LOL at the Nuge Trade

Most ppl have said that Nuge for Risto would be the base... So i just threw Benning in there to get rid of cap.

Risto is overrated

I wouldn't do the Buffalo trade or the Nashville trade. Turris is overated and we need Larsson pretty bad. Nuge is to good both ways, and to trade him for an offensive minded d-man who's a defensive liability would hurt us even more... If that's possible.

It's Brandon Manning, not Matthew Benning, who's the cap dump. Benning is worth something to the teams that need an inexpensive RD desperately (Anaheim, Las Vegas, Toronto).

Agreed. He can't move Nugent-Hopkins because in order to do so he would need to receive a significant over-pay, and its unlikely that any GM who is willing to make that kind of deal will have the assets, or be willing to give up the assets, that Edmonton will need in return. As far as Larsson is concerned, he is on a team-friendly contract and is currently the best RHD and the only guy who can play the right side of the top d-pair.

Holland appears to be playing the long game. He's improved the skill and speed of the bottom six forwards, moved out Lucic's previously unmovable contract, obtained a guy who should be an improvement over three of last season's top four wingers, and he's brought in a reasonably inexpensive veteran goaltender who seemed to be getting back his game back at the end of last season. None of those moves are as splashy as transactions that have occurred elsewhere in the league, but they may well be the best moves that can be made for the Oilers at this time.

The GM doesn't have a lot of cap space to work with, and he has only three contracts to hand-out before reaching the league maximum. He knows that he has a couple of grade "A" prospects, and at least as many grade "B" prospects that are likely to improve the team defense and puck-moving as early as this coming season, and definitely by the next season. He also knows he has some grade "B" forward prospects, at least three (and probably four, after this most recent draft) of whom have the potential to be top-six forwards at the NHL level. Some of those forwards may start to provide middle-six minutes by the end of this season. He also has Puljujarvi locked as either a trade asset, or another possible future middle-to-top-six forward. Finally, he has a pretty deep pool of decent young goalies developing in the minors, and more experienced one playing in the KHL. His moves have been shrewd, and I think he has an eye on being a more competitive team now, a solid play-off team in a season, and a contender after that. The timing works reasonably well.

The best of the current prospects will need this season, and next, to truly establish themselves as NHL players. In the meantime, Brodziak, Gagner, and Manning can all come off the books before the next season, as can every one of the UFAs Holland signed this summer; there should be lots of cap space to re-sign Nurse and perhaps look at the top-end of the UFA market. he could also choose to keep Benning as a depth d-man. Other support players like Chiasson, Kris Russell, and Jujhar Khaira have contracts expiring at the end of the 21/22 season; and again there should be lots of cap space available to re-sign Nugent-Hopkins and possibly Larsson as well. By that time, players like Caleb Jones, Evan Bouchard, William Lagesson, Tyler Benson, possibly Kailer Yamamoto, Kiril Maksimov, Ilya Konovalov or Shane Starett, and Dmitri Samorukov could be NHL regulars, and there is even a chance that Ryan McLeod, Ostap Safin, Cooper Marody, and Raphael Lavoie are playing roles as well.