Probably a pretty decent move for the Oilers up front, and with things going well, they're really going to want to push for the cup this year because that window is really going to slam shut hard, and leave the Oilers in another decade of darkness.
there's no question that Henrique gives them a pretty good punch on their second line, he also does a lot of penalty killing.
Carrick is nothing, he'll end up playing for their farm team.
but why does the window slam shut Captain? Why?
Simple.
this year they have what amounts to 1.2 million worth of space left if they want to get anther blueliner. but they're out of the big game hunting now.
For draft picks for this year they have their 2nd a 5th, and 2 6th and a 7th, next year. Now here's perfect storm number 1. They don't have much to be excited coming up. Their prospect depth is dismal. Philip BoingBoing was supposed to be a stud, but he's dismal. Holloway their highly boasted about 1st rounded looks awful.
Now here's perfect storm number 2.
For next year they have 13 players signed, and 14 million in cap space. that's 7 forwards 5 defenseman and 1 goalie. so they'll need 5 forwards at least 1 defensive and a goalie. Its not terrible, but its not great.
Then again they have to be really careful now with that cap space, with sour puss needing a deal for the year after, and its likely that his agent is going to push for the league max, because Leon strikes me as being a jerk.
With the cap going up next year and the max salary being in the area of 16 million dollars, the Oilers are going to have to find between lets say 6 (to 14 mil) and 8 (to 16 mil) mega bucks to try to keep Leon, and Bouchard's going to be looking to probably grab a bunch of cash and then blammo Conna comes up and he's going to demand the league max to stay there so they will need to set aside another 4 million while freaking out in two years with nobody on the roster at all, and not much coming from the farm.
They have to win the cup this year, its that simple. They don't have the prospects of the cap space to keep this core for much longer.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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