Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
Both contracts are a problem. Frankly Sekera's contract is a problem. Russell's contract isn't ideal. Basically the McDavid contract makes it so that you can't have many overpaid players on your roster. But UFAs arguably are usually overpaid in comparison to younger talent. As the Oilers move forward Chiarelli's task will be to surround McDavid. But if they don't draft and develop well they'll never get the cheap, young talent they need to fill out the team in the cap world. Chiarelli can't plug too many holes via UFA or they'll have too many players who aren't steals.
If the Oilers don't improve their drafting and development they'll never be able to find enough cheap talent to surround him with. I don't think you can rely on Chiarelli making multiple Maroon type deals every year to plug the holes that keep opening up
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I've hi-lighted those parts of your post I consider key.
You can see why Chicago and Pittsburgh succeeded.
Any top team will eventually run into cap issues once you have to pay your elite talent. The problem isn't those contracts per se, as long as you are paying FMV for your elite core. The problem occurs when you cannot bring in cheap decent players on ELC's.
And you are correct, that will likely lead to Edmonton's downfall, the inability to bring in cheap talent.
Because the UFA market is seldom a place you go to fill holes cheaply.