I like kassian actually but ill be an unpopular opinion to bring him over

I don't think oilers are retaining that much for that long

Kassian wouldn't go close to Wilson. He's a shell of an enforcer since Gudbransson. Two fights in two seasons, one of which against Tkachuk, he's not who you would want there to protect star players.

There's Brendan Lemieux

Oilers don't really want to lose him, so they definitely aren't retaining that much salary

Bring Lucic, he's available.

There was Brendan Lemieux.... shouldn’t have traded him in my opinion.

Yes we do. He's been an absolute boat anchor since putting pen to paper. It's last-chance texaco for him next season: if he can't regain form and be a competent third liner, 100% the Oilers will look to make a deal like this.

Retaining 50% over 3 years is a bit much, but over 2? Very likely, especially given that Lavoie is likely the man who replaces him as the #3RW. The cost of the retention plus Lavoie's ELC is cheaper than what Kassian makes today.

Fair enough. I feel like if he's healthy for the playoffs he'll remind everyone why he's an important part of the team, but we'll see. I think his injuries have plagued him more than people realize

Quite frankly, I think what we're seeing is the realization that Kassian is a very good 4th liner and more and more like a fringe 3rd line forward. He's very much overpaid, which carries potential risk moving forward. I'm glad he got clean, and I hope he has a full recovery, but he wouldn't be long for the roster if I was in Holland's spot. Hitting is incredibly overrated, even come playoff time: only 10% of all hits in the league have a positive outcome, otherwise they're just fluff or you're banking on Kassian to injure someone.

There still exists physicality on this roster: Draisaitl is a tank, Puljujarvi is learning to weaponize his size, the trio of Nurse, Larrson, and Kulikov are punishing on the body, and all of Archibald, Khaira, and Yamamoto like to throw their asses around too.

It's simple business really: if Kassian can't perform at the dollar figure attached to his contract, then ridding the club of that expense is the best possible move. If Lavoie comes into camp this fall or next at or around 220lbs, I don't imagine all of that backside is going to be used exclusively for finesse.

The guy NY really wants is Gudbrandson. He's whooped up on Tommy twice now. I don't think he wants any more pieces of him.

Kassian is actually an NHL talent unlike Lemieux

Kassian is good, don’t get me wrong. I am a huge oilers fan, so I would know that. Lemieux is a good bottom 6 player still. You can’t really say he isn’t putting up the points, because we’ll look at the teams he has played on recently.

He is literally useless offensively, he can't possess or create with the puck, just a black hole

In your opinion maybe. In reality, if he had a good team, he would be a good player. He should not have gotten traded. That was a mistake. He was one of New York’s players, that would play a game with a injury, and get hit with the puck and not scramble off to the bench in middle of a shift. Although, some players are not good offensively.... that’s okay, just play your best defensively on the fourth line and then you would still be useful.

Hes not a plus on defense either

didnt intimidate a soul since junior hockey and a thorough minus skill wise, glad we have the picks instead if we want to protect guys at the expense of skill might as well get a guy who can actually intimidate nhl players