Sam Gagner is a better 3C option than Sutter

Not on the PK where Oilers were 2nd worst last season.

That trade is a MASSIVE win for the Canucks, but I don't think Benning has the smarts to pull it off. Knowing him, Holland could present that offer to Benning and he'd probably want to give up a 1st as well

The Buchnievich offer is good but he’s not being traded now. He may have been on the block has an RFA, but now that he is signed, you would want to go after Kreider instead.

On the defensive side of the puck I don't know if he is.
Gagner is probably more of a RW at this point as well plus Sutter kills penalties, his contract isn't great but he's still a pretty dependable player that the Oilers could use.

Idk is it really a 'massive' win? If Pulujarvi takes off then yeah but as of now Goldobin has put up better numbers in the NHL and if Goldobin was given a shot in the Oilers(or Vans) he might flourish. I looked at it as a trade that might work out for both teams.

I think Kreider would be just a waste of assets for the Oilers, there's zero chance he's signing in Edmonton.
Holland should've been pushing hard to try and get Buchnevich but that ship has likely sailed.
Holland is probably still celebrating the Lucic trade thinking he's solved the Oilers top 6 winger issue.. Lol
Never know though, if Neal rebounds he might of solved that problem for a season or two.

Most of Holland's work was to undo what Chiarelli did, and it's glaringly obvious that he's looking at a 3-year fix it window. If you're undoing that work, you're trying to bring back the Chiarelli-era Oilers.

A quick comparison of assets in vs assets out, and you've accomplished exactly that: you've purged 5 picks, two prospects, a potential reclamation project in Puljujarvi, a viable PK forward and two expiring one-year deals for.... Sutter and Buchnevich? Goldobin is as much of a question mark as Puljujarvi and the Condon swap is actual trash. Gagner is at least a 4th-line forward, but Condon isn't even a viable AHL goaltender ESPECIALLY when Edmonton already has to loan the loser of Skinner vs Wells to another franchise.

This doesn't look like a stronger roster (Paajarvi is not a third-line forward in the NHL) but it probably plays better. Unfortunately, it's not accomplishing the goal of building the team internally through the draft and short UFA deals that can be flipped at the deadline. You've Minnesota'd the team, and a mid-teens pick isn't helping this team anytime soon.

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.

As a Ranger fan I dont want to trade Buchnevich, but if they did that would be an acceptable return.

I like that deal for Vancouver

"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.

So they'd should tank for next season and go for ANOTHER early pick in hopes that this kid will be a savior? Sorry the Oilers have been doing that forever and it hasn't worked yet, that's a recipe for further pants-sh*tting as you put it.. Lol

What my intention would be with these trades would be to improve the team for next season and at least start steering the ship in the right direction which this lineup would be able to do far better compared to whatever Holland has assembled to this point.

And the trades I made only dealt away a 2nd and a 4th, the rest involved moving down in the later rounds which has proven to be mostly inconsequential cause the difference in quality between a 5th and 7th round pick is negligible. Yes a 2nd has value but I traded it for a proven player in Buchnevich who's still an RFA two seasons from whereas Namestnikov is a UFA, if he doesn't want to resign in Edmonton then you've got effal to show for your pick. I see Bear as redundant due to Bouchard/Broberg being a season or two away and currently having Larsson/Benning ahead of him so trading him to get a young proven winger like Buchnevich makes a lot of sense. Just looking at point totals so far Goldobin has produced a fair bit better then Pulujarvi has, you'd also move up two rounds in that draft if that trade happened.

And how many seasons can the Oilers go hoping prospects and picks amount to anything while they have the best player in the world? I just don't agree with this "it's okay to continue to suck till the prospects develop" idea, I'm not advocating to sell the farm but the Oilers need to get better ASAP so when the prospects you mentioned like Benson, Bouchard, Samorukov, etc they're joining a stable team that's trending in the right direction, not a perpetual train wreck that just went through another season that leaves everyone saying: "wtf do you do to fix this mess?" A few good additions to the Oilers core would make that happen, bringing in young players to a garbage team just perpetuates a losing culture that those young players struggle in and want out of. If you think holding onto to a 2nd round pick cause in 2-3 years that kid might be ready to help right a sinking ship well good luck with that.

McDavid (and the few other good players the Oilers have) is good enough to keep this team out of the basement so how long are you gonna wait for those 8th to 12th overall picks to show up and help him?
I'm in full agreement with many that they have to draft and develop properly to strengthen the team for the long term but in my opinion they should be making some moves to actually improve the team now to start moving in the right direction.