hanson493

in a perfect world under optimal scenarios yeah you making players up and filling them in might work... however: find me your 3rd center in free agency? i see one guy, derick brassard. nah? how bout 38 year old mikko koivu? the free agent market is PAPER thin for forwards this year unless people get bought out. you are also putting guys that either arent ready or guys that shouldnt be in that spot (chiasson 1rw, etc.) Like sure the money is fine, but this roster isnt winning anything nevermind making it to the playoffs. isnt that the whole point of the league?

Holland signed Chiasson to that deal to play in that role. You cannot blame me for making do with what the Oilers have.

If Benson and Yamamoto aren't ready for next season, then they've failed as prospects and need to be traded. The names you get in return for them fill those spots.

Soderberg, Wilson, and Eakin are also options in filling that void. Alternatively, use that money to find another winger and run McDavid-Draisaitl-RNH down the middle.

That is absolutely the point of the league, but there are thirty other managers trying to achieve the same goal. You can't just call dibs on a Pageau or sign a Backstrom to a league minimum deal for a season because "we can win if we do it, he wants to win, so he'll do it too". The strongest teams are built over a period of years, not months. Unfortunately, Edmonton's had a management system since 2010 that was never invested in building the team properly. The pre-McDavid Oiler managements couldn't draft and never sold players at a proper pricepoint in order to maximize their draft-day potential. A lot of guys walked from Oilers silks instead of being flipped for any return whatsoever. The next regime that came in sold off a franchise winger for spare parts, then pissed away two premium picks in one of the deepest drafts on record.

Since then, the misses this franchise has seen have only magnified the underlying issue: Puljujarvi not being developed properly to the point where he'd rather give up his NHL dream than play for Edmonton highlights this. This is a franchise without the foundation of a team that can reliably make the second round and actually have a decent shot at winning cups. There are 5, maybe 6, actual NHL skaters on this team. There are prospects coming, but they aren't here yet, or should be making an impact by about now anyways. There is no bonafide franchise goaltender in this system. There's about $6.3M in dead cap space on this roster right now. Do you think that affects a team's ability to win?

They're two years out at minimum. McDavid and Draisaitl are probably gone by then. Hopefully there's enough of a return in either trade that Edmonton can maintain a competitive franchise moving forward.

right which gets me to the point i was getting at of why trade for baertschi and return a 5th when they could get more with just the cap space. thats a 5m swing. if they moved russel/koskinen thats an additional 9-13m on the roster to upgrade and spend elsewhere. theres plenty of moves to be made and guys to be gotten, i just dont think baertschi does anything for this team. and i dont think the 2021 5th helps them any more than the cap space would this offseason.

Koskinen won't be moved until there's one year left on his deal. And it'll be by way of buyout. Russell being moved strictly depends on how much it's going to cost the Oilers. Otherwise, there's a likelihood that he's going to end up finishing his deal out in Edmonton.

Even if they open up $5M and bring in - for example - the better Granlund to play as the #2RW. The bottom-six as presented here still isn't good enough. The defense is still incredibly shaky. The goaltending will not win a championship. Sure, they're making the playoffs, but if they aren't at a capacity to outright go for it, they only generate playoff revenue for the owner. This team - as it is - has the makings of a team that gets bounced in 4 or 5 games in the first round. I don't think one $5M winger changes that.

My philosophy is to keep my powder dry until the team has a genuine lane to take en route to at minimum the WCF. They had one up until the bottom of this team fell out and they missed out on trading for Hall to a divisional rival.

im not saying you can get one 5m player, that is certainly an option but you could get 2 3rd line right wingers, you could get a 3rd liner and a backup goalie... you could get a decent defenseman and stack the dcorp. a 4th and a 5th really arent worth that much sure its a free pick but you dont get to take advantage of that pick until next year in a weaker draft... Never mind the fact the draft is a crapshoot and theyll probably miss on the pick anyways. I get where you are coming from, i just dont think its what this team wants. they can get cheaper depth forwards that have actually played nhl games recently...