Fans expecting the Oilers to make some kind of big splash in the next few days are setting themselves up for disappointment. The narrative we are seeing out of the Edmonton media and other insiders around the league is that the Oilers will likely be standing pat, not making any big changes, and staying the course.
We will see Ken Holland say things like "hard to make adds with a flat cap," and all those clichés but around the NHL we are seeing teams finding ways to offload contracts, make trades where teams are retaining salary, and getting fairly decent returns on mid level players.
The Sharangovich trade is an interesting comparable to me for Yamamoto. Sharangovich is a 25 year old RFA coming off a 30 point season in 75 games. His career high was 46 points in 76 games and was acquired by the Flames in a move that sent Tyler Toffoli, a UFA after this coming season and a third round pick from the Devils.
You're telling me that Holland can't find a partner in a similar deal to trade for Yamamoto, a 24 year old with one year remaining at 3.1 and an RFA after the fact who had a career high the year before at 41 points and has been a .5 ppg player the last three seasons?
Ultimately Ken Holland has done a good job with this roster. There have been mistakes made and some that could have easily been avoided (the Kassian contract as an example) but this is a Stanley Cup calibre team for the most part. The one thing Holland has never been is creative. Watch what Sakic is doing right now in Colorado. Somehow flipped Newhook to the Canadiens for basically two first round picks, used one of those picks in a trade for Ross Colton and also brought in Ryan Johansen with the Preds fronting half the bill. These are the kinds of deals that Oilers fans would love to see Holland make... it just likely isn't going to happen.
We know the Oilers are interested in Connor Brown but even those talks have cooled down with teams out there likely prepared to offer more than what Edmonton will. Brown could be a perfect middle six player on a low salary deal but even that looks like it may go by the wayside.
Klim Kostin also may bolt for the KHL to chase a bigger payday. Edmonton reportedly was offering him between 1.1 and 1.5 million. If that isn't good enough for him than good riddance and I am glad to see Holland not overpay. Kostin has his uses and was a good bottom six player for the Oilers but he remains a bottom six player. It is likely Kostin won't shoot at the same high percentage next season. His physical presence was a boost but he also took far too many dumb penalties and could be a defensive liability at times as well. Would have liked to see him back in a support role but not at a high price point.
Maybe Holland surprises us but I see Edmonton quietly making their three draft picks tomorrow and likely remain quiet until Free Agency begins, even then I don't expect to see Edmonton active on the Free Agent front on Day 1.
Again, it's fault Holland for looking at this Oilers roster, really the only team that gave the eventual Stanley Cup Champions in Vegas any trouble at all, knowing Hyman, Kane, and McDavid were dealing with some serious ailments and decide running back mostly the same roster is the best course of action. Give Holloway some time and Lavoie and Broberg and see what you need at the deadline. Does that process make sense? Probably yes. It just makes for a dull summer.
Thanks for reading