What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

[PDO]

Projected salary cap: $48,000,000

Kevin Lowe has recently stated that he's attempting to up the budget.. went right through the press to do it ( ), so I think it's safe to assume the Oilers will be at $46,000,000 this season. Assuming that - there's no reason to believe we can't be competitive

So, under contract for next season (for all intensive purposes - lets assume that Stollie is healthy, shall we?)

So the DC of signed guys looks like:

Center:

Horcoff (3.6)
Stoll (2.2)
Reasoner (.95)
Pouliot (.942)

LW:

Moreau (2.0)
Thoresen (.570)

RW:

Hemsky (4.1)
Pisani (2.5)

D:

Staios (2.7)
Smith (1.976)
Smid (.915)

G:

Roloson (3.667)

Cap commitment: $29.002

RFA's:

Greene
Torres

Possible rookies:

Gilbert, Grebeshkov, Nilsson, Schremp, Jacques, Stortini, Deslauriers and Brodziak should more or less cover it.

So.. two RFA's to sign, and some rookie's to cut, because Gilbert, Grebehskov, Nilsson and Jacques all need to be in the NHL.

My team:

Sign Kariya, $15,000,000 / 3 years.
Sign Markov, $36,000,000 / 6 years.
Sign Johnson, $5,000,000 / 3 years.
Sign Moen, $1,000,000 / 1 year.
Sign Torres, $5,800,000 / 3 years.
Sign Hejda, $5,000,000 / 3 years
Sign Petersen, $450,000 / 1 year
Sign Hill, $450,000 / 1 year.

To EDM: Toivonen, 3rd rounder
To BOS: Schremp, Greene, Deslauriers

Sign Toivonen to $2,000,000 / 2 year deal.

To EDM: 2nd OV
To PHI: Lupul, NYI 1st

Draft Kyle Turris.

Assume Gilbert starts the year in the AHL.

Kariya (5.0) - Horcoff (3.6) - Hemsky (4.1) - 12.7
Torres (1.93) - Stoll (2.2) - Pisani (2.5) - 6.63
Moreau (2.0) - Pouliot (.943) - Johnson (1.66) - 4.603
Moen (1.0) - Reasoner (.95) - Thoresen (.570) - 2.52
Petersen (.45) - .45

= 26.903

Markov (6.0) - Smith (1.976) - 7.976
Smid (.915) - Staios (2.7) - 3.615
Grebeshkov (.9) - Hill (.45) - 1.35

= 12.941

Roloson (3.667)
Toivonen (1.0)

= 4.667

Total Salary = $44,551,000; but that can rise quickly with a guy like Nilsson making the team (+$500k), and I like low balled Markov.

For fun, PP:

Kariya - Horcoff - Hemsky
Markov - Stoll

Torres/Nilsson - Pouliot - Pisani
Grebeshkov - Smid

PK:

Moreau - Pisani
Stoll - Johnson
Horcoff - Kariya

Markov - Smith
Staios - Grebeshkov


... and please, don't bother adding a "fire Kevin Lowe," "fire MacT," "trade Horcoff or Lupul for a 7th" etc,

[Everman]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

Keep Lupul give him another chance.

[Angelus]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

To EDM: Toivonen, 3rd rounder
To BOS: Schremp, Greene, Deslauriers

You have got to be kidding me......

[PDO]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

You have got to be kidding me......

On which side?

Seriously.

Deslauriers at this point is nothing more than a throw in so we can make sure that DD gets more starts in the AHL. He's not even worth the third.

Toivonen put up stunning numbers in the AHL and the NHL already. He had a groin injury, and is on the outs in Boston, but the kid has potential to be a #1 G in the league.

Greene is a UFA in 3 years and it's hard to see him making an impact any time soon after this year.

[Deathsdoorstep]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

Considering the crappy year that Raffi Torres had I can't see him getting more than $1.5/2years.

I'd like to see the Oilers re-sign Sykora. He made $2.9 this year, so up that to $3.5 and I think he'll stay.

Then we let PDO sell Whore-Cough to another team's GM for something worthwhile.....but seriously since nobody will take him at that salary, he'll stay an Oiler.

Then we sign a bona-fide left winger or trade picks + Jacques/Thoreson for one.

I don't think that either Jacques or Thoreson will or should be Oilers.

Centre:
Stoll
Pouliot
Horcoff
Reasoner

Left Wing:
????
Sykora
Torres
Moreau

Right Wing:
Hemsky
Lupul
Pisani
Stortini

Defense:
Smith ????
Staios Greene
Smid Gilbert

Goal:
Roloson
????

Press Box: Nilsson, Grebeshkov

[Beerfish]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

My team:

Sign Kariya, $15,000,000 / 3 years. Yes
Sign Markov, $36,000,000 / 6 years.
Talk about getting raped in the Pronger deal, we had him signed for 4 years at 6.25 and we are going to pay Markov 6? Blech, Markov is a decent player no doubt but 6 mill a year?

Sign Johnson, $5,000,000 / 3 years.
No, we don't need yet anbother 3 year deal on an average player.

Sign Moen, $1,000,000 / 1 year.
Don't know much about this guy, the price is right.

Sign Torres, $5,800,000 / 3 years. Yes
Sign Hejda, $5,000,000 / 3 years
Once again with the 3 year deals, we already have a couple of those that don't look good. If he won't take a 1 or 2 year deal let him walk.
Sign Petersen, $450,000 / 1 year Yes
Sign Hill, $450,000 / 1 year.
This guy is pretty well done but if he is that cheap yes.

To EDM: Toivonen, 3rd rounder
To BOS: Schremp, Greene, Deslauriers
NO! HUGE overpayment. Greene improved a great deal once he had to play alot due to injury and we will be very soft on the back end wihtout a guy like him. I don't see the love affair with Toivenen.

Sign Toivonen to $2,000,000 / 2 year deal.

To EDM: 2nd OV
To PHI: Lupul, NYI 1st

No, Lupul had a bad year and was used poorly, trading him now is the ultimate in buying high and selling low.

Draft Kyle Turris.

Assume Gilbert starts the year in the AHL.

Kariya (5.0) - Horcoff (3.6) - Hemsky (4.1) - 12.7
Torres (1.93) - Stoll (2.2) - Pisani (2.5) - 6.63
Moreau (2.0) - Pouliot (.943) - Johnson (1.66) - 4.603
Moen (1.0) - Reasoner (.95) - Thoresen (.570) - 2.52
Petersen (.45) - .45

= 26.903

Markov (6.0) - Smith (1.976) - 7.976
Smid (.915) - Staios (2.7) - 3.615
Grebeshkov (.9) - Hill (.45) - 1.35

= 12.941

Roloson (3.667)
Toivonen (1.0)

= 4.667

Total Salary = $44,551,000; but that can rise quickly with a guy like Nilsson making the team (+$500k), and I like low balled Markov.

The Oilers have to pray that Stoll gets better. Sorry to go against your rule but I hope they trade Horcoff.

Your overall plan looks fairly sound even if I don't agree with all parts. Some real nice work up, especially with the salaries. My biggest fear is that we will have to grossly overpay ofr free agents or will trade away alot of picks and young talent to just get back to the 8th, 9th place level. If it is going to look that way I'd rather not give up the youth and picks and bite the bullet for a few years.

__________________

[Deathsdoorstep]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

The more I think about it and the more I look down the depth chart the more I hate Whore-Cough's contract. If Hemsky is our #1 RW and we want him to play with Sykora then we need to get a top notch centreman playing with them. Horcoff aint that. But he's on the roster and we have 4 centres with him, Stoll, Pouliot and Reasoner. Now, of those 4, you'd want to move Whore-Cough to make room for a #1 centre. But you can't because his contract is too rich for what he puts out!

So that leaves you in the spot of having to play Sykora as your #1 LW or put in down to #2 and try to get a better LW (gee...I wish we had one of those...like say...I dunno..Ryan Smyth maybe..)

Grrrr!

[fivedaytrial]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

i would really like to see us pickup elias and put him on a shift with hemsky and sykora ,karya would be a good pickup too

[earl2]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

The problem with picking up, oh I don't know, Kariya and Markov for example is that there will be about 20-25 other teams trying to sign them.
It's easy to say, hard to do.

[PDO]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

The problem with picking up, oh I don't know, Kariya and Markov for example is that there will be about 20-25 other teams trying to sign them.
It's easy to say, hard to do.

True, but I think the contracts I laid out there are likely higher than they'll receive - which is ultimately what it takes to land a guy like that, and as such if we were willing to go that high (maybe even up the number for Markov to $38,000,000 and Kariya to $16,500,000? We'd still fit under the cap), we could reasonably hope to land both of them.

Beerfish: Your bolding made this a tad harder .

Chop Johnson down to two years or maybe replace him with Dvorak? Basically, I'm using that RW to replace Lupul (who, from this year to next year would be an immediate and massive upgrade at a much cheaper price). The Oilers desperately missed guys who could separate the man from the puck and keep a forecheck going; Lupul seems the like the obvious guy to cut from the pack given his atrocious PP numbers.

We definitely got raped on the Pronger deal, I believe it's the second best non-rookie contract in the NHL (only behind Kiprusoff). That said, Markov is still a top 10 defensemen in the NHL and is only 27 years old. The cap has also risen by $8,000,000 (20%) since the Pronger deal, so I'd be very content handing him those dollars and that term. Not to nitpick, but it was 5 years, not 4.

Hejda is another guy just entering his prime.. honestly, if he'd sign a longer deal, I'd go for it. He proved capable of playing a strong defensive role against quality NHL players. He's similar to Steve Staios, with just a shade less offense in my eyes. I'd be very happy to sign him to any deal under 5 years that paid him less than $2,000,000 a season.

Sean Hill has had a pretty solid year on the Island, but he's just a random example. Basically sign a UFA D to around the minimum wage because he can A) help stabilize the rooks B) teach the rooks C) will likely be better than the rooks for the immediate future, and having two rooks on the same pairing just terrifies me.

Lupul is a salary cut, basically. At 2.5 salary and a 2.3 cap hit, it's a lot to pay for potential, especially considering that he was, at least statistically, by far the worst player on the Oilers this season. I'm also extremely high on Kyle Turris, and love his upside. Many have compared him to Joe Sakic. We'd be a better team next year without a shadow of a doubt if we replaced Lupul at 2.3 with a Dvorak/Johnson type player who could contribute at both ends of the ice and finish the season a +. I'm willing to admit I've never liked him, but I also see no reason to like him

I never said there was anything wrong with trading Horcoff, just don't say "trade him for a 7th" .

I'd agree with you on the picks/young players, except I don't think many of them will ever be that good. In the system, right now, I like Chorney, Cogliano and Truhkno. I'd add Pouliot to that list, but he's an NHL player in my eyes now.

Just to add: Moen is very, very strong defensively and a strong fighter. Basically, Ethan Moreau with less offense and more physicality. I'd love to have a one two punch in our bottom six of Moreau/Moen.

Anyone else going to go a bit more in depth? I don't want to have the only plan up

[gizmo fan 2]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

I don't think that either Jacques or Thoreson will or should be Oilers.

Thor was one of the few guys actually putting in an effort down the stretch (during the 5-1 loss to Colorado on Fan Appreciation Night, he was the ONLY one with any effort, and got rewarded with the goal). I like that kind of attitude, and I think he wants to be here. He's not a huge cap hit, and I think he'll get better with another season.

[Deathsdoorstep]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

While we're all dreaming.....

I'd like to see the Oilers send Whore-Cough, Jacques, plus a 1st rounder to Ottawa for Redden.

Then I'd like to see them make a serious run at either Scott Gomez or Paul Kariya. Kariya is too used to playing where it's warm so I doubt he'll come to Edmonton. I'd throw $6.5 Million at Gomez in a second.

Then you ship Raffi Torres and another 1st rounder off to someplace that will return a decent left winger.

Then you'd have:

Sykora - Gomez - Hemsky
???? - Pouliot - Lupul
Torres - Stoll - Pisani
Moreau - Reasoner - Stortini

Redden - Smid
Smith - Staios
Greene - Gilbert

[esks4life]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

While we're all dreaming.....

I'd like to see the Oilers send Whore-Cough, Jacques, plus a 1st rounder to Ottawa for Redden.

Defenceman Wade Redden has struggled through the first 4 games of the series and was directly responsible for the Penguins lone goal in Game 4. With the improvement of Anton Volchenkov and Joe Corvo, Redden's role on the team has diminished and there are now rumours circulating that the blueliner could be on his way to Edmonton in the off-season. Those rumours are being fuelled by the fact Oilers coach Craig MacTavish and head scout Charlie Huddy have made appearances during the series. - Ottawa Sun

[Esks4ever]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

I want the Oilers to get Vinnie Lecaviler (sp)

[moontoscott]

Re: What would you like the Oilers to do this Summer?

You want to commit $36 million (U.S.) for Danny Markov? When the Oilers would not commit this much money to Ryan Smyth?

Why don't we dig up Tim Horton and Carl Brewer instead?

Also, I don't think that JF Jacques is going to be a regular NHL'er.

Salary cap up by 8 million a year? I know I have asked this before but what was the year long strike about