Edmonton takes this and runs imo.

Well yeah, you’re giving up absolutely nothing to improve goaltending and get rid of contracts that are arguably worse than OEL’s

I’m more than open to suggestions on how to make it more fair. I’d love to get Bear from you guys somehow. If the second is dropped does that still get done?

I may not be watching enough Arizona games but I don't think OEL is bad by any means. His contract's a bit rich but he's a good D in my opinion.

EDIT: holy cow, I didn't see that there is money retained on OEL. EDM takes this for sure.

@desertdog111: As long as Koskinen, Neal and Kassian are gone I don't care if anything else than OEL comes back. Kassian's not too bad but you could get what he brings way cheaper.

No OEL is awful. Bottom pairing d man at this point making 8 mil

OEL has the worst contract in the league because of its term. And id honestly rather have neal at 5.5 than OEL at 8~ for the same length

But why would the Coyotes include Kuemper in the trade when they could get at least a 2nd for him straight up with another team ?

Well, in this ACGM his cap hit for the Oilers would be 6.75 AAV because of the retained salary. If he was indeed a bottom pair D that'd still be like 5 Mio above of what you should be paying bottom pair D. Sure he'd have to be a good top 4 D to be even paying him 6.75 AAV.

If that’s the offer for Ghost, I think the Flyers just hold onto him

I would in no way ever trade for OEL. This favors Edmonton heavily in years 1-2 but years 3-6 of the rest of OELs contract would destroy our cap situation.

The term is what most here are missing. Neal has just 2 years left and can be (probably will be) bought out for $1.9M x 4. OEL is 30 and has $8.25M cap hit for 6 more years, that's $50M in actual cash vs $7.66M for Neal's buyout. Even with retention that's not an apples-to-apples comp AT ALL.

If you win a cup in years 1-2, who cares about 3-6? Not saying OEL is going to push you over the edge but this deal saves you $3m and gets rid of your 2 worst contracts. And you significantly improve in goal.

IF you win a cup in years 1-2 is a pretty big if. Look at how teams like Washington and Tampa and how long it took their cores to actually push through to a cup. Boston has been a true contender every year and hasn't won in 10 years. With parity the way it is in the NHL today, it's more important to maximize that window to give yourself many shots for when things finally align for you rather than going all in once and shooting yourself in the foot for the following years. Holland touched on that point in a press conference this past year that he's taking a long term approach and picking and choosing when to push the chips in.