Results 31 to 38 of 38
-
07-24-2021, 12:08 PM #31
two more yrs for smith.
-
-
07-26-2021, 07:30 AM #32
Which makes me ask "What is Ken Holland doing?"
I have no issue with Smith coming back. He was great last year. Whatever their goalie plan is - it's not to have Smith be a "1A" 55+ Games Played type goalie.... so he's fine for the role he'll play. Why two years? Why so certain that a 39 year old won't fall off a cliff this season?
-
07-26-2021, 08:32 AM #33
do they have a prospect, one,two yrs away?
-
-
07-26-2021, 09:36 AM #34
They've got three goalies in the system that are considered to be good prospects (Stuart Skinner, Oliver Rodrique, Ilya Konalov). At this point I would say all are interesting prospects.... but none are even close to "can't miss" status. If the plan is to go into this season with one of them in tandem with Mike Smith, I have little confidence that's a recipe for success.
-
08-09-2021, 01:09 PM #35
Interested in what you think of Kenny Holland right now? I haven't read too many 'good' reviews of his recent signings...
-
-
08-09-2021, 04:07 PM #36
@Fred Bear it's a mixed result. I tend to thing of myself as a "big picture" guy - so I'll look at everything he's done:
Trades:
His first offseason saw a pair of trades:
John Marino for a pick. That looks terrible, but I have no idea if Marino was even willing to sign. I bet he wasn't. Better to get something than nothing.
Milan Lucic for James Neal. Good trade (though not the GREAT trade it once looked like). Lucic's contract is buyout proof. Neal's is not. This is why the swap happened. The buyout was expensive, but it's probably better than paying Neal to suck.
2020 Trade Deadline:
Made two deals with Detroit... Brodziak & a 4th for Green, plus Gagner & two 2nds for Athanasiou & Kuffner. Both were duds. Green didn't play in the post season, and Athanasiou wasn't good.... then wasn't qualified. I suspect Athanasiou is still around, if if were not for COVID & the flat cap. We would have got a few more games out of Green if not for COVID. I liked the idea of both deals, but COVID turned them into bad ones.... I'll give him a pass here anyway.
Ennis from Ottawa for a 5th, and Joel Persson for a warm body (with ANA) in the minors was done to clear a contract. These were good moves.
Traded down at the 2020 Draft (swapped a 3rd for a 4th and a 5th). I'm okay with this, in principle.... but no way of knowing for a while if it was good.
2021 Trade Deadline:
Kulikov for a fourth. Fine deal. Depth dman, rental. Fair for both sides. I was disappointed he didn't do more.
2021 Draft & Offseason:
Traded down at the draft (20th for 22nd & 90). Again, this might pan out okay. As the first round was unfolding, I was hoping the Oilers would use the pick to take a goalie (Wallstedt was available). What do I know though? If their scouts didn't like him, or they REALLY liked Bourgault - why not get an extra pick to take the guy you wanted. #90 was the 2nd pick they had this draft.
Bear for Foeggle.... I don't know enough about Warren Foeggle to have an option. On paper, this might help - BUT it was less than 12 months ago the Oilers projected Ethan Bear to be a top pairing dman. You don't trade a top-2 dman for a "middle six" (at best) forward. You find some other way to get Foeggle, and get a better return for Bear.
It's a watered down version of the Hall-for-Larsson deal. I could accept that Hall was what needed to be gone. I can accept that Larsson was the kind of player they needed. No way those values were equal though - but Chia took the best dman he could get in a one-for-one swap for Hall.... instead of holding out for a better deal (or deals).
Maybe Bear should have been the odd man out, and maybe Foeggle is a player they really wanted - that doesn't make a one-for-one swap good value. I'm not ready to call this one a bad move yet, but it looks like it.
Dylan Wells for futures: he wasn't needed. Fine deal.
The Chicago deal is still smacks as BAD to me. I like the addition of Duncan Keith, but not at 5.5 million.... and the fact that the Oilers traded a legit NHL dman (Caleb Jones) AND a pick, to take on a declining player that wanted out, Chicago was desperate to shed his salary, and there were no other suitors. The conditional pick makes it even worse - because they have next year's 2nd round pick tied up in the trade... it can't be used at the deadline. I think Jones for Keith, at 50% salary would have been fair. Chicago could have paid another team to each the 50%. I think Jones & a 3rd (no condition) for Keith at 100% & a 1st round pick (top 10 protected?) would have been fair.
Chicago wouldn't do it? Then don't make the trade.
Free Agents:
2019 was fine. No big blunders letting anyone go. They brought in a bunch of depth pieces. Josh Archibald has turned out nicely, the others didn't - but it was all low risk stuff.
2020 was really good. Tyson Barrie I liked the one year deal. I really liked the Kyle Turris signing, despite it not working out.
2021 remains to be seen. Derek Ryan is the Kyle Turris replacement. Should work out. Zach Hyman got a lot of money. If he's productive for four years (20-25 goals, 40-50 points) while being a good checker / defensive guy... playing on the top two lines: The deal is fine. I don't believe anyone expects him to be good in the last couple of years of the contract. If the Oilers win a cup, it's cool.
Adam Larsson left for Seattle, but the more I read: It seems like he was leaving, no matter what.
Extensions to Barrie, Smith, RNH, Nurse: I really like the Barrie & RNH contracts. Smith is a year too long. Nurse, I'm more in the middle. Chicago & Columbus blew up the defenseman market. $9.5m might be a bit much, but no way he was taking a long term deal for under $9.0. He's young enough that it's reasonable to think he can be productive for the whole contract. He's being paid like a top 5 dman. Is he that? I think he's really close. He sign Kris Russell to an extension WAY too early (though the money is okay).
Some of things he's said "hard to pull one over on other GMs" or "we're planning on drafting a forward" are dumb things to say. Quite honestly, Stan Bowman pulled one over on him - and the difference in what Keith makes vs what he's worth now: Just don't make the deal. The extra couple of million is too big of a deal. Letting everyone know your intentions on draft day? It weakens your position.
Other GMs seem to be able to find a way to get out from under their bad contracts. Ken Holland is paying Lucic $750k to play for Calgary, Andrej Sekera $1.5m to play for Dallas, and James Neal $1.9m to play somewhere else. Maybe Lucic & Neal were necessary - but Sekera wasn't (they only have two more years of paying him).
I'm not saying that James Neal would be any easy player to trade, without taking back another bad deal.... but I think the Oilers are at a point where prospects & picks should be getting used to fix problems with the team... both Cap Space & depth. Drafting a player that likely won't have an impact until Draistle's contract is up - it's pointless now.
So, ummm, mixed bad? He's done some good, but he's also done some bad. He's overpaying for vets, and follows the 15 year Edmonton tradition of buying high, and selling low.
I certainly don't think he's an amazing GM, but I never did.
-
08-09-2021, 04:40 PM #37
I'm not sure if there are many amazing gm,s. sweeney gets his share of grief in Boston/NE
-
-
08-09-2021, 05:11 PM #38
Ain't that the truth? I mean, Julien Brisbois looks pretty smart right now.... and Steve Yzerman gets a lot of credit (rightfully so) for Tampa's back-to-back cups too..... but what have the rest done for anyone lately? lol.
-