prospects

Most of these moves are wildly unrealistic.

- JVR is a highly sought after UFA, he will almost certainly end up getting a contract with an AAV higher than $6M and term longer than 4 years.
- Slepyshev has already signed a contract in the KHL and will be going back to Russia.
- Strome's qualifying offer for next year is $3M, why on earth would he take significantly less money on a 4 year term.
- $3.2M isn't even a realistic number on a bridge deal for Nurse. Anything longer term will cost the Oilers at least $4.2M, which is what Klefbom got.
- RNH is only 25 years old, has 3 years left on his deal, and is coming off a career year. Pacioretty puts up more points, yes, but trading RNH for a guy who is 1 year away from being a UFA is crazy, never mind adding a pick and retaining salary to boot.
- If the Oilers are adding incentives for a team to take Lucic, it's to get rid of his contract and clear cap space. Eriksson has the exact same cap hit as Lucic with only 1 less year, so trading Lucic for Eriksson would be a completely lateral move. The Oilers adding two draft picks to this pointless swap makes even less sense.
- After his abysmal shortened season last year, no team is going to trade for Sekera with that contract until they see if he's able to bounce back. Sekera is also the Oilers' best offensive defensemen, an area in which they are already struggling. Trading him would just make that worse.
- This proposed STL deal is by far the worst. It's extremely rare for UFA rights leading up to free agency to be dealt, and when it does happen, it's for a mid round pick at best. If Hutton actually wanted to sign a contract with the Oilers, he could simply do it when free agency opens. The suggestion that the Oilers would trade a player as valuable as Puljujarvi and Cammalleri and a 3rd round pick for just UFA rights to Hutton is mind-numbingly stupid. Not to mention that the money you suggested almost certainly isn't enough.
- The last two suggested moves are the only ones that make at least some sense. Buffalo wouldn't want Montoya if they are already getting Talbot, and that price looks a little steep considering Talbot is 1 year away from UFA and Malone has zero value in a trade.

I agree with some of what SalleDeClasse has to say, except the comments regarding Strome and Nurse.

The minimum qualifying offer for Strome is $3,000,000 and one season. The minimum offer for Nurse is roughly $875,000 for one season. Now that Edmonton has given both players qualifying offers they have a measure of insurance against others teams who may attempt to sign either.

I suspect Strome received the minimum offer, and the Oilers intend to negotiate a lower salary and longer term; just like they negotiated with Kassian. Strome is a 3rd line centre, and $3,000,000 is too rich for that kind of player. It is reasonable to expect Edmonton to propose a salary very similar to his current rate of pay ($2,500,000). Strome will have to choose between less money and longer term, or more money and less term. Either party can walk away from negotiations if they wish, and if Strome signs on with another team, and Edmonton doesn’t match the other team’s offer, Edmonton will receive compensation from that team in the form of draft picks (most likely a second round pick). Most GMs have avoided offer sheets because they almost always result in an over-payment and loss of valuable draft picks. Incidentally, next year’s draft is projected to have a lot of very good centres. Of course there is always arbitration, but that process is unlikely to make either the Oilers or Strome very happy.

Unlike Strome, Nurse is probably a target for a bridge contract. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect the Oilers to aim for something between $3,000,000 and $3,750,000 per season, and a minimum of two seasons (preferably 3). Nurse does not have arbitration rights so his only recourse is to walk away if he doesn’t like the offer. Edmonton would retain rights to him as a player, and he would not be eligible to play hockey elsewhere. Detroit and Calgary have recent experience with these kinds of hold-outs, and they really don’t work well for the player.