Fixes from a Rivals Perspective

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Created by: CN10

Team: 2019-20 Edmonton Oilers

Initial Creation Date: May 8, 2019

Published: May 8, 2019

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

The Oilers are a tire fire, plain and simple. Chiarelli's cap and asset management were atrocious and now this team is left with too much money tied up in replacement level players and not a lot of help coming up through the system. Nicholson brings in his pal Holland to attempt to clean up this mess, but I'm not sure how successful he will be as his cap management in Detroit was also quite poor. At least there shouldn't be any horrible trades where the Oilers give up an MVP calibre forward for a #3 defenseman, or a #1B center (Barzal) for an AHL'er.

They undoubtedly have one of the best offensive duos in the game, one other second line forward, a group of expensive and frankly borderline replacement level bottom 6 forwards, a few mid-paring defensemen, and an overpaid platoon level starting goalie. Key needs include attempting to move out some of their dead weight and begin drafting and developing the support players on their roster rather than overpaying FA's to come play there. The poor development of their prospects as well as not finding players outside of the top few picks is the main reason why they are no good.

Here's a Flames fan's perspective as to the way forward to make the Oilers respectable again.

RFA's
Rieder - Signs elsewhere given Nicholson's comments about him. No value in moving his rights as he was goal-less in over 60 straight games.
Khaira - He is re-signed as a third line checking forward and elects for a one year deal to attempt to earn big raise on his next deal.
Rattie - Given a last chance one year NHL contract. If he can't crack Edmonton's roster and have a reasonably successful season I think he is done as an NHL'er.
Puljujarvi - Struggled to make an impact on his entry level deal but serves to highlight the Oilers inability to properly develop their draft picks. He's resigned to a two year bridge deal and given every opportunity to succeed at the NHL level by a the new coach who understands that his development is key to Edmonton's long term success.
Gambardella - Qualified
Larkin - Not qualified
Norell - Not qualified
Starett -
Vesel - Not qualified

UFA's
Chiasson - Had a career year and I expect the Oilers to want to keep him around; however, they can't over extend themselves for bottom six wingers like they normally do. They offer him a 2 x 1.95M contract but he gets a better offer elsewhere.
Gravel - Unsigned and left to UFA pool
Petrovic - Unsigned and left to UFA pool
Stolarz - Unsigned and left to UFA pool
Malone - Unsigned and left to UFA pool
Russel, P. - Unsigned and left to UFA pool
All others played no NHL games last season and are also left to the UFA pool.

Dzingel - A good age to target as a UFA signing as he stands a better chance of living up the his contract than some others signed on July 1. Oilers can't swing for the fences (Duchene / Panarin / Karlsson) due to cap space and the small market factor but should be able to get a solid middle 6 forward out of free agency.
McElhinney - Edmonton offers him the combination of a high salary and the best chance to continue to get games as he splits time with Koskinen.
Ennis - A quick, solid bottom 6 player that can play all three forward positions.
Stralman - A steady puck moving defense man who can mentor some of the up and coming RHD in the Oilers system.

Trades
Details / comments in each trade individually. I don't think Russel waives his no movement clause as he farms in Alberta in the off season so I've assumed they move Sekera even though I think he could bounce back a bit after his injuries.

Revisions
Re-signed Starett to start in the AHL, buried Manning, and went with a cheaper platoon goal tending option (McElhinney over Varlamov) to open up money for another forward and defenceman (decent puck mover in Stralman) in case the young players ( Jones / Bear) are not yet ready. I think that is as much as practical to do in one off season as the team will have issues attracting FA's and has little cap space to play with. The lineup is still missing top 6 right wings and therefore relying on a bounce back season from Eriksson and the development/breakout of Puljajarvi. The roster also still lacks a top defense man.

Free Agent Signings

RFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Khaira, Jujhar	1	$900,000
Puljujärvi, Jesse	2	$1,200,000
Rattie, Ty	1	$1,000,000
Gambardella, Joseph	1	$761,250
Starrett, Shane	1	$900,000

UFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Dzingel, Ryan	4	$4,500,000
McElhinney, Curtis	1	$3,400,000
Ennis, Tyler	2	$1,950,000
Strålman, Anton	2	$3,750,000

Trades

EDM

Eriksson, Loui

Additional Details:

Vancouver moves out a disgruntled player and brings in a hometown kid looking to turn his game around. Even if he doesn't improve they have a nuclear deterrent around to protect their smaller skilled guys in Pettersson and Hughes. Lucic being three years younger than Eriksson gives a bit more hope for improvement.

VAN

Lucic, Milan
2021 3rd round pick (EDM)

Additional Details:

Oilers reduce their $6M poison pill by one year (adding a pick halfway through the term to sweeten the deal for Vancouver). Eriksson should be a better fit with McDavid than Lucic ever was as his game is a better fit off the rush.

EDM

2019 5th round pick (ARI)
2020 7th round pick (MTL)

Additional Details:

Montreal gets a left shot puck moving defenseman and a mid round pick for taking on cap space. If Sekera bounces back from injuries this is a great deal for Montreal.

MTL

Sekera, Andrej
2019 3rd round pick (NYI)

Additional Details:

Edmonton clears the cap space they need to round out the rest of their team and hopes Jones, Bear, and/or Bouchard are ready for an expanded role.

Buyouts

Benoit Pouliot: $1,333,333
Eric Gryba: $300,000

Buried

Brandon Manning: $1,175,000 ($2,250,000)

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2019
2020
2021

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
22	$83,000,000	$81,771,999	$0	$20,000	$1,228,001

Roster

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Dzingel, Ryan $4,500,000$4,500,000 LW, RW, C UFA - 2	McDavid, Connor $12,500,000$12,500,000 C UFA - 7	Eriksson, Loui $6,000,000$6,000,000 LW, RW NTC UFA - 3
Draisaitl, Leon $8,500,000$8,500,000 C, LW UFA - 6	Nugent-Hopkins, Ryan $6,000,000$6,000,000 LW, C UFA - 2	Puljujärvi, Jesse $1,200,000$1,200,000 RW UFA
Khaira, Jujhar $900,000$900,000 LW, C UFA - 2	Ennis, Tyler $1,950,000$1,950,000 LW, RW UFA - 1	Gagner, Sam $2,835,000$2,835,000 RW, C UFA - 1
Cave, Colby $675,000$675,000 C RFA - 1	Brodziak, Kyle $1,150,000$1,150,000 C UFA - 1	Kassian, Zack $1,950,000$1,950,000 RW UFA - 1
		Rattie, Ty $1,000,000$1,000,000 RW, LW UFA

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Klefbom, Oscar $4,167,000$4,167,000 LD UFA - 4	Larsson, Adam $4,166,666$4,166,666 RD UFA - 2	Koskinen, Mikko $4,500,000$4,500,000 G M-NTC UFA - 3
Nurse, Darnell $3,200,000$3,200,000 LD UFA - 1	Strålman, Anton $3,750,000$3,750,000 RD UFA - 3
Russell, Kris $4,000,000$4,000,000 LD/RD M-NTC, NMC UFA - 2	Benning, Matthew $1,900,000$1,900,000 RD UFA - 1	McElhinney, Curtis $3,400,000$3,400,000 G UFA - 2
	Bear, Ethan $720,000$720,000 ($20,000$20K) RD UFA - 1

Special Teams

Power Play 1
Dzingel, R.		McDavid, C.		Draisaitl, L.
	Klefbom, O.		Strålman, A.

Power Play 2
Eriksson, L.		Nugent-Hopkins, R.		Puljujärvi, J.
	Nurse, D.		Benning, M.

Penalty Kill 1
	Khaira, J.	Brodziak, K.
	Russell, K.	Larsson, A.

Penalty Kill 2
	Nugent-Hopkins, R.	Kassian, Z.
	Nurse, D.	Benning, M.

May 8, 2019 at 5:21 p.m.

cpg74

Joined: Feb. 2019

Posts: 129

Likes: 27

Starret will definitely be resigned after his season in Bakersfield.

Some Oiler media is now saying expect 8 or 9 new players. Trades are going to be hard & salary cap won't help. They will need to chase underappreciated players.

Goalies
They're not going to spend $10M on goalies. Look for a vet like Niemi, Elliot, Kinkaid or Nilsson to be signed. They might take a flyer on a Jack Campbell/Jake Allen type.

Defense
After Ken Hollands comments yesterday, there's no way Bouchard plays more than a handful of NHL games this year. Bear, Persson or Jones will play before EB. They might go out for a guy like Pionk or Colin Miller.
Manning will be buried in the AHL, traded or bought out. Trading will be hard but packaging a mid round pick with BM for a pick a round or 2 lower might do for a team like the Rangers or Ottawa.

The wingers, outside of Leon & Dzingel will be challenged to score as you have. That would be a huge fail in summer #1.
The bottom 6 has too many slow skaters, especially down the middle.

I realize they aren't going to be able to add a bunch of high profile UFAs like Nyquist, Johansson & Ferland, but they can add one, whether its Dzingel (like you have) or Donskoi or Nyquist. They need to add couple/few bottom six that could surprise (like Chaisson). They pass on Rattie to sign a couple of guys like Aggostino, Pirri, Tyler Ennis or Ryan Carpenter. Maybe they pick up one or 2 guys like Connor Brown and/or Erik Haula from teams that have to cut payroll. I like Gelndenning in Detroit to find his way to Edmonton.

CD282 liked this.

May 8, 2019 at 6:27 p.m.

CN10

Thread Starter

Joined: May 2019

Posts: 408

Likes: 176

Quoting: Trade97soIcancheerforanotherteam

Took some of your comments into consideration and revised my team a bit. There is definitely a lot for Holland to do, but I also think that there is only so much that can be done in one off season given the available cap space and lack of assets on the roster (outside of draft picks and Puljujarvi which they should not move given they are many pieces away from being a perennial contender). They will have to try to get McDavid some help up front through UFA (I chose Dzingel), move out cap space (I chose Sekera), and try a change of scenery type trade for Lucic (I thought Eriksson would at least have some of the speed needed to skate with McDavid and is defensively responsible). For 2020-2021, they will be able to turn over and improve the bottom 6 forwards as there are several expiring contracts and maybe go UFA hunting for an upgrade on D (Barrie, Pietrangelo, Krug, Faulk, Josi, Muzzin, all on expiring deals next year).

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