Gudbranson found a new home... Russell should be a no brainer.
Teams are overpaying massively for "toughness" and that includes Guds. I'm sure we could unload Khaira for nothing.
Gudbranson found a new home... Russell should be a no brainer.
Teams are overpaying massively for "toughness" and that includes Guds. I'm sure we could unload Khaira for nothing.
What? His strongest 2 months of the season were Jan and Feb.B-. All the signings prior to Smith were good, but that guy absolutely shouldn't be in an Oilers jersey next year. I get familiarity and all that but he really wasn't great as the season went on, punctuated by a horrific playoff game that put the Oilers into a hole they couldn't recover from.
What's frustrating to me is that other teams were able to clear salary with relative ease but we can't find anyone to take on our anchors? Kris Russell has no reason to still be here.
If we had a healthy Klefbom, our team would be night and day better. Klef Barrie, Nurse Bear, Jones Larsson, trade Russell for a top 9 F.Our Achilles heel is more or less the same. Not improving the goal tending is a major issue, everything else was well done. The lineup still seems 1 or 2 players short of a being a contender, but that's the case for most teams in a cap world.
Or
Ship out Khaira and Chiasson
That would be some magic to ship them both out. Khaira is cheaper so that makes him most likely to go.
C or a D. Seems like lots of fingers being crossed for Turris, Barrie, and Pulju but the fact is that they're all guys who will need to rebound to move the needle at all for this team.
That combined with the hope that some prospects will actually take the next step and the even bigger hope that the goaltending doesn't just go out and die every night and it feels like every other Oilers off-season.
C or a D. Seems like lots of fingers being crossed for Turris, Barrie, and Pulju but the fact is that they're all guys who will need to rebound to move the needle at all for this team.
That combined with the hope that some prospects will actually take the next step and the even bigger hope that the goaltending doesn't just go out and die every night and it feels like every other Oilers off-season.
B-. All the signings prior to Smith were good, but that guy absolutely shouldn't be in an Oilers jersey next year. I get familiarity and all that but he really wasn't great as the season went on, punctuated by a horrific playoff game that put the Oilers into a hole they couldn't recover from.
What's frustrating to me is that other teams were able to clear salary with relative ease but we can't find anyone to take on our anchors? Kris Russell has no reason to still be here.
Summary: we signed players that have flaws because we didn't move salary to get the players that would've had a great impact.
Brodie over Barrie
Crawford/Kuemper/Greiss/etc over Smith
Was hoping he'd go after Grabner.
After seeing cap moves from other teams made early on I can't help but feel disappointed Russell, Neal, Chiasson, Koskinen or Khaira weren't moved to make room. Especially this off season where 4th line talent can be had for less in FA than what we currently employ so why not shed that cap to attempt a run at Hall or Hoffman.
I’ll say a B. Would like to have upgraded goaltending. The Barrie deal is great. Turris deal looks very good. They didn’t do anything stupid, so that’s a win. At the same time, would have liked to see Russell shipped out to gain some cap room. We also need to get Bear signed, and don’t have much room to do so.
Personally I take Barrie over Brodie every time. Brodie is useless without Gio.Summary: we signed players that have flaws because we didn't move salary to get the players that would've had a great impact.
Brodie over Barrie
Crawford/Kuemper/Greiss/etc over Smith
Was hoping he'd go after Grabner.
After seeing cap moves from other teams made early on I can't help but feel disappointed Russell, Neal, Chiasson, Koskinen or Khaira weren't moved to make room. Especially this off season where 4th line talent can be had for less in FA than what we currently employ so why not shed that cap to attempt a run at Hall or Hoffman.
All of Khaira, Russell, and Chiasson should be gone with the way teams are willingly trading for those types right now. It will be a huge letdown if two out of three return IMO.