Those top-6 wingers wouldn't even be the best in the AHL. How exactly have you improved the team? Russell and Gravel playing key roles on D isn't good and the poor winger situation is now much worse.

They now have 8.5 mill to address one of the easiest spots to fill. I wouldn't be too worried about it.

OTT has no interest in Lucic especially to take back when they are trying to dump Ryan. They also have no use for Sekera.
OTT is not moving prospects likes Brown
EDM is not moving Bouchard; for all anybody knows, he could have the offensive output at the NHL level to be Karlsson-esque in the future (no I am not saying saying he is going to be EK)
EK is not going to sign a discount to play with McDavid; I'm sure he could care less...he will command top dollar

I didn’t think it was possible

the offense got worse

First of all Sekera goes right on LTIR, so not a problem. Lucic will be easier to move long term VS Ryan. And 9.5mill is top dollar. Its just not ridiculous money like north of 10.

With Sekera its not about LTIR cap space...OTT.
Getting Lucic "saves" the Sens about 4mill. Not really significant because if that was the case. You're assuming Lucic will be easier to move than Ryan, not the case.
Sekera was not a great defender before and now has an achilles injury to deal with which will affect his value the next two seasons. He MIGHT return to form for the final year of his contract. Besides he has a NMC and is not going to waive to go to EDM.

Paying players north of 10mill is not ridiculous when the salary cap is going up year after year. Top players now are negotiating based total cap percentage. The only way EK doesn't sign 11 or higher would be because he signs in a tax-free state.

OTT is trying to lower the amount of dollars the give out to players. Having Sekera on LTIR doesn't change a thing for them since they ARE paying him his salary anyway.

For the Ryan vs Lucic debate, they already have 4 years of high dollars owed to deadweight Ryan, why would they want to switch that for deadweight Lucic?? They're only interested in taking in contracts with high AAV but low salary left. For example, a 7 years contract at 7M$ AAV with 3 years left with annual salaries of 5M$-4M$-3.5M$. It gives them 7M$ of cap hit for 3 years (21M$ total) while only having to pay 12.5M of real dollars (8.5M$ in actual savings). Also, they do NOT want contract with signing bonuses since they are a cost efficient team and doesn't have the ressources big teams have to pay big dollars on july 1st.

PLUS : Lucic has a full NMC for another 3 years. There's absolutely no way he accepts to go to bottom feeder OTT. Hell, B.Ryan has a 10 team NTC too and EDM might as well be on it!

I agree with most of what you are saying. but when a player is on LTIR Insurance pays his salary not the team. so OTT would be able to save money there.
BUt wont happen to many NMC. that no one will waive let alone one of them. and it takes edmontons weak winger position and makes them even worse.
Drake is not a #1 winger he is a 4. Maybe a 3rd liner with injury.
also just found that Nuge has chemistry with Mcjesus so why would they trade him to only have to find someone else who can play with him

It would have to be verified, but not all contract are insured. That's what I read from different sources (previous agents & hockey insiders tweets and from different broadcast I watched over the years). For example, I heard that the N.Horton contract isn't insured so it's the team who must pay the player salary and it's not the only case like that. I don't really know how to verify that information, though...

from Fox Sports

The NHL has a league-wide insurance plan that covers the clubs in case a player suffers a long-term injury or is disabled. After a player misses 30 consecutive games for the same injury, a team can apply for insurance and be reimbursed 80 percent of that player’s salary — a program the Pens could have tapped each of the last two seasons to get back much of Crosby’s salary.

Underwriters, however, may move to exclude payment to the Pens for any future head or neck injuries Crosby might suffer. Such exclusions are allowed under the NHL’s multi-year policy that is overseen by New York-based BWD Group and underwritten by MetLife.


While no player can be totally excluded, the insurer can specify a pre-existing condition that won’t result in a payout — or at least a full payout — if the same body part is re-injured, Marc Blumencranz, executive vice president and CEO of BWD Group, told FOXSports.com. (Blumencranz noted that he’s speaking on injuries in general, not specifically about Crosby.) There is a limit to the number of exclusions underwriters can claim league-wide.