some team should offersheet JP, he’s a perfect candidate. they won’t because the league is boring but they should

Our RFAs will be more costly than that and I think 4 years at around 5 million is what Kane will get

If you want the Oilers to have success next season, and make a deep playoff run, then Duncan Keith needs to be either scratched, traded, or retired. Also there needs to be a true starting goaltender, Smith or Skinner would be fine as a backup. While Kane has done well in Edmonton, I think that money is better spent on the D-core and goaltending, especially since any number of Holloway, Savoie, and Bourgault could step in and produce some great depth offense. Broberg cannot be scratched. Either another year in Bakersfield or play him 2nd/3rd pairing

ugh I hope not.
What sucks is that he's almost guaranteed to be in the '2nd rd pick' category.
Not much to give up at all considering what he could become..

In those 7 days, could the Oilers sign-and-trade him somewhere else?
Or does the offer sheet have to resolve before anything can happen to him..

i think that no party involved can trade him for a year following the signing of an offersheet but not 100% sure. but yeah, throwing 4 mil at JP seems like a no brainer, it’ll be hard for the oilers to match and it’s worth the gamble

I think the fanbase is fine as is. We're more than back on track with a presumable 3rd round berth.
Fixing all those issues you pointed out requires a TON of movement, a lot of traded picks & prospects -OR- simply wait a year.

There really arent any 'Markstrom'-level goalies to bet big on, best you get is Campbell (most likely re-upping in TOR) or Kuemper (meh).
There also isnt a prospect in the system capable of bringing same tier performance (even in the long run) to an Evander Kane: proven chemistry, speed, hands, physicality, size..
Holloway, Bourgeault both great in their own right; Savoie, Lavoie, and company can maybe bring a few, but not all facets of Kane's game.

If the Oilers are serious about long-term success, I believe one more year of patience is needed so we don't handcuff ourselves yet again to overpaid FAs, a bare cupboard, no picks..

I mean, why risk the long term if all we're asking for is 1 more year? Let the Chia-mistakes die out, reload, go for gold.

You could match as long as it doesn't send you over the off-season cap buffer. Then trade him or whoever else to become complaint before the season starts. Not ideal, but possible.


ETA: No, it appears, you cannot trade him after. Interesting wrinkle.

IF Puljujarvi and Yamamoto sign for just $1.75M despite having arbitration rights (that's a big ask) it would be for one year only. That gets Edmonton past its cap crunch anyhow.

That also works but it's banking on the patience of your star players to be willing to wait another year before they are considered cup contenders. There's no fooling that the Oilers barely got by LA in round 1. They basically breezed by Calgary but we all know that series should have been a lot closer if Calgary was playing even semi-decently. Colorado will be another high-offense series, and I will be happy to eat crow if the Oilers manage to beat them. Time will tell, I'm just happy to watch Mac vs Mc and Kadri v Kane. Will be an exciting series

Ahh I think that's just Eastern media trying to beat the "mCdAviD wOn'T pUt uP wiTh tHiS mUcH LoNgEr" drum lol

I think management has been completely transparent with McDavid and the leadership group (Drai, Nurse, RNH) about the team's direction. From our local guys here we hear tidbits about how they were consulted before Holland's moves like Kane, Hyman, Keith etc. They apparently gave approval before any moves were made.

There's a lot more good than bad in store for the Oilers and I think the core, being privy to more information, should be even more excited for it. Truly, the only negatives about Edmonton are location and weather. We've got a rabid fanbase, an owner with deep pockets, a stable of good prospects, and a good community to raise a young family in. Especially with more and more of our players starting to have kids, not such a bad deal.

As for this playoffs, I think it all balances out: LA overachieved while Edmonton played subpar hockey until their backs were against the wall. Then, Edmonton overachieved on the backs of our stars while Calgary just couldn't cut it. It was a much closer series than the score/series suggests and they certainly did not play 'bad' aside from Markstrom. As for Colorado, long as the Oilers stick to their strengths and not let the other team dictate pace, they should be competitive

The weather in Edmonton is perfect. IDK why hockey players want to play in places it will never snow, just doesn't make sense. ODR season here in Edmonton is usually like 5 months long, its awesome.

I had a feeling that LA would give Edmonton a run for their money, they have a lot of playoff experienced players who stepped up in that series. Calgary was a mess. They were the most consistent team in the regular season and were lockdown on D while putting up lots of offense. In the playoffs they only locked down on D against Dallas. Against Edmonton they were nearly Swiss cheese and Markstrom was abominable. That could have been a much better series had the Calgary of the regular season shown up. We will see about Colorado. I expect Edmonton to take at least 2 games.