[News] Roman Horak to the KHL

[puckluck2]

Good luck Horak! I was a big fan of his. He plays a solid 2 way game and thought he could have been a full time nhler last season.

[saXon]

Originally Posted by theoforever

You have to look at the bigger picture.
Horak could help Oilers and that would sabotage the master plan.

Lowe knows that the Oiler rebuild has gone wrong. The only thing that could prove Lowe right would be a top 2 pick in the 2015.
MacT gave 2 thumbs up to the coach because he understand that's how you make sure Oilers suck next season.

That's how you think ahead. The vision is there and we know Oilers can execute this plan to perfection.

This is where I believe you are mistaken, my friend.

Leave it up to Edmonton to turn potential franchise players McDavid or Eichel into the most disappointing busts in modern NHL history. It's the Oiler way.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Drury18

I'd rather see Horak in the KHL then Edmonton. That trade still hurts and I still hate it.

He wasn't given a chance with Edmonton, got 2 call-ups and that was it. He played out of his mind in OKC and never got rewarded for it as the Oilers were too busy with their drafted prospects. He was an afterthought to the Oilers, not a prospect.

Wish the kid nothing but the best. Hopefully he pulls a Gio and a year in the KHL turns him into a solid NHL player down the line.

Exactly how does that trade hurt? Failing to see any pain from a Flames perspective.

I like Horak, seems like a guy with a great attitude, but lets call a spade a spade. Many on here like the guy because he was one of the Flames better prospects at the time he was here. but that's the key word, one of Flames better prospects. He was a good prospect on a team with bad prospects. It be one thing if Horak couldn't manage it in Edmonton, that organization is run poorly (although their issue seems to be simply handing prospects spots), but Horak simply hasn't been able to cut in the NHL now on two fairly weak teams. If you can't make Calgary in the years Horak was here, that's saying something.

I hope for the best for him, and hope one day he becomes an NHL regular, and while anything is possible as far as the future goes, as it sits right now Horak doesn't appear to have what it takes to be a regular in this league, and certainly not an impact player. We overvalue him in Calgary because we were desperate to be able to say we had young prospects in the system, and he was near the top of a very bad bunch...........but that's just it, he was the best of a group that simply wasn't good enough.

[Burke Salad]

But, according to some Oilers fans Brossiot is showing better numbers than Quick in the ECHL...seriously!

[sun]

Best of luck to him. Always liked his game, maybe he'll be back in the NHL one day, just not for the oilers.

[chalms04]

Glad Scorak is out of that dump of an organization for at least a year,

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Haha! Stupid Oilers!

Should have given him more of a chance. He's a better two-way player than half their roster. So dumb.

[Huntingwhale]

Good for Horak to leave as untainted as possible from that organization. What a win for the Flames in that trade. Still can't believe some Oilers fans think we lost out on it.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Good for Horak to leave as untainted as possible from that organization. What a win for the Flames in that trade. Still can't believe some Oilers fans think we lost out on it.

Joke's on us. How can we possibly be bad enough for multiple 1st overall picks in a row with players that play defense? Stupid Flames. Don't know what they're doing.

[Erick Estrada]

Hopefully for him his rights can get moved in a future trade as Edmonton is not the place to be for any player. That said I was never as high on him as most here as I don't believe he excels at any one thing enough to be a full time player in this league at his size. To me he looks more like a guy that could have a long AHL career spending time on and off in the NHL.

[Burke Salad]

He does have that Saprykin vibe going on.

[scottish_flame]

Good luck to the guy.

Hopefully has a good year in the khl and gets another chance to play at nhl level again

[old-fart]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

I guess to be fair, the website says he signed a 1 year deal. Oilers have his NHL rights for another 4 years.

Could be a Mark Giordano type deal where he goes to Russia for a year then comes back to win a roster spot.

Don't the Oilers only retain his rights if they offer him a contract? He's an RFA isn't he, but doesn't he need to be qualified?

How does that work in this situation?

[devo22]

Originally Posted by old-fart

Don't the Oilers only retain his rights if they offer him a contract? He's an RFA isn't he, but doesn't he need to be qualified?

How does that work in this situation?

I believe they simply retain his rights because there's no transfer agreement between the NHL and the KHL. Could be wrong though

[Calgary4LIfe]

Hope it works out for him over there. Definitely a high-character guy. Felt so bad when he was apparently shaken after the trade to the Oilers, and requested permission from the Heat organization to say goodbye to all the players. Was a bit of a leader on the Heat as well.

It does make me wonder why he felt he would rather go the KHL route rather than staying in the Edmonton organization.

[Muffins]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Hope it works out for him over there. Definitely a high-character guy. Felt so bad when he was apparently shaken after the trade to the Oilers, and requested permission from the Heat organization to say goodbye to all the players. Was a bit of a leader on the Heat as well.

It does make me wonder why he felt he would rather go the KHL route rather than staying in the Edmonton organization.

That was a rhetorical question right?

[CaptainCrunch]

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by old-fart

Don't the Oilers only retain his rights if they offer him a contract? He's an RFA isn't he, but doesn't he need to be qualified?

How does that work in this situation?

Yeah but since he signed a KHL deal he can't accept a qualifying offer.

Oilers just need to make him a qualifiying offer to retain his rights and I don't see why they don't.

Unsigned he won't count towards the 50 roster limit, and if he lights up the KHL his rights might have trade value down the line.

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

It does make me wonder why he felt he would rather go the KHL route rather than staying in the Edmonton organization.

...must not make communism joke. Must keep myself from being banned.

Truthfully, I think because he has a better chance to show himself in the KHL then with the Oilers organization. He put up good numbers in the AHL consistently this year (he was a PPG player) and it seemingly got him nowhere. Now, he's going to a team in the KHL which hasn't won more then 18 games in a season and their leader scorer last year only had 26 points (Maxim Afinoganov). There is a good chance Roman goes to that team and becomes the leading scorer and perhaps gets his offensive side going. I think he saw an opportunity to be a leading goal scorer somewhere that it would be more recognized. He's taking things into his own hands to get his career kick started again. He's a smart kid and always wants to work hard and please his team and be rewarded and he's more likely to get that playing in the KHL then the Oilers/Barons.

That or he got sick of playing 5 years so far away from home in a minor role and realized that's all he can get and decided that playing in the KHL in the same role where he's only a 3 hour flight from home was better for him.

Personally, either reason I can't really blame him. I doubt he walked away from the NHL on a whim.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Can't be a great sign for the Oilers.

Promising prospect who has spent pretty much his whole career in North America decides to go to the KHL instead of playing for their team.

Especially since it wasn't like he couldn't have won a job out of training camp.

Horak was vastly overrated by our fanbase for a long time.

He's a good AHL player but clearly not a very good NHLer - jack of all trades master of none (as evidenced by his inability to crack Calgary or Edmonton's rosters regularly).