Fall is coming. That means PTO’s and invites and the beginning of the compilation of lists for rookie and main camps.
There is a small amount of news today, along with a Devin Shore photograph that allows fans to speculate he might also be on a PTO or perhaps a two-way contract. The news (via Bob Stauffer) is that Brandon Sutter will be in Oilers camp on a PTO. There’s two surprising elements. First, Sutter hasn’t played hockey in a couple of years with Covid related issues. Second, this is another, and maybe last, opportunity for the Oilers to employ the first Sutter in franchise history. The Sutter parents raised an entire roster of hockey players and the family is now multi-generational. The Oilers have steadfastly looked the other way. For decades. Perhaps this is the icebreaker.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: What Blackhawks can learn from Oilers about winning with a generational talent
- Lowetide: For Oilers in 2023-24, a more aggressive in-season approach is likely
- Lowetide: Why skating ability has such an impact on NHL Draft scouting and success
- Lowetide: What Oilers’ Jeff Jackson hire could mean for front-office’s future
- Lowetide: The 5 most impressive NHL offseason moves and what they mean for 2023-24
- Lowetide: Oilers sign forward Ryan McLeod to 2-year extension: What it means for Edmonton
- Lowetide: Connor McDavid, the Art Ross and challenging Wayne Gretzky’s record
- Lowetide: How Oilers’ pro scouting upgrade helped elevate team in 2022-23
- Lowetide: Projecting Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard’s points for 2023-24
- Lowetide: Oilers’ graduate a strong group of prospects to pro this fall
- Lowetide: Oilers’ late-summer options intriguing with cap crunch and lingering UFAs
- Lowetide: What are the Edmonton Oilers’ keys to success in 2023-24?
- Lowetide: How Oilers’ veteran roster, cap issues could impact Raphael Lavoie
- Lowetide: What the Oilers are getting in 2023 NHL Draft pick Beau Akey
- Lowetide: Oilers’ baffling 2016 draft takes another hit
- Lowetide: Jay Woodcroft is (still) the right man to coach the Edmonton Oilers
- Lowetide: Oilers’ roster utility for 2023-24 could use a final tweak
- DNB: The Oilers roster is improved but evolution must continue into next season
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers top 20 prospects, summer 2023
- DNB: 10 questions with director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright
CERTAIN OILERS (20)
The roster is basically set. This group will come in with $1,057,500 in cap room if Bouchard signs at $4M, and $1,557,500 if he signs at $3.5M. If he signed for the lower number, Edmonton could add two more players at $775,000. I suspect we’ll see a number somewhere in the middle, and a 21-man opening night roster. I doubt this list changes until the very last minute, with one addition likely, maybe more if injuries hit.
UNCERTAIN OILERS (9)
I think one of these nine could make opening night, with a PTO or late trade also possible. Raphael Lavoie is the most likely, that will increase if Bouchard signs for much of anything past $3.5M in the coming days. I think the least likely are Calvin Pickard, Greg McKegg, Brad Malone and Seth Griffith. James Hamblin probably doesn’t have enough to push Lane Pederson down the depth chart and of course there are other centers who will be pushing.
DISTANT BELLS (15)
Brandon Sutter is suddenly the feature name here, he is 34 with size (190) and has a reputation for being a solid two-way center. He is not a burner, missed the last two seasons due to long Covid and is a long shot’s long shot. I like the thinking though. Look everywhere.
PTO’S
I think we can assume the high-end talent still available in free agency (Tomas Tatar, etc) won’t be forced to sign a $1M deal for one season. So I won’t mention them as possible signings and PTO additions. Since we last talked about veterans coming in on invites, several have signed, we have the news on Sutter and Devin Shore is hanging out with a gaggle of Oilers so he may be in camp, too. Here’s my list of players, in order, I’d like to see in camp one way or another.
- LD Nick Holden. For me, he’s the top option now. The Oilers are clearly going for it but already have questions on defense. Holden could play 50+ games as a No. 7 defenseman. He would be an astute signing.
- LC Paul Stastny. He’s a veteran center with a fine resume and good results. He’ll get more money from other teams but a grand chance at Stanley with Edmonton. Ranks here because he’s the best of what Edmonton needs.
- RD Ethan Bear. I think he can help. If Bear signs for $775,000, Edmonton could run eight defensemen in a rotation. You can never have too many RH defensemen and if he’s healthy Bear is absolutely top three RHD on this Oilers team, possibly higher depending on Ceci.
- LD Caleb Jones. He’s more mobile than Markus Niemelainen and a better player. Let’s start there. He has NHL experience and some crappy team will sign him and then deal Jones to a team like Edmonton at the deadline. Cut ouf the middle man, sign him now.
- LW Max Comtois. I haven’t mentioned him before because the Oilers don’t need a LW, but he’s still out there and could play high enough in the lineup to help if he’s signed to a reasonable deal. Could be a Warren Foegele replacement if the Oilers decide to deal the incumbent winger. I don’t believe they will.
- LC Pius Suter. I’ve looked at the numbers and he played well in the middle for a team that struggled. I believe he’s an upgrade on Lane Pederson, and is faster than Devin Shore.
- RW Jesse Puljujarvi is injured right now or he’d be at the top of the list. He had two strong seasons after coming back from the Liiga and then struggled in 2022-23. He was traded, continued to have issues and we found out in the offseason he needed more hip surgery. I’d sign him to a low-cost deal and then LTIR him until ready.
- RC Colin White: He is a center but doesn’t win faceoffs. For some of you that’s a mortal sin, I’m more forgiving and like players who score and help outscore five-on-five. He’s not great (1.38 pts-60; 50 pct goal share; 47 pct expected goal share) at either but those numbers might spike in Edmonton.
- LW Noah Gregor. He can score goals and his overall resume is worth a PTO or contract. He’s 178 games into his career and is averaging 12-12-24 per 82 games. He can play.
- RW Tyler Motte is 5-10, 192 pounds and an aggressive forechecker with speed. I don’t see him as an option at center.
- LW Anders Bjork is two-way winger who had an uneven season but saw many sights. I’ve always liked him but his resume is inconsistent and I don”t know if he’d make the Oilers.
Odd trade today.
Carolina send Massimo Rizzo of Denver with a 5th to Philly for 26 YO David Kase, who is not an NHL player.
Some speculation by Flyers fans that it was related to the DeAngelo transaction and Philly also needed to move out a contract.
I watched him quite a bit and I think Rizzo is a future NHLer. Certainly he has landed in a great spot.
Yeah it does look like payment for buying out DeAngelo.
Jon Willis with an interesting thread,
Jonathan Willis
@JonathanWillis
2023 NHL playoffs, average defenceman age (weighted by TOI):
1. TOR: 31.5 (2nd rd.)
2. CAR: 30.5 (3rd rd.)
3. VGK: 29.9 (SC)
4. FLA: 29.5 (4th rd.)
5. WPG: 29.2 (1st rd.)
6. DAL: 29.1 (3rd rd.)
7. SEA: 28.9 (2nd rd.)
The youngest nine teams won only two rounds combined.
https://twitter.com/JonathanWillis/status/1689446679689506816?s=20
If he had analyzed 50 years of data, it might be a useful analysis. But this is like drawing the numbers one through sixteen out of hat, and most of the high numbers came out first.
Late last week or on the weekend, a few were mentioning rumours that the Oilers and Bouchard had already signed his next contract. Unless Ken Holland is channeling his inner Lou Lamoriello, that would seem not to be the case.
If I’m not mistaken (and I stand to be corrected) that was one fairly random tweet, no?
Speaking of the Chicago Blackhawks. The lack of the negative cap recapture penalty aka bonus cap space from Keith retiring was really disappointing.
Holland would have been a legend if he had freed up $3.4 m in bonus cap space last season.
The negative cap recapture penalty is NOT something contemplated in the relevant provisions of the CBA.
Not sure if this was posted earlier or not.
The Canadiens have hired former NHL winger Fernando Pisani as an amateur scout, per their Hockey Operations page. He spent eight seasons playing at the top level, getting into 462 games between Edmonton and Chicago. Since then, Pisani has spent the last nine seasons working as either an assistant coach or a development coach primarily at the CIS and WHL levels. This will be his first foray into scouting.
Good for him, nice to see him have a strong career path development during his post-playing days.
Great stuff – glad he’s healthy first and also that’s succeeding professionally.
Who would downvote this?? Come on people, we can do better.
As far as some of the potential PTO suggestions go, I don’t mind either Holden or Bear but I don’t see how that works in practice.
Yes, I like Bear as an “upgrade on Vinny” but I have Vinny as 7D and Broberg playing every night. I certainly don’t have Broberg in the press-box for Bear and, frankly, I think I’d rather have Vinny as someone who can come in and help the PK.
Where is Holden playing vis-a-vis Broberg?
————————
I like Comtois and Gregor – nope, neither are centers but I think they can compete with Pederson and Lavoie for 12F – oh, and I guess with Sutter as well.
I like Bear, but he cannot replace Desharnais. For Bear to make it he would have to replace Kulak I think. And I think that is not going to happen.
Bear is out until December recovering from shoulder surgery.
A PTO won’t work.
Thats tough. Hope he finds a contract.
He might be heading out with Jesse after the New Year in a 1967 VW Bus looking for a small town to play for in Southern U.S.A
That might work in our favor, when is the deadline to sign and be eligible for the playoffs? If he is good to play by then it would give us a couple months to try the current players and then if there is an issue that Bear would solve offer him a pto and contract if he is good to go. A possible upgrade for only money and delayed until we know if there is a need.
IIRCA player has to sign by Dec 1 to be able to play this season. Or am I misremembering something?
That Dec 1 deadline is for RFAs that have received a qualifying offer
I think the deadline for signing UFAs is the trade deadline
This is correct.
Lets not forget, signing a UFA after the beginning of the regular season has wonky cap hit implications.
The other year, Kane’s AAV was apx $1.3MM but his cap hit was apx $2.1MM.
Per CF:
The cap hit is calculated as follows:
Cap hit = Signing bonus × total season days / season days remaining + base salary
That looks like if there is no signing bonus there is no wonkiness. I don’t guess the guys that are being talked about would be getting signing bonuses, right?
As I recall, one has to be on the roster by the completion of the trade deadline to be eligible for the playoffs.
Bear isn’t a strong skater. Being a mean giant compensates for that. Undersized players need to be plus skaters imo
I agree. You have to use Bro now. You can’t sign players that want to play every game unless it’s right side and Des is fill in. You need the best guys who are ok with injury fill in and the farm. If Des is good enough Bro is more than good enough
If slow play means using less talented players it’s not helpful
I see Bear (and Kane and Puljujarvi, for that matter) as possible in-season injury replacements. I’m the case of Kane, maybe just a plain roster upgrade, like his brother Evander was 2 years ago. Kind of a free deadline pickup.
Sail on, Robbie Robertson.
One of my all time heroes. This is a rough day
Rest in Peace Robbie
One by one my youth is disappearing.
He was one of the greats.
Aw, hell. One of my favourites of all time, what a story teller.
This version of The Weight is so great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph1GU1qQ1zQ
Daniel Arkin
@d_arkin
Martin Scorsese’s statement to @NBCNews
on the death of his collaborator and friend Robbie Robertson:
“It goes without saying that he was a giant, that his effect on the art form was profound and lasting.”
https://twitter.com/d_arkin/status/1689381436787232769?s=20
(Click for more)
Oiler Alert
@OilerAlert
Jeff Jackson on The Bob McCown podcast sheds light on his role as #Oilers newest CEO:
“Making sure we’re competitive for the next 5-10 yrs [by] putting in innovative processes-whether it’s improving the analytics dept, the sports science dept, things to prevent injuries..”
Did I just hear a loud “whoopee” from somewhere in St. Albert?
It may have even been a loud “MUSIC!”
Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Martin Jones
New Jersey Devils Sign Cal Foote To Two-Way Deal
To be a Devil, does Foote have to be cloven?
If that’s the case, he would need special skates? Being cloven might also make him eligible for LITR?
I keed, I keed…
Love your humour, you should post more of these!
The roster is basically set. This group will come in with $1,057,500 in cap room if Bouchard signs at $4M, and $1,557,500 if he signs at $3.5M. If he signed for the lower number, Edmonton could add two more players at $775,000. I suspect we’ll see a number somewhere in the middle, and a 21-man opening night roster. I doubt this list changes until the very last minute, with one addition likely, maybe more if injuries hit.
For me, it would be pretty shocking if Bouch comes in around $3.5MM and I would think that would be a one-year deal which would cause MAJOR issues next season as most of the 5% cap increase will be spent via bonus overage. I’d much rater get this guy signed at 2 years in the $3.9MM range (which is all of the intel) and get two massive value years. The raise won’t be materially bigger after 2 years than 1 year, I wouldn’t think.
Even if they could shoe-horn in two $775K player for 13F, I would think they would still run with the 12F and 21 player roster and accrue cap space daily to bank and use later either to help with in-season additions and/or take on some of the end of year bonus hit.
Lets not forget, the cap hit of a team is calculated daily and the daily portion (apx 1/180) of every dollar they are under is “saved”, that is its added to their projected cap space and can be used later.
Or there’s always the option of trading for a ludicrously large LTIR contract and use that to go over the cap. I know the league said they were going to “HAVE THEIR EYES” on those kind of deals, and yet they still happened last season with no issues.
If it’s there to be exploited, then let’s exploit it. Carey Price you’re an Oiler. Bouchard. Here’s your 7x$6.5 mill contract. Done.
Then maybe we can stop worrying about Lavoie being $90k per year more than we wanted as well 😀
Montreal would be $5 million over the cap without the Price LTIR.
Dont think they’ll be giving it up.
Yeah, and as Redbird explained that is not how LTIR works anyway.
You don’t get extra money by having a guy on LTIR. You just get to pay him for not playing with money outside the cap calculation.
Simple way to look at it is Price’s $10.5 million cap hit is included in Montreal’s total cap calculations bringing them to the $88.7 shown on Capfriendly, then the Habs can put him on LTIR to get relief back down to $78.2 million. If he is dealt, the cap hit goes and the need for LTIR relief with it.
I think that is what I said, no?
I understood what you meant, but gave the full detail Montreal example to make it clear how HH got it wrong.
Oh, OK. I’m sure you know though that it has been explained to HH many times. Not sure why he doesn’t get it.
The new columns at CapFriendly help. I asked them after last summer’s signing season if they could add that to their summary table and they told me they would for this summer.
Nice to see that they did. It saves some time when trying to figure out exactly where teams are at.
Yeah the new columns on the summary page help, but Capfriendly makes you still dig a little to fully understand what a team’s real cap position is in the offseason or even through training camp, though I am not sure they can fix it based on injury reporting in the offseason.
Using Montreal again as an example, they show the team with $88.67 million and with a roster size of 22 players. The total salary rightly contains the salaries of 27 players including the 4 on IR and Price on LTIR as all players on the roster always count towards the cap. Capfriendly during the offseason, seems to randomly backfill those roster spots with player from the AHL, even though the team probably hasn’t reported any transactions (like showing Lavoie on the Oilers roster right now because there is an open spot).
If all 4 injured players (not Price) are back on the active roster at the end of camp, which seems likely, then Montreal’s total cap hit will be reduced by removing (and placing on their AHL roster) a minimum of the 3 lowest contracts on their roster ~2.3 million, to 4 times the maximum amount that can be buried (~4.6 million). If they went with a 21 player roster, they could probably get under the cap without Price being on LTIR at the start of the season.
Yeah, you still have to go into each team’s page with some knowledge of how they will fill out their roster for sure. That is why I just keep my own spreadsheet for the Oilers. It is easier than adding and subtracting the end of roster players that their algorithm fills supplies. JP has a theory that it is set by contract status that makes sense but often leaves young talent off.
That is not how LTIR works. If the Oilers are at $83.4 million with 21 players before acquiring Price, then acquire Price and his $10.5 million they would be at 93.9 million in cap hit. They would then put Carey Price on LTIR to get back down to $83.4 million and be cap compliant with no extra money for Bouchard. Plus they would have the issue of being in LTIR all season with no chance to accrue cap space.
Hmm, well we’re going to need to move players out so that we can apply the trick the same way teams like Tampa and Vegas have I guess.
There has to be a way for us to get that Price contract and maximise our odds of winning…
The loop hole that Vegas and Tampa (and Chicago with Kane) were able to take advantage doesn’t require trading for a contract like price’s. The loophole is the roster has to be cap compliant on the last day of the regular season, but not at the start of the playoffs.
All one needs is a high value player to incur an injury some time before the trade deadline where a reasonable recovery expectation at the time of the injury has them not being back until just after the conclusion of the regular season. The player’s cap hit is used for LTIR relief and any time after the injury up to the trade, the team trades for a high value player or two on their roster for the stretch run. Through the end of the season the team with the new additions and the high valued player(s) on LTIR is still cap compliant. After the end of the regular season, at the start of the playoffs, the high value player is now ready to play, comes off LTIR, but cap is not counted, so the team rolls into the playoffs with a roster valued at considerably more than the roster of its competitors, or at least being paid like it. One of the reasons for no limit is the teams aren’t restricted to a 23 player roster in the playoffs, but that doesn’t increase the salary level of the top 20-23 players on the roster.
All allowed under the current cap system, but at some point the NHL needs to reconsider given that 3 times in the last 9 playoffs since 2015, the team taking the greatest advantage of the loop hole and fielding a significantly higher priced roster has won the cup.
So it’s settled then
We hire Jeff Gillooly to ‘take care’ of Leon after Christmas, load up at the deadline, and reap the rewards
I can’t see a flaw in this plan
Jeff Gillooly? I imagine Alex Pietrangelo would be more than happy to take care of it. Probably wouldn’t even have to pay him.
Bouchard isn’t signing long term for $6.5 million. A decent 2nd pairing D goes for $6.5 million.
A transiton deal for Bouchard is mandatory, because one will have to pay over $8 milliion long term for the offense, at a minimum, so one better be sure he is at least competent defensively before doing that.
Yup. The Oilers need to know that Bouchard can play well enough in his own end to justify that kind of money long term. An offensive dman with defensive issues was just traded by this team. His cap hit of $4.5 as a UFA signing is a clue as to what it costs if the guy can’t log 21-22 minutes a game while playing against the best.
There only 34 defenseman in the NHL signed for $6.5 million or more in annual salary. That is barely over one per team. I don’t know where you get the notion that a decent 2nd pair D gets paid that kind of money but it is not even close to that. It takes 128 defenseman to stock 32 teams with top 4 defenseman. The 96th* highest paid defenseman in the NHL, which would be the median spot salary wise for defenseman on the 2nd pair if all D were paid based on how they ranked compared to other D, is $3.5 million (David Savard and Brandon Montour).
(*after removing Weber, Seabrook, Ellis and Muzzin, whose careers are or probably are over)
That is looking backward not forward.
As the cap rises so will D contracts.
Since Bouchard’s contract will be focused on the future, a long term deal will have to account for the cap jumping substantially.
More recent signings are more instructive.
Dimitri Orlov just signed for $7.75 million.
Apparently not instructive to you. My god, you should never teach math. Like the other day, how the Oilers would be in cap hell with the possible $8 million in NHL cap increases over the next two years being more than used up by Bouch and Leon, because salaries for players would be going up by over 20% despite only a 9% projected increase in the cap.
If the cap increases by 10% over the next two years, the average salary of all players can only rise by 10%. The median salary can move a little bit more or less, but with 736 players on NHL rosters, it won’t be that much different and if anything with the NHL paying the upper echelon a higher percentage of the cap the median salary will be going down which will be bad for average 2nd pair defenseman since they are by definition at the median.
And just to be clear, nothing I said had anything to do with what Bouchard may or not get paid nor commenting on whether his better than an average 2nd pair defenseman, I was merely pointing out that an average 2nd pair defenseman does not get paid anywhere close to $6.5 million today. And until the cap almost doubles, they won’t be anywhere close to that.
Orlov’s individual salary has no bearing on this at all unless your saying Tulsky just paid $7,75 million for an average 2nd pair defenseman.
As you admitted, elite and impact players are increasingly taking up a higher percentage of the cap while the middle class and bottom of the roster players are being mercilessly squeezed,
You like to trumpet averages but they are largely irrelevant as the top end players transform cap management.
One has to look at recently signed contracts by legit 2nd pairing D.
Legit veteran 3rd pairing D are $3-$5 million
Legit veteran 2nd pairing D are $6-7.5 million
Legit veteran 1st pairing D start at $7.5 million.
1st line – 21 M
2nd line – 14 M
3rd line – 7 M
4th line – 5 M
Extras – 2 M
1st pair – 14 M
2nd pair – 8 M
3rd pair – 3.2 M
Extra – 0.8 M
Starting Goalie – 5.5 M
Backup – 2.5 M
Total – $83 M
I don’t see how you get your numbers.
One has to look at recent contracts signed by veterans with an established level of ability..
The above includes 80% of the contracts which are not recent and suppressed pay contracts like ELC’s and 2nd contracts.
The above represents a balanced cap allotment at the current cap limit.
Colorado 1st line $27 million 3rd pair $5.275 million
Vegas 1st line $20 million 3rd pair $5 million
It seems there are several ways to build a winner.
Of course there are numerous ways to construct a roster. You still have to come in under $83.5M.
I never implied otherwise. What I posted was a reasonable facsimile of cap distribution for a $83.5 M cap. It is the kind of template every team starts with so that they know that when they diverge higher or lower in a certain area that they have a surplus or deficit elsewhere. Godot posted a similar concept only targeting particular players with numbers that would never allow a team to come in at the cap.
Wasn’t Mackinnon’s cap hit only 6.3 M when they won. I don’t think their first line was 27 then.
Now that he is at $12,600 ( I won’t sign unless I’m higher than McDavid) they have/had to divest themselves of cap to fit in. Different story.
Just a reflection of how teams are dealing with a rising cap…coming soon to a team near you.
A reminder that this happened AFTER Colorado won the cup.
That it happened after Colorado won the cup was my whole point.
You listed them with a 27M first line and claimed using that as evidence that
“It seems there are several ways to build a winner.”
Winning cups is always expensive but that doesn’t mean you can’t win another one.
Colorado is actually a good example.
They knew for a very long time that MacKinnon was underpaid and had the foresight to hold the line on other contracts as well as deciding not to spend much on goaltending.
They managed to win the Central last season despite a grievous string of injuries and might have advanced further if healthy.
Worth noting they are the betting favourites to win the cup next season.
That’s true on the value of second pairing d – I was literally pulling numbers out of air. What do we think for Bouch?
He is already shown he’s competent defensively.
It really is true, highly visible mistakes (of which he made a couple early last season) really do make very lasting memories.
Bouchard was not the same player in April 2023 as he was in November 2022.
OP grades on a curve.
That would not increase any cap space.
That would allow them to go over the cap by the amount of the LTIR contract (less any cap space they had) but it would also add the cap hit of the LTIR contract. If they were $300K under the cap and added a $10.5MM LTIR contract they would lose $300K in cap space (and would be able to go over the cap by $10.2MM).
The point is we want to be like Vegas and Tampa. If we get $10.2 mill extra, or $10.499 mill extra it’s all gravy.
VICTORY THROUGH CIRCUMVENTION
What you suggested does not provide any extra – it would serve to reduce available cap space.
I think you’re missing a key point.
Having Carey Price on LTIR doesn’t allow for cap circumvention, it just puts the Oilers into LTIR, which as OP has pointed out about 1000 times, prevents the Oilers from accruing cap space at the deadline.
The only way adding Carey Price, for example, would potentially help is if Carey Price returned from injury at the start of the playoffs, like Mark Stone. The Oilers would have had to have acquired helpful players at the deadline, as well.
In that event, Price would have to be in top form which would be very unlikely. The Oilers wouldn’t be over the cap until Price returned in the playoffs and they had already added players at the deadline (like Barbashev).
This is the strangest thread….
If Ralph Lavoie can’t beat out Brandon Sutter for 12F on this team then, well, sail on Ralph Lavoie. Yes, I know Brandon Sutter is a big right shot center and he was once a high end PK guy. At the same time, he is 34, turning 35 during the course of next season, hasn’t played hockey in 2 seasons due to health and was regressing big time before all of that.
Lane Pederson should be able to beat this player out for 4C, right?
Sutter was slow in Van 2 years ago. I take this as a flyer for the Oilers that would be great if it turns out due to position fit and it helps with pre-season vet min. requirements. It’s also Kenny doing a solid for NHL vet so he can see if the wheels will turn for one more year, and showcase himself not too far from home which is another class move by Kenny. The way he treats players does not go unnoticed around the league.
FWIW I also think Vinny will surprise a bit this fall with improved skating and puckhandling. Watching games live last year he was often gassed near the end of many shifts – the NHL is faster and until you play up at that level you don’t know how fast. Very hard to improve conditioning mid-season, and being tired affects your skating and puck skill. Everything we’ve seen about Vinny indicates he’s been working his ass off this summer. I’m not saying he’ll be Karlsson, but I’d bet on him to improve.
LT, this is a family blog, how dare you say the F word! It’s still a month and a half until f@ll
Noah Gregor would generate a lot of interest as he is Jason Gregor’s nephew. Still miss that show but not as much as Lowetide’s.
I really like Brandon Sutter coming in to camp on a PTO. He was on Edmonton’s radar a few seasons ago but opted for Vancouver. This might be a long shot, though it may also turn out being an astute signing. I give it 50/50 he makes the team slipping in with Janmark & Ryan on the fourth line. Stasny still tops my list and Holden would be #2. Sutter, Stasny & Holden on PTO’s would be brilliant. If they’re going to look at Ex Oilers to invite, it might as well be Shore, no more.
Stastny aint taking a pto
From the ice-age to the PTO-age
There is but one concern
I have just discovered
Some girls are bigger than Sutters
Some girls are bigger than Sutters
Some girls’ mothers are bigger than Sutters’ brothers
If Bear is top 3 RHD and can be had for $775,000, then you do everything you can to sign him
If Bear is a top 3 RHD on this team, you may have a problem
Cody Ceci was their 1RHD? Desharnais can hardly skate? Bear would stick out as a problem?
True
Go back and watch the Jets series are even the Hawks series before he got squashed in the corner. The opposition was targeting his corner big time and as a result he was coughing up pucks like a Cat does with hairballs.
Ah come on, put Sutter on the ‘Uncertain Oilers’ list. Give the man a little respect. 😉
Seriously though, I also think he belongs there. No question he is very much a long shot, but I don’t think the Oilers give out PTO’s as pure favors to players.
They really need a decent RS C face off guy
Was there not a Sutter in a management role? In any event, I say no to Sutters. They said some nasty shit about the Oilers back in the day and I never forget.
They loathed Sather he knew how to get under their skin. I miss Sather he was a genius when it came to Hockey and People. Without Glen there is no Oilers the greatest team in history and that includes stacked Red Army and CCCP teams. Now we have Vanilla flavour ice-cream running the show who’s yet to get us to even a final in prime Connor and Leon years.
It’s amazing to think that a club team could beat a full time National and Olympic all star team. For the younger folk that may not have known about that, give it a ponder. They were that good, best team in the world, of any team
The Habs had some close ones, maybe the Bruins (because Orr), both pre-Oilers, but when the Oilers were named greatest NHL team of all time, it’s because it’s true
Great read LT!
I assume that Duane Sutter as a pro scout doesn’t count for being “employed” by the Oilers haha, figured you were speaking of on ice only.
Also, Frank Seravalli mentioned the other day on the DFO podcast apparently that he had heard Stastny may have retired, otherwise he would be atop my PTO or league min. contract list as well.
Stastny is too slow for the NHL now.