 Dman. He is not a top 4 Dman on a playoffs team.
He was a top 4 Dman on the Oilers because we had half our Dmen injured or sucking.
Davidson looked great handling big minutes but so did Martin Marincin for a bit.

He was very much a #1 d man here with Klefbom injured. He carried the heavy load his last ~20 games before injury and was looking better and better. The last few games before his injury he was so confident and poised with the puck. Looked like a worse-yet-still good version of Lidstrom. Calm, quick, smart. He didn't level anyone but made some solid hits. Intelligent reads behind the net. Reverses to his partner at perfect times. He almost never resorted to ringing it around the boards like the rest of our D. Honestly wonder where he learned how to do that because nobody else on our team has found out how to pass. Go reward his last say 10 games. Just his shifts. Shouldn't take long. He was an absolute stud back there while playing with ****. He was carrying his partners. In my opinion right now he could play as a #3 on L.A., a #4 on Chicago, a #3 on San Jose, a #3 on Dallas, a #3 on Washington, a #2 on Philly...the list goes on. The guy is easily a top 4 guy on playoff teams. Contending teams even. Go read articles about his play, go look at his advanced stats, and most importantly go look at the past games and watch him drag his partners out of the gutter and succeed. If he continues to grow as a player, we are in for a treat.

 

[Philly85*]

#1 Dman.

Looked like Lidstrom.

No, just... no. Pump yer breaks.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

He was very much a #1 d man here with Klefbom injured. He carried the heavy load his last ~20 games before injury and was looking better and better. The last few games before his injury he was so confident and poised with the puck. Looked like a worse-yet-still good version of Lidstrom. Calm, quick, smart. He didn't level anyone but made some solid hits. Intelligent reads behind the net. Reverses to his partner at perfect times. He almost never resorted to ringing it around the boards like the rest of our D. Honestly wonder where he learned how to do that because nobody else on our team has found out how to pass. Go reward his last say 10 games. Just his shifts. Shouldn't take long. He was an absolute stud back there while playing with ****. He was carrying his partners. In my opinion right now he could play as a #3 on L.A., a #4 on Chicago, a #3 on San Jose, a #3 on Dallas, a #3 on Washington, a #2 on Philly...the list goes on. The guy is easily a top 4 guy on playoff teams. Contending teams even. Go read articles about his play, go look at his advanced stats, and most importantly go look at the past games and watch him drag his partners out of the gutter and succeed. If he continues to grow as a player, we are in for a treat.

It would be just our luck to have a gem of a Dman show up just as the expansion draft happens to come around.

Watch us lose him for nothing next year.

 

[Young Lions*]

He was very much a #1 d man here with Klefbom injured. He carried the heavy load his last ~20 games before injury and was looking better and better. The last few games before his injury he was so confident and poised with the puck. Looked like a worse-yet-still good version of Lidstrom. Calm, quick, smart. He didn't level anyone but made some solid hits. Intelligent reads behind the net. Reverses to his partner at perfect times. He almost never resorted to ringing it around the boards like the rest of our D. Honestly wonder where he learned how to do that because nobody else on our team has found out how to pass. Go reward his last say 10 games. Just his shifts. Shouldn't take long. He was an absolute stud back there while playing with ****. He was carrying his partners. In my opinion right now he could play as a #3 on L.A., a #4 on Chicago, a #3 on San Jose, a #3 on Dallas, a #3 on Washington, a #2 on Philly...the list goes on. The guy is easily a top 4 guy on playoff teams. Contending teams even. Go read articles about his play, go look at his advanced stats, and most importantly go look at the past games and watch him drag his partners out of the gutter and succeed. If he continues to grow as a player, we are in for a treat.

That's all well and good, but wouldn't it be nice if we had improved the rest of the D to the point where we had a guy who could play in the top four playing on the bottom pairing instead?

 

[Giggli G]

Nail Yakupov appears to have sold his car, he posted it on twitter.

 

[joestevens29]

Kreider is damn fast. He would help a lot with odd man rushes with McDavid as well as providing some grit. He's also a pain in the ass to play against.

Maroon, Kreider and Kassian really help change the team identity.

I've loved Kreider for awhile. Wanted him back in the day when we were talking about dealing someone to NYR when he was still in college.

Be a shame if they unload Kreider just to keep some of those other big salaries.

 

[duul]

#1 Dman.

Looked like Lidstrom.

No, just... no. Pump yer breaks.

He was playing huge minutes for us down the stretch. More than anybody else and some nights by a significant margin. Quite a few 25+ minute games. He plays a similar style to Lidstrom. And OEL. And Josi. They all play the game in a somewhat similar manner but obviously Davidson doesn't do things as well as those players. Eerily similar styles though and I wonder if Davidson continues to improve...what he becomes.
As for people talking about bumping him down the lineup or losing him to the expansion. I don't know. I really don't like Sekera and I pray to God we don't need to protect him. He doesn't do anything well. Very meh played. I think Chiarelli makes one big acquisition and we run with Klefbom, Davidson, Sekera, and our new right handed D as our top 4. If he brings in two new D then we deal with that as more details and timing about expansion come out. Just like last expansion, there are ways to keep the new teams from taking your players via promises through trades. Also, if it comes to the point where we actually have four defencemen better than Davidson...we are in good shape and losing him would not mean much. Right now he is our best or second best guy behind Klefbom. I really think Davidson is way smarter than Klefbom. I enjoy his game more but I am sure to be in the minority.

 

[oStealthKiller*]

Davidson is a stud and I was holding off anointing him until I saw more, but I will say this: he played like a top 6 d, then a top 4, then a top3, then a top2, then a number 1 for the last 20ish games. I have big hopes for him and believe he actually has top pair potential. I refuse to state it as fact after the **** around that was lander

 

[oXo Cube]

Anton Lander is the exact player I would point toward as to why we need to calm down about Davidson.

Even non-NHL players can have great 20 game stretches. Not saying that Davidson is that but we need to chill. If we are slotting him into the lineup at all it should be on the third pairing. If he plays better than that then great but there should be no assuming that he will.

 

[Draiskull]

2 yrs ago Marincin played like a top 6, then top 4 and then top pairing only to start the following season in the AHL.
Klefbom did something similar.

Kassian looked great when he first joined but slid back down to earth.

Maroon looks like a first liner but there is no way he should be pencilled in or be valued at that level. Same goes for Davidson.

Davidson looked great but I wouldnt pencil him into our top 4 and not go after a potential Dman because of it.

a bottom pairing Dman still needs to play 17\18mins per night and needs to be a solid player. Davidson is just that.

 

[Draiskull]

Anton Lander is the exact player I would point toward as to why we need to calm down about Davidson.

Even non-NHL players can have great 20 game stretches. Not saying that Davidson is that but we need to chill. If we are slotting him into the lineup at all it should be on the third pairing. If he plays better than that then great but there should be no assuming that he will.

oh yeh .... Lander the elite 3rd liner who was going to push Draisatil for #2C in 2013.
Lets not forget he was also in the running to be our future captain.

 

[40oz]

There's going to be a lot of good defensemen exposed to the draft that teams will lose for "nothing"

I'm bored at work so I looked through some teams made a potential defense for an expansion team (w/o Oilers), though its a bit hard to project how contracts will turn out.

Anaheim - protect Bieksa (NMC), Fowler, Lindholm; expose Vatanen, Despres, +
Arizona - protect OEL and Pronger (jk)
Boston - protect Chara, Krug, +1; could expose Colin Miller, Seidenberg, McQuaid, Morrow
Detroit - protect Ericsson, Green, Kronwall, expose B. Smith
Minnesota - protect Suter, Brodin, Scandella, expose Spurgeon
LA - protect Doughty, Muzzin, Martinez, expose
Rangers - protect Girardi (nmc), Staal (nmc), McDonough; expose Klein
Ottawa - protect Phaneuf (nmc), Karlsson, Ceci/Methot; expose Methot/Ceci
Nashville - protect Weber, Josi; expose one of Ellis or Ekholm

Ekholm - Spurgeon
Seidenbeg - B. Smith
Klein - Methot

Nashville is where I gave up, my thoughts are that if you're going to expose a good dman you should make sure it's an expensive one or one on an expiring contract. Or tempt the expansion team with a forward.

 

[Draiskull]

There's going to be a lot of good defensemen exposed to the draft that teams will lose for "nothing"

I'm bored at work so I looked through some teams made a potential defense for an expansion team (w/o Oilers), though its a bit hard to project how contracts will turn out.

Anaheim - protect Bieksa (NMC), Fowler, Lindholm; expose Vatanen, Despres, +
Arizona - protect OEL and Pronger (jk)
Boston - protect Chara, Krug, +1; could expose Colin Miller, Seidenberg, McQuaid, Morrow
Detroit - protect Ericsson, Green, Kronwall, expose B. Smith
Minnesota - protect Suter, Brodin, Scandella, expose Spurgeon
LA - protect Doughty, Muzzin, Martinez, expose
Rangers - protect Girardi (nmc), Staal (nmc), McDonough; expose Klein
Ottawa - protect Phaneuf (nmc), Karlsson, Ceci/Methot; expose Methot/Ceci
Nashville - protect Weber, Josi; expose one of Ellis or Ekholm

Ekholm - Spurgeon
Seidenbeg - B. Smith
Klein - Methot

Nashville is where I gave up, my thoughts are that if you're going to expose a good dman you should make sure it's an expensive one or one on an expiring contract. Or tempt the expansion team with a forward.

Blues will lose a Dman as will the Jets and the Islanders.

J.Boumeester\ DeHaan will be gone.. Jets might elect the 8 skaters route but will most likely lose Enstrom to expansion.

Davidson will be gone from Oilers I am sure unless we honeypot our list making shinier players like Eberle\Yakupov available.

GMs with 4 quality Dmen will be busy next offseason trying to get the best return for their Dman before they lose them for nothing.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Anton Lander is the exact player I would point toward as to why we need to calm down about Davidson.

Even non-NHL players can have great 20 game stretches. Not saying that Davidson is that but we need to chill. If we are slotting him into the lineup at all it should be on the third pairing. If he plays better than that then great but there should be no assuming that he will.

The difference is the underlying numbers for Lander were never good. He did his damage on the powerplay and when on a line with Hall, who makes everyone look better.

Davidson was good in all situations, with all partners, and had fantastic underlying numbers. What he did was no mirage.

That said, it wouldn't be prudent to slot him any further up the lineup than the #5 right now.

 

[backhandsauce]

I would rather sign Ladd and Brouwer instead of Lucic.

Both can skate still while Lucic seems to be always a step behind.

We would have enough cap space to sign both as well. (Ladd and Brouwer)

 

[joestevens29]

Who the hell cares about the expansion draft. If we don't improve this year we will have guys wanting out and have no one left to protect anyway.

 

[40oz]

Blues will lose a Dman as will the Jets and the Islanders.

J.Boumeester\ DeHaan will be gone.. Jets might elect the 8 skaters route but will most likely lose Enstrom to expansion.

Davidson will be gone from Oilers I am sure unless we honeypot our list making shinier players like Eberle\Yakupov available.

GMs with 4 quality Dmen will be busy next offseason trying to get the best return for their Dman before they lose them for nothing.

It might be worth while to consider adding a dman that has a contract expiring in two years. Righties like Green, Carlson, Klein and Prout are UFA in 2018. Which will make them less likely to be picked up in an expansion draft.
It's just so hard to make plans for this without knowing the expansion draft rules. It sounds like the rules should be out soon since the Vegas expansion is rumored to be announced in May.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I would rather sign Ladd and Brouwer instead of Lucic.

Both can skate still while Lucic seems to be always a step behind.

We would have enough cap space to sign both as well. (Ladd and Brouwer)

I will agree Ladd is a better skater, but Brouwer isn't a better skater then anyone.

And, in the end, Lucic is the best player of those 3, he's clearly the most physically dominant. And if McDavid can have the success he did with Maroon, does Lucic score 40 or 50 playing with him?

 

[Homesick]

Davidson is a fringe NHL'er on a top 10 team. The Oilers used so many horrible defenseman that made him look good.

There isn't one on the roster that I wouldn't ship out, yes including -
Klefbom - injury prone(50gp avg if we're lucky)
Nurse - spaz, but maybe he can become a #3
Sekera - 3/4 guy and will start declining
Davidson - bottom pairing

Theres no one safe on this roster with the exception of McDavid.