Oilers Offseason-MacT’s Bold Moves

So far we have taken a look at a few different players. We looked at RFA/UFA defenders and forwards, as well as, players that could be targeted. It was a more realistic view of some players that could be attained for the right price. We, as Oiler fans, know this team is still a fair amount away from being a playoff team. Never mind a perennial playoff contender. We are some experience, some bite and two way accruement away in our top nine right now. Our defense has been porous at best. The one bright spot is that we finally seem to have shored up our lack of goaltending the last few years.

The bright spot is, we do have the skill needed in the NHL. I hate to agree with the management of an epic face palm team, but those are the hardest pieces to acquire. But all the skill in the world is worth about as much as belly button lint, if you have anything else. And as you all know watching this team, we have nothing else. The rest of this year is going to be watched in vain, hoping that some players will show the “compete” level we keep hearing about. But in all honesty, it’ll be more of the same. Our goalies make up for some mistakes, our defensive coverage will make you cry and the skill will come in sample sizes.

Einstein once said:

“Insanity is trying the same thing and expecting different results”

From the mouth of one of the most known genius’ in history, the Edmonton Oilers are insane. We keep bringing in skill with absolutely no support anywhere. A recipe for disaster from the get go. So while he has been quoted saying “it’s harder than I first envisioned”, we are still waiting for MacT’s “BOLD” moves. This is encouraging for the coming summer, which could be the busiest in Oilers history. We have a GM who knows a lot of change is needed. Despite emphasizing that help on the back end will come from developing players. He has made the most trades in the NHL this year and seems to want to improve the team now. As much as the “Brian Burke” approach is usually disastrous a few years down the road. It seems MacT might take a similar path with a little less sacrifice and a little more caution.

Now to the fun part, to try and divert you to a place of hope. It’s time to try and figure out what MacT might just do this summer. I may be way off coarse, but the general architecture of the end result is very similar to the type of team that our General Manager has over and over told us he wants. A team with a mixture of skill, but even more will and determination. So let’s take a stab at what Mr.Tavish will do this summer.

Right after the playoffs are done, I would imagine that we will here news of a few signings that most fans would expect. The first being Luke Gazdic. A guy who has found a spot on our fourth line and been effective in the process. A functioning enforcer who doesn’t gurt you when on the ice is always a plus. He’s no Lucic, but he knows his role and does it well. I see a two or three year deal being worked out for him. Right around the $0.8M mark. A nice raise on what he was making and a higher end salary of a role player like him. What helps is he’s still an RFA so the Oilers have most of the leverage still.

Next up would be the ace kid out of Wisconsin. Justin Schultz is due for a new contract. The reports of what kind of salary he could get has been all over the place. But I imagine perfect comparable would be Cam Fowler. Both were drafted by the same organization and play a very similar role. Fowler is of coarse a little younger and far more developed in his all around game. But Schult’s points, plus minus and defensive game are right around Fowler a couple years ago. So when it comes to Justin Schultz, some might not like it, but he is going to cash in around $4.0M a year. If not more for a longer term deal. I want an in between deal done, so a five year $20M contract works. I do believe it will be steal as early as next year.

Now that we have those two out of the way let’s move onto the draft. The Oilers will likely end up un lottery contention. But sadly Tambellini isn’t here to win the lottery, so we’d be picking 3rd or fourth overall. I still maintain we will end up ahead of Buffalo, Florida and the Islanders. That’s fine by me. Reinhart, Draisaitl and Ekblad will be picked before we walk up to the podium. So now MacT and staff converse with each other at the table as the Oilers are announced to pick next. MacT and Lowe look at each other. MacT nods to Howson and he makes a call.

Gary Bettman then gets back up and walks facing a rabidly booing crowd in Philadelphia. He then clears his throat.

“There has been a trade.”

The crowd goes silent.

“The Philadelphia Flyers……..”

He has to wait a moment as the crowd goes bonkers hearing their fine city’s name. he continues.

“Have acquired the 4th overall pick, right now, Right Winger Nail Yakupov, Left Winger Jesse Joensuu, Defenseman Jeff Petry and Defenseman Phillip Larsen from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Left Winger Scott Hartnell, Center Sean Couturier, Defenseman Braydon Coburn and Erik Gustafsson.”

The crowd goes crazy. Fans booing and fans cheering. They don’t know what to make of it. This deal works for the Flyers on a number of levels. They clear up a lot of Cap space to sign recently acquired defender McDonald. They add a right handed defender. Plus they get a grade A prospect in Yakupov. Don’t forget cheap depth in Joensuu and Larsen. The Oilers get a veteran agitating compliment in Hartnell. A two way player in Couturier and a big experienced defender in Coburn. Plus a player like Gustafsson will get a chance to battle for a regular roster spot in the NHL in Edmonton.

As the dust starts to settle from the draft, Edmonton and Philadelphia are still making waves. Analysts proceed to say each team lost the trade. Fan’s both love and hate the trades. But as many know, Philly usually ends up on top when making a splash. While people in Edmonton are excited since this trade does fill a few gaps in our roster. So only time will tell, but a good hockey trade for both.

Now we get the lull in between the Draft and Free Agency. The Oilers continue to tinker with the roster, albeit, not to the same extent.

First a small forward who won’t be able to make an impact here is traded for a couple of decent prospects. The rights to Mark Arcobello are traded to the Florida Panthers for the rights to Jimmy Hayes and Quinton Howden. Hayes is, only hours after, signed to a two year $1.7M contract. Another excellent trade for both teams. Florida gets a skilled forward to compliment the skill and size they have. While Edmonton picks up a winger with size trying to find his way in the NHL and a good prospect who has fallen down the depth charts. Another fairly good hockey trade by MacT.

Oilers fans wake up, as excited as they have been in a very long time the next day. Only to discover another deal has been made while dreaming of Stanley Cups. The Oilers move another RFA and add some size in the process. The rights to Anton Lander and a 3rd round pick in 2015 are sent to the, even worse, Buffalo Sabres in exchange for the rights to Markus Foligno and Luke Adam. Buffalo get’s a two way center who just can’t develop his game in Edmonton and a good draft pick. The Oilers get a player who has regressed but still plays hard in Foligno. While they add to the center depth with, fallen out-of-favor, Luke Adam. Both players bring size, grit and determination.

Right afterwards a traded of lesser magnitude is announced. The rights to oft-injured Tyler Pitlick have been traded to the Blue Jackets for the rights to the tenacious Corey Tropp. Two very similar players traded just to try and get a new start. While slightly smaller, Tropp isn’t as conservative as Pitlick on the hitting front. While Pitlicks size and speed are intriguing to the Blue Jackets. Once again, a good swap to help kick start both players’ NHL careers.

Then a minor league trade is announced. Taylor Fedun is unhappy he hasn’t been given the opportunity to make the big club, so he wont sign a contract. Rightfully so I might add, he did play well in Edmonton. So the Oilers trade his rights, as well as, a 4th round pick to the New York Rangers in exchange for Dylan McIlrath. Another good deal for both. Fedun gets to go to a good team and compete for a spot. While the Oilers get a third pairing prospect. McIlrath’s name suits him, he’s big, mean and has a temper. Something sorely missing from the Oilers this year.

The next announcements are a few contracts. Adam is signed for two year at $1.4M. Tropp is inked to a one year $0.725M deal. Then just before free agency Foligno is signed for $4.0M for two years.

When free agency hits, Edmonton is bored out of it’s mind. All the big name players go to playoff contenders. Go figure. Then the role players that some fans are hoping for end up signing elsewhere. Only a few bigger names are still out there. Then on the second day news breaks. The Edmonton Oilers have signed:

Defenseman Matt Niskanen to a five year $27.5M contract. Fans are indifferent at first, but excited we spent money and got a good defender. Then people start looking into him. Find out he played in all situations for Pittsburgh, had excellent point totals. But then notice he had the top plus minus in the NHL. Then the usual suspects start looking at advanced stats and realize that, while overpaying, the Oilers have bought themselves a pretty damn good defender. Even though this year the points went through the roof, he is still a pretty solid find. And then are even more excited when they find out that other teams like Colorado and Boston also put in an offer. But he ultimately chose playing time and Edmonton.

More and more fans start to realize that a bottom five finish was out of the question. The team had improved enough it might even make a bid for a playoff spot this year. The excitement in Edmonton builds a week after the Niskanen signing. Then fans start to wonder, what will happen to Sam Gagner. His no movement clause has kicked in, so he might be here for a while. With his contract and the acquisition of Couturier, a far superior two way player, is there something else on the stove? Then TSN kicks in again. Breaking news.

Sam Gagner has been traded to the Brooklyn Islanders in exchange for Center Casey Cikizas, Defenseman Scott Mayfield and a third round pick in 2015. Edmonton is more relieved when this happens. Gagner, while loved by some, had become a villain to others. So this was more a status quo trade. Gagner gets to go and prove he still has what it takes to be a top six player. He also get’s to play hockey with childhood friend John Tavares. It also pleases Tavares that Gagner is in Brooklyn, so he won’t ask to be traded, yet. The Oilers bring in a gritty center in Cizikas. Add another big meanie in Mayfield. Plus they get a decent pick in the process. The Oilers don’t have to retain any salary, since they Islanders are just trying to get up to the cap floor. All in all a win for both clubs.

After all this is said and done I think MacT had a VERY BOLD (in a good way) summer.

You have a top six that consists of

Hall, Couturier, Eberle, Hartnell, Nugent-Hopkins and Perron

While still very skilled, a way more complete mix of different players. Six guys that could move around with each other and be very good. Lot’s of skill, two way play, grit and heart. A definite upgrade.

A solid third line of

Hendricks, Gordon and Foligno

A mix of toughness, two way play and some scoring. A very excellent checking line. Plus adding a player who could long term, in the very least, fill in the top six when needed. Or even earn a spot there down the road.

The bottom line will be as hard to play against as any

Gazdic, Howden, Adam, Cizikas, Hayes and Tropp

What will make this year different from the rest is the competition. Each one of these players want’s to play in the NHL. Three jobs, six players, a recipe for some excellent compete. Plus there are multiple players at each position so it could make for a very exciting training camp.

That leaves us with the back end. As it stands, we have five roster spots filled in our top six spots

Niskanen, Ference, Schultz, Coburn and Marincin

A definite improvement on this years Swiss cheese defense with a guy like Niskanen pencilled in for 22-25 minutes a game. Coburn brings experience and size. Plus if Marincin can continue his level of play. That leaves one last hole to fill. The final roster spot. I bet you were wondering why MacT was acquiring so many AHL prospects on the back end. This is why, to build some more compete on this team. Even if Marincin (while unlikely) falters, another player may earn the job with solid work ethic. These are the guys competing for that final roster spot

Gustafsson, Mayfield, McIlrath, Gernat, Nurse, Musil ect.

Only one of these many different players can get that final spot. So the level at which they play will increase ten fold. To many years have players just been given roster spots they didn’t earn. This summer MacT changes that and makes players earn them. Not only on forward and defense. But that is why we have two goalies competing for the starting job in

Scrivens and Fasth

One has an expiring contract at the end of the year, the other the very next. So both will be playing as well as we have seen, just to prove they deserve to be the starter here. Competition is always good to bring out the absolute best in athletes. Every single aspect of this team will have a player pushing them. Plus the add of grit and experience is a plus. All this makes for a competitive team in the 2014-15 season and players finally reaching levels we all thought they could. Even maybe a fight for a playoffs spot, something we deserve and haven’t seen in seven years. Plus with a team cap hit of just over $62M, moves needed to tweak the roster can made. After the summer our training camp roster would look something like this:

Taylor Hall($6.0M)-Sean Couturier($1.75M)-David Perron($3.812M)

Scott Hartnell($4.75M)-Ryan Nugent-Hopkins($6.0M)-Jordan Eberle($6.0M)

Matt Hendricks($1.85M)-Boyd Gordon($3.0M)-Markus Foligno($2.0M)

Gadic/Howden($0.8M/$1.05M)-Cizikas/Adam($1.0M/$0.7M)-Tropp/Hayes($0.735M/$0.85M)

Martin Marincin($0.87M)-Matt Niskanen($5.5M)

Braydon Coburn($4.5M)-Justin Schultz($4.0M)

Andrew Ference($3.23M)-TBA, Salary anywhere from $0.6M(McIlrath) to $1.75M(Nurse)

Ben Scrivens($2.3M)-Viktor Fasth($2.9M)

All in all, a BOLD summer from MacT. Turning the Oilers from a Mickey Mouse organization into a decent hockey team. Now let’s just hope I’m right and he does architect a team along these lines. The names might change, but the right mix is key. Hopefully my damn Magic Eight ball is right…………

Thank you so much for reading. Give me a follow on twitter @shawn_kelemen and have a great day!