We got some news yesterday, Elliotte Friedman’s 31 Thoughts detailing Edmonton’s interest in OEL and Kuemper, Frank Seravalli delivering the latest on Andreas Athanasiou and the organization’s thought process.
THE ATHLETIC!
I’m proud to be writing for The Athletic, and pleased to be part of a great team with Daniel Nugent-Bowman and Jonathan Willis. Here is our recent work.
- New Lowetide: Ken Holland and Dave Tippett’s past players: Can any help the Oilers?
- Lowetide: Roster projections for Oilers, including trade and free agent targets
- Jonathan Willis: Why the Oilers should buy out James Neal
- Lowetide: Oilers approach 2020 draft with increased depth in important positions
- Lowetide: For Oilers prospect Tyler Benson, the past can be inspiration
- Lowetide: Stock Watch: Hot starts and safe landings for Oilers prospects
- Jonathan Willis: There are no good shortcuts for the Oilers with Jesse Puljujarvi
- Lowetide: Potential trades and partners for the Oilers’ offseason
- Lowetide: The Oilers could find a world-class agitator in the draft
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Should the Oilers select goalie Yaroslav Askarov 14th at the NHL Draft?
- Lowetide: A bold draft strategy for the Oilers in 2020
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers third-line centre search should include other teams’ cap casualties
- Lowetide: Dealing a defenceman? Taking stock of Oilers’ blueline assets
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Oilers prospect Raphael Lavoie has opted for Europe. Will others follow suit?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Q&A: Oilers GM Ken Holland on improving internally, the flat cap and goaltending
- Jonathan Willis: Can the Oilers find value picks among the 2020 NHL Draft’s impressive Russians?
- Lowetide: 10 free agent targets for the Oilers this offseason
- Lowetide: What if the Oilers went scorched earth in front of 2020 free agency?
- Lowetide: Oilers Top 20 Prospects, Summer 2020
- Jonathan Willis: Unqualified RFAs could be top offseason targets for the Oilers
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Who stays? Who goes? The most likely players to stay with and leave the Oilers
$5 Million
What could Ken Holland get with that $5 million? Well, Tyler Johnson has four years left at that number, he remains a reasonable offensive center-wing (1.79, 1.92 and 1.80 in his last three seasons five on five scoring).
Holland could trade the No. 14 pick for Darcy Kuemper straight up, although it would mean running Bouchard in Benning’s old spot and looking internally for a replacement for Athanasiou.
That’s a conversation we could have now, today. Evan Bouchard replaces Matt Benning, what do you lose? Benning is a consistent player, and has been on the ice for five on five outscoring all four seasons with Edmonton. Oilers save $1 million with this move.
Who replaces AA? Oilers have Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as the No. 1 left winger, he scored 2.23 points per 60 five on five and a 57 percent on-ice goal differential in the discipline. That’s good. The rest of the LW depth chart is likely to house two of James Neal, Joakim Nygard and Tyler Benson. That’s not close to good enough on lines 2-4. That’s why Holland brought in Ennis and Athanasiou:
Bring back Athanasiou? Frank Seravalli’s piece tells us Holland is looking to move AA and “teams are thinking he’ll let Athanasiou walk for nothing in the absence of a QO, limiting the return on a trade for his rights.” Rock, meet hard place.
What about Ennis? It would be great to bring him back on a $1 million deal, but if you look at his 2019-20 season it’s likely there will be significant interest in the player across the league.
Could Holland cash Jesse Puljujarvi for real help on left wing? I don’t think the big Finn has that kind of value.
What about the RFA’s who will get cut loose? We don’t know the names of those who will be set free, so here are the young LW RFA’s waiting for contracts: Jake DeBrusk, Boston; Dominik Kahun, Buffalo; Victor Olofsson, Buffalo; Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit; Anthony Mantha, Detroit; Max Domi, Montreal; Anthony Duclair, Ottawa; Ilya Mikheyev, Toronto; Warren Foegele, Carolina; Jesper Bratt, New Jersey; Dominik Kubalik, Chicago; Drake Caggiula, Chicago; Tyson Jost, Colorado; Andre Burakovsky, Colorado; Valeri Nichushkin, Colorado; Roope Hintz, Dallas; Denis Gurianov, Dallas; Mason Appleton, Winnipeg; Danton Heinen, Anaheim; Andrew Mangiapane, Calgary; Andreas Athanasiou, Edmonton; Nikolai Prokhorkin, Los Angeles; Kevin Lebanc, San Jose; Chandler Stephenson, Vegas.
Holland has to decide what to do in the coming weeks and then proceed accordingly. I’d suggest signing Ennis to a value deal would have made sense but remember he was hurt and the player acquired on left wing needs to be ready. Getting Athanasiou signed looks unlikely. This is going to be fun. A reminder of my list of Holland’s priorities: Goalie, No. 3 center, winger for McDavid. Based on the Friedman news, looks like a No. 1 defenseman is on Holland’s list as well.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10 this morning, we hit the ground running on the Lowdown. Steve Lansky from ‘Inside the Truck’ podcast and BigMouthSports will talk about the delayed replay of last night’s winning goal, the best way to approach a pandemic NHL entry draft broadcast and the Raptors place in Canadian sports history. Matt Iwanyk from TSN1260 will pop in at 11 to talk Raps, NFL Week 2, Ken Holland’s deadline deals and what they mean for the coming offseason. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
Broberg with a goal! 1G 2A on the night with a fucking amazing PP night for them!
Broberg adds a second assist early in the 2nd – wow, what a start to the year.
Unfriendly Regional Arachnid Individual,
Correction: PP expired JUST before the goal. So even strength but pretty much a PP goal. Good to see that PP unit finding success with Broberg as it speaks to a solid likelihood it’ll stay together keeping Broberg there.
Unfriendly Regional Arachnid Individual,
At least it looked like it. Skelleftea’s PP is 3/3 so far tonight.
Another assist for Broberg just off a PP
Nothing spectacular on the Broberg assist but a nice job walking the line and then a nice pass back against the grain:
https://twitter.com/cmoresport/status/1307314523070771200
So you refuse to admit that your statement was just wrong – this isn’t an opinion, where there is no right and wrong, this is a factual matter and, once again, you show your inability to admit you were wrong on the facts – very non-adult like but you do you.
The courting period has been terminated starting with this coming season – teams cannot talk to players under contract with other teams (without permission) until October 9.
Since 2013, yes, there has been the courting period but it has been terminated int he negotiations this summer.
Broberg with his 1st point of the season – an assist on the PP.
2-0 Skelleftea in the first.
Great to see Bro on the PP…..
Go Bro (listed as 1LD):
https://twitter.com/skelleftea_aik/status/1307277643025461251?s=20
As it turns out, Lavoie is leaving Rogule and won’t play for the team.
There is a free agent negotiating period where any UFA player not signed 7 days in advance of the free agent deadline can begin talks with any team, This clause came into effect in 2012-13.
Your original point was the Flames are going hard after Markstrom must be false or we can anticipate the Flames are about to face league sanctions.
Good opportunity to test my Swedish reading comprehension!
“[Skipping the line about the 19-year old F not playing in the days match]
As per sources from SportExpressen, he’ll be leaving Rogle and won’t be playing in tonight’s match against Linkoping.
Their GM says: “He won’t be with us tonight, but other than that, I have no comments (on the matter)”.
[Skip the line about his OIlers contract]
The though was that he’d get a role on the team, but Rogle now has the opportunity to break the agreement before he SHL premiere.
With only hours remaining before puck drop(?) against Linkoping, they’ll use that opportunity.”
Sounds like the usual GM speak about such a scenario. If I had to guess, maybe he’s just not comfortable moving across the ocean and playing hockey in a foreign country. It’s hardly an easy thing- especially for a 20 year old.
Report of Lavoie apparently leaving Rogle today, before the start of the regular season. No Google translate on this article, maybe some help from Swedishposter on this one?
https://www.expressen.se/kvallsposten/sport/hockey/shl/talangen-lamnar-rogle-timmar-fore-shl-premiaren/
Tell you what.
On October 9th, we’ll count the number of free agent contracts announced in the first hour of free agency.
Then you can explain how those contracts were negotiated and sent to the league office for approval, we’re approved and the teams and players notified by the league and the team’s PR departments wrote and distributed press releases.
I look forward to your admission of….
That would certainly explain a lot of things.
By working on his skating…..
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GoCQliLMXe5UU_k4xlDbNEUvWYt493bK/view
Extension of Expiring Contracts
• Upon agreement of an adjusted Critical Dates Calendar for the remainder of the 2019-20 League Year
and subject to the paragraph immediately below, all SPCs which are scheduled to expire on June 30,
2020 shall be hereby extended, and such expiring SPCs shall remain valid and effective until the day
before the opening of Free Agency as set out in the adjusted Critical Dates Calendar or such other date
as mutually agreed upon by the NHL and NHLPA.
————
I look forward to your admission of error.
Does that mean Harrison Katz is making the picks?
Free agency opens on October 9 – contracts run until midnight on October 8.
Teams are not at liberty to talk to players under contract on other teams until that time, unless granted express permission.
You are simply wrong.
Buying out Russell only saves $1M on the cap this year (and adds the extra year with $500K dead cap hit).
He bought out Sekera ostensibly to clear cap to sign Brett Connolly.
Then he used most of the cap savings to pay Chiasson.
He could have just traded Benning and given his 13 minutes per game to Sekera reducing the duration and pain of the buyout.
Just downloaded the new version of Safari.
This website had 8 trackers on my case in a minute.
All blocked.
He had a $5.5 million cap hit for 2019-20 and 2020-21, plus a no trade clause that sliced out half the league as a trade option. Plus he had played a total of 62 of a possible 164 games over two seasons, looking quite a bit less than the Sekera we saw in 2016-17.
I’m case you guys haven’t noticed our resident troll is pretty much clueless on every subject
Not even Ahl trolling anymore
No they bought out Sekera to make room for the young players. Holland said that himself earlier this year
Yes, it really is.
The NHL extended all contracts until October 31 because they needed to ensure players could get visas in the playoffs.
Now free agency is October 9th but there has been no new agreement with the NHLPA.
Do you think teams will wait until Halloween?
Did they buy out Sekera because of injury worries?
Because, if not that, why not just buy out the starfish cowboy?
Oh, I see – yup.
Who on earth were you going to trade the $5.5M shell of Andrej Sekera to?
He got $1.5M + bonuses on the open market. There’s no chance anyone was taking him for $5.5M X 2 years.
SHL regular season starts tomorrow and I’m super pumped with so many Oilers’ prospects (and an established NHL player) starting their seasons. Tomorrow we have the following in action:
Skelefteea: Broberg
Farjestad: Nygard
Rogule: Lavoie (hopefully – I think his contract was just a tryout – I anticipate he is on the team)
Linkoping: Berglund
Really pumped to see how Berglund and Broberg do – both these guys may effect the Oilers roster soon than later in 2021/22 in my opinion (maybe even after their seasons end in Sweden this year – AHL/NHL).
HockeyAllsvenskan doesn’t start its regular season until October so still need to wait a bit for Bouch
Because like a fat kid on a piece of Black Forest Cake there’s a couple of posters who are relentlessly hoping Benson fails in his bid to carve out a career in Edmonton.
Since JOFA’s been going on about him ending up there, and has Holland sent him on a plane yet, etc.
No, it really isn’t.
Also, I’m not so sure that the Canucks would give the flames permission to talk to their elite level caliber goalie. The Hurricanes, sure, maybe, the flames, seems a bit unlikely.
Well, prior to now there was a 5 day courting period under the existing CBA.
With that said, yes, teams have and do give permission to other teams to talk to their players – if they reach an agreement, a pick traded for the rights can be negotiated.
What is clear though is that that is not what you thought was the case – you statement the contract was over when the nucks were eliminated. That is wrong and you refuse to admit it but are trying to convince the rest that you didn’t mean what you said.
Man up, admit the mistake and move on – what do you say?
Because they are allowed to negotiate freely the week before free agency is official.
Otherwise what’s the point for trading for the rights of a player if everyone can just negotiate with them at any time
Why did Montreal trade for Edmundson rights? They could have just come to a verbal agreement
The contracts are not allowed to be announced until July 1st but most are agreed that week before
That team’s current GM has real quality record in that time though.
This is practically true.
Doesn’t matter to me if you believe it or not.
Blind squirrel meet nut…14 years ago,
How did Ken Holland have an effect on the team’s play in August?
He didn’t change anything from March to August.
This may or may not be true but the answer you provided to the question was 100% wrong. “Markstrom’s contract expired the day the Canucks was eliminated” – that is simply wrong and I hope you can admit that, can you? You haven’t been able to in the past.
What you said is simply not what you have changed your reasoning too (which is essentially, they would give permission to teams to talk contract with him).
You mean the same Kevin Lowe that used the newly introduced cap ramifications to acquire Pronger and Peca in the off-season and Roloson, Samsanov, Spachek and Tanstrom in-season to take the team to Game 7 of the SCF?
Not to mention we are talking about an improving 26 year old signed for his prime versus a regressing 30 year old signed for term for his early 30s.
This year’s off-season will not resemble last year’s off-season in so many ways.
So many teams need to divest of cap just to keep their team togehter, let along teams that need to dispose of cap for internal budget reasons, etc. Combine that with very few teams that have cap room to bring in contract.
This year’s market will be novel.
Hold Montreal trades a 5th to get to talk to 3rd pairing UFA defenseman. But Vancouver is giving that privilege for one of the best goalies in the league for free.
A bit …..naive?
They do it all the time.
How do you think free agent contracts are announced 5 minutes after free agency opens?
Magic?
To add (in particular given the original reference to his OT assist): Sekera’s game also includes no offence at all any more.
In his post-injury Oilers career – 60-0-12-12.
In his Dallas Stars career regular season and playoffs – 78-2-7-9. The OT assist was his only point of the playoffs.
This is not the same player the Oilers signed back in 2015. Hope he wins a cup, but I have no issue with the buyout either.
– I don’t buy the “they had to bring up the kids”, as an excuse to excuse a massive anchor blackhole buyout for many years
– Have your cake and eat it: bring back healthy Sek, trade him in season, and also bring up the kids.
– It was poor asset management. I get why it can be rationalized, but it stings big time, and will for years. After 15 games into season, he was way more tradeable than the awful Green for a 3rd
– Also an easy target though: a injured guy who was brought in by the fired guy