DownUndaCanuck Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 The Oilers will be a very interesting team to follow next season, and with a few quick fixes they may well go from one of the worst teams in the Conference to a playoff team all of a sudden. 1) Draft McDavid. Simple. He'll probably slot right into the lineup and play around 12-16 minutes a night in the big league. He may not play particularly well, may not be defensively or physically ready, but he'll be an upgrade at the center position for the Oilers. With the 16th overall pick, Edmonton should go after a defenceman and by that time there will be guys like Roy, Kylington, Pilon, Meloche, Eirksson-Ek etc. still available. Take one of them, keep them in the minors and develop them for a while while Nurse is coming up. With the 33rd overall pick, draft a goalie. This pool isn't great for goalies but Blackwood, Tomek and Samsonov are the best so take a stab at one of them and pray to god they turn out well. 2) Re-sign Justin Schultz with a bridge contract. Nothing big/long-term. His puck-moving ability and vision is second to none on that team and with a solid shutdown defence partner, he can become something special. 3) Sign UFA defencemen as patch-work guys until Nurse and Klefbom are ready for bigger minutes. In particular, veteran shutdown defencemen. Two of Paul Martin (Pittsburgh getting Pouliot in, may let him walk), Bryan Allen (don't see the Habs re-signing him), Barret Jackman (St. Louis will revamp their team too after a quick exit), Jeff Petry (if they're lucky and Montreal let him walk), Sekera (would have to throw big money to get him out of Los Angeles), Adam McQuaid (will likely walk from Boston, has history and chemistry with Ference though), Tim Gleason etc. Lets say for arguments sake, Edmonton get a good deal for McQuaid and Barret Jackman. They've got 18M in cap space right now so they'll be fine for a couple of gritty, low-paid veteran defencemen. 4) Make a big-time play for Craig Anderson. They've got Hammond about to get re-signed, just signed O'Connor and also have Lehner in the wings. They've got too many netminders, and Edmonton have too many offensive stars, which is something the Senators could have used in the playoffs. Anderson's 33 though, only just broke 0.500 last season so doesn't warrant a Hall-like star, but someone like Yakupov is fair game. The kid is good for a middle-6 winger right now but still has that 20-30 goal scoring potential, which is why Ottawa should throw in a pick ideally... TO OTT: Nail Yakupov TO EDM: Craig Anderson Eberle - RNH - Hall Purcell - Draisaitl - Pouliot Gordon - McDavid - Hendricks Klinkhammer - Lander - Gazdik Not much difference to last season, but Draisaitl can hopefully take more minutes and become a full time center. That top line is one of the best in the league, and McDavid will hopefully bring some much needed depth scoring initially as a 3rd line center (but may well end up as the team's 2nd line center by the season's end). Ference - Schultz Jackman - Fayne Klefbom - McQuaid Nikitin Nurse Still not a great defence but give it 1 more season until McDavid is the Oiler's top line center before Edmonton can go out and trade RNH, Hall or Draisaitl for a top-flight, franchise defenceman in the East (looking at Boston's Joe Morrow, Pittsburgh's Derreck Pouliot which would be a stretch, one of the many Senator defencemen or maybe a Buffalo young stud). Anderson Scrivens The team's a work in progress, but doing these steps would be a huge improvement, and the following off-season would be even more beneficial to the team when they're able to rely on McDavid more, meaning that they'll have a couple of valuable center trading chips to really solidify that defence group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejazz97 Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 Ottawa adds. It would be interesting if they moved Schultz to a 2nd or 3rd-line forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dral Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 Eberle, RNH, Hall, Yak, Drai, McD spread out in a top9 is pretty disgusting... not sure if I'd trade any of them - use the 2016 or 2017 first overall to draft a Dman/goalie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magician Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 TO OTT: Nail Yakupov TO EDM: Craig Anderson I like the idea of that trade but I feel like OTT needs to add something else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox Mulder Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 Jordan Eberle for Anderson and Jared Cowan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil_314 Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 Jordan Eberle for Anderson and Jared Cowan IMO Ottawa doesn't need Ebbs, they have Stone (R.F.A. about to get PAID) and Bobby Ryan in their Top 6 as the R.W.'s. MacArthur clicks with Turris and doubt they'd break that line up, and Ryan had a strong season with Zibanejad. Def. could see the Oil want something like the deal offered though, maybe they'll offer picks? That's how teams trying to build could shore up areas (Islanders traded picks/ prospects for Leddy and Boychuk). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustapha Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 The Oilers don't really know what they have in their lineup yet until they have a proper, experienced NHL coach who has experience winning in the NHL assess the team. Trading any of them before this happens is a stupid idea. Young players can and do succeed in the NHL, as long as they have the proper coaching and guidance (Just take a look at all the Flames rookies, hell even Matt Stajan looks like a real NHLer again) Don't do anything rash like trading Yakupov for a veteran goalie. Sign a free agent or two to plug the holes. Get a real NHL goalie in the net. Someone with 150+ games of NHL experience would be nice: Ray Emery played backup minutes for just $1 million last year, have him run a tandem with Scrivens or Fasth, one of which should improve under a better defensive system. Goalies generally garner a poor return on the market, if you deal a former (recent) 1st overall pick, it better be for a younger established RFA like Jonathan Bernier. Depending on how well the coach can improve the team's defense, you might find that Scrivens/Fasth can run with it for a season. Scrivens looked fine behind the LA Kings' defense, as did Fasth behind Anaheim's. I don't think either guys are world class NHL starters, but they both have had success on teams that actually played some decent defense most of the time. Not to mention, they already have some goaltending talent in the system. Laurent Brossoit is an excellent young goalie who has some size and agility, He's 22 now, so I could easily see him in the NHL in 2-3 years after some more starting minutes in the AHL. To summarize, I don't think Edmonton's on-ice personnel is the main issue right now. They need to have the team properly assessed by their new coach before doing anything with their roster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted May 10, 2015 Author Share Posted May 10, 2015 The Oilers don't really know what they have in their lineup yet until they have a proper, experienced NHL coach who has experience winning in the NHL assess the team. Trading any of them before this happens is a stupid idea. Young players can and do succeed in the NHL, as long as they have the proper coaching and guidance (Just take a look at all the Flames rookies, hell even Matt Stajan looks like a real NHLer again) Thanks for reminding me, big key to potential success next season: lock up either Babcock (it'd be a stretch) or Tod McLellan. Both have had success in the West, they know the teams there well and would do wonders to this Edmonton team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 If I'm Edmonton's gm, I'd trade Yak for the best d-man I could get my hands on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greene02 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Jordan Eberle for Anderson and Jared CowanAnderson is almost 34. The Oilera don't trade one of their core players for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButcherG Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Edmonton has simply been in tank mode. Best way to tank is have no top two Dmen and no number one goalie. We saw the Islanders doing the same thing, and they plugged their holes last year. They had to, they had no first round pick this year. So their tank was over. The Oilers just need to find a quality number one goalie, and even one solid defensive Dman and they will be contending for the playoffs. They will probably try to get their goalie and Dman via UFA, as it won't cost them anything but cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saucypass Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Do you guys think the Oilers would do a Bieksa for Yakupov trade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I think if McDavid starts life as 3LC on this dreadful team, he'll spiral into bustdom. 2LC is where he starts - anything less wastes his pofential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Frk Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Do you guys think the Oilers would do a Bieksa for Yakupov trade? Not a chance Edmonton does that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baer. Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Do you guys think the Oilers would do a Bieksa for Yakupov trade? I have a feeling they'd ask for Tanev. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyCuddles Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Trade the 16th overall pick to Vancouver for Kevin Bieksa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crabcakes Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 The Oilers defense as it is now would make any goaltender look bad (think Dubnyk). There is no way they will attract a top coach if they don't fill some holes first. Promises, promises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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