In principle, I like what your are proposing. However, I doubt the team will spend that close to the limit. In addition, while I think he’d add some great elements, signing Hendricks seems to be counterintuitive to the concept of increasing speed. I also think Lucic has already been penciled in for the second line, and any improvement will be made on the right side. The Oilers brought in Yawney to improve the defence specifically. I suspect there won’t be a lot of changes to the line-up, and they will hope Sekera and Klefbom bounce back, and Nurse continues to improve. If that happens, they will be able to rotate some of their prospects into the 7D and develop in protected roles.

I am pretty certain that Bouchard will be ready for opening night. I believe he is NHL ready.