Oilers will take Allen

I just don't understand why they signed Faulk if they're keeping Pietro.

Are any of Pietro/Faulk/Parayko good on the left side? Otherwise it makes no sense paying so much for a third pairing D.

Prepare for a Dunn offer sheet.

1st line of Kyrou-Thomas-Tarasenko? Yes please! With 1 more year of growth/development for Kyrou and Thomas, that could be so frightening. That would be must-see tv.

I completely agree on Steen. Best chance of Steen retiring would be to win the Cup and he leaves on top. Even then, it’s hard to pass up what $5 million? Would be incredibly selfless if he does. We all know what a great person he is, but that would just cement his legacy. Subtracting Steen and Bouwmeester is losing some quality leadership and class. Average age would drop considerably as well. Lol!

Parayko, Pietrangelo, and Faulk have all played some on the left side this season. Parayko actually looked the most comfortable of the 3 there.

Nobody knows what the real thought process was behind Armstrong making the trade and extension for Faulk. Does he know Pietrangelo is hell bent on reaching UFA? Is it just an insurance policy in case Pietrangelo does reach UFA? Did he honestly think Parayko, Pietrangelo, and Faulk would all be in the top 4? Time will tell I guess.

Certainly seems odd to me but as you say: time will tell

Husso would be the backup next year, not Hofer.

Blais I think will get less, he's younger and doesn't have arbitration rights and isn't going to crack twenty points this year. Sanford did all of that last year and only got a two year deal at 1.5 million. Expect Blais to come in around a million.

Why are we unceremoniously dumping our longest tenured player and alternate captain in the minors or forcing him to retire when we have seven million in cap space? Just let him play out his career if he wants to, Jesus. Same thing with Gunnarsson, dude took less money to stay here last year and you dump him after a year when you don't have to? From an organizational standpoint, the optics on that are not great. Those guys are off the books next year anyway, so who cares?

I wouldn't re-sign Scandella, who is having a career year this year. I know he's fitting in well but you can't count on that being the case all the time when every other year he's played he has been much worse. Especially for four years at that cap hit, that's nuts. With Faulk's bloated contract and a hopeful Pietrangelo extension, that's a lot of money for a long time to be paying older defenseman. Give some of that money to Dunn and lock him up long term instead, play Mikkola with Parayko and keep Gunnarsson and/or sign Perunovich to play on the third pairing.

It's not Steen's money that's the biggest issue, it's the roster spot. They can't keep Kostin in the minors another year. I mean they physically can but it would stunt his development. It's pretty much the same situation with Gunnarsson. You could have Peruchnovich and Mikkola on the roster next year. They're not going to roll with Dunn, Peruchnovich, and Mikkola on the left side. Gunnarsson is decent but you could never count on him for a full season. Scandella is the more reliable option.

We'll see.... it's just ideas... but there's no guarantee Hofer won't leapfrog Husso.