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[adickhout96]

The revolving door of goalies

The Oilers have this issue of not keeping goalies around for a long time. In the last five seasons the Oilers have had 10 goalies play at least five games for the oilers.  Ken Holland could always bring back Mike smith for another year and hope that either Stuart Skinner can make the jump up to the NHL next year. That just puts a bandaid on the situation. Mike smith who had a decent regular season with the Oilers with a 2.95 goals against and .905 save percentage. Mike Smith is 38 and time is unfair and will catch up to Smith. With the Oilers being up against the cap like they are, I could understand Smith playing one last season with the oilers for one million dollars even; no signing bonuses, nothing extra because there are so many free agent goaltenders on the market this summer.  Yes the Oilers could sign a different goalie of them but at a much higher cost than the oilers could sign for. If the Oilers were to get Khudobin from Dallas you would be looking at a minimum of 2.5 million for I would guess 3 seasons which gives you less room for players like Bear or Broberg. So be cheap now so the Oilers can win in two seasons from now and not be totally screwed over later down the road. 

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Sam come home!

At the Trade deadline Edmonton's golden boy Sam Gagner was shipped out leaving the orange and blue for the Detroit Red Wings. So in his second tour of duty playing for the Oilers Sam played a total of 61 games and got a total of 22 points or .32 points per game.  In the faceoff circle he had won 44.6% of the time.  Gagner who  just turned 31 he would be a great veteran presence in the Oilers  locker room and is universally loved within the Edmonton Community. Gagner has played a season in the minors,but  most of his career up in the NHL,he  has played for teams that are hot garbage and some that are straight fire. He has played on the top lines and has a bottom six. 

Sam Gagner recently did an interview with the Nation Real Life podcast saying that playing for Edmonton again is not out of the question. So what would be the dollar value of a guy who is getting a point once every three games (on average) and probably is playing the third line center or sitting in the press box.  Ideally get him for a league minimum, but realistically  I could see Ken Holland signing Gagner for 1.1 Million dollars per year for 3 years while also grooming Gagner for an upper management position.

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The Edmonton Ehlers

 This is the second Winnipeg Jet that I want the Oilers to go get. Ehlers is in my opinion a very dynamic player who would complement the Dri, Yamo line then the oilers could move Nuge up the the top line with McDavid and either Kassian or Puljujarvi if he does return to Edmonton.  Ehlers is a scoring, quick moving winger who put up 25 goals up in 71 games during the 2019-2020 regular season.  There are two downsides to Ehlers coming to the Oilers: He has a six million dollar cap hit until the end of the 2024-25 season. Ehlers also is yet to really show up in the playoffs; after the NHL play-in round he has nine points in 25 games. Those would be the only real downsides to bringing in Ehlers into the oilers as of right now but to have another true top 6 on the Oilers would make this team incredible. The Oilers would have to give up Nurse and I think either Kassian or Archibald. Kassian would bring in the mean streak that the Jets need and to have Kassain show up for the Jet against Calgary and Matthew Tkachuk would make for a great battle of the prairies;  Kassian might be a little expensive for the Jets. So I could see the cheaper option of Nurse and Archibald going to Winnipeg for  Ehlers and a 3rd rounder.

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The missing piece in the top 9

So overall the oilers have 7 legitimate players in their top nine. Mcdavid, Dri, Nuge, Yamo, Neal, kassian and Archibald. In order for this team to work even better the OIlers will need to get a third line center. A great edition which most Oilers fans are wanting right now is Max Domi of the Montreal Canadiens.  On a pretty mediocre Montreal team Domi managed to get 44 points in 71 games. He primarily played with Lehkonen and Armia who are not world beaters but it's an alright line, but Domi wasn't able to take as many faceoffs as he would like as per Elliot Frieman in 31 thoughts.  Domi has also cleared the mention of the Candiens out of his social media accounts.  If the Oilers were to acquire Domi he would have to step up into the Penalty Kill as Karha is most likely being moved on from and the Oilers would need to get someone who can kill a penalty. Domi is an RFAd is going to want some big boy money; which is fair. He is on a .66 points per game in his 6 years in the NHL so I could see his price point around 2.5 million for 2 years. The trade would be either Athanasiou going in a one for one deal or Russell and a third rounder next year for Domi. I think Domi would fit nicely into the Oilers next season.

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You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.

Since most teams are out of the playoffs TSN has released their trade bait board. 

Two names from the Winnipeg Jets were on the board. Patrick Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers. Laine would be my first pick to bring to the Oilers and have him play on Mcdavid's wing. McDavid can set up Laine for sweet goals McDavid needs a legit scorer on his wing and Laine with his shot and physical presence could be a nice fit for McDavid he  is on average he's scoring 35 goals a season.. The only downside to having Laine is he only has one year left on his contract and is worth 6 million for that year and would probably want a hefty pay increase if he were to break the 50 goal mark playing with McDavid.  What would the Oilers have to give up to get Laine? I would predict the Oilers would move on from Nurse because the Jets need that size and Grit on their back end after they lost Byfuglien and then to sweeten the deal the Oilers might toss in Karha to beef up the Jets front end and also alleviate the cap issue with bringing in laine . The other trade that could happen which would be a one for one would be Larrson for Laine but the Jets hold on to 1 Million dollars of Laines cap. The trade is one for one. 

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What to do with Matt Benning?

Going into the off season Matt Benning is an RFA. If i were old Ken Holland I would be doing everything in my power to sign Benning for 3 years for 1.5 million dollars. But with the Oilers going into cap hell and having less than 10 million dollars in cap space this might not be the best time to be a guy like Matt Benning. So there’s two options: let Benning gamble on himself and see if he's a team player, sign him for one year for 950k for one year and let him prove that he's worth the extra money in the future. The other option is to trade him. The easy trade is to send Benning to Ottawa for a 2nd round pick. Benning is a cheaper player who is young and highly effective as a third pairing Defenseman; which is what Ottawa needs Benning also has the potential to be a 2nd pairing defenseman. With their owner being as cheap as he is they want super value deals and Benning would fit into Ottawa's locker room because that core is so young. Edmonton needs to recoup some draft picks after they were traded for Athanasiou at the trade deadline. .

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Moving on from the Cowboy Kris Russell

If Kris Russell was a 2.5 million Defenseman I would keep him for another 3 years unfortunately old pistol Pete made a knee jerk reaction after Russell had a career high in points of 23. For  a defensive defenseman that's a solid year;  but just because you’re the team cowboy it doesn't mean you should be one of the highest paid defenders on the team. Although Russell had the 2nd highest blocked shots but was the 5th in scoring for defensmen. With only 9 points in 55 games is that worth 4 million dollars on the books? Absolutely not. So where do you trade a brutal contract like that? Well there’s the Florida Panthers who are looking to hit the cap floor but they have a cheap ownership group. So Russell on paper is worth 4 million even and in real dollars he's only worth 1.5 million ( as per puckpeadia)  so what could the oilers trade to get Russell out? Russell to Florida for goaltender Chris dreidger who started 13 games this season and had a .93 save percentage he is also only worth 850 thousand. So he would be a good fit as the oilers backup. Colton Sceviour would come in as the third line center he has skills as the third line center which is exactly what the oilers need. He is worth 1.2 million on the cap.Kill two birds with one stone with this trade.

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The case against Oscar Kelfbom

Now this is a hard case. Klefbom is the Oilers best D-man. Now he has been injury prone but he is taking on the 2nd most minutes as a defenseman for the oilers; he also had the most shot blocks in regular season and second most blocked shots in the playoffs. So why would you trade this very cap friendly put it all out incredibly smart Defenseman? Well you’re going to get a great trade out of him although Kelfbom didn’t have a great playoffs he had his best season points wise  ever which was 29 in 62 games. The one thing the oilers have done poorly is trade guys when they’re at their lowest rather than at a mid range point or even highest point value. With Klefbom’s amazing season you could move on from him and get a great back up goalie and that third line center that you need. Now my proposal for who to trade would be a package deal because Klefbom is so cheap you might as well clear out some cap room while you’re at it.

Klefbom, Russell  and Athanasiou to Columbus for Bjorkstrand, Korpisalo and two second round picks .

This would bring back the two second round picks Edmonton gave up for Athanasiou address the backup goaltending and bring in the 3rd line center or even have a shooter for Connor McDavid,

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Which top 4 to move?

The next Defenseman that Ken Holland should look to move on is Adam Larsson. Now I love Larrson, he is a great defensive defense-man. Unfortunately Larsson has some back issues and the Oilers don't need to have a guy out on LTI. With the Oilers pushed up against cap hell where could they ship him? Buffalo needs a solid veteran so that would make sense. Who can Ken Holland pull up as the third line center?  Sam Reinheart is a 2nd liner who has had nothing but great numbers but why not put him on the third line to play with Neal and Chaisson. It will probably be the most expensive 3rd line in the NHL but that line would be putting up solid numbers.  The only downside to this isn’t many right handed D-men who can take Larsson's place and his contract is 4.1 million per year which is such a value contract. So you’re definitely going to get great value for him especially if you can get him out without the other GM knowing about Larsson’s injury. I would only move on from Larsson because of his injuries but I would love to see him retire as an Oiler.

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Who to trade?

According to the Edmonton Journal Old Ken Holland is looking at  moving on from two of the top 4 defenseman. So let's make a  case against the top 4, I will replace Ethan Bear with Kris Russle in this series. 

The guy on the top of my list is Darnell Nurse, we know Nurse’s cap is jumping up to 5.6 Million a year. The guy is a beast when it comes to eating minutes but he leaves Bear open for liability. Bear is a rookie and should not have been burned like he was several times in the play-in round. After 350 games you know what you’re getting out of a player. He's a good second Power-play but if Klefbom is healthy you wont need Nurse. There’s is left-handed D-men who are coming up and looking to take over a potential top 4. Evan Bouchard who had a fine year down in Bakersfield he plays a very similar game to Nurse. The difference is Nurse is more physical but Bouchard is more defensive minded. Which can lock down the 2nd pairing if Bear and Bouchard play together.  Bouchard is a cheaper option and if Ken Holland can get a draft pick and or  a warm body like Max Domi. They are moving an abundance and filling a hole.

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