[Signing] Oilers sign Draisaitl (8 yrs, $8.5 mil AAV)

[EldrickOnIce]

Draisaitl contract is the 4th highest second contract ever paid. Behind Crosby, Malkin and McDavid - who all won Hart trophy before signing their second contract.
Drai better be as good as they gambled on him being.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Draisaitl contract is the 4th highest second contract ever paid. Behind Crosby, Malkin and McDavid - who all won Hart trophy before signing their second contract.
Drai better be as good as they gambled on him being.

Anyone that doesn't think this was an over-payment needs to read that post over and over.

Yes, there is such a thing as inflation, but it doesn't explain away all of this.

[PeteMoss]

Unless there was an offer sheet out there, I don't see why you sign this if you're Edmonton. Do you really think his cost is going to be higher than this next year or the year after? Even if it ends up being $500k higher or something, at least you have information that he can succeed without McDavid.

If its true they plan to use him as McDavid's winger again then they've completely lost the plot. Slide anyone in that spot and they'll give you 60-70% of Draisaitl's production at 20% of the cost.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Anyone that doesn't think this was an over-payment needs to read that post over and over.



Yes, there is such a thing as inflation, but it doesn't explain away all of this.

I wonder how this impacts the Vancouver Canucks's negotiation with RFA Bo Horvat. He is a few months older than Draisaitl, and has never come near to his offensive production, but Horvat also had a break-through career year and he was the leading scorer on his team. Unlike Draisaitl he was easily the Canucks most important player, and was the primary driver of their anemic offense.

Horvat will not get anything close to $8 m, but I would bet that this deal ensures he ends up with more than $6 m, and I think that will also be an overpayment.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I wonder how this impacts the Vancouver Canucks's negotiation with RFA Bo Horvat. He is a few months older than Draisaitl, and has never come near to his offensive production, but Horvat also had a break-through career year and he was the leading scorer on his team. Unlike Draisaitl he was easily the Canucks most important player, and was the primary driver of their anemic offense.

Horvat will not get anything close to $8 m, but I would bet that this deal ensures he ends up with more than $6 m, and I think that will also be an overpayment.

The McDavid contract changed the landscape. I'm just grateful that Monahan and Gaudreau had their deals done last summer. Something as simple as not burning that first year of Gaudreau's ELC could have led to his AAV jumping up another 1.25M or more.

[edn88]

I think that they had to overpay Draisatl - and will have to overpay most of their talent - simply because they are in northern Alberta.

[AlbertaOiler72]

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

Poor defensively? By what statistic? Almost every measurable metric shows them as a top 10 D group.

accept the one that counts..Goals against
Calgary has finished BEHIND Edmonton the past 2 seasons...despite that "awesome" defense
and yes I know, its all the goalie's fault...so either:
-Treliving can't find a decent goalie despite burning through 7 goalies or
-the defense bears a ton of the blame
cause the goalie carousel keeps turning yet one thing stays the same...

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

Bear was in his overage year in the WHL. Will he go on to have a sparkling NHL career such as Justin Pogge, Bryan Cameran, Justin Keller? Other guys who excelled in their 5th year in junior? Jones could be decent, but again you're using an average prospect as an example of one of your best. Also using a freshly drafted player as an example also hurts your case. Valimaki was just drafted by Calgary, but if you ask almost everyone here who were our best D propsects, Kulak, Andersson and Fox would be ahead of him. That's what stocked cupboards look like.

you asked who our best prospects were and I obliged...nowhere did I say they were all studs
good arrows, but not studs

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

Just as many core pieces of the Stanley Cup winning team were acquired by O'Connell and Gorton. Also, he managed to win one cup before being forced to lose guys because of self-induced cap trouble.

so those guys get the credit for the Bruins good pieces, yet Chia gets the blame for trading Seguin
seems legit

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

Okay, say it goes up by a very generous 3 million (hasn't gone up that much in 6 years). The Oilers now have 17 million to fill 11 spots. 1.5 million bucks/spot. Maroon will need a raise. Benning, Nurse, Strome all need to be qualified. Who's going to take RNH or Lucic in a trade where they don''t send salary back? Who are the prospects that can fill some of those spots on ELC's? The Oilers window is literally this season.

as long as McDavid is healthy and winning MVP Trophys, the Oilers window will be open

[JFK]

Oiler fan, Flames fan, it doesn't matter but this site cannot abide by any poster who uses "accept" where "except" should be.

Shame you on, sir or madam.

[Wyguy]

He is an Oilers fan JKF, lower your expectations...

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by AlbertaOiler72

accept the one that counts..Goals against

Calgary has finished BEHIND Edmonton the past 2 seasons...despite that "awesome" defense

and yes I know, its all the goalie's fault...so either:

-Treliving can't find a decent goalie despite burning through 7 goalies or

-the defense bears a ton of the blame

cause the goalie carousel keeps turning yet one thing stays the same...

Funny how you picked the ONE stat that is most directly affected by goaltending. The only reason Edmonton was ahead was Talbot vs. Elliott/Johnson. You're right, Treliving has dropped the ball goalie wise. 3 headed goalie problem and not acquiring a concrete starter over the last 2 years. But to blame the D is asinine.

Originally Posted by AlbertaOiler72

you asked who our best prospects were and I obliged...nowhere did I say they were all studs

good arrows, but not studs

So you're admitting that the cupboards are bare then? When you have to use barely average prospects as examples of your best. Cool.

Originally Posted by AlbertaOiler72

so those guys get the credit for the Bruins good pieces, yet Chia gets the blame for trading Seguin

seems legit

Didn't say that. He gets credit for the guys he brought in. But his bad decisions aren't minor ones. They've been major ####ups. Also, he was only able to win one cup before having huge self-induced cap problems. A problem he is already running into in Edmonton and he hasn't even had huge team success yet.

Originally Posted by AlbertaOiler72

as long as McDavid is healthy and winning MVP Trophys, the Oilers window will be open

Not without a better middle 6 and a much much better defense.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Draisaitl contract is the 4th highest second contract ever paid. Behind Crosby, Malkin and McDavid - who all won Hart trophy before signing their second contract.
Drai better be as good as they gambled on him being.

Ovechkin too. His was the highest in actual dollars until McDoofus and is still the highest in terms of cap percentage.

Nash, Stamkos, and Vanek (thanks Lowe) were also higher by cap percentage.

Also, Malkin and Ovechkin hadn't won the Hart Trophy when they signed their second contracts, but did win it during the contracts.

[djsFlames]

Within the past 2 years
Giordano has put up a 56pt season
Hamilton a 50pt season
Brodie a 45pt season

Giordano's total would've placed him 3rd on the Oilers in scoring after McDavid and Draisaitl, Hamilton 4th after Eberle, Brodie 5th.

The Flames have 3 d-men that can realistically pass 40 points and are able to flirt with or surpass 50 points this season. Giordano and Hamilton have some of the top stats in the league as a pairing. Hamonic was a top pairing d-man in New York, and is now being asked to play as a #4 because of the depth of the Flames D.

Klefbom is the only Oiler d-man that came close to 40 on the Oilers defence, and was the top Oiler d-man with 38 points last season (his career high). Sekera has once hit 44 points in his lengthy career, but has had his production dip and hasn't come close since. He is also expected to miss an extended portion of the season.

You mean to tell me that because Talbot stood on his head, playing over 70 games and managed to keep the Oilers goals against lower than the Flames during what was a circus of a season in net that the Oilers have in any realm of existence a remotely comparable, let alone better defense?

AO has pretty much lost his mind if he means to suggest that.

10/10 times anybody outside of Edmonton is taking the Flames defence over the Oilers going into this season. Figures that some nut jobs in EDM think that they actually have anything better than an average blue line when healthy.

[GoJetsGo]

You have to understand that as a collective, the Oiler fan base isn't very bright, and this guy is just tossing out generalizations he's heard fellow grease fans blurt out.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by AlbertaOiler72

accept the one that counts..Goals against
Calgary has finished BEHIND Edmonton the past 2 seasons...despite that "awesome" defense
and yes I know, its all the goalie's fault...so either:
-Treliving can't find a decent goalie despite burning through 7 goalies or
-the defense bears a ton of the blame
cause the goalie carousel keeps turning yet one thing stays the same...

It's fair and there's no harm to evaluate the collective D unit for some stress on the goaltending the past two seasons, but you're not doing it very well.

In 15-16 Giordano returned from a serious arm injury that kept him out of the entire playoffs the year before. Hamilton had a rough start after joining his new team and learning a new system. Brodie found out his fiance was diagnosed with MS early that season. Smid returned from a serious neck injury for a short stretch only to go back on IR again. Wideman's performance dipped and then there was the "incident". Engelland was fine and Russell played decent enough though before being traded to Dallas for Jokipakka. The remainder was rounded out by Nakladal, Wotherspoon, and Kulak coming up from the minors for 27, 11 and 8 games respectively.

In 2016-17 we started the year with a new coach and completely new system. The pairings were switched. Brodie was moved to the other side if I recall correctly. The focus was on keeping the majority of the youth in the minors so we started the season with Grossman in the lineup! Wideman's play was dreadful all year until being scratched regularly. Brodie struggled on the other side and his partners constantly being shuffled. Jokipakka proved to not be a piece we would be keeping long term and was traded. Matt Bartkowski was scraped off the bottom of the barrel to help late in the year and Stone was acquired at the deadline. While they were improvements over who they replaced, it takes time for D to adjust to new partners and systems. Kulak only got 21 games early in the year but should have been given more IMO.

Those all add up to some level of impact to the success of team defense and had some affect on goaltending.

Now we move forward with a Giordano-Hamilton top pairing which will only improve with more familiarity, better execution of Gulutzan's system and Hamilton's growth. Brodie will now have Hamonic as a partner and not a weight like Wideman. Stone at #5, along side either Kulak, Bartkowski or Andersson is massive depth and injury insurance.

Goalies will be in a way better situation in 17-18.

[Realistic]

Originally Posted by AlbertaOiler72

as long as McDavid is healthy and winning MVP Trophys, the Oilers window will be open

Accept this......the Coilers window will slam shut at the end of the upcoming season, if not before. Next summer all the Coiler fans will be whining about how "unfair" the salary cap is and "they" should be allowed to keep some of McDavids salary out of the cap because they can't ice a competitive team the way the rules are....

[dustygoon]

I'm just catching up. Did chia really say he sees Draisaitl as a winger?

What winger has ever made money like this?

That is a disaster if true. Who plays center?

[codynw]

Originally Posted by dustygoon

I'm just catching up. Did chia really say he sees Draisaitl as a winger?

What winger has ever made money like this?

Kane, Kessel, Ovechkin, Benn... just a few off the top of my head.

And all of those players are better than Draisaitl.

[JohnnyTitan]

It's true though. If Drai plays wing and the Oilers are forced to trade Nudge next season for cap reasons...who remains that can play NHL center?

Honest question Oiler Fans! Give me your 2018 #2 through #5 centers.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

[djsFlames]

Not sure the Oilers realize how top heavy they are and how limited their options will be to do anything about it later. Who can they play/sign down the lineup that's going to consistently win the 2nd/3rd/4th line match ups if Dr Drai is suiting up on the wing next to McStraightface? RNH isn't much of a catalyst offensively.

Or if Leon can't produce at an adequate rate on another line and his contract suddenly looks awful, its the same problem. They pretty much really need Poolparty to become a legitimate player at this point. But of course then how do you retain him if he somehow does? With the clip at which they're paying young talents, what's stopping him from also asking a massive sum the Oilers can't pay if he puts together one good season?

Cap hell still means nothing to them right now, but it's going to rear it's ugly head very soon up there.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by dustygoon

I'm just catching up. Did chia really say he sees Draisaitl as a winger?

What winger has ever made money like this?

That is a disaster if true. Who plays center?

Ovechkin, Kane, and Perry are wingers who make money like this.

This is what they get for doing McDavid's deal first. Once they gave McD 12.5, they handed Draisaitl at least an extra 1.5M.

Also, I'm starting to think ELCs are going to be a major battleground in the next CBA. The next agreement probably won't have 3-year deals - I'm thinking four at minimum. The owners will probably ask for five.