Gryba. Drop Gryba. Rid the team of the scourge that is Gryba. (frank)ing Gryba.
- MaximumBone

Or this

I’m cool with this

I have no interest in dealing him away or hating on him

My anger is on chia..
Leon’s young and shoulda been bridged for at least a year to prove that he can drive his own line and dominate .

Now, we’re paying him like he can for 8 years and we don’t actually know it
- HB77

We can say he should've been bridged but who's to say that was on the table for his side? They definitely should've played more hardball and not negotiated Connor's contract first, but alas.

Or this

I’m cool with this
- HB77

Davy has been his usual effective self by many metrics but is getting absolutely shat on by team-low PDO and on-ice SV %. Rough go for him but it seems par for the course from a guy like Bergevin. If Washington gets the chance, I think he'd be a great fit there.

You can make that argument but this is just the Hall and Eberle contracts of yore. You're not JUST paying for what he can do now, you're paying for what he'll be able to do down the line a few years.

You can hate on Chiarelli for giving him the contract too soon but don't let that hate carry over to him just because he isn't immediately worth the 8.5mil/year. He's our top EV strength offensive producer and doesnt have a PP point yet (iirc) this year so far and has done okay adjusting to not playing with McDavid. Given time and faster linemates, he'll continue to develop and round out his game. These things aren't immediate and take time.
- MaximumBone

Then wouldn't a bridge contract be a better option at the time IF we need to give him time to establish himself and prove himself as capable of carrying his own line?

I understand that Chia takes a high risk/high reward approach, but the cap implications involved don't look like they were well thought out.

5m for 3 years, and then once he truly shows us what he is capable of, then we can pay him the big bucks would have been a better option, especially considering how many players we have to resign this coming offseason (Nurse, Maroon, Bennings, Jewels, Strome, LB, Slepy, and maybe Letetsu), all with just 12m....

Nurse probably gonna get 4m at least with the way he is playing... Maroon probably 3m at least... Bennings 3m... Strome 4m.... LB 2m... Slepy 2-3m... Jewels 3-4m... Letetsu... oh wait, can't resign Slepy, Jewels, Bennings, and Letestu... forgot that we're out of cap room.

We can say he should've been bridged but who's to say that was on the table for his side? They definitely should've played more hardball and not negotiated Connor's contract first, but alas.
- MaximumBone

I doubt bridge was on the table.
U play hardball. And there’s so many reasons to do so. U can’t just always cave.
I see the kuz deal who’s a better player than leon right now. Pastranak deal. Etc.
Like we just bent over.

And the dollars given to Connor as well had a huge influence on what he asked. As soon as we saw that deal I knew leon was gonna get a significantly bigger chunk of change than we all wanted. It was a flat out Dumbazz move. Even if as chia said they’d been back and forth for awhile. U wait him out and keep at it. Do not show your hand on Connor

Look kid, 1 year- 6 mil. Do it again on your own line and we’ll pay u (frank)in 9.

Then the russel deal. Far worse

Chiarelli is pretty ridiculous.

I doubt bridge was on the table.
U play hardball. And there’s so many reasons to do so. U can’t just always cave.
I see the kuz deal who’s a better player than leon right now. Pastranak deal. Etc.
Like we just bent over
And the dollars given to Connor as well of course had a huge influence on what he asked

Look kid, 1 year- 6 mil. Do it again on your own line and we’ll pay u (frank)in 9.

Then the russel deal. Far worse

Chiarelli is pretty ridiculous.
- HB77

5m for 3 years should have been the starting point. I'm fine with 6m for 2 years, just don't want to resign him during this offseason. We already got a lot of players to resign already as is.

As for that 9m thing... hell, I'm okay with that if he shows us that he can actually carry his own line. At that point, that would actually be fair value.

This previous offseason was just such a bad one. Terrible management of contract negotiations (we all know how well Chia is at this........) Ebs gone, Pouliot gone, Russell signed for 4m/4y... damn.

Then wouldn't a bridge contract be a better option at the time IF we need to give him time to establish himself and prove himself as capable of carrying his own line?

I understand that Chia takes a high risk/high reward approach, but the cap implications involved don't look like they were well thought out.

5m for 3 years, and then once he truly shows us what he is capable of, then we can pay him the big bucks would have been a better option, especially considering how many players we have to resign this coming offseason (Nurse, Maroon, Bennings, Jewels, Strome, LB, Slepy, and maybe Letetsu), all with just 12m....

Nurse probably gonna get 4m with the way he is playing... Maroon probably 3m at least... Bennings 3m... Strome 4m.... LB 2m... Slepy 2-3m... Jewels 3-4m... Letetsu... oh wait... forgot that we're out of cap room.
- EdmHockeyMan

No way he agrees to that.
2 years max.

But u incentivize him with just 1 year.
We ain’t lowballing u. We want u to be the Malkin to mcdavids Crosby.
Just show us u can and we’ll pay up

No way he agrees to that.
2 years max.

But u incentivize him with just 1 year.
We ain’t lowballing u. We want u to be the Malkin to mcdavids Crosby.
Just show us u can and we’ll pay up
- HB77

In the next post (above the post I quoted), I listed that as the starting point, with me personally seeing something getting done at 6m for 2 years considering the parameters. But it isn't impossible. Kucherov and SY would disagree with your opinion about the whole 5m/3y thing... . Your team just needs a strong negotiator, of which Chia obviously is not.

He is still a young player, he definitely knows he will be making bank soon, but regardless, you gotta be stiff with how you negotiate with him. If you're too easy, the next contract negotiations may see him looking at 10m+....

You gotta make sure that if he wants the money, he's gotta play for the money. You don't guarantee him any freebies.


I agree on the bold btw.

Edit: Which is why I love Yzerman's way of how he has handled the TBL so far. The Stamkos contract, Hedman contract, AV contract, the Kucherov contract, and the Drouin saga, just to name a few things he has been involved in. Just a fantastic GM. He plays hardball and it seems like he knows how to negotiate contracts to the fullest extent. They have at least a 5-year window to win a cup due to how SY setup the team. They will be having no problems resigning Namestnikov, Kucherov, and a few other FA's due to how much cap space they will have down the road...

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Oiler fans of all ages... Let's get ready to s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s SUCK IT!!!!!

- EdmHockeyMan

Should of used his skate.... but it's done with.

Nurse shouldn't of been turned inside out by a 38yr old...... but it's done with.

Should of used his skate.... but it's done with.

Nurse shouldn't of been turned inside out by a 38yr old...... but it's done with.
- nanook82

Sadly true. Such a poopty way to end what was honestly a great game. I was looking forward to seeing a great OT between the two teams.

Sadly true. Such a poopty way to end what was honestly a great game. I was looking forward to seeing a great OT between the two teams.
- EdmHockeyMan

Still not as bad as that game against the Ducks in the playoffs

Still not as bad as that game against the Ducks in the playoffs
- laughs2907

Yeah, that was just on a whole nother level.

Rim it Jero!
- RafiDRW

Excellent post.

I see it's another Russell bashing blog , how original.

Then wouldn't a bridge contract be a better option at the time IF we need to give him time to establish himself and prove himself as capable of carrying his own line?

I understand that Chia takes a high risk/high reward approach, but the cap implications involved don't look like they were well thought out.

5m for 3 years, and then once he truly shows us what he is capable of, then we can pay him the big bucks would have been a better option, especially considering how many players we have to resign this coming offseason (Nurse, Maroon, Bennings, Jewels, Strome, LB, Slepy, and maybe Letetsu), all with just 12m....

Nurse probably gonna get 4m at least with the way he is playing... Maroon probably 3m at least... Bennings 3m... Strome 4m.... LB 2m... Slepy 2-3m... Jewels 3-4m... Letetsu... oh wait, can't resign Slepy, Jewels, Bennings, and Letestu... forgot that we're out of cap room.
- EdmHockeyMan

I really don't know where you get your dollar estimates from...

No chance I hell Draisaitl even looks at 5 for 3. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if his agent were to hang up and indefinitely put off contract talks out of spite after hearing that. Even on a bridge (which I seriously doubt would be more than 2 years), you were looking at 6.5 at MINIMUM- probably closer to 7.

You're right that Nurse is likely looking at around 4 to 4.5 after the Matheson deal.

Maroon is likely looking at 4 to 4.5 (hopefully not with us).

Benning isn't in the territory of 3 yet; he's still barely clear of a 2 by 2 (ala Lindell).

Strome getting any more than 3.5 would take him continuing to produce as he has the past 10 games.

In what world do replacement level players like Caggiula, Slepyshev and Brossoit get anything close to what you're suggesting? Caggiula at 3 to 4?! He's barely proven to be worth 1.5.

Letestu shouldn't even be resigned next year unless he's taking 1mil. Not a huge problem with him, but we need every million in cap space we can get.

In the next post (above the post I quoted), I listed that as the starting point, with me personally seeing something getting done at 6m for 2 years considering the parameters. But it isn't impossible. Kucherov and SY would disagree with your opinion about the whole 5m/3y thing... . Your team just needs a strong negotiator, of which Chia obviously is not.

He is still a young player, he definitely knows he will be making bank soon, but regardless, you gotta be stiff with how you negotiate with him. If you're too easy, the next contract negotiations may see him looking at 10m+....

You gotta make sure that if he wants the money, he's gotta play for the money. You don't guarantee him any freebies.


I agree on the bold btw.

Edit: Which is why I love Yzerman's way of how he has handled the TBL so far. The Stamkos contract, Hedman contract, AV contract, the Kucherov contract, and the Drouin saga, just to name a few things he has been involved in. Just a fantastic GM. He plays hardball and it seems like he knows how to negotiate contracts to the fullest extent. They have at least a 5-year window to win a cup due to how SY setup the team. They will be having no problems resigning Namestnikov, Kucherov, and a few other FA's due to how much cap space they will have down the road...
- EdmHockeyMan

There are a few MAJOR differences between Tampa Bay and Edmonton that allowed that Kucherov deal to happen. Beyond Yzerman's ability to sell his vision to his players (Stamkos, Hedman and Kucherov all taking discounts), Tampa is a beautiful and easy place to live (unlike the wastelands of Alberta) with minimal state taxes (they take home a greater % of their earnings than other places) and they're not under the media microscope at all.

Let's not pretend that just because we had one winning season that it negates our geographical and fiscal disadvantages in negotiations.

What about walker ?

Davidson is better than gryba at the very least. On his game, I’ll say farvmore effective than auvitu as well.

To be fair, I don’t know our roster space sitch or anything, but yeah, the whole walker thing never made much sense to me. He’s not a scorer or a top 6 guy, so who is he replacing in the bottom 6?
Certainly not kass or Khaira or Letestu.
Or strome

Caggiula ?

Seems like a pointless pick up
Rather Davidson
- HB77

Doesn't claiming walker yesterday also move us to the back of the line for waiver claims? Davie would need to go through all 30 other teams to get to us.

Excellent post.

I see it's another Russell bashing blog , how original.
- Oildrum

I see it's another oildumb fanboi homer post. How original.

I really don't know where you get your dollar estimates from...

No chance I hell Draisaitl even looks at 5 for 3. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if his agent were to hang up and indefinitely put off contract talks out of spite after hearing that. Even on a bridge (which I seriously doubt would be more than 2 years), you were looking at 6.5 at MINIMUM- probably closer to 7.

You're right that Nurse is likely looking at around 4 to 4.5 after the Matheson deal.

Maroon is likely looking at 4 to 4.5 (hopefully not with us).

Benning isn't in the territory of 3 yet; he's still barely clear of a 2 by 2 (ala Lindell).

Strome getting any more than 3.5 would take him continuing to produce as he has the past 10 games.

In what world do replacement level players like Caggiula, Slepyshev and Brossoit get anything close to what you're suggesting? Caggiula at 3 to 4?! He's barely proven to be worth 1.5.

Letestu shouldn't even be resigned next year unless he's taking 1mil. Not a huge problem with him, but we need every million in cap space we can get.
- MaximumBone

So we're looking at 4.5 for Nurse, Maroon at 4m, Benning at 2m? (I disagree, I see him getting a 3m deal by season's end), Strome is making a case for 4m, LB can definitely play his way to earning 2m by season's end, I overvalued Jewels, Slepy though. It would be a noticeable loss if Letetsu were to go though.

As for LD, 6m/2y could still have been a reality if we had a GM who was good at negotiating.............................

Yeah, that was just on a whole nother level.
- EdmHockeyMan

That was so bad, it was almost unreal... Couldn't help but laugh when that happened.

Your boys should have this in the bag with both Larsson and Talbot out.
- MaximumBone

Talb1tch, Lord Larsson, and Sekera Sekera. Damn, that hurts the d game.

So we're looking at 4.5 for Nurse, Maroon at 4m, Benning at 2m? (I disagree, I see him getting a 3m deal by season's end), Strome is making a case for 4m, LB can definitely play his way to earning 2m by season's end, I overvalued Jewels, Slepy though. It would be a noticeable loss if Letetsu were to go though.

As for LD, 6m/2y could still have been a reality if we had a GM who was good at negotiating.............................
- EdmHockeyMan

I believe you wildly overestimate the contracts those sorts of players (Benning, Caggiula, etc) get when they haven't established themselves in the top halfs of their team's roster. It's fine to assume the worst and highest for preparedness sake but you're going above and beyond that.

Beyond that, because of McDavids contract middling players like Strome across the league are gonna have to take less until the cap rises to balance it out. The PA lobbied and rallied to increase the ceiling at the expense of the majority of their members.

There are a few MAJOR differences between Tampa Bay and Edmonton that allowed that Kucherov deal to happen. Beyond Yzerman's ability to sell his vision to his players (Stamkos, Hedman and Kucherov all taking discounts), Tampa is a beautiful and easy place to live (unlike the wastelands of Alberta) with minimal state taxes (they take home a greater % of their earnings than other places) and they're not under the media microscope at all.

Let's not pretend that just because we had one winning season that it negates our geographical and fiscal disadvantages in negotiations.
- MaximumBone

Well, we have the McDavid factor biatchessssssssssssssssssss.

As for the bold.... strongly disagree with that. That part was a solid 90% of the reason as to why they signed the contracts they did.

Whoever is negotiating the deal still plays the most crucial part to making the deal. He has to use what he is given to the fullest extent. A bad GM would just make/use excuses as to why he did what he did.

The other details such as location, media, and tax are just sprinkles and cherry on top. I mean, Stamkos could have gone to Toronto (the big talk around that during that time) and made 12 million, ending up making more than 1m over there than in TB after taxes. Had he gone to another US team, he could have most likely settled for a 10.5m per and end up making 2-3 mill more there than in TB.

Plus, the player isn't even living in the location for like 80% of the year. Even if he has a family, the dude is making bank, they can go take mini-vacations anytime they want lol. School for the young ones is school and I'm certain they'll be able to give the kids a good education (good district/part of the city). As for the media thing, unless you're having sex with one of the female reporters, you're kind of expected to handle the pressure (I mean, you're getting paid bank to play PROFESSIONAL hockey lol).

With this in mind, at the end of the day, it strongly depends on who is in charge, the vision of upper management, and the GM's negotiation abilities. If the team is creating or wanting to create a project that involves the grand scheme of things and it is being supported by the brass, along with stating that "you" are to be a big part of it, that plays a massive role in what a player eventually decides upon.

I believe you wildly overestimate the contracts those sorts of players (Benning, Caggiula, etc) get when they haven't established themselves in the top halfs of their team's roster. It's fine to assume the worst and highest for preparedness sake but you're going above and beyond that.

Beyond that, because of McDavids contract middling players like Strome across the league are gonna have to take less until the cap rises to balance it out. The PA lobbied and rallied to increase the ceiling at the expense of the majority of their members.
- MaximumBone

I was shooting for that, but like I said, I overvalued them massively, probably because of how our lack of depth makes losing them harder on us.

As for that 3 way trade between EDM/CAR/DET... after thinking about how I would approach this...

It would have been centered around Rask, Edmonton 1st to Detroit, RNH, Kronwall, and Detroit 1st to Carolina, Faulk and (Tatar OR Nyquist) to Edmonton.

Each team addresses a need (EDM=defense and RW top 6 depth; Detroit=cap space, 2C center; Carolina=solid 1Cb (upgrade over Rask*) and a solid 1st round draft pick for deepening/improving forward prospect options).

One key thing here is to look at what each team loses and how it can be manageable. Detroit can lose one of Tatar or Nyquist with Mantha developing into a stellar top 6 option. EDM might lose depth down the middle, but the team will be more well balanced. Carolina can cover up the depth on the right side with how stellar their depth is when it comes to defense. Kronwall would definitely help mentor the young defensive core of Carolina for two years. Then he is gone.

The helm/Russell swap could also be done on the side. A deal I thought was pretty damn good for both sides.

But with how RNH is playing........ Idk.