Edmonton Moves?

[Axeman33]

People quickly forget how shallow the Oilers are down the middle. They were so shallow they had to deal for Roy this year after it was obvious that Draisaitl wasn't ready. They didn't have anyone in the AHL who was even ready to step up.

No way the Oilers are trading any centers anytime soon.

[LawMan]

It's going to be an exciting off-season for the Oilers! They need to do something to get a D-man to play that can play in their top-2. With the way the cap is shaping up they need to be looking to teams right against the cap for a D-man: Rangers, Chicago, Pittsburgh, St. Louis are there to exploit given their cap situations. The Oilers need to do what NYI did with Boychuk and Leddy last off-season.

I would love to see the Oilers make a deal of Pittsburgh's first + something else for Seabrook. Chicago is in serious cap trouble and the only obvious pieces to move are Seabrook or Sharp - who will be harder to move. I think Seabrook should be the #1 trade target for the Oilers this offseason. Then hopefully sign another actual top-4 D-man and trade or sign a guy who has been a #1 goalie for more than 20 games during his career.

[Axeman33]

I honestly wouldnt mind seeing them sign Cody Franson as a FA, if the price is right. He was easily the best Dman on the Leafs before being buried in Nashville. I almost wonder if his reduced role in Nashville hasn't reduced his value a bit.

[LawMan]

I honestly wouldnt mind seeing them sign Cody Franson as a FA, if the price is right. He was easily the best Dman on the Leafs before being buried in Nashville. I almost wonder if his reduced role in Nashville hasn't reduced his value a bit.

I like that for the Oilers as well. Plus, he's got an absolute cannon which could be added to the PP. Schultz as PP QB has not worked out nearly as well as the Oilers had hoped.

[SeaDawg]

Franson is very underrated, imo. I'd love to have him on the Oilers.

[The Comish]

Yep, trade for one big D (if possible) and sign one big D (if possible).

I think Seabass is a pipe dream, but damn that would be awesome. Hjalmarsson would be a very nice D to grab at what should be a reasonable price as top 4 D go. Boston is slammed against the cap. Leafs are dealing Phaneuf, who would love to play Calgary many times a season.

UFA - Mike Green, Cody Franson, Ehrhoff, any one of them would be a start. You need D who can get the puck out of your zone and up to those high end forwards.

[poolsharks]

I thought I was on an island with the idea of going for Hjalmarsson . He would be an awesome stabilizer for that defence and would be great for Nurse/Klefbom. You give what you need to give for him (pick/young prospect as Chicago don't want salary back)
Draisaitl in the AHL to start the season (on the wing to see how he adapts). McDavid will never play wing , let's face the facts .
A good young G with an experienced mentor is OK but Cam Talbot would be the best option at #1 with scrivens as backup.
Get Todd McLellan to coach , keep Nelson as an assistant .
Nicholson should run it , McTavish would be redundant .

Here ya go , your 2015-16 Oilers going forward .

[2014olympicgold]

Hjalmarsson as target #2 after seabrook (but “Settle” with Hjal)
Target Niemi as a FA G
Sign Franson or Ehnroff
If you can’t get Hjal go for Green
If you can’t get Niemi, go for Miller, Crawford, or Howard.

Leon in the AHL as a center
Klefborn, and Nurse in the NHL
XX-Roy-Yak as the 2nd line still
McDavid STARTS on the 3rd line, and go after a cheap FA vet Winger that can play a 3rd line checker, or a 3rd line scoring role. So when you move McDavid up to the 2nd line come December/January he can transition into a checker. Booth comes to mind. This will cause a lot of uproars, but do what Avs did with MacKinnon. If you toss a player at top 2 center to early, they falter just like MacKinnon this yr.

Deal with Leon next yr and see if where McDavid fits in. You want him to use the whole ice for sure, but you never know what will happen. If they trade Leon now, and McDavid (for some unknown reason) can’t play center at the NHL, you at least have a top prospect developing as a center in the AHL.

[havanablast21]

People quickly forget how shallow the Oilers are down the middle. They were so shallow they had to deal for Roy this year after it was obvious that Draisaitl wasn't ready. They didn't have anyone in the AHL who was even ready to step up.

No way the Oilers are trading any centers anytime soon.

Oh man I hope you're right.

RNH / McDavid / Roy down the middle next year. Draisaitl bumps Roy down to 4th line the year after? Don't mess with a good thing Oil. IF you're moving anyone, make it Eberle or Yak and ensure a top 3 D is coming back the other way, or a bonafide #1 G. (My currency may be way off... point is... no need to take a step back in C now...when that position is so highly coveted in the league as well as your team until this very year).

[rataylor22]

Hjalmarsson as target #2 after seabrook (but “Settle” with Hjal)
Target Niemi as a FA G
Sign Franson or Ehnroff
If you can’t get Hjal go for Green
If you can’t get Niemi, go for Miller, Crawford, or Howard.

Leon in the AHL as a center
Klefborn, and Nurse in the NHL
XX-Roy-Yak as the 2nd line still
McDavid STARTS on the 3rd line, and go after a cheap FA vet Winger that can play a 3rd line checker, or a 3rd line scoring role. So when you move McDavid up to the 2nd line come December/January he can transition into a checker. Booth comes to mind. This will cause a lot of uproars, but do what Avs did with MacKinnon. If you toss a player at top 2 center to early, they falter just like MacKinnon this yr.

Deal with Leon next yr and see if where McDavid fits in. You want him to use the whole ice for sure, but you never know what will happen. If they trade Leon now, and McDavid (for some unknown reason) can’t play center at the NHL, you at least have a top prospect developing as a center in the AHL.

Hjalmarsson is a much better player than Seabrook, on a much better contract, younger. Hjammer is the second best defenseman on Chicago, and no chance are you getting him out of there when they need to "shed salary". In those situations, Hjammer's is the type of contract you keep, not move.

[jman]

The Oilers should either sign Niemi or trade for Howard who seems to have lost his starting position. They don't need to sacrifice any of their top players for that, an early 2nd round pick should be enough for Howard if the Wings want him out.

Free Agents will now want to play in Edmonton, so the Oilers should go after players like Mike Green, Paul Martin, Ehrhoff and Franson. They don't need to overpay anymore (at least not more than any other team). If that plan happens to fail, they can go after someone like Phaneuf. The Leafs want to get rid of him, so the price is not huge. Maybe Pittsburgh's 1st round pick and a good prospect.

I see no reason why the Oilers should trade any of their top forwards at this point. They have at least 2 years to figure out who stays and who goes. They can start the season with:
Hall-RNH-Eberle
Pouliot-McDavid-Yakupov
Gordon-Draisaitl-Purcell

Or they could go with:
Hall-RNH-Eberle
Draisaitl-McDavid-Yakupov
Pouliot-Gordon-Purcell

Either way, there's room for all of them while Draisaitl and McDavid are still on their ELC, and Yakupov is signed for $2.5M for two years. Take your time, there's no rush. If Draisaitl is not a fit on wing and he proves himself to be good enough for Top-6, the Oilers will need to trade one of their centers (RNH or Draisaitl). If Draisaitl happens to be a good winger, they can keep all of them long-term. Either way, RNH's value will not go down in two years, and Draisaitl's value only goes up.

Cap space could become an issue but they need to dump players like Nikitin and Purcell if that allows them to sign a better free agent this summer. Those players are badly overpaid, so even a buyout is a good option.

This is absolutely correct.

[forsbergfan]

they're not gonna trade nuge. at some point, draisaitl is gonna go. no reason to do it now, though.
i doubt they make too big a splash for a goalie. i think they see lots of potential in brossoit, which i think is the right move. he could be really good.
i think they'll make a couple of free agent signings and try to push into the playoffs next year - i wouldn't expect anything too drastic coming right now. their management can't honestly look at their team and think that they're a playoff team yet, so no point in rushing things.
the key is drafting. they have drafted so poorly after the first round - that has been the issue. nothing wrong with their first round picks - they got unlucky (until now) with the years they had those picks in (best of the bunch is hall, but he's not JT or stamkos), but they haven't drafted anyone good after the first round. and you can't rebuild a team like that.

[pmorrow]

they're not gonna trade nuge. at some point, draisaitl is gonna go. no reason to do it now, though.
i doubt they make too big a splash for a goalie. i think they see lots of potential in brossoit, which i think is the right move. he could be really good. i think they'll make a couple of free agent signings and try to push into the playoffs next year - i wouldn't expect anything too drastic coming right now. their management can't honestly look at their team and think that they're a playoff team yet, so no point in rushing things.
the key is drafting. they have drafted so poorly after the first round - that has been the issue. nothing wrong with their first round picks - they got unlucky (until now) with the years they had those picks in (best of the bunch is hall, but he's not JT or stamkos), but they haven't drafted anyone good after the first round. and you can't rebuild a team like that.

I agree with everything except the bolded. I think they HAVE to get a veteran goalie in there. They cannot keep going on with sieves in net year after year. Obviously they need good D in front of their goalie otherwise it may be a lost cause, but clearly Scrivens and Fasth aren't true number ones. I do not think they will screw around with goalies this year if they can avoid it. Brossoit is not ready yet and that fanbase is fed up of losing. They could have had Schneider but chose Horvat, and they could have had Bernier too easily, given the scraps the Leafs had to give to get him.

[LawMan]

I agree with everything except the bolded. I think they HAVE to get a veteran goalie in there. They cannot keep going on with sieves in net year after year. Obviously they need good D in front of their goalie otherwise it may be a lost cause, but clearly Scrivens and Fasth aren't true number ones. I do not think they will screw around with goalies this year if they can avoid it. Brossoit is not ready yet and that fanbase is fed up of losing. They could have had Schneider but chose Horvat, and they could have had Bernier too easily, given the scraps the Leafs had to give to get him.

Agreed. Especially given that the goalie market is going to provide a few options, both from UFA's and from trades.
Niemi- Miller last year got 3-years $6 million per year, he was a consensus better option than Niemi, offer Niemi 3-years $3.5-4 mil
Crawford could be available come the offseason given Darling's remarkable play and the Hawks cap mess.
Howard could be available as well given Mzarek's starting in the playoffs, if the Wings steal a series from the Bolts.

Also don't get your bolded comment. The rumours were that the Canucks wanted the #7 pick (Nurse) a 2nd rounder and a prospect in exchange for Schneider to move him in division, when the Oilers passed the Canucks settled on just the #9 pick, everything I've read says the Oilers couldn't have gotten Schneider for just the #7 pick.

[SeaDawg]

I don't want to get too excited, but this does seem like the year where we might actually be able to find some of the pieces we are missing.

We need a #2 badly, and we are getting McDavid.

We need a goalie badly, and it seems there are plenty of options out there.

We need to improve our defense, and in addition to Nurse probably making the team, Franson, Ehrhoff, Green and a few others are available.

If we can get a goalie and one or two dmen, we might actually have winning record next year. I still don't think we will make the playoffs, but it would be damn nice to finish above .500 for a change. That would definitely be something to build on as we wait for McDavid et all to mature a little more and then in two or three years we make it back to the playoffs.