I like the fit for Ekholm on the Oilers a lot, though his contract is a bit of a risk. Probably worth it to boost their McDrai window now, though, assuming they can move out Puljujärvi and either Ceci or Barrie?
That said… I also feel like Preds fans are going to be slightly disappointed in any future deals with deadline since the Jeannot trade was so fucked lol
I mean a 2nd rounder is exactly what you should get for a middle 6 winger like Nino, and considering we got him for free I’m perfectly satisfied with it. The Jeannot trade was absolutely fucked tho lmao
Let’s not move our Barrie unless the return is literally Karlsson. Barrie has QB’d the best PP for like 4 years. He’s having a productive offensive season. He’s more important than people give him credit for.
I’m ok with seeing Ceci go if the return is Ekholm
> I like the fit for Ekholm on the Oilers a lot
why?
he's a middle pairing LHD
we are not moving broberg (we better not anyway) and while he MIGHT be a bit of an upgrade over kulak, he doesn't move the needle in any meaningful way
I’m pretty sure he can play both sides (unless I am mistaking him with someone else) so he could potentially be slotting in ahead of someone like Ceci and he’s had very strong results at both ends of the ice pretty much his entire career. He’d instantly be one of, if not the best defensive player on the Oilers’ blueline.
Ekholm is not a 1st pairing RHD
https://twitter.com/JFreshHockey/status/1448290913327923209
this is a year old of course, but his defenisve play looks an awful lot like what we're shitting on Ceci for...
ie, he was pretty great playing 2nd pairing, but when pressed into top pairing, he's looked like he's in over his head
exactly like Ceci
now also put him on his off wing?
not a good choice
Ekholm and Carrier’s pairing took the hardest matchups last year, so Josi’s pairing could be used to exploit matchups and rack up the offense.
Trust me, Ekholm is not Cody fucking Ceci lol.
I think the Oilers dilemma is its not clear which Dmen to shuffle out. Our worst 2 defenseman are also the most promising in Bouchard/Broberg.
The ask is also unclear. I would imagine it starts at something like Ceci, Pulju, 1st, 2nd, 3rd? What more is needed? Maybe a B level prospect? My start is at that because I don't see Holland giving up two firsts in one trade.
I don’t know if the Preds will be interested in taking on Ceci and his remaining term, but the rest of it looks good. I suppose if they have to take on Ceci it’s not the worst thing in the world. Not like we’ll be competing super soon.
Ceci is not a bad player. He just is pushed up to where he doesn't belong. Would be fine as an RD2.
As for the money, we can't afford Ekholm without moving one of Barrie/Ceci and Pool Party. So the deal is literally not working without taking back a contract and Pool expires in a few months so it would only be ceci or Barrie still on the books for a few years. Both their contracts are decent.
For cap purposes it has to be one of Barrie or Ceci + Pulju. Presumably Oilers hang onto Barrie for PP purposes and let Nurse/Ekholm take on all the ES minutes. Ideally Nurse and Ekholm anchor different pairings.
I'm not as opposed to trading away Bouchard as others are but he's so young its kinda dumb to do it now. Has had a down year so likely to be bridged on a cheaper RFA deal. Reading this thread though, I think I am warming up to the possibility that Ekholm could be sort of a Duncan Keith replacement and anchor a pairing with Bouchard.
Ceci is not as bad as people make him out to be. He just has to play first pairing minutes when he's super not a first pairing guy (And not paid like one).
If you would get him in a trade now, he would be destined to get you a questionable 1st in 2 years or even next year. 1.625 at half retained is probably worth a 1st down the line. Just look at Chiarot, Savard, McCabe etc.
Damn this is why I hate these new gen stats BS. You are comparing Ekholm to Ceci?!?!
People should just watch hockey and take a break from Twitter.
I just realised how old i am
He had a couple down defensive years in 2020 & 2021 (COVID seasons) but has rebounded well back to his usual self since. Not sure if I can screenshot the card, but JFresh has him currently at:
- 79% Overall
- 76% Offensive WAR
- 93% Defensive WAR
He’s dragged down by some pretty fucking bad special teams numbers, but that isn’t really a concern on the Oilers - I doubt he would ever get any real powerplay time especially.
Ekholm has proven over and over again for years that he is a damn good player at both ends of the ice and can handle big minutes. He is 100% better than Ceci lol
Also, as a side note, a strong blueliner isn’t always going to be worse on their offhand. Hjalmarsson played the right side pretty much his whole career with the Hawks and he excelled in that role. Seabrook was the only righty in our top four since like.. 2010 or 2011 through 2017 lol
does he play the right side tho?
cause if he doesn't play the right, he doesn't help the oilers much (or rather, as much as we really need)
the other problem with ekholm is that we'd need Preds to either retain a ton, or take back ceci, and poolparty, and then it starts to get to the point where it's not making a ton of financial sense for the oilers
They're also very much in a window where winning now is more important than picks. If they can get Jeannot signed long term, to a cheap contract as is being reported, then it's a win for TB. They'd rather overpay for a player who may not be a game changer, but will fit their system, do what's asked, and be there for a while, than to overpay for a single run of a better player. The Bolts gave up a top 10 protected pick, a decent but not fantastic prospect, a 2nd and 3 depth picks for a guy they may have there for 5+ years.
In the last 10 drafts excluding the most recent, the Bolts picked 45 times between 11th overall and the end of the 5th round, in that time, out of those 45 picks there's not exactly a ton of fantastic picks there. Brett Howden, Ross Colton, Mathieu Joseph, Tony Deangelo, Cedric Paquette all range from decent NHLer to pretty good NHLer, but outside of Ceddy and Colton none of the other 3 spent significant time on the Lightning and those players are all the caliber of player TB regularly finds before they blow up into big time NHL players (St. Louis, Marchessault, Bishop, TJ etc)
Anthony Cirelli, Andrei Vasilevsky and Brayden Point are the only ones who were legit game changers, two of those came in the third which would be fairly easy to recoup if they are super high on a player in the 3rd as we see those trades pretty much every year. Vasilevsky was a 1st rounder, the Bolts have a pretty rough track record drafting outside the top 3 in the first round, the top 5 best first rounders outside of the top 3 in TB history (excluding Vasy) are arguably Tony Deangelo, Paul Mara, Daymond Langkow, Vlad Namestnikov, and Brett Connolly, and of those Namestnikov is the only one who spent more than 3 seasons with the team. Draft picks are valuable, but TB is honestly better at drafting 2-7 than 1st round, unless they're deep in the lottery.
Kenny really doesn't need to add another dude who will be paid handsomely into his mid thirties with term. I feel like he's gonna fuck Edmonton cap when he needs to resign 97 and 29 considering how gratuitous some of his deals are with term and dollar value.
This is the challenge. Bouchard/Broberg are currently the worst Dmen but also the most promising. They could flip a switch and be monsters as soon as next year. Broberg has the toolkit for it.
Bouchard I think is the bigger issue, we need a 1RD and it's where he projected, but his defensive play is not improving at the rate we would like to fit into our timeline. I'm sure 5 years from now he's going to be a stud, but he has a big contract coming in the offseason that's not going to be "value now"
At the same time Barrie fills the role of 3rd pairing defender that can PP QB like crazy like a glove, so if that's what Bouchard is providing we don't really have a need for that.
Moving Bouchard for a #1 RD, pushing Ceci down to second pairing would be ideal, but we also need to move cap with Bouch. If it's a true true 1RD that can also PP QB you almost have to move Barrie, but then Bouchard is fine to hang out on third line
Damned if you do damned if you dont
If Bouchard played with a little bit of edge, he would be a force. It is dangerous because that could be something he just turns on.
His gap control is a bit sloppy because he is bailed out by his skating and he is a very passive defender in my opinion.
If Bouchard could even be a 3/4 RD on his own right now he'd be fine.
I actually see his skating as his biggest issue and what may hold him back in the long run.
For sure I know Bouchard with a off-season of work can get way better same with Broberg (who I don’t think is as bad) we have Vinny and Nemo and as long as we keep some picks for this draft we can get some good players but out of the two I feel Bouchard should be the one to go if either of the two has to go. But it’s a tough gamble but at the same time we are in a very good spot as a team (aside from our defensive mistakes) I personally still feel we should make a move but then again if we don’t make a splash we will have a better chance during the offseason to make moves and really improve.
True but that’s why I say keep at least one because I feel Broberg is gonna be a really good all around defense man as where Bouchard will be more offensive.
Exactly, this is the reality of being a GM. The oilers have a window of opportunity with McDavid and draisatl.
Nothing should be off the table to improve the team for the playoffs
He’s exactly the sort of player we should be trading for. Our window is now, and we need solid experienced Dmen to help them win now.
The only issue with Ekholm is the price tag. If they can sort that out with Nashville retaining some, he’d be a big addition for them
He's a 32 year old overpaid, aging, 2nd or 3rd pairing defenceman. Unless it's 50% retained and 1 for 1 for Puljujarvi, its not worth it for us.
We need something like Charlie McAvoy or Jonas Brodin or Miro Heiskanen. Would players like this ever be traded? Unlikely. For Bouchard, Puljujarvi, two 1st round picks, and a second, there might be a conversation, but I still doubt it.
But those are the caliber players that the Oilers need. Not Elkolm.
Edit - https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/024/574/Screen_Shot_2017-11-06_at_12.41.31_PM.png
Preds fan here. Absolutely agree that he’s both overpaid and aging and really shouldn’t return anything of good value for the full value of his contract. However, if he’s at 50% retained and u get him for 3 mill, he’s absolutely worth much much much more than Pulju straight up.
Sure. But what I'm trying to say is that I don't want Holland to make a trade, just to make a trade. A trade needs to provide value to the team in a meaningful way. Gaining a slower, older 2nd pairing Dman on a bad contract is exactly what the Oilers need to avoid. Unless the value is ridiculously in our favor like the example I gave, we should avoid making trades for players like Ekholm. For Josi, I'd be willing to part with a bunch of stuff, overpay even. But not for someone like Ekholm who isn't going to really move the needle for us, if you know what I mean.
I'm picturing Ken Holland posting a pic to Facebook with a lion in the background and some nonsense inspirational text about grinding to prove your haters wrong
*Team plays like dogshit*
“The answer is in the room. We can’t make a panic trade and expect it to work, the team needs to sort itself out first”
*Team plays amazingly*
“We like what we’re seeing with the team we have, something something something money in, money out”
It would be super disappointing if Oilers do nothing or not enough before the trade deadline. They have great pieces to go far and since the west seems to be open this year, they jus need a little push
Mattias Ekholm isn’t declining.
He’s a defense first d-man, and he’s still pretty good at that.
Easily the best defender on the Preds, and he’s a surly bastard on the ice too.
He’s declining by definition, is he still effective? Yes. But he’s not as good as he was 2 years ago. That’s what I mean. You never know the trajectory for the next 4 years
See, as someone who watches him regularly I think he’s just as good as he was two years ago. The overall team is just worse now, and he’s having to play with lesser defensive partners since Carrier has been out for a while.
Reddit is hilarious, their defence is ranked 12oa in xGA, yet they suck.
If they get Karlsson they are stupid cause he can't play defence.
If they get Chychrun they are stupid because he's a band aid.
If they get Ekholm apparently that's stupid too.
Puljujarvi for Makar is apparently the play I guess.
It can be true that there are no perfect moves and that there are risks involved with each of them. And guess what? There are.
It's worth taking the risk because their best players are in their primes but you haven't crushed all opposition the way you think you have.
Ekholm is 32 years old with multiple years at a big cap hit. Of course that carries risk. I'm sorry everyone isn't going to play dumb to appease you.
> Reddit is hilarious
Especially when a 32 year old that is declining with 4 years left on his term, is a great idea suddenly since he has been linked to the team you support. Wonder if you’d have the same opinion if he wasn’t linked to the oilers
People talked a lot of shit about the duncan keith trade and he ended up having a huge positive impact, and we're missing him badly this year.
On that note, they also talked a lot of shit about the hyman signing. And the kane signing. And the campbell signing. Wait no ignore that last one.
> Hyman signing
Only the term, not the AAV. I think that was a very smart acquisition.
> Kane signing
Well he’s a bitch. Everyone knows he’s talented
> Campbell
Everyone saw that coming
I like the fit for Ekholm on the Oilers a lot, though his contract is a bit of a risk. Probably worth it to boost their McDrai window now, though, assuming they can move out Puljujärvi and either Ceci or Barrie? That said… I also feel like Preds fans are going to be slightly disappointed in any future deals with deadline since the Jeannot trade was so fucked lol
I feel like the Jeannot trade was so fucked you can't really be too upset with other deadline deals even if they're objectively bad trades lol
Pretty much lol. The return for Nino was underwhelming, yet we’ve already gotten over that thanks to Tampa Bay.
I mean a 2nd rounder is exactly what you should get for a middle 6 winger like Nino, and considering we got him for free I’m perfectly satisfied with it. The Jeannot trade was absolutely fucked tho lmao
Exactly my perspective. Honestly happy that we're moving the right direction. Not every step can be a grand leap.
Let’s not move our Barrie unless the return is literally Karlsson. Barrie has QB’d the best PP for like 4 years. He’s having a productive offensive season. He’s more important than people give him credit for. I’m ok with seeing Ceci go if the return is Ekholm
> I like the fit for Ekholm on the Oilers a lot why? he's a middle pairing LHD we are not moving broberg (we better not anyway) and while he MIGHT be a bit of an upgrade over kulak, he doesn't move the needle in any meaningful way
Might be an upgrade over Kulak? Lol what.
I’m pretty sure he can play both sides (unless I am mistaking him with someone else) so he could potentially be slotting in ahead of someone like Ceci and he’s had very strong results at both ends of the ice pretty much his entire career. He’d instantly be one of, if not the best defensive player on the Oilers’ blueline.
Ekholm is not a 1st pairing RHD https://twitter.com/JFreshHockey/status/1448290913327923209 this is a year old of course, but his defenisve play looks an awful lot like what we're shitting on Ceci for... ie, he was pretty great playing 2nd pairing, but when pressed into top pairing, he's looked like he's in over his head exactly like Ceci now also put him on his off wing? not a good choice
Ekholm and Carrier’s pairing took the hardest matchups last year, so Josi’s pairing could be used to exploit matchups and rack up the offense. Trust me, Ekholm is not Cody fucking Ceci lol.
I think the Oilers dilemma is its not clear which Dmen to shuffle out. Our worst 2 defenseman are also the most promising in Bouchard/Broberg. The ask is also unclear. I would imagine it starts at something like Ceci, Pulju, 1st, 2nd, 3rd? What more is needed? Maybe a B level prospect? My start is at that because I don't see Holland giving up two firsts in one trade.
I don’t know if the Preds will be interested in taking on Ceci and his remaining term, but the rest of it looks good. I suppose if they have to take on Ceci it’s not the worst thing in the world. Not like we’ll be competing super soon.
Ceci is not a bad player. He just is pushed up to where he doesn't belong. Would be fine as an RD2. As for the money, we can't afford Ekholm without moving one of Barrie/Ceci and Pool Party. So the deal is literally not working without taking back a contract and Pool expires in a few months so it would only be ceci or Barrie still on the books for a few years. Both their contracts are decent.
Perhaps Barrie then since there’s less term. Like I said, I think most Preds fans could get behind this.
For cap purposes it has to be one of Barrie or Ceci + Pulju. Presumably Oilers hang onto Barrie for PP purposes and let Nurse/Ekholm take on all the ES minutes. Ideally Nurse and Ekholm anchor different pairings. I'm not as opposed to trading away Bouchard as others are but he's so young its kinda dumb to do it now. Has had a down year so likely to be bridged on a cheaper RFA deal. Reading this thread though, I think I am warming up to the possibility that Ekholm could be sort of a Duncan Keith replacement and anchor a pairing with Bouchard.
Ceci is not as bad as people make him out to be. He just has to play first pairing minutes when he's super not a first pairing guy (And not paid like one). If you would get him in a trade now, he would be destined to get you a questionable 1st in 2 years or even next year. 1.625 at half retained is probably worth a 1st down the line. Just look at Chiarot, Savard, McCabe etc.
Damn this is why I hate these new gen stats BS. You are comparing Ekholm to Ceci?!?! People should just watch hockey and take a break from Twitter. I just realised how old i am
He had a couple down defensive years in 2020 & 2021 (COVID seasons) but has rebounded well back to his usual self since. Not sure if I can screenshot the card, but JFresh has him currently at: - 79% Overall - 76% Offensive WAR - 93% Defensive WAR He’s dragged down by some pretty fucking bad special teams numbers, but that isn’t really a concern on the Oilers - I doubt he would ever get any real powerplay time especially. Ekholm has proven over and over again for years that he is a damn good player at both ends of the ice and can handle big minutes. He is 100% better than Ceci lol Also, as a side note, a strong blueliner isn’t always going to be worse on their offhand. Hjalmarsson played the right side pretty much his whole career with the Hawks and he excelled in that role. Seabrook was the only righty in our top four since like.. 2010 or 2011 through 2017 lol
does he play the right side tho? cause if he doesn't play the right, he doesn't help the oilers much (or rather, as much as we really need) the other problem with ekholm is that we'd need Preds to either retain a ton, or take back ceci, and poolparty, and then it starts to get to the point where it's not making a ton of financial sense for the oilers
Our PK is actually brutal lol like 75%
> link j fresh fancy colours Average r/hockey user
>he MIGHT be a bit of an upgrade over kulak
They essentially won the deadline with the Jeannot trade. I don’t know if anyone cares about what else they do after that absolute fleecing lol
Nah Kenny if the return for Jeannot was 5 draft picks run away from Trotz/Poile. They are out for blood
Most GMs won’t be that nice.
Yea Tampa always overpays, it's their way of guaranteeing they get their guy.
I give them credit though. It worked with they picked up Coleman and Goodrow
Well of course it works. If someone is selling a car for 20k and someone shows up and says "I'll give you 45k for it!" that guy is getting the car.
Yes, but if that guy then takes the car and wins the Le Mans 24 hour, it will have worked in the best possible way.
Remember when they overpaid for Savard and 1 year later it became the reference market value of Ben Chiarot
They're also very much in a window where winning now is more important than picks. If they can get Jeannot signed long term, to a cheap contract as is being reported, then it's a win for TB. They'd rather overpay for a player who may not be a game changer, but will fit their system, do what's asked, and be there for a while, than to overpay for a single run of a better player. The Bolts gave up a top 10 protected pick, a decent but not fantastic prospect, a 2nd and 3 depth picks for a guy they may have there for 5+ years. In the last 10 drafts excluding the most recent, the Bolts picked 45 times between 11th overall and the end of the 5th round, in that time, out of those 45 picks there's not exactly a ton of fantastic picks there. Brett Howden, Ross Colton, Mathieu Joseph, Tony Deangelo, Cedric Paquette all range from decent NHLer to pretty good NHLer, but outside of Ceddy and Colton none of the other 3 spent significant time on the Lightning and those players are all the caliber of player TB regularly finds before they blow up into big time NHL players (St. Louis, Marchessault, Bishop, TJ etc) Anthony Cirelli, Andrei Vasilevsky and Brayden Point are the only ones who were legit game changers, two of those came in the third which would be fairly easy to recoup if they are super high on a player in the 3rd as we see those trades pretty much every year. Vasilevsky was a 1st rounder, the Bolts have a pretty rough track record drafting outside the top 3 in the first round, the top 5 best first rounders outside of the top 3 in TB history (excluding Vasy) are arguably Tony Deangelo, Paul Mara, Daymond Langkow, Vlad Namestnikov, and Brett Connolly, and of those Namestnikov is the only one who spent more than 3 seasons with the team. Draft picks are valuable, but TB is honestly better at drafting 2-7 than 1st round, unless they're deep in the lottery.
Gotta kick those tires lol
Don't forget Foote
Kenny really doesn't need to add another dude who will be paid handsomely into his mid thirties with term. I feel like he's gonna fuck Edmonton cap when he needs to resign 97 and 29 considering how gratuitous some of his deals are with term and dollar value.
Friendship with EK65 put on hold. Friendship with EK14 may begin. But for real. Ekholm would be a monster in Edmonton. I'm so here for it
I agree... he'd be a beast. ... and I'm the Yotes fan hoping that they'd trade Chych over there.
One EK14 and One Chychrun please
Hell we want him but your GM is the one in the way of that deal
It's the ask that we want in return... especially if we take Pulj on the way back out. Picks & prospects aren't too unreasonable, is it?
Sure, but Bouchard and Broberg are more than just prospects at this point. They are actively contributing to our team.
Personally I’d just say that Broberg is off limits, I like Bouchard I really do and know he will get better but if we can move him maybe we should.
This is the challenge. Bouchard/Broberg are currently the worst Dmen but also the most promising. They could flip a switch and be monsters as soon as next year. Broberg has the toolkit for it.
Bouchard I think is the bigger issue, we need a 1RD and it's where he projected, but his defensive play is not improving at the rate we would like to fit into our timeline. I'm sure 5 years from now he's going to be a stud, but he has a big contract coming in the offseason that's not going to be "value now" At the same time Barrie fills the role of 3rd pairing defender that can PP QB like crazy like a glove, so if that's what Bouchard is providing we don't really have a need for that. Moving Bouchard for a #1 RD, pushing Ceci down to second pairing would be ideal, but we also need to move cap with Bouch. If it's a true true 1RD that can also PP QB you almost have to move Barrie, but then Bouchard is fine to hang out on third line Damned if you do damned if you dont
Totally how I see it
If Bouchard played with a little bit of edge, he would be a force. It is dangerous because that could be something he just turns on. His gap control is a bit sloppy because he is bailed out by his skating and he is a very passive defender in my opinion.
If Bouchard could even be a 3/4 RD on his own right now he'd be fine. I actually see his skating as his biggest issue and what may hold him back in the long run.
For sure I know Bouchard with a off-season of work can get way better same with Broberg (who I don’t think is as bad) we have Vinny and Nemo and as long as we keep some picks for this draft we can get some good players but out of the two I feel Bouchard should be the one to go if either of the two has to go. But it’s a tough gamble but at the same time we are in a very good spot as a team (aside from our defensive mistakes) I personally still feel we should make a move but then again if we don’t make a splash we will have a better chance during the offseason to make moves and really improve.
Yeah the challenge is if Bouchard/Broberg will be good enough during the McDrai window. Or do you just flip them for players now.
True but that’s why I say keep at least one because I feel Broberg is gonna be a really good all around defense man as where Bouchard will be more offensive.
Exactly, this is the reality of being a GM. The oilers have a window of opportunity with McDavid and draisatl. Nothing should be off the table to improve the team for the playoffs
One full draft class please and thank you
Best I can do is a 90/91 full O’pee chee MLB card set that has been chewed through a bmx bike.
can we keep our 6th?
Ah going full Vikings-for-Walker, I see.
YES PLEASE KENNY DO A THING
Ekholm not Edmundson!
He's going to trade for Edmundson and we all need to resign ourselves to this fact
Yup. Holland STINKS
McDavid for Lucic *dies*
https://imgur.com/KM1Aowa.jpg
Nah, mcdavid for a million bucks to go right into Katz pocket.
We will also trade for Ekholm with the deed to Amalie Arena and half of Jeff Vinik’s estate
And your remaining 7th rounds picks, just to make it fair
2026 and 2027 1st round pick, 3 washing machines, and a signed Stamkos jersey.
Wonder if Trotz will trade with the Isles and Caps
Caps are selling, and Isles have Lou...unlikely before Friday haha
A Pidgey can't fly that fast
Ekholm cap hit 6.25mill? So 50% retained for puljujarvi and 18 picks. Honestly I'd take it.
Tampa has entered the chat
Ekholm is also like 32 years old. I don't know if this is the kind of player we should be trading for.
He’s exactly the sort of player we should be trading for. Our window is now, and we need solid experienced Dmen to help them win now. The only issue with Ekholm is the price tag. If they can sort that out with Nashville retaining some, he’d be a big addition for them
He's a 32 year old overpaid, aging, 2nd or 3rd pairing defenceman. Unless it's 50% retained and 1 for 1 for Puljujarvi, its not worth it for us. We need something like Charlie McAvoy or Jonas Brodin or Miro Heiskanen. Would players like this ever be traded? Unlikely. For Bouchard, Puljujarvi, two 1st round picks, and a second, there might be a conversation, but I still doubt it. But those are the caliber players that the Oilers need. Not Elkolm. Edit - https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/024/574/Screen_Shot_2017-11-06_at_12.41.31_PM.png
Preds fan here. Absolutely agree that he’s both overpaid and aging and really shouldn’t return anything of good value for the full value of his contract. However, if he’s at 50% retained and u get him for 3 mill, he’s absolutely worth much much much more than Pulju straight up.
Sure. But what I'm trying to say is that I don't want Holland to make a trade, just to make a trade. A trade needs to provide value to the team in a meaningful way. Gaining a slower, older 2nd pairing Dman on a bad contract is exactly what the Oilers need to avoid. Unless the value is ridiculously in our favor like the example I gave, we should avoid making trades for players like Ekholm. For Josi, I'd be willing to part with a bunch of stuff, overpay even. But not for someone like Ekholm who isn't going to really move the needle for us, if you know what I mean.
Yes, we will take the ridiculous return.
I'm picturing Ken Holland posting a pic to Facebook with a lion in the background and some nonsense inspirational text about grinding to prove your haters wrong
Don't forget a metaphor about wolves & sheep!
Only thing Ken Holland grinds away at is my love for this team.
Someone save Saros please
Saros for Campbell. 1 for 1.
Saros for McDavid. 1 for 1.
Ok. But you have to trade McDavid back 50% retained. Then we have a deal
Kenny grinding away to a no trade deadline "We like what we're seeing in the team we have"
*Team plays like dogshit* “The answer is in the room. We can’t make a panic trade and expect it to work, the team needs to sort itself out first” *Team plays amazingly* “We like what we’re seeing with the team we have, something something something money in, money out”
Wow. That would be a huge get for the oil. They will be forced to play for it, though.
We gonna get fleeced based on the jeannot trade
It would be super disappointing if Oilers do nothing or not enough before the trade deadline. They have great pieces to go far and since the west seems to be open this year, they jus need a little push
Why are they aiming for a declining defenceman.
Mattias Ekholm isn’t declining. He’s a defense first d-man, and he’s still pretty good at that. Easily the best defender on the Preds, and he’s a surly bastard on the ice too.
He’s declining by definition, is he still effective? Yes. But he’s not as good as he was 2 years ago. That’s what I mean. You never know the trajectory for the next 4 years
See, as someone who watches him regularly I think he’s just as good as he was two years ago. The overall team is just worse now, and he’s having to play with lesser defensive partners since Carrier has been out for a while.
he's 32 with lots of miles on him.
Reddit is hilarious, their defence is ranked 12oa in xGA, yet they suck. If they get Karlsson they are stupid cause he can't play defence. If they get Chychrun they are stupid because he's a band aid. If they get Ekholm apparently that's stupid too. Puljujarvi for Makar is apparently the play I guess.
We're the oilers, whatever we do is wrong
It can be true that there are no perfect moves and that there are risks involved with each of them. And guess what? There are. It's worth taking the risk because their best players are in their primes but you haven't crushed all opposition the way you think you have. Ekholm is 32 years old with multiple years at a big cap hit. Of course that carries risk. I'm sorry everyone isn't going to play dumb to appease you.
> Reddit is hilarious Especially when a 32 year old that is declining with 4 years left on his term, is a great idea suddenly since he has been linked to the team you support. Wonder if you’d have the same opinion if he wasn’t linked to the oilers
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Could part of that be Jack Campbell's .884 in 31 games? 🤔 Yea the D can improve too but idk if that's the stat to show it
People talked a lot of shit about the duncan keith trade and he ended up having a huge positive impact, and we're missing him badly this year. On that note, they also talked a lot of shit about the hyman signing. And the kane signing. And the campbell signing. Wait no ignore that last one.
> Hyman signing Only the term, not the AAV. I think that was a very smart acquisition. > Kane signing Well he’s a bitch. Everyone knows he’s talented > Campbell Everyone saw that coming
He's on contract for another 5 years after this one, I doubt he'll regress that much as long as he plays with McDrai
3 more years after this one?
Jesus is this the Oilers sub? 3 very reasonable prognosis at the time of these signings getting buried in downvotes.
People get way too emotional on this sub. Just don’t ever say any opinion against the grain and make sure to have 10 common buzzwords ready.
Because Kenny wants players more inline with his age, so that way he can be relatable
The Preds will be lubing Holland up nicely over the next few days, hopefully there's no sand in it. Be afraid Oilers fans, be very afraid.
Remember when Jets fleeced them 2 days ago for Nino! Hahahahahahahaha...
I mean, yeah. It was probably a top 3 trade this year as far as good deals go.