Damn you Bob Stauffer.
As usual, I'm up to late writing. Working on a Business Plan for the office, if you must know.
Earlier in the day I wrote half of a blog...the key message in it was that Ryan Whitney looks like he's done, and the Oilers need to find a Top 4 left-pairing defenseman to deal for. After going through a big pile of team rosters, the name Keith Yandle stuck out at me. Why?
1. He's a left-handed, left pairing defenseman.
2. The Coyotes have no one at their games (8,000 at the last home one), and ownership is going to want to dump as many contracts as possible. Yandle is a big cap hit: $5.25mil per season with four seasons left.
3. The 'Yotes have great young defensemen, especially puck-movers. Oliver Ekman Larsson, Brandom Gromley and David Rundblad are three of their super-D-kids. They absolutely can survive without Yandle.
4. The Oilers have the cap room needed to make this work. If Horcoff is bought-out, Hemsky is dealt, Khabibulin and Sutton are not re-signed...and with Sheldon Souray's deal no longer on the books...even after Gagner, Smid and a few others are re-signed, I believe the Oilers would have $10mil or so of cap room. Yandle would fit. See below for 2013/2014:
L1: Hall ($6mil)/ Nuge($3.775)/ Eberle ($6)
L2: Hartikainen ($1.2)/ Gagner ($4mil)/Yakupov ($3.775)
L3: Smyth ($2.25)/Belanger ($1.75)/ Ryan Jones ($1.5)
L4: Eager ($1.1)/ Petrell ($900k)/ Paajarvi ($1.2mil)
extra: Vandevelde ($900k)
D1: Yandle ($5.25mil) / J. Schultz ($3.775)
D2: Smid ($4) / Petry ($1.75mil)
D3: Nick Schultz ($3.5) / Fistric ($1.6)
extra: Potter ($775k)
G1: Dubnyk ($3.5mil)
G2: Danis (900k)
Total cap number 2013/2014: $59.4mil Cap Room: $4.9mil
Anyway, Bob Stauffer just Tweeted the Yandle idea and now my blog looks like I'm ripping off his idea. Lame. Thanks Bob.
Another option would be to keep Ales Hemsky and to deal Nick Schultz. Either way, the Oilers can't keep everyone if they acquire Yandle. There's only so much sugar to go around...and if you look at my roster listed above, you can see the Oilers would likely want to add a legit 3rd line center to the mix (UFA route or deal...whatever works).
Getting back to Yandle, what Coyotes need are forwards. I'm not sure Ales Hemsky is a fit, so scratch that idea. Would make sense contract-wise, but Yandle would be worth more than just Hemsky.
Here's a radical idea: The Oilers 1st round pick in 2013, plus a prospect. Maybe Tobias Rieder?
What do you people think?
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»