The Oilers are showing now more than ever that they are nearing a future were a stanley cup winning team could be in the mix for this young team. Although previous signings, and a flat cap this year make it a tough situation to navigate for Ken Holland, especially due to COVID. In my opinion forwards and defencemen who are UFA will have to decide Term or Money when their signing a contract, because of the lack of cap space and the assets on the market.
So with ever growing contract talks with RNH he will find himself in a similar situation. Ken Holland will probably prefer Money over Term because of recent showings in players like Milan Lucic having a massive decline in performance over the age of 32+, so ideally he would sign the same contract RNH has now but we all know that won't happen. Ideally a 6.35AVV at 5 Years is probably what Holland is wanting, but for RNH he will want Max Term. So with that being said Nuge will probably settle at 5.5 for 7 Years due to the flat cap. If holland has to overpay more than 6.2 Million I doubt a deal will get done and RNH will have to find a new home on the open market. Landeskog might be a replacement but will have to be signed to a 7 @ 7 deal which is not ideal, and thats even if he wants to leave the Avalanche.
Kyle Turris has not performed so simple fix, Trade him. Calgary knows they need to get rid of Sam Bennett after a trade request and Edmonton can easily fit him in on their lines. I think Turris and 4th would do it because Calgary would save just under about 1.0 Million in cap space, which for them will come in handy. Edmonton would review the contract of Bennett and because of this years lacking performance, 1.5AVV @ 2 years would be the bridge they need to get a deal done in my opinion.
Finally, the oilers need to address their resigning of their defensive core, in Barrie, and Larsson. Both these players have publicly expressed they want to be in Edmonton, so for these two a 4.75AVV @ 5 will suffice to be on the possible cup contending team, and to get a little raise too. But the biggest defensive asset the oilers need is a Starting Goaltender. Ken Holland has expressed intrest in signing a goaltender off the free agent market due to failing talks with Arizona for Keumper. Right now the oilers would go after these goalies in this order:
1) Jordan Binnington (STL)
2) Phillip Grubauer (COL)
3) Frederik Andersson (TOR)
Binnington is the top goalie on the market but will want 9 to get a deal done. Everyone says that Toronto is getting the Stanley Cup winning Goalie, but they got little to no cash, so I think they end up settling with Andersson unless they trade Nylander. (Oilers wouldn't be intrested because of Cap space) I think St. Louis, Edmonton, and Nashville are the likely contenders to land Binnington. I think Binnigton will go to Edmonton on an 8.5AVV @ 7 years because starters can ask for both Money and Term when they go to the block. St. Louis will try to get a deal done before Free Agency. Colorado will probably resign Grubauer before he hits the market. Goalie Market will be what the oilers make there mark this year, and if not I think aquirring Vanecek or Samsonov for a Defenceman (Barrie, or Larsson) and both a First, and second would be what it would take.
Now the Expansion Draft. I think a Three way deal with Toronto, and Seattle would be perfect for draft considerations for the oilers. They need more cap space so if they can get a 2nd or 1st from Toronto for Klefbom who they need to be there on their top pairing. I believe personally that a 2nd would be enough to get Kassians hideous contract off the books, as he does not perform enough for what he gets paid. For anyone who thinks Neal is touched by seattle get that out of your head because the Oilers would need to pay 2 First rounders for seattle to take that so not in your dreams. Klefbom is an asset to our defence in edmonton, but with young guys like Caleb Jones, William Laggesson, Evan Bouchard, and Phillip Broberg AND with the resiging on Barrie and Larsson, sorry but Klefbom who is injury prone no longer is needed in Edmonton. Klefbom fills Toronto's gap in their defence as he is a top 4 defenceman and he has one of the best contracts in the league for how much he gets paid. The leafs could afford Klefbom if they don't go for Binnington and stick with Andersson.
Getzlaf I think goes to edmonton at the last second because he gets little to no offers, and the oilers need to fill a gap in either LW or Center with the loss of Kassian to Seattle.
Tell me what you guys think in the comments below.
THREE WAY TRADE: The Edmonton Oilers would send the 2021 2nd Round pick (TOR) to the Seattle Kraken in order for Seattle to TAKE Zack Kassian in the Expansion Draft. The Oilers would retain what would be called "Expansion Draft Considerations" in this transaction.
I like seeing people put effort into posts. Good stuff. I remeber hearing term was the deal-breaker in contract talks with Markstrom last summer, which ended up being 6 years with Calgary. So I'd expect a goaltender signed for 3-5 years. I'd see us taking a chance on Driedger or Mrazek if Binnington wants more than 7mill x 5.
I totally agree with the Nuge contract. I highly doubt he get more than 6.5, we'd likely let him walk. Very few Oilers fans like Barrie and Larsson but I could see us resigning either. Barrie likely wants way too much after his totals this season. If Larsson takes a pay cut I'd like to keep him around, from what I've seen, the popular opinion is that he isn't worth his current contract. I like his play style though.
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