Team: 2021-22 Edmonton Oilers

Initial Creation Date: May 26, 2021

Published: May 26, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Disclaimer: absolutely not what I'd do.

Today's afternoon presser emphasized Smith's return, buyouts, and Holland's unwillingness to do a few things:
-He's against mortgaging the future
-He's not going to go out and hunt the giant UFAs (read: Grubauer, Hamilton, etc)
-He's against making a big trade to address roster concerns

We also have other unknowns regarding the organization and Holland himself:
-He loves his Red Wings
-The organization does not subscribe to conventional analytics and will either make unintelligent decisions or risky ones

That said, I think Holland wants to bring back as much of this year's team as possible, or at least the higher-end pieces. Barrie, Koekkoek, Shore, and Smith were all pieces he brought in that worked (or appeared to), and I wouldn't be surprised if he doubles down on them. Larsson and RNH extensions have been floated for a while and I suspect the intention will be to bring both guys back.

Driedger is not my first option for a new goaltender: I think he's incredibly unproven despite success this year and would prefer Ullmark. I think the organization likes Chris better though.

Glendenning and Tatar meet the former Red Wing quota but Luke comes at an overpay in both AAV and term: the lack of an analytics department is going to hamper the organization's understanding of why the bottom-six sucked eggs this year and they'll make a less-than-deal add thinking they've solved the problem. I like Tatar though.

Tippett's disdain for Bear and Holland's desire to bring Barrie back are going to intersect and he'll be traded for a minimal package that helps the team's long-term pipeline. Holland can't get over losing the Athanasiou deal and appears paranoid to not have draft picks. Toronto is going to hop all over Bear's availability in order to drive their tenure on top of the league. It's a disaster waiting to happen and very reminiscent of the Petry trade. Edmonton's probably getting less than half of equivalent value here.

Turris absolutely gets waived but I have a hunch he'd be claimed if it happens: relatively cheap, only one year, GMs will still think he's a bounceback candidate or at least a live body to delay the premature promotion of a prospect.

I think there's a chance Holland goes Ennis > Holloway given that it's rare for Old Dutch to play a guy full-time in the NHL after his D+1 season but if Larkin did, Holloway could as well.

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