OilFans.com :: Fan Forum: Oilers => Worst of the Worst

Guest

This day on July 6
Acquired: Daniel Tjarnqvist (2006)
Departed: Ty Conklin (2006) Toby Petersen (2007) Brad Winchester (2007)

Happy Birthday To: Djwolfman, wolfman, OilFanAlways, Doushokutoaoiro, Dannycaper

OILERS INFO OILFANS
Saturday, Jul 6, 2024 12:59 AM MT

F.A.Q.

Members

Home

Oilers » Worst of the Worst

Re: Worst of the Worst [message #799315 is a reply to message #799314 ]	Wed, 09 February 2022 09:30

CrudeRemarks
Messages: 1698
Registered: November 2010
Location: Edmonton

1 Cup

Adam wrote on Wed, 09 February 2022 09:19

Rocksteady wrote on Wed, 09 February 2022 08:50

Mike wrote on Wed, 09 February 2022 05:23

There HAS to be a major bloodletting if they don't even make the playoffs...right? After an off season with $20M in cap space, the season we were told that Holland would finally be free of Chiarelli's mess and able to make this team his own, going in needing at the very least a solid starting goalie. In the off season where there were I believe more goalies available/moved than in any off season in history, we still managed to yet again start the season with Smith and Koskinen. And a 38 year old Duncan Keith. And no more cap space...

Surely this would rank up there with one of the most disastrous seasons for a team that has had its fair share of disastrous seasons.

You speak of blood letting. I'm not sure how much of the roster you can cast off because of bad deals. Every GM in the league looks at our motley crew and says, no thanks. Kassian and Kokinen deals were prime examples which Koski is off the books after this year. You have Barrie with a fresh new deal and he's just under performing in all ways. Duncan Keith with another year of 5.5 on the books. Cody Ceci.. our defence is wrought with just bad deals that either go too long or too high of a cap hit. So buy outs? Then you have dead cap space, so we have Lucic for 750k, and Neal for 3 years at 1.9 each year after this one and even Sekera for another 2 at 1.5.

Side thought.. Doesn't it make you sick we are paying for Neal and Lucic since they were traded for each other?

Back to my point.. there isn't much blood to drain from this crew. Or forwards are in a lot better shape save for Kassian, Shore, and Derek Ryan.

I think we have a few more years sitting on our hands.

Well, I did point this out last summer. Holland has tied our hands by giving everyone multi-year deals (other than the young cheap guys like Puljujarvi and Yamamoto). We don't have a lot of room on the roster or under the cap next year because the whole damn team is signed for then. Lagesson and Russell (UFA) are the only free agents on defence - even Koekkoek got two years there, and on forward, it's Kane (UFA), Turris (UFA, Puljujarvi, Yamamoto, McLeod, Perlini and Benson. Shore and Ryan both got two year pacts too. In goal, Koskinen (UFA) is gone, unless the Oilers miss out on their top choice and we get to day 3 of free agency without a bite, then I expect him back on a two year deal.

There is a way to fix it though, for a savvy GM with the willingness to make some hard decisions.

- I firmly believe there's still a market for Zack Kassian, because the Oilers aren't the only team with dumb management out there. Find someone else who believes he can be Tom Wilson Lite and send him away. That saves $3.2MM - possibly enough to sign Puljujarvi who's numbers plateaued after a hot start to the year.
- Tyson Barrie can likely find a home too - the goal in that trade is probably just don't get stuck carrying salary. It would be great to get something for him, but if he's just traded for nothing? No problem. There's $4.5MM more saved.
- Convince Mike Smith he's done battling and that its time to hang them up. That's an extra $2.2MM in savings there.

Those three moves get you an extra $10MM to spend. I'd also lean on Duncan Keith and figure out if he was interested in seeing a lot more of his boy next year playing beer league in the Okanagan as opposed to taking $5.538MM from us. He's been better than hoped for, but that was a low bar and he's still the culprit on an out-sized number of goals against. If he could be convinced to leave, that's a lot of money that we can spend on a good replacement. I might be tempted to spend it on someone solid for the right side, and look at one of the kids to make the jump on the left.

I'd also fire Tippett and Playfair pronto, and put someone in who doesn't make decisions based entirely on the number of NHL games played, or based on one play over the course of a game. I think someone better behind the bench is probably worth 10 points over the course of the year and gives you a fighter's chance in the playoffs, where Tippett really falls flat. Nice thing for him coaching Arizona all those years is that he never needed much of a playoff strategy! He's trying to bring the same mindset here and get a little much needed time off in the Spring...

I mean, it's not ideal, but if you were to add $15MM cap space to the 8MM they already have, and then re-sign Puljujarvi, Yamamoto, McLeod, Perlini and Benson (or alternatively for the last two get other dirt cheap players who have potential to outperform their contracts) - plus promote the best LHD, and then sign or trade for a decent RHD and get a starting netminder? That's not an undoable task. I think a really good GM could make this happen.

The problem with any coach firing is I've heard that the only replacement solution they're considering is Gulutzan. Not that there are a ton of other options out there, and I guess I prefer him over Babcock, but if the new coach is just the current assistant then why bother with the change mid-season.

You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you can get a lottery pick.

Report message to a moderator

Worst of the Worst	By: Adam on Mon, 07 February 2022 10:45
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Adam on Mon, 07 February 2022 12:43
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Dragon_Matt on Mon, 07 February 2022 13:04
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Adam on Mon, 07 February 2022 15:23
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: oilfan94 on Mon, 07 February 2022 15:31
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Adam on Mon, 07 February 2022 16:03
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Mike on Tue, 08 February 2022 07:15
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: CrusaderPi on Tue, 08 February 2022 12:07
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Kr55 on Tue, 08 February 2022 12:10
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Adam on Tue, 08 February 2022 14:10
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: nullterm on Tue, 08 February 2022 14:58
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: CrusaderPi on Tue, 08 February 2022 15:31
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Kr55 on Tue, 08 February 2022 18:25
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Mike on Wed, 09 February 2022 05:23
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Rocksteady on Wed, 09 February 2022 08:50
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Mike on Wed, 09 February 2022 08:57
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Rocksteady on Wed, 09 February 2022 09:04
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Adam on Wed, 09 February 2022 09:19
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: CrudeRemarks on Wed, 09 February 2022 09:30
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: CrusaderPi on Wed, 09 February 2022 09:32
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: CrudeRemarks on Wed, 09 February 2022 09:39
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: CrusaderPi on Wed, 09 February 2022 09:51
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Dragon_Matt on Wed, 09 February 2022 11:52
Re: Worst of the Worst	By: Adam on Wed, 09 February 2022 15:45

Previous Topic: Pregame: Chicago @ Edmonton (Game #44)
Next Topic: Review: Vegas @ Edmonton (Game #42)
Oilers NHL Minors Speculation For Sale

Copyright © OilFans.com 1996-2022.
All content is property of OilFans.com and cannot be used without expressed, written consent from this site.
Questions, comments and suggestions can be directed to oilfans@OilFans.com
Privacy Statement

Hosted by LogicalHosting.ca