Quoting: MisstheWhalers
Two picks were lost, not a big deal.
If you want to take three seasons to improve your team then giver but you've probably lost McDavid by then, good luck.
"Oh it's only two picks nbd". Dude, when did the value of a (likely) high second, a fourth, two fifths, and a sixth become equivalent to a mid-third, a fifth, and a seventh? I'm comfortable moving picks if the value is there, and what you're attempting to do with the cap space and with the Rangers is not worth those picks. Sutter isn't worth $400k in this league and the Rags are in a position where they
need to shed cap, which may mean accepting a deal of lesser value. Would I like to see the Oilers phone about acquiring Namestnikov and Strome for something along the lines of Bear, Safin, and a 3rd Round Pick? Most definitely, but that's about the extent of what this team can afford to pay for short, one-year fixes.
Three offseasons to do this properly, them's the splits. I would genuinely rather see McDavid walk from this team and have a perennial contender than appease an athlete for a year or two of mediocre success before the team reverts back to being a dogpile. This year was a guaranteed write-off, and it didn't matter who was steering the bus. Dead cap, a piss-poor UFA market, and a prospect pool not 100% ready to graduate anybody. You sit and you wait. McDavid is intelligent to know that this wasn't going to be the year, especially with a change in management. Holland has addressed the PK. Holland has gotten rid of Lucic and addressed any locker-room issues that may or may not have had. There was little else he could do. Nobody wanted to play here because of ass-backwards theologies that previous regimes have instilled in the organization. If (and it's a massive if) everything goes absolutely perfectly, maybe come the 20-21 lockout this team is legitimately ready to do some damage in a relatively weak Pacific. But for anyone (including McDavid) to expect this team to go from the actual dogass it's been for the past 15 years to playoffs or contending team in one or even two offseasons is asinine. There is TOO much work to do. If he's fine waiting this out like he did in Erie for things to be done properly, then he will have his lion's share of chances to contend. He's only 22. If he cannot wait, then he needs to talk with the GM quietly and allow Holland to work out a trade of fair value for him.
Much like the Puljujarvi situation, the GM of a hockey team is under no obligation to cater to one specific player. Concessions need to be made in McDavid's case, but the unyielding truth remains the same: the Oilers aren't good enough today and there is really only one legitimate way to fix it. Not this upcoming season but next, more cap space is freed up and players with actual skill and talent (Benson, Bouchard, etc) should be full-time roster players. There will be year-over-year improvement. The year after could see Lavoie, Samorukov, and Edmonton's 1st Round Pick in the 2020 draft (praying for Holtz as a minimum) joinging the NHL crew, further adding to that year-over-year improvement. McDavid isn't being asked to play on a basement team over the next 2 or 3 seasons. He's being asked to have year-to-year patience as the club improves around him.
I don't drink the kool-aid that the Oilers sell, but I can see the outer workings of what the over-arching plan is. A collective pants-sh*tting in order to secure a wildcard spot before being a mediocre team for the next decade is not it.