oilers not going to touch bear. he's 23 and playing top pair minutes can't replace someone like that in the lineup. there will be better options in net available for cheap because of the crazy amount of netminders being exposed due to expansion and a team would rather deal a goalie for cheap than lose him to seattle for free

Bear was 5th in D toi for them at a very modest 17:58 with very little top pair deployment and was just kinda solid this season idk if he's that valuable ultimately

I like the deal overall mostly all told

Fair point about the big picture goalie situation

Rangers. Have a good crop of young d. Could use an experienced guy back there but not at that price and his contract. Either will trade for a cheaper player who’s younger or sign a vet in free agency

I like everything here except the RNH deal it seems very unfortunate for a low $ franchise to put so much bad money on their cap going forward

They're still under mandate from upper mgmt to be at 70M$ or below to my knowledge as well

This team won't be making the playoffs so why not give Dvorak the tough C deployment then rotate Hayton and a compelling young RFA as a try out for 2C

Pretty easy Rangers decline even when you drop Robertson and the pick. OEL has not been a good hockey player for about 3 seasons now.

OEL is 28 and I really believe that if he were to be traded into a new situation and get to leave the last couple years behind he will be better. If he even returns to playing half as well as he did before signing the contract that’s a win for the Rangers. The second the Krieder deal was signed people knew it was going to be tough down the road. He’s going to be 31 next year and power forwards rarely keep their shelf life longer than 33. Rangers have plenty of young wings that should be getting playing time anyhow

That’s fair, but if OEL comes in and plays well then the prospects become valuable trade chips to go get a center. I understand the money part and I was wrestling with the idea of the coyotes retaining to make the contracts a wash, but I don’t think it works out fair enough due to Krieder’s age and play style. This is unlikely to happen anyhow since OEL likely won’t expand his list and will be on the Coyotes again, more just seeing what it would look like

Oilers have Bouchard coming through the system I think they’d like to give some minutes to him next year. Bear is a good player but you’re getting a top 10 goalie (when healthy) and getting rid of a bad contract in Koskinen. This seems like more than a fair swap to me

This team is better than the product they put on the ice this season IMO. I hear you with Nuge but Dvo is not a 1C and Hayton isn’t ready yet. They could sign a stop-gap type like Haula I suppose but their center depth would be worse than last year.

As far as the money goes, who knows. I think they’ll probably try and spend a bit less but I think $70M is too low. Unless they really want to tear it down and rebuild from scratch

the issue being is that I don't think you can rush bouchard to play top pair/top 4 minutes just yet. bear and nurse is a pairing that has worked and will only get better with bear getting more games under his belt. I feel that 2 more years of kuemper at 4.5m (who has injury issues already at 30) is a bit risky. I would be more open to taking a longer term flyer on a guy like georgiev in NYR, korpisalo in CBJ or dreidger in FLA

It’s only 1 more year at $4.5m. Dreidger is a reasonable target but those other 2 will likely cost more than this package. Before Keumper was hurt in 2020 he was having a Vezina caliber year. If you can get that kind of goaltending with the lineup you already have then you’re a serious cup contender.

And someone already mentioned Bear was 5th on the team in minutes. If you want to ease Bouchard in give him the same amount of minutes you were giving Bear.

fair. I think if edmonton makes a move like this they are immediately jumping on the seth jones sweepstakes to boldster their right side. with barrie and bear gone after this deal, a jones would be insane. then convince seattle to take a guy like archibald then oilers have

Nurse/Jones
Klefbom/Larsson
defensive dman FA/Bouchard
C.Jones/Russell

which is a damn good dcore with prospects in the pipeline. The biggest concern regarding kuemper is health. if he can stay healthy he is a good option to have until konovalov or skinner moveup the system

I mean aging curves only go in 1 direction bud. And it's not a team situation as much as a wear/tear situation. If you're asking who has more value between the guy who completely broke down 2 years ago and has been worth below replacement level in that time vs. the guy who was worth more than his contract this year... I mean the choice is self evident. One's a hope that goes against logic. One's a reality.

They could use a strong vet with term but I think OELs age and contract are just too much. Was always a big fan of his but think he’s lost a step to live up to that deal. Kreider deal is going to be rough for us in the future but he should still have his speed and net front presence to not be a liability. Seems like our organization has been targeting guys in the Trouba mold who are established players but in their mid 20s. I’d think they target a guy like Vince Dunn or a dman in Colorado with both having chances to lose one in expansion draft