Trevor Neufeld: Hope is the Greatest Currency — A Oilers Piece After a Lost Bet

I doubt that trade goes. Seattle moved Gio. Dunn is part of the existing d corp and with not a lot of ready depth I doubt they are looking at moving what they have unless Francis can lock in an upgrade. Dunn is also liked by Hackstol. I also dont see Francis taking on a troubled winger who may or may not end up happy in Seattle and dissapeared as you pointed out.

If you lost the bet you should have kept the dripping cynicism and sarcasm out of it. You lost the bet and are a sore loser on top of it.

If you lost the bet you should have kept the dripping cynicism and sarcasm out of it. You lost the bet and are a sore loser on top of it.
- ChrisMS

I doubt that trade goes. Seattle moved Gio. Dunn is part of the existing d corp and with not a lot of ready depth I doubt they are looking at moving what they have unless Francis can lock in an upgrade. Dunn is also liked by Hackstol. I also dont see Francis taking on a troubled winger who may or may not end up happy in Seattle and dissapeared as you pointed out.
- Roadrunner75

That’s an interesting point. You may be right with Lauzon and Gio getting dealt, that’s not exactly a solid blue line with a number one and a number five leaving in the same week.

Interesting note on that: the Kraken went 8-11-0 for a .421 points percentage after the deadline where both were dealt. Before that? 19-38-6 for a .349 points percentage.

A case could be made that adding Matthew Beniers helped a lot too, but the team actually geared down when he was added to the top six. 4-6-0, .400. My bet is the team experienced a boost after losing Lauzon. He didn’t play his best hockey in Seattle.

The Preds just gave him two million AAV over four years, so it might be fair to say the market for defencemen is shallow.

If you lost the bet you should have kept the dripping cynicism and sarcasm out of it. You lost the bet and are a sore loser on top of it.
- ChrisMS

You give a rottweiler a steak to cook for you; do you expect a few bites to be missing when you get it back?

Your cap assessment is pretty simplistic. With the emergence of Bouchard, Tyson Barrie becomes redundant. He's still a serviceable player, with 41 points in 73 games. There would be a number of teams that would take on that contract without much of a sweetener. Kassian is another guy who could be moved. Holland realizes his window to really compete is likely the next 2 or 3 years so if you have to burn a few more 2nd and 3rd round picks to dump these contracts he will. So that's another $7.7M of cap space.

I think they offer Campbell or Kuemper $5M+. I think Kane takes a discount of say $5.5M (same as Hyman). Keith comes back. Smith retires. Kulak signs for a reasonable deal. You qualify Yamamoto and McLeod. Puljujarvi gets traded to recoup a couple of draft picks. Round out the final roster spots with a couple of $1M vets:

Kane-McDavid-Hyman
McLeod-Draisitl-Yamo
Foegele-RNH-$1.5M
$1M-Ryan-$1M

Nurse-Ceci
Keith-Bouchard
Broberg-Kulak
$1M

Campbell/Kuemper
Skinner

A downgrade up front. Mostly the same on D. Vast improvement in net.

And if Kane doesn't resign then you can target plenty of other top 6 wingers. Would David Perron come back to play with McDavid or Draisitl? Nichuskin? Burakovsky? Rakell? Niederreiter? Trochek? There are options.

You give a rottweiler a steak to cook for you; do you expect a few bites to be missing when you get it back?
- Trevor_Neufeld_

I got the impression from your writing that you were more of a poodle man.

I got the impression from your writing that you were more of a poodle man.
- ChrisMS

Your cap assessment is pretty simplistic. With the emergence of Bouchard, Tyson Barrie becomes redundant. He's still a serviceable player, with 41 points in 73 games. There would be a number of teams that would take on that contract without much of a sweetener. Kassian is another guy who could be moved. Holland realizes his window to really compete is likely the next 2 or 3 years so if you have to burn a few more 2nd and 3rd round picks to dump these contracts he will. So that's another $7.7M of cap space.

I think they offer Campbell or Kuemper $5M+. I think Kane takes a discount of say $5.5M (same as Hyman). Keith comes back. Smith retires. Kulak signs for a reasonable deal. You qualify Yamamoto and McLeod. Puljujarvi gets traded to recoup a couple of draft picks. Round out the final roster spots with a couple of $1M vets:

Kane-McDavid-Hyman
McLeod-Draisitl-Yamo
Foegele-RNH-$1.5M
$1M-Ryan-$1M

Nurse-Ceci
Keith-Bouchard
Broberg-Kulak
$1M

Campbell/Kuemper
Skinner

A downgrade up front. Mostly the same on D. Vast improvement in net.

And if Kane doesn't resign then you can target plenty of other top 6 wingers. Would David Perron come back to play with McDavid or Draisitl? Nichuskin? Burakovsky? Rakell? Niederreiter? Trochek? There are options.
- Cooleus

Have to move Barrie with the Bouchard redundancy, and I do think that he is marketable (just meaning not having to give up much of anything to move him). Kassian's contract will need something tied to him to move it, I think, but that needs to happen too. Russell back in the 7th D slot is fine at close to league min. Would take Kuemper over Campbell, myself. Toss Holloway in one of those forward slots. D is still nowhere near good enough.

Have to move Barrie with the Bouchard redundancy, and I do think that he is marketable (just meaning not having to give up much of anything to move him). Kassian's contract will need something tied to him to move it, I think, but that needs to happen too. Russell back in the 7th D slot is fine at close to league min. Would take Kuemper over Campbell, myself. Toss Holloway in one of those forward slots. D is still nowhere near good enough.
- Beergu

I think with a legit #1 goalie, and that forward group, you can win with that defense. Pittsburgh won with Letang and a bunch of AHL guys.

But another option is to go cheap up front and make a bigger splash on defense.

Offer a 2022 1st, 2023 2nd, Puljujarvi, Holloway for Chychrun. Add Barrie since they need to reach the floor and could use another warm body. Now you have:

Nurse-Chychrun
Kulak-Bouchard
Broberg-Ceci
Keith

Mix and match to find the right combos. But that's a much improved group. Sign Kuemper or Campbell. Probably means no Kane, but there are other top 6 options. Losing Holloway is tough, but Bourgault has a higher ceiling.

I think with a legit #1 goalie, and that forward group, you can win with that defense. Pittsburgh won with Letang and a bunch of AHL guys.

But another option is to go cheap up front and make a bigger splash on defense.

Offer a 2022 1st, 2023 2nd, Puljujarvi, Holloway for Chychrun. Add Barrie since they need to reach the floor and could use another warm body. Now you have:

Nurse-Chychrun
Kulak-Bouchard
Broberg-Ceci
Keith

Mix and match to find the right combos. But that's a much improved group. Sign Kuemper or Campbell. Probably means no Kane, but there are other top 6 options. Losing Holloway is tough, but Bourgault has a higher ceiling.
- Cooleus

That's a lot to give up, but Chychrun would make a huge difference to our D depth. Very interesting proposal.

Thanks Todd.
Fuk the Oilers!
Keith to get an extension from Holland.

Thanks Todd.
Fuk the Oilers!
Keith to get an extension from Holland.
- K-man25

How dare you

Not a complimentary blog.

I understand it hurts at times. But when you lose a bet you pay the debt. This is of Alfiesalad proportions and you completely welched on your bet. If you can't pay a bet your ass can't pay, don't place it with your mouth/fingers.

All you said was the Oilers have one or two players and they need to rebuild again. This as a lost bet should have a complimentary blog... not an excuse.

That's a lot to give up, but Chychrun would make a huge difference to our D depth. Very interesting proposal.
- Beergu

Have either of you seen Chychrun's stats the past 2 years? He has one exception to the rule and 1 good year. He is not worth the cost at this time. Probably never. Check his stats and injury history. At this point I wouldn't trade Bouchard or Broberg straight up for him. Let him show some consistency first. Nurse at 9.25 straight up I start to question.

Not a complimentary blog.

I understand it hurts at times. But when you lose a bet you pay the debt. This is of Alfiesalad proportions and you completely welched on your bet. If you can't pay a bet your ass can't pay, don't place it with your mouth/fingers.

All you said was the Oilers have one or two players and they need to rebuild again. This as a lost bet should have a complimentary blog... not an excuse.
- wreckage

I think it’s the way you’re reading the blog, I find it complementary but I’m not a Panthers fan like yourself.

Have either of you seen Chychrun's stats the past 2 years? He has one exception to the rule and 1 good year. He is not worth the cost at this time. Probably never. Check his stats and injury history. At this point I wouldn't trade Bouchard or Broberg straight up for him. Let him show some consistency first. Nurse at 9.25 straight up I start to question.
- wreckage

He had decent stats playing on an AHL roster.

That's a lot to give up, but Chychrun would make a huge difference to our D depth. Very interesting proposal.
- Beergu

I get where the trade is coming from but it’s a terrible terrible deal. If Holland offered that the yotes would be all over it and laughing their asses off. Chychrun is so over rated it’s mind boggling.

He had decent stats playing on an AHL roster.
- K-man25

2 seasons where he has played 60 or more games out of 6. 2 seasons where he was a + player. And only one where he was a .5 or better PPG player. Most of which he was playing 2nd pair behind OEL. Chychrun is GROSSLY overrated.

Agree with everyone saying he is welching on the bet.

A lot of salt mixed in with this blog.

Cant really expect anything from a Calgary fan but you would think they would be used to losing enough that they could do it more gracefully by now.

Nicely written sir! I would have written in the same tone had things gone the other way. Same time next year?

Agree with everyone saying he is welching on the bet.

A lot of salt mixed in with this blog.

Cant really expect anything from a Calgary fan but you would think they would be used to losing enough that they could do it more gracefully by now.
- Aerchon

Who's Salty? Seems like most Oil fans are taking this blog way too seriously. I see a bunch of tears and hurt feelings. Man up. Its Hockeybuzz.

The poodle dig was pretty good.

Who's Salty? Seems like most Oil fans are taking this blog way too seriously. I see a bunch of tears and hurt feelings. Man up. Its Hockeybuzz.

The poodle dig was pretty good.



- DuranDuran

What kinda of improvements do you expect the Flames to make in order to get by the Oilers in next years playoffs?

Who's Salty? Seems like most Oil fans are taking this blog way too seriously. I see a bunch of tears and hurt feelings. Man up. Its Hockeybuzz.

The poodle dig was pretty good.



- DuranDuran

Want to talk about salty? How about all the flames fans talking smack about the Oilers being smacked down by the Av's after the Oilers smacked them down?

Oilers are an incomplete team. Most of their fans recognized this going into the Av series and expected to be tossed. Hell, majority expected to lose in 6-7 to the flames.

Flames fans (most) expected a somewhat easy series vs edmonton aside from the BoA aspect and celebrated the Oilers losing to the Av's as if they won. Flames still got bounced in round 2. Thanks to the Oilers.

And suck it 1230, just because I haven't got to say it recently.

Suck it long and hard.