Well that trade deadline was extremely disappointing. I'm sure the real Ken Holland would come up with an excuse like "we didn't have enough cap space", even though both Boston and Toronto had less cap space and figured out a way.
For the expansion draft, I went 4F and 4D, protecting McDavid, Draisaitl, Yamamoto, Puljujarvi, Kahun, Nurse, Bear, and Klefbom. Unfortunately, Caleb Jones goes to Seattle.
Because of so many contracts/buyouts expiring in 2021, the team has a lot of cap space for the 2021-22 season ($31M), and even more if you clear out a bad contract like Kassian or Neal. However, there are some UFAs and RFAs to sign, but they shouldn't command too much more money, leaving the team with a lot of flexibility this offseason. I believe the team's Cup window truly opens at the 2021-22 season.
Resigning Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is a priority, and due to the flat cap and his limited 5v5 production this season, I think the Oilers could resign him for much cheaper than they were expecting last spring: at 6M instead of 7-8M.
For the Kailer Yamamoto contract, he's slowed down since last season and isn't at a point per game pace anymore, but remains a very good top 6 player at only 22. I don't see Holland making the same mistake Chayka did with his RFAs (giving them too much term and paying for future progress and not what they were currently), so he probably gets a bridge deal. My comparison is the Teuvo Teravainen bridge deal at $2.85M x 2 years, which he signed before his $5M contract. Because the cap was slightly lower then, I rounded it up to $3M.
With almost $22M in cap space, you might be wondering why I didn't resign Tyson Barrie. He scores a lot of points, but however, most of the points are empty. More than 70% of his points are secondary assists, and much of them came on the powerplay with McDavid and Draisaitl. He's also very bad defensively. Not to mention we have a similar type prospect (and better defender) coming up in Evan Bouchard, so it makes no sense to resign Barrie.
Resigned Kulikov for cheap - he's a good and solid defenseman who played really well this year with a high QoC and defensive zone starts, so he'll be the perfect fit for someone like Evan Bouchard. Larsson was also signed to a 2x$3M contract, because he's been great this season, and we don't really have anyone like him on RHD.
Ennis, Kahun, Haas and Benson all resigned for cheap, because they're good depth.
Goaltending remains a priority after all these years, so I decided to sign Chris Driedger in Free Agency. I believe Koskinen is a good 1B goalie as long as you don't run him into the ground (he's been rocking a .925 SV% since Mike Smith returned), so Driedger would be the 1A goalie. He's still young but has played very well this season, going 11-5 with a 2.00 GAA and .930 SV%. I see Florida letting go of him because of the Bobrovsky contract and Spencer Knight coming up.
Probably pretty realistic, although the bottom 6 will still get caved.
I don't think you can QO Khaira, Kahun, Benson, McLeod for less than they're currently making, unless they go to UFA and then you re-sign them. But even with marginally more salary on each, I think it might still fit under the cap.
Probably pretty realistic, although the bottom 6 will still get caved.
I don't think you can QO Khaira, Kahun, Benson, McLeod for less than they're currently making, unless they go to UFA and then you re-sign them. But even with marginally more salary on each, I think it might still fit under the cap.
Really good and chill input
You should post more often
Yeah absolutely indeed they require a certain % raise over their previous AAV there's a full guide to that on here somewhere IIRC I'm just too lazy to look it up 🥴
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