LOOKING FOR AN OPEN MINDED RESPECTFUL REAL DISCUSSION.
Love learning from other fans and discussing the NHL and their teams with other fan bases. My dad always said: "Your wisdom will start to show when you realize how little you know."
++++ SO:
-With Skinner being so good this season and most likely going to be a full time NHL'er next season, and with Mike Smith almost good to return from injury. It seems dumb to me to send Skinner back to Bakersfield.
++++ MY HOT TAKE:
-Why can't Holland place Koskinen on waivers, which he will surely clear at 4.5M AAV, and then place Koskinen in the AHL for some refinement. Additionally he would save us $1,125,000 of cap space which we will surely need for a trade deadline acquisition for a playoff push. Once Koskinen clears waivers we can freely move him up and down the roster freely for the rest of the season correct? Then he is off our roster in the off season and we can re sign him to a (way) less AAV or just cut ties with him. We can also still trade him at the trade deadline if Holland finds a good fit I just don't see it happening and moving him down would at least save us a bit of cap for the remainder of the season and give Skinner more ice team which I think he has proved he is ready for. Maybe not full time NHL starter yet but that is why him and Smith can split the net 50/50.
-Fully healthy I truly love the Oilers roster this year but for sure there is room for improvement. There always will be. But fully healthy I can see this team hitting at least deep into the second round.
++++ EXTRA THOUGHT: I would love to see the Oilers "Kucherov" Dylan Holloway after he is fully healthy and swap him out for Yamamoto who has dried up. I think Yamamoto has earned a couple games up in the stands recently. I can see Yamamoto being one of the assets we potentially trade away at the deadline as he could have a potential upside with a fresh start but we haven't seen him play like he did when Nuge-Drai-Yam was statistically the best line in the NHL. Puljujarvi will get a 4.5-6M dollar contract in the off season especially if he puts up north of 60 points and if the Oilers re sign Yam I can't see him getting too much of a raise or even at all as he is on pace for 21 points or something. Surely a healthy Holloway can bring better production on Draisaitl's wing than that. Holloway could be to Draisaitl what Puljujarvi is to McDavid.

Yamamoto had one of his best games of the season tonight. I can see Edmonton keeping 3 goalies until the know Smith is fully healthy, then I think Skinner goes down until after the deadline. If Edmonton can move Koskinen in a trade at the deadline to bring in a D or a 3C, they'll probably do that

I'll agree that Yamamoto had a good game and has been coming around recently, but I think IMHO Holloway's upside is way bigger than Yamamoto's. I think Yamamoto hasn't developed as much as everyone hoped. We thought he'd be the player we saw from the 2019 season and he hasn't been able to get back to that since.

Serious question, do you think the Oilers are good enough to make a cup run with this roster. Yes or no?

Yes but only if, and that's a big IF, we stay fully healthy. Mike Smith needs to keep up the numbers he has been prior to his injury, Keith needs to keep the D calm and really needs to "Pronger" the lineup like in 2006. in 2006 Pronger quarterbacked that team and willed his way to the final for us. Nurse needs to play defensively like the Nurse we saw in 2016. Kassian needs to find his inner 2016 as he was a beast in the San Jose series. The rest of the lineup needs to find their inner will and contribute so that the playoffs don't rely on McDavid and Draisaitl to pull us to every victory.

I do think this roster might be a better one depth wise than we had in 2016 and for sure better than the 2006 team was. That team just made it by sheer heart and hard work and it was a cinderalla run to the finals.

I'll be harsh but respectful here: They are nowhere near good enough to make a deep run. While McDavid and Drai are gods and can maybe steal you a round or 2, they don't have any depth scoring.
If its not those 2 scoring, who else is it? Hyman pul and RNH? they really have no depth at all in their line ups and its shown hard during that loss streak.

Their goaltending is abysmal. Kos will not steal you a round in the playoffs. He isn't good enough to be a backup, let alone a starter. Smith MIGHT, but his body is so so so fragile, its hard to bet against that. Skinner is too inexperienced to be thrown to the wolves atm. it'll be really tough and bad for his development too.

Coming from a Leafs fan, I've seen first hand what Barrie and Ceci can do.... Man its really really rough lol. They just arent good enough. Riding Nurse intot he ground 28 minutes a night with Keith being a shell of his former self is showing more and more.

There are soooooo many holes in this line up. I hate it.

That being said, there are a few options. I mean, Chyckrun was made available in ARI, and I think they should 100% go for him no matter the price. It's a steal for them to get a player to play with nurse and to push Barrie,CC and Keith down the line up.

Fluery and Kubalik in CHI should be on their radar. Pretty penny to get them, but its depth. so yeah. thats my 2 cents

I love comments like this. A legit discussion. Here we go. My turn:

-Depth: I think it is for sure better than past years, Hyman has been an amazing edition and is the epitome of a hard working fore checker in the NHL, followed closely by Foegele. Early on in the season the Foegele-Ryan-Kassian 3rd line was arguably our best. Kassian has since fallen off again. Our 4th line for sure needs improvement. Yamamoto also has fallen off and has never gotten back to his play in 2019 when Nuge-Drai-Yam was statistically the NHL's best line.
-Oilers needs: 3C, 2LD, and starting goalie.
-Goaltending: Mike Smith is a .920 save percentage and Skinner a .916. Pre injury Smith looked ten years younger than he is. If you talk to teammates and veterans around the NHL Mike Smith is arguably the most in shape guy in the Oilers dressing room. He was a huge part of the reason Duncan Keith decided to come to Edmonton. Mike Smith, Duncan Keith, and Ken Holland are all neighbours in Kelowna and Keith and Smith have worked out together for quite awhile in the off season. Fully healthy I think if the Oilers hold three goalies going into the playoffs it won't be a cup winning combination but I agree maybe a two round win post season, which at this point nine out of ten Oilers fans would be ok with. We just want hope, to see some improvement.
-Defense: I truly do love what Keith brings to our lineup even if he is a shell of his Norris winning and cup winning seasons. The experience he brings is priceless. When he is out there the back end is way calmer and more composed. He keeps the structure back there. Plus in the playoffs is where his real value will show and we lacked a personality like him in the post season the last two seasons with early exits. I do agree we need a second pairing left D man so Keith can drop down to the third line. All the names you listed would be good fits.
-Potential TDL trades: I don't want to see us sell the farm or give away all our picks at the trade deadline in an attempt to go for it, not this season. This seasons draft is said to be one of the deepest in a very long time so picks are extra valuable and Edmonton is already pretty scarce on picks. We will be hard pressed to move Koskinen and surely would be retaining so I think we're stuck rolling with these three goalies for this season. Next season Koskinen is off the books, as is Russell, Yamamoto, Puljujarvi, McLeod, Benson, and Archibald. Holland has a very tough off season coming up. Puljujarvi will land around 4.5-6.0M AAV I believe especially if he puts up north of 60 points this season as he is on pace for. I don't see Yamamoto getting a raise at all as he is on pace for 21 points or something. I can see him being the best candidate for a TDL deal as he does have potential and maybe just needs a fresh start as well as next season Holloway will surely take the second line winger position from him.

That's enough for now.

Yep check out this chart

19/20 goalshare with 97/29/93 off the ice: 38%, 1.47 GF/60, 2.37 GA/60

20/21 goalshare with 97/29/93 off the ice: 35%, 1.4 GF/60, 2.62 GA/60

21/22 goalshare with 97/29/93 off the ice: 30%, 1.75 GF/60, 4 GA/60

So as of rn Holland has not solved much as sure they are getting a few more points but they are also allowing way more goals. And you can thank Hyman for that .35 increase.

Lets see what he does but so far Holland really has not built something that would be a contender

30mill to spend and one could argue he wasted it.

I agree.
-IMHO Nurse was an overpay by about 2M AAV but I understand that at the time of the signing that was market value and we didn't want to lose him, but if he's going to make 9.5M the defensive side of his game must improve.
-The addition(s) of Hyman and Foegele have paid off huge even if it cost us Ethan Bear who is having a tremendous season in Carolina. You can thank the Alberta rednecks for chasing Bear out of Edmonton (from a lifelong albertan).
-The addition of Keith was anticipated by myself I'll admit. I was looking forward to the experience and structure he would bring the the D lineup even knowing he would be an underwhelming Keith of his Norris and Cup winning seasons. That being said, losing Jones AND not getting even 1M of retained salary is a huge upset. There were other D, younger D, that you could have traded for for much less than Keith's AAV that could have slotted in to the 2D slot (which we need to fill via TDL to drop Keith to the 3D slot).
-I actually still like the Ceci addition and he fits in nicely in the 2nd pairing and at 3.2M AAV its not the worst signing.
-He has tried 2 off seasons in a row to get a starting goalie and said both times he would not start the season with Koskinen/Smith and he has. He NEEDS to figure that out this off season when Koskinen is off the books but there isn't a lot of cap space left after Nurse's contract kicks in and Puljujarvi and Yamamoto need to re sign. (Puljujarvi will land around Nuge's AAV if he puts up north of 60 points whereas Yam is only on pace for 20 something points this season and won't see much of a raise if he isn't a TDL player).

I truly don't know what I'd do in his shoes.

Not the current roster.

Three things need to happen:
1) Smith needs to play at a level similar to last season
2) They need to acquire a Top 6 Forward to push some guys down the lineup
3) They need a Top 4 Defensive defenseman
Honorable Mention) Holloway needs to come in and provide good bottom 6 minutes

I can't even believe Im still saying all this after the money they had this offseason. It is really not trending well since they dont have a lot of $ next year and some key RFAs need new contracts.

Yep, don't really disagree with any of that.. it really is sad. Wasting an opportunity of a lifetime before our eyes. Now its not a lost cause yet, but if this team somehow misses the playoffs? Look out for massive changes....

I actually think Ceci has been fine. If he's the 2RD and doesn't try to force too much, hes good there. Barrie on the other hand, wow, he covered up a lot of his defensive deficiencies by putting up the points he did. But you watch Bouchard play and you see why fans didnt want him back. I mean Bouchard is top 3 in ES goals and top 10 in ES points by Dmen without PP time! Now imagine if that 4.5 M was being used on a guy like Chychrun? Wow what a difference.

This team is just flawed, not built well, their "Top 6 forwards" aren't producing anywhere near the level they need to be playing with 97 and 29.

Other than Hyman. That guy is the definition in the NHL of forechecking and hard working along the boards and in front of the net.