RoyalDude wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2019 5:32 pm
What do you do if your in Holland’s shoes? The Oilers are a mess. First and foremost they need goaltending. Just awful in the nets. That has to be quick fix now, but how?
Well, if you are Ken Holland in Ken Holland's shoes, you identify all of the NHL-caliber but not all-that-special players on the Oilers roster (i.e., not the core) and you give them marginally overpriced and marginally overextended (in length) deals handicapping the Oilers' ability to do anything at all. Say like you did with Detroit....
But if you are someone else in Ken Holland's shoes, you first visit your doctor. To check on the liver. Because you are about to start drinking a lot. To ease the pain.
And then if you tear it up.
You take offers for McDavid. Get a team desperate for him. What kind of a return? Think what Philadelphia paid for Lindros as a starting point. After all, Lindros' potential was everything that McDavid actually is -- one of the top (if not the top) player in the NHL for the next decade. He will put butts in seats -- that appeals to all trading partners -- sell outs for years. You are banking on the fact the Oilers fans will come hell or high water, but that you are going to try to make for a competitive team.
What is that return. That's a 2d rounder from the 2016, 2017, or 2018 draft with NHL potential, but not star potential ("Chris Simon"); a high first rounder from one of the same draft classes with star potential ("Mike Ricci"); a former first rounder who is about 24-25 years old who is NHL filler ("Kerry Huffman"); a starting goalie whose shown flashes of greatness, and while inconsistent, is better than what you have ("Ron Hextall"); a great prospect from the 2018 or '19 draft (if draft is after 2019 draft) ("Peter Forsberg"); a solid top pairing defensemen that who can run a power play ("Steve Duchesne"); and the next two first round picks. Or put plainly -- Two young potential stars, 2 first round picks, a very solid NHL defenseman, a league average goalie, an okay prospect, and a one-time higher end prospect who can play in the NHL.
And when they are on the hook and offered you that, you say "okay, but you have to take Lucic."
The ideal trading partner has young NHL talent and be able to make the cap situation work out (to take McD and Lucic). The Canucks have the goods:
Chris Simon = Gadjovich/Lind
Ricci = Boeser/Hughes
Huffman = Pouliot
Hextall = Markstrom
Forsberg = Pettersson
Duschesne = (Canucks don't have equivalent, but similar value in a healthy Tanev or if Edler was inked to a 4 year team friendly deal)
2 first round picks
This is NOT a trade proposal -- the Canucks probably lack mid-range veteran depth to do anything with McDavid once they've traded away young stars. This is just to get an illustration of the package a new Oilers GM should consider: two first rounders, two former high first rounders who remain very young who are or who are highly likely to be stars (i.e., the have surpassed or are surpassing their draft position in their post-draft development), and a starting goalie. This is the core of the return.
To this you are going to add: a B level prospect (maybe a second rounder or 2), a veteran NHL player who is unquestionably a top 4/top 6 to address the area of immediate weakness (that's the D for the Oil presuming that one of these young stars is a first line type forward), and one NHL depth player (in today's NHL, these last two guys are the ones that will make the money work -- McDavid and Lucic are $18.5 million, I think).
