Valimaki is gonna be paid more than 1m. Why even move that many assets for him when you have Broberg?

Of course he is, but he still has year left at $1M. To sign him the year after, Ceci has to go. He is a lefty, so not comparable to Bouchard, they play different positions. And eventually they will off load Nurse. His bonehead mistakes are not worth $9M.

I know, I said that because after all of these moves you're left with 5k in cap space lmfao. There's no need to go after Valimaki when you should be focusing on developing Broberg. You're gonna be logjammed on the left side.

The Jackets say no to both trades. It's a slight overpay for Kulak since this year's 2nd is nearly a 1st, but we might take him for this year's 3rd. But zero interest in Foegele, we've got a ton of bottom-6 forwards already and don't need another taking ice time from the kids.

Based on Foegeles performance since Jan 1st, he is a second line forward on the majority of teams in the league. Oilers are not Columbus when talking about offence.

The Oilers aren't Columbus when talking about offense, they're arguably the best offense in the NHL and Foegele was only able to put up 28 points. His career high is 30. His underlying numbers are good, but let's pump the brakes on "2nd-line forward". You'll probably find someone to take him for a 3rd and 4th, but considering Columbus traded actual top-6 forward Oliver Bjorkstrand for an identical return last offseason, it won't be them.

Foegele would be a 1st liner on Columbus. This season only Laine (2.24) had more P/60 than Foegele (2.09), and only Marchenko (1.02) and Laine (0.97) had more G/60 than Foegele (0.93). And he only spent 8% of his time with McDavid.

Bring a 1st or don't bother coming.

Massive overpay for Valimaki (Broberg is the guy) and Severson isn't a 1st pairing defenseman, he's not stable enough in his own zone. He's not an upgrade on Ceci defensively.

Okay? The Jackets take their ball and go home.

The Oilers were the best offensive team in the league in 2023, by a wide margin. Columbus was 3rd-last. Even if he only spent 8% of his time with McDavid, he's still getting more favorable matchups because McDavid requires so much attention. Foegele was 7th-best in points/game on Edmonton among forwards, and would have still been 7th-best on Columbus' horrendous, injury-riddled offense among forwards to play 30+ games.

Look, he's not a bad player, but he's certainly not replacing Laine, Marchenko, Gaudreau, or Johnson in the top-6 wings. At best he'd be playing with Chinakhov on the 3rd line in Columbus, and maybe he's a great 3rd-line option. But you're trying to deal with a team that has a glut of (younger, cheaper) wingers already. We're not paying that price for something we don't need, and no one is paying a 1st for a middle-6 option (unless their name is Tanner Jeannot).

Offensive depth is exactly why Edmonton was the best offensive team and Columbus one of the worst. This is what you should be striving for. Tampa understands this, that's why they paid so much for Hagel, who is a similar player to Foegele. And that's exactly why I'm against moving him: he makes the Oilers better.