A friend at work told me that he read possible Yakupov trade. They want D, and looks like DZ plus someone else. Did any one hear?
really? Not worth a shot......lazy, underperforming hockey player who thinks he is bigger than the game itself. JUST WHAT A LOW FUNCTIONING RANGER TEAM NEEDS.
True Eyes, and he's no Pavel Bure in the making that's for sure. They should just make a simple deal for Hemsky for the rest of the year, since the odds are they aren't going anywhere this season. DZ/C prospect for Hemsky/B prospect
You're lost Cage. Do some research. His rep in junior was that he was an extremely hard working player. He also had a fabulous rookie season at 18 so to call him under achieving is moronic. My guess is he simply doesn't want to play in the boondocks of Edmonton. It's a perfect opportunity for Sather to fleece the Oilers. I'm not very high on Russian players but this team would be stupid not to deal MDZ in a deal for him when they have Allen, McIlrath and Skjei in the wings. Kristo is close to lighting up the AHL. It's a move they have to make if it is MDZ, Boyle and perhaps Stralman for Yakupov.
Hard working perhaps but only in the aspects of the game he enjoys, back-checking and hitting being the exceptions; that's why he's been scratched a few times this season. The Oilers need him so making him a healthy scratch should be a red flag for any interested team. Also, instead of responding to the scratches by picking those aspects of his game up, he became miserable. It might be his agent trying to find a way out for him rather than the Oilers (who I reckon don't want to give up on him so soon). If he was as talented as Ovy he might get away with that but the Oilers are a traditional bunch. Additionally, I don't think moving to New York would do wonders for his game.
The reality is none of you or myself has watched this guy play more than a few games. Yet, some of you are talking like you know his game and you don't. All I know is that he had a hard working rep in juniors and was taken number 1 overall in the draft for a reason. Last time I checked, the offense on this team absolutely blew because Nash has concussion problems, Cally is never healthy and Kreider is an imbecile.
Edmonton also has a surplus of D-prospects like Musil and Marincin who could maybe help in the future.
I can't believe Eberle makes 6m for that long, he's good but his numbers aren't even that great. I would go after Stastny in FA next summer and bump Stepan to #2 and Brassard to #3. Other guys they should target are Steen and Vrbata in the forward group.
$6M a year for a 1st line player isn't that bad. He's only 23 and put up 30+gls and 70+ pts at age 21/22. Last year he destroyed the AHL during the lock out then played at 60+pt pace in the short NHL season and so far this year he's basically a point per game player. All this in terrible Oiler teams.
I'm trying to focus on this year, but while we're on the subject next year is going to be very interesting in terms of FA. We have ALOT of guys whose contracts expire after this year. UFA: Lundqvist, Callahan, Boyle, Pyatt (thank god), Pouliot, D.Moore, Asham, Powe, Girardi, Stralman RFA: Brassard, Kreider, Zucc, MDZ, Faulk, J.Moore All the UFA forwards except Callahan and MAYBE Boyle (depending what he wants) are almost 100% gone. I doubt we tender Zucc either. If we buy out Richards too, we'll have ALOT of space to play with, even after we sign Hank and possibly Girardi. This is going to be a huge offseason.
yea, it's a good chance to get rid of garbage, but Sather may bring more garbage in to the replace the one going out. I'd like to see the kids get definite spots on the team rather than Pyatt, Boyle, Zucc, etc.
With Hank and Cally back, and Richards bought out, we will have a lot of cap space. MDZ should be out. Girardi is a coin flip. Boyle coin flip depending on what he wants. But no matter how you slice it, we will have good cap space to reshape the team assuming the cap goes up a few mill.
Said in a thread earlier I'd like to see Gabby back here. From what I've heard he became extremely comfortable in NY, was spending more and more of his offseason here, and remains close friends with alot of the core guys here. That's one thing that playing for a hard ass coach will do: brings the room together. The locker room had Gabs' back over Torts when Torts was jerking him around. That said, he's not gonna come here if it's a disaster. Gotta right the ship for this season before we can even think about next. Eberle might be a good place to start, but why would Edmonton want to give him up?
I always thought bringing back Gaborik was not only an option but a good one....Especially to those who claim that was a terrible deal. He is a UFA July 1, even if you dont like the deal you can resign him. He was going to be a free agent regardless.
