First-shot Scorer

by Lowetide

The Edmonton Oilers drafted some ridiculous offensive talent in the middle of this decade, made possible through drafting early for several years in a row. Will the next quality scorer come from another lottery pick? Or is there another way?

THE ATHLETIC!

The Athletic Edmonton features a fabulous cluster of stories (some linked below, some on the site). Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. Proud to be part of the group, here’s an incredible Offer!

  • New Lowetide: Adding a scorer will be Ken Holland’s first big move as Oilers GM
  • New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: What the Oilers’ depth chart looks like now and where they go from here
  • New Jonathan Willis: How often do goalies like the Oilers’ Mike Smith rebound?
  • New Lowetide: Ken Holland’s roster moves clear the way for Oilers top prospects Tyler Benson and Kailer Yamamoto.
  • New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: A deeper look at Mike Smith’s comments after signing with the Oilers
  • New Jonathan Willis: Oilers GM Ken Holland promises long-term rewards for an approach light on short-term improvements
  • New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Trade market now most likely place for Oilers to find scoring winger
  • New Lowetide: Oilers add free agent Markus Granlund, creating a crowded depth chart at left wing
  • New Jonathan Willis: Tomas Jurco is a nice little reclamation bet by the Oilers.
  • New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: How re-signing winger Alex Chiasson impacts the Oilers
  • New Lowetide: Oilers add Mike Smith to an uneasy goalie depth chart for 2019-20
  • Lowetide: Oilers buy out Andrej Sekera, look to a more dynamic free-agent frenzy.
  • Daniel Nugent-Bowman: ‘He comes as advertised’: Philip Broberg’s skating makes him development camp standout for Oilers
  • Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Oilers plan to skew younger on defence could open the door for Evan Bouchard, Dmitri Samorukov
  • Lowetide: Taking stock of Oilers prospects ready to graduate with a clear shot at an NHL job in 2019-20
  • Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects summer 2019.
  • Lowetide: Are these Jesse Puljujarvi’s final days with the Edmonton Oilers?
  • Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Ranking the Oilers’ trade assets from the high-priced diamonds to those needing fresh starts
  • Lowetide: Oilers GM Ken Holland is shopping for 20-goal scorers on a budget. What will he find?

RECENT DRAFTS

Using CHL draft picks only, and drawing the line at 2014, these Edmonton Oilers have drafted some dynamic scorers. Here are the top forwards drafted, their age on October 1 of their respective draft years, and their goals per game in their draft seasons.

No special credit for McDavid, I’ll give some for Leon (there were other noteworthy players available), that’s a wonderful head start for any team. Among the group who are still matriculating, Kailer Yamamoto and the recently drafted Raphael Lavoie showed best in their draft seasons. Yamamoto’s draft +1 season was .53 goals per game, Lavoie should be able to blow past it (I don’t think the Oilers will keep Lavoie for nine NHL games).

AHL ENTRY DEALS ’18-19

The Oilers would love to see one of these men emerge as a legit top-six option in the NHL, but none is certain of NHL success. This group reminds me of the 1999-00 Hamilton Bulldogs entry group, shown here:

Riesen scored well but your skilled men don’t spend a lot of time in the minors. The verbal about Yamamoto echoes Riesen’s reasons for not making it, but for me they are not similar players. Riesen was shy, Yamamoto is game but must play smart and stay healthy. He’s going to lose battles, but can win them too with quickness. Has to dial up the shots per 60, too.

Cleary and Chimera were the successes from this group, but Chimera started slowly. Cleary had already spent some time in the NHL and was trying to get his game together (he would eventually). I think the best bet among this year’s group is Benson, and Marody is fabulously talented but will need to make a push in the coming year.

CHIARELLI’S GRADUATING AHL CLASS 2015

Holland’s graduating class of AHL forwards in their entry deals should turn out better than the Peter Chiarelli bunch. None of these men had a chance at top-six forward NHL careers. I do think all of Benson, Marody and Yamamoto have a chance.

TAYLOR HALL’S CONTRACT

I’m going to be following the Hall contract proceedings in NJ all summer/fall and winter. I think there’s a non-zero chance Edmonton signs him or makes a trade and then grabs him on a long-term deal. If you can’t replace Hall, why not re-acquire him? Larry Brooks has some interesting insight.

THE HALL TRADE BAIT LIST?

Holy hell, it would have to be damned near everyone not named McDavid or Draisiatl. I’ll also pull back Nuge because the idea is to establish two outscoring lines.

After that? Some combination of Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse, Adam Larsson, Evan Bouchard, 2020 first-round pick, Jesse Puljujarvi, Tyler Benson? It’s just one year of Hall but it’s really several years of another forward who can push the river. What would the trade package look like? Suspect the 2020 first rounder would be a key piece.

MATEJ BLUMEL

The Draft Analyst (Steve Kournianos): Blumel is an athletic pivot with breakaway speed who plays an aggressive style with or without the puck. He is a minute eater used in all situations, including the penalty kill, where he is as dangerous a threat as he is at even strength or with the man advantage. Blumel’s speed, edgework and agility are excellent. He isn’t very big, but he handles shoves and harassing stickwork with relative ease as he charges towards the net. As if his scoring proclivity weren’t enough, Blumel also is an agitator who gets under an opponent’s skin.

191 comments
0

You may also like

0 0 votes
Article Rating
191 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Professor Q

Pouzar: A lot of Jets fans I know out here, even adjusting for contracts, have him a distant 3rd behind Laine and Connor. I think they are nuts.

Yes, my brother, who is a huge Jets fan, absolutely despises Ehlers. It’s similar to Leafs fans despising Gardiner.

I believe the sentiment was similar to seeing him as a rich, entitled, Danish wussy player (we’re Danish too, so it wasn’t xenophobic).

ArmchairGM

OriginalPouzar: Strome would be a solid pick-up for 3C and top 6 RW cover – solid cap hit point.

Of course, that’s not going to happen.

Strome was meh when here so I can’t get excited about bringing him back even though we do need a 3C. I’d do something with Winnipeg around Lowry for Russell and then go after Kreider using JP + pick/prospect.

Pouzar

who: Pretty good chance that Ehlers next 6 years are better than Halls as well.

A lot of Jets fans I know out here, even adjusting for contracts, have him a distant 3rd behind Laine and Connor. I think they are nuts.

jp

Lowetide:
New for The Athletic: What to do when Connor McDavid rests: The Oilers’ ideal No. 2 line for 2019-20

https://theathletic.com/1054001/2019/07/08/what-to-do-when-connor-mcdavid-rests-the-oilers-ideal-no-2-line-for-2019-20/

Man, that is bleak.

If Holland can bring in a real 3C the third line could split the heavy lifting.

Granlund-Boyle-Chiasson or the like could likely hold their own allowing some more air for Benson and/or Gagner on a second line that might score a little more.

I’m generally optimistic, but Lucic-RNH-Nygard as an ‘ideal’ 2nd line with the current roster makes that difficult (not that I disagree, just wow).

OriginalPouzar

ArmchairGM: Namestnikov is also available in NY and he’d even cheaper to acquire than Kreider.

Strome would be a solid pick-up for 3C and top 6 RW cover – solid cap hit point.

Of course, that’s not going to happen.

OriginalPouzar

who: If it takes Klefbom to get Hall, why not just trade him to Winnipeg for 6 years of Ehler at 6 million.
Pretty good chance that Ehlers next 6 years are better than Halls as well.
Hall is not the right target. But there are still so many broken hearts from the trade, that people just can’t move on.
.

I agree that Hall is not the right target – it has zero to do with his history as an Oiler, to me, that means nothing – it simply has to do with contract status, age (and relating injury and decline potential) and future contract.

I would love Hall for next year at $6M but the Oilers aren’t in a position to give up the required futures in order to acquire one year of Hall. Assuming healthy, Hall will be an elite player for a few more years but the next contract will run from 29-36/37 and is going to be $11M plus. I am generally against paying players for their declining 30s (even if there are a few high end years in there) and I do believe there is additional risk with Taylor given injury history and recurring risk.

ArmchairGM

YKOil: A signed Kreider, 5 years, would be a good pick-up

Namestnikov is also available in NY and he’d even cheaper to acquire than Kreider.

YKOil

ArmchairGM:
After having watched St Louis steamroll through the playoffs I’m more interested in Kreider as an acquisition target than Hall. We need more of that player type IMO. He’d likely work well with either McDavid or Nugent-Hopkins, making “pairs” an easy task for Tippett.

He’d be cheaper to acquire and extend, too – and might be willing to sign a 5 year deal whereas Hall will want 7. NYR needs cap space and is rebuilding so they’d be willing to take a pick/prospect/young player combo.

A signed Kreider, 5 years, would be a good pick-up.

FTR, Hall gets no more than $9.5m; injury history will hurt him.

HT Joe

pts2pndr: I believe that Holland is still hopeful of a deal moving Russel with retaining some salary.

I overlooked this scenario… I’m hopeful.

pts2pndr: I am of the belief that for the benefit of the team moving forward we need to see what we have in our young D before they lose their waver exempt status. Which of Jones, Lagesson and Bear should be kept and if we move one or more of these players what should be the return. As it stands I don’t believe we have enough information to make this decision.

Very good point. I’m going to try to keep that in mind. Thank you.

Drew

Old Timer:
All those who are dreaming of Hall returning to he Oilers, please give it a rest.

I honestly don’t see the locker room havinga healthy vibe with McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse and Hall thrown into the mix. This is McDavid,s team. He has earned it and he is their leader. Don’t screw it up with the return of Hall. He is a prima donna.

professional hockey people inside the organization and others were stunned at the trade.

Bulging Twine

JT Miller only .89 primary pts/60 that’s bad for a first round pick trade
a lot of second assists

Reja

texmex:
deardylan,

Speaking of CMD, apparently he’s started skating last week! That’s good news

On one leg are two still pissed there was no reply they should of stepped up and tuned sneaky Gio in. Lost a bit of respect for Kass and nurse and even Leon but nothing but Crickets it was embarrassing and they know it.

Foege Foegele Torpe

Old Timer:
All those who are dreaming of Hall returning to he Oilers, please give it a rest.

I honestly don’t see the locker room havinga healthy vibe with McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse and Hall thrown into the mix. This is McDavid,s team. He has earned it and he is their leader. Don’t screw it up with the return of Hall. He is a prima donna.

Screw what up?
The winning culture that is currently in place?
People like to argue that the Oilers didn’t win with Taylor Hall,
How are things going with Adam Larsson so far?
That being said I don’t have any time for Taylor Hall return to Edmonton proposals, they are just so far fetched and it makes little to no sense for the Oilers cap structure.

Reja

GMB3: I know like minimum 4 different people have explained this to you over the past week, but I’ll give it another shot.

Many fans were hoping the Oilers would sign a a more material player, with a history of being a top 6 player, in an effort to improve our forwards, specifically adding a player who can help the second line. Alex Chiasson is not this player.

Signing Chiasson essentially means we have not found a way to improve our second line from last season. “Running in place” some would say. After the Sekera buyout, the hope was the extra cap space was going to be used to find this player.

I would of been okay with making a play for Lehner/Mrazek/goalie

Holland’s tinkered with the bottom six, but signing Chiasson limits what we can do to find a top 6 guy.

If the over under is 14 goals I don’t care how he gets them, which line he is on, what his save pct is. chase at 2.2 mil is a save bet and he should be rewarded for his fantastic season last year. If he scores 20 plus will you become a Believer and join the Chase fan club with me and 19 other fine hockey knowledgeable folks. The time is now get in on the ground floor before he starts surprising people with his early season heater under The Main Man Tippett.

Reja

Jethro Tull: Yeah, I bet the Tampa Bay locker room is just pure poison.

Too soft. As the great Bill Murray once said That’s a fact jack.

who

Jordan:
The only NHL calibre asset the OIlers have with the term and value to trade straight up for 1 year of Hart trophy Hall outside of the untouchables right now is Klefbom.I’m not convinced trading Kelfbom for Hall without having negotiated a contract extension is worthwhile, and i expect if he would sign a contract extension while in Jersey, he wouldn’t be traded anyways.

As such, I would be quite surprised if it happened.

However, I’d consider it.I bet Shero would too, it he hasn’t signed an extension.

If it takes Klefbom to get Hall, why not just trade him to Winnipeg for 6 years of Ehler at 6 million.
Pretty good chance that Ehlers next 6 years are better than Halls as well.
Hall is not the right target. But there are still so many broken hearts from the trade, that people just can’t move on.
.

OmJo

GMB3: I was being facetious. I don’t think anyone was too upset about having coffey, Messier, Kurri, Anderson, and Gretz

IIRC, one of the narratives justifying the Hall trade was that it was needed to give McDavid the team lol

GMB3

Jethro Tull: So your premise is not to have too many good players because everyone knows good players have ego problems?

I was being facetious. I don’t think anyone was too upset about having coffey, Messier, Kurri, Anderson, and Gretz

texmex

deardylan,

Speaking of CMD, apparently he’s started skating last week! That’s good news

Tesla's Hair

Only Hall im worried about is CMD raising the cup on his way to the Hall.

BONE207

Jethro Tull: Sorry, sarcasm detector broken. You can detect tone through written word?

Sure can…wait…maybe it was my Richter scale I looked at. Anyway it reads like a DeathMarch post.

OmJo

OriginalPouzar: It shouldn’t leave any sort of bad taste in the mouth though – Leonard waiting made zero difference to the Raptors’ ability to sign other free agents – they had the ability to sign internal free agents but not external due to the way the cap works in the NBA – they are over the cap and had zero money for anyone non-Raptor.

I get that.

I mean him leaving while pretending he was even considering the Raptors as an option and using them as leverage against the Clippers.

ArmchairGM

After having watched St Louis steamroll through the playoffs I’m more interested in Kreider as an acquisition target than Hall. We need more of that player type IMO. He’d likely work well with either McDavid or Nugent-Hopkins, making “pairs” an easy task for Tippett.

He’d be cheaper to acquire and extend, too – and might be willing to sign a 5 year deal whereas Hall will want 7. NYR needs cap space and is rebuilding so they’d be willing to take a pick/prospect/young player combo.

OriginalPouzar

OmJo: Leaves a bittersweet feeling in your mouth. Though admittedly him trying to screw the Lakers out of AD was hilarious.

It shouldn’t leave any sort of bad taste in the mouth though – Leonard waiting made zero difference to the Raptors’ ability to sign other free agents – they had the ability to sign internal free agents but not external due to the way the cap works in the NBA – they are over the cap and had zero money for anyone non-Raptor.

OriginalPouzar

GMB: Is a 40-50 point Taylor Hall at 35 more value at 10.5 mill (complete speculation on the $, I have no idea) than a 31 year old, 6 million dollar, 20 point Milan Lucic?

May I ask what in the world the current awful contract has to do with committing to another long term contract that has huge risk of under-performance for a large portion of it.

We should sign a contract with a material risk that may very well turn bad because we’ve already been dealing with a worse one?

That sound like a terrible rational, at least in my opinion.

Bulging Twine

Primary points per 60:

Dzingel 1.59
Lindberg 1.59
Vanek 1.44
Currie 1.32 (21 gp)
RNH 1.14
Khaira 1.11
Granlund .89
Eriksson .86
Lucic .84
Maroon .81
Paajarvi .61
Puljujarvi .57
Brodziak .53

Hairbag

I believe the search for another top six forward is the number 1 goal for Holland right now. 3C can be filled (although maybe not ideally) by a number of candidates already on the roster. I think the Sekera buyout was to give flexibility in the event that a trade with one of the cap strapped teams might be consummated and the Oilers would have the ability to take on more salary than goes the other way. Getting someone like Ehlers from Winnipeg while sending back a lower salary with a prospect and a pick seems like a possibility……….likely other teams that could benefit from some cap relief as well. Game of possum to get the best deal…….Holland has mentioned that he sees the trade route as the only remaining possibility.

OmJo

Jethro Tull: Kawhi, both hero and villain. If he’d made his decision earlier, Toronto could have chased someone else…..

Leaves a bittersweet feeling in your mouth. Though admittedly him trying to screw the Lakers out of AD was hilarious.

Bulging Twine

Bulging Twine:
I’m having trouble finding primary points/60
help?

ah think i’ve found it, corsicahockey.com

Bulging Twine

I’m having trouble finding primary points/60
help?

pts2pndr

HT Joe: Ok, I think I better understand your perspective.

I’m a big fan of incremental improvements… does Sekera on the team make it better by some small margin?If so, I’m inclined to keep him.I think if Sekera is on a team that makes many improvements (many minor) over a duration of time, at some point, Sekera would be on a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.My concern is “does buying out Sekera to make room for defensive prospects make the team better right now”, and if the answer is “no”, then I’m against the move since it gets the team further from the playoffs.

I recognize the concept of short term pain, long term gain, but I typically struggle with supporting it if there is somehow another move that presents “lateral move, long term gain”.For example, if we needed short term cap relief, this reference is indicating a cap saving of $3M for buying out Kris Russel (https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout-calculator/kris-russell#results)… I recognize that cap savings on 2020-2021 is significantly lower, but the cap addition in the subsequent 2 years is reduced by ~$600k (if more cap space is needed in 2020-2021, maybe the cap goes up or maybe the Oilers don’t re-sign / move other players next off-season).I could be totally wrong, but I’d rather take a chance on Sekera remaining a smart puck-moving professional, as opposed to hoping for Kris Russell to suddenly be able to positively drive the 2nd pairing.

Circling back to my point, if Sekera flourishes in Dallas, I’ll likely be joined by a loud chorus, disappointed by Holland’s first major move.

I believe that Holland is still hopeful of a deal moving Russel with retaining some salary. There may also be the thought that Russel is the better insurance for both right or left second pairing D than Sekera. It could be as simple as they were unwilling to risk Sekera getting injured again. There are a multitude of possibilities. I am of the belief that for the benefit of the team moving forward we need to see what we have in our young D before they lose their waver exempt status. Which of Jones, Lagesson and Bear should be kept and if we move one or more of these players what should be the return. As it stands I don’t believe we have enough information to make this decision.

Munny

OriginalPouzar: If I remember correctly, his numbers while on the 3rd pairing were very good – highly positive – however he did get caved when moved up.

Nope.

While facing the QualComp one would expect a 7/8 defenseman or a heavily sheltered rookie to be given, he didn’t finish with a positive goal differential (14f-15a), nor positive in Corsi orFenwick, while playing most commonly with Nuge and Draisaitl as his forwards. That’s at EVs this past year. The prior year was even worse.

He was close this past year, for sure, but was given all the help one could possibly give a defenseman just to get close to not losing the possession or goal battle.

Jordan

The only NHL calibre asset the OIlers have with the term and value to trade straight up for 1 year of Hart trophy Hall outside of the untouchables right now is Klefbom. I’m not convinced trading Kelfbom for Hall without having negotiated a contract extension is worthwhile, and i expect if he would sign a contract extension while in Jersey, he wouldn’t be traded anyways.

As such, I would be quite surprised if it happened.

However, I’d consider it. I bet Shero would too, it he hasn’t signed an extension.

OriginalPouzar

Responding to the following from Jethro Tull:

The question of Chaisson is “is he a CONSISTENT 14 goal scorer?”

Especially away from McDavid and no.PP time.

I’ll bet he regresses to what he is; a serviceable 4th line banger.

______________________________

I would hope that Chiasson would play away from McDavid given they weren’t great together (he scored 7 of his 5 on 5 goals with Drai, 3 with McDavid).

Why does he have to get no PP time. He has shown an ability to perform in the role and, frankly, are there better right shot shoot first options on the roster?

To say no PP time is simply trying to pigeon hole him in to a role that won’t produce even when he has shown the ability to produce in the role – he deserves the chance for some PP time to see if there is a bit of repeatable skill there.

Unlike his 5 on 5 scoring rates, his PP scoring rates were decent.

OriginalPouzar

JethroTull: No. No. He could have let them know his decision earlier. Earlier the better.

It didn’t matter – they didn’t have the cap space to sign anyone from another team but only their own free agents. They were over the cap and only had the ability to sign internal free agents. The cap system in the NBA is not the same as in the NHL.

Even if Leonard told them the day the playoffs ended he was leaving, it would not have mattered – they did not have cap space for external free agents.

Jethro Tull

OriginalPouzar: Actually, this is not true.

They could sign Leonard as their own free agent but they did not have the cap room to sign anyone from an external team

No. No. He could have let them know his decision earlier. Earlier the better.

Bulging Twine

As it stands now at FW there is a lot of competition for quite a few roster spots. This is not Washington or Tampa where the lineup is pretty much set.

Will be interesting who steps up.

Interesting looking at scoring rates – Currie’s gaols/60 and first assists/60 are better than you’d think because he only averaged 8:43 ice time per game.
His first assists per 60 were 5th (small sample size)
Khaira btw was 3rd. I think that he can find guys in shooting spots, would be great to put him with a player that can get open and has a good shot.

Granlund isn’t much of a playmaker it appears

Reja

My 3 favourite teams at the moment are the Rangers, White Sox and padres. Hell yea!

OriginalPouzar

Jethro Tull: Kawhi, both hero and villain. If he’d made his decision earlier, Toronto could have chased someone else…..

Actually, this is not true.

They could sign Leonard as their own free agent but they did not have the cap room to sign anyone from an external team

Jethro Tull

BONE207: Jethro…

I don’t like your tone. Have you been hanging out with Hunter?

Sorry, sarcasm detector broken. You can detect tone through written word?

OriginalPouzar

Jethro Tull: Kawhi, both hero and villain. If he’d made his decision earlier, Toronto could have chased someone else…..

Actually, this is not true.

They could sign Leonard as their own free agent but they did not have the cap room to sign anyone from an external team

BONE207

Jethro Tull: We get Hall, buy him out then get more bottom six talent.

Jethro…

I don’t like your tone. Have you been hanging out with Hunter?

Gerta Rauss

Bulging Twine: Which just happens to be Loui Eriksson’s birthday

I wonder when Eriksson’s bonus is payable -it’s bigger ($4M) than Lucic’s ($3M)

OriginalPouzar

leadfarmer: Will see about Jurco but plenty of players his age have killed the Ahl competition and can’t sniff a drop in the NHL and he has those back injuries.Hope he does well but don’t think he bats in top 6 even on a poor team.

Also I don’t see Halls injury issues as big of a deal as most.If you can get a player of his caliber or Stones caliber this last year you do it.I would try to talk him down to 10 mil per
In 6 years 10 mil a year isn’t going to be too bad.Once new tv deal is signed cap will go up quickly again and top players will be signing 20 mil a year contracts.

Even without the injury history (which I do think is a big deal), I’m not in to signing players to big money for their 30s – Hall will be 29 a month in to the first season of that contract and I’m sure its going to be 7 or 8 years. Cap increasing in the future or not, I like to keep powder dry to pay big money for player’s prime years.

Marc

I don’t live in Edmonton, so I don’t know connected people or hear Oilers related things. Our host here does live in Edmonton, knows connected people and hears things however, so if he says that there’s a non-zero chance that the Oilers reacquire Hall then I’m inclined tend to take it seriously.

I would note though, that for a trade to be a realistic possibility two things have to happen:
1. New Jersey has to be far enough out of contention in February for there to be no realistic shot at the playoffs; and
2. The Oilers are not just fighting for a playoff spot, but actually look like they could win a round or two.

I can’t see Shero trading Hall unless he’s absolutely sure that they season’s sunk and that Hallisn’t coming back. And I can’t see Holland giving up assets for what would be by far the most attractive rental on the market unless he thinks he has a team that’s one player away from being a serous Cup contender.

And if this Oilers team is just one elite player away from being a serous Cup contender in February, then it means that pretty much every one of Holland’s bets this summer has paid off – Koskinen and Smith both provided above average goal tending, one of the AHL jumps straight into the top 4 and pushes Russell down to the third pairing with Benning, three scoring wingers emerge to play with McDavid, Drai and Nuge and the bottom six are outscoring their opposite numbers.

In that (highly, highly unlikely) scenario, what’s going to New Jersey for Hall probably isn’t any of those successful bets. GMs tend not to want to subtract too much from a winning team. I suspect it’s something like a first round pick and two decent pieces drawn from whatever’s left in the minor leagues.

godot10

Jethro Tull: Kawhi, both hero and villain. If he’d made his decision earlier, Toronto could have chased someone else…..

Toronto was going to blowup the team before Kawhi. After Kawhi, they will blow up the team and rebuild. They have nearly $80 million coming off of their cap after next season. All the guys with one year left Ibaka, Lowry, Gasol will be trade candidate near the deadline or sooner this coming season.

If Kawhi had stayed it would have been a different strategy,

They should have a playoff calibre team next season depending on the timing of the departure of the expiriing contracts.

Foege Foegele Torpe

Reja: Did you see theopenly groupie following Seguin has. I’m surprised he has the energy to play.

Ha,
Who says you have to go to the gym to get your cardio work in

BONE207

Silver Streak:
tileguy,

Programs…Programs…getcher Programs here….

This year we will be needing a program…..We know our rookie D men will be exposed to waivers next year…this is the last year we will have the luxury of seeing them in NHL action…..

1. Bouchard
2. Bear
3. Lagason
4. Person
5. Caleb Jones
6. Samorukov

add to that our recent forward signings:

7. Granlund
8. Jurco
9. Haas
10. Nygard

add to that our forwards from the Bake

11. Gambardella
12. Benson
13. Maksimov

A Program will be necessary :

Hey, how about a pool on how many NHL games we have one of these guys in the lineup this year.

If it’s me, at least one of these guys are playing every game this year. Learning what we can, guiding each one through the season & try them again.

Get good players, keep good players. We’ve got some. Which do we keep?

Bulging Twine

Silver Streak:
tileguy,

We know our rookie D men will be exposed to waivers next year…

So, if the top 5 are set, there are 7 players fighting for 2 D spots.

Manning
Persson
Bouchard
Samorukov
Lagesson
Jones
Bear

5 if Holland follows through on his marinating in the minors plan.

4 if you exclude Manning

Will be great to watch who takes the spots.

Those young D must have got a little more excited when Sekera was bought out.

It’ll be a big year in those guys career