Keith has been 2.5 TIME WORST defensively over the past 5 year than jack Johnson..let that sink in, let it marinate for a minute.....

I live in Alberta, I have heard my fair share of Gregor. Guys dont get those reps for no reason. They carry waters for Agents, Teams, GMs all the time. That is their schtick and why when it comes to reports and insider info their stuff is taken with a grain of salt compared to the LeBruns, Friedmans, McKenzie of the world who go out of their way to let it know that its their opinion or what they are thinking. They are careful not ot put out misinformation unlike the guys you mentioned

Gregor (and the rest of the Oilers media in Staples, Matheson, etc) they blindly support the front office. Its in their best interest to do so.

I don't think the trade is awful. If there was only 1 year on this contract it would be a wash as Jones was going to be gone for nothing anyway to Seattle. The pick and the extra year of CAP hit makes it on paper look like a loss. I do believe Keith will bring a piece to Chicago they have been lacking in veteran experience. I don't hate the move. Just feel they could have done better.

Most these people that spew garbage on here are getting their info almost strictly from charts on twitter or here say. The people that watch the Hawks know that Keith still is a capable defenseman. He'll be exactly what you'd want in a veteran #4 guy who plays 20 min a night. As long as he's not your #1 he will provide positive value. Unfortunately for the Hawks he had to continue to be our #1 guy the last 3 years.

12-20. But unlike those reporters (not analysts), I don't rely on +/-, what a player has done 8 years ago and reputation to evaluate a player. Those three have probably watched a combined 4 games, look at his resume and the amount of minutes he played and conclude he's still capable of playing 18-20 mins. Then, the average fan listen to them.

I will have to disagree. I will agree with you on Mckenzie and LEbrun Dreger belongs in their category as well he is a very good reporter. Gregor if you actually listen to him is usually very critacal of the oilers as he has been with the talk about this deal. If you turn him on i bet you he criticize the deal for the fact they gave up a third and no retention as he should but he will point our its not a disaster and keith still have value for the oilers. He is not employed by the oilers and actually is great to listen to cuz he often criticize the org where as Stauffer is full blown oilers fan.

The "Cult of Hockey" writers (Staples, Leavins, McCurdy) don't blindly support front office. They're definitely homers and you can take or leave their writing but these guys are independent from the team... Staples (I disagree with him often but agreed with him here) has been writing against the Keith trade for a while.

I believe Stauffer is actually employed by the team... he's 100% pushing the team narrative. Key is to stick to guys that have no official affiliation. I put everyone from Sportsnet in the affiliated bucket as they have 100% of the teams TV rights.

If you watched that many of the CHi along with your bruins game in a condensed schedule.
Im not going off +/- or 8 years ago. I am will aware he is not longer an allstar and his analytics are not great the last 3 years on a horrible team.
If he was such a bad player and you watched him 12-20 games last year why whould CHI continue to run him out there game after game for 23mins?
why wouldnt they give some of those minutes to their young players?

I would agree with this.

To put guys like gregor, dreger or sarvailli is just complete stupidity

and look at how they are back tracking today, they dont bite the hands that feed them

Because Chicago has nobody who can play those minutes on the left side. Calvin de Haan? 3rd pair D. Nikita Zadorov? 3rd pair D. Riley Stillman? 3rd pair D. Nicolas Beaudin? Rookie. Wyatt Kalynuk? Rookie. Would you play Beaudin and Kalynuk on the 1st pair if they're not ready to play on the 1st pair? No, right, they are still developing and they're not 1st pair Ds. They would likely all struggle in those minutes and against this quality of competition.

Yes, most defenseman who play big minutes are top pair D. But not all due to lack of depth of their team or their coach's usage.

Filip Hronek, Alex Goligoski, Tyler Myers all played 22+ mins. It doesn't necessarily mean they are 1st pair D. Mikhail Sergachev and David Savard was TBL's 3rd pair, are they 3rd pair D? No, they can both play on the 2nd and even on the 1st pair when needed. Usage does not equal level of play. Coaches/GMs are not infaillible.

so you are arguing with me that keith doesnt have it left to play a 2nd pairing and should be lower than that yet:
Because Chicago has nobody who can play those minutes on the left side. Calvin de Haan? 3rd pair D. Nikita Zadorov? 3rd pair D. Riley Stillman? 3rd pair D. Nicolas Beaudin? Rookie.

You have a bunch of "3rd pairing dman" he is playing ahead of cuz they can handle the minutes but he could..... sounds to me like he fits the role I described as a 2nd pairing dman playing behind nurse with a few less minutes....

That's the point. Even 2nd pair might be too much for him based on his recent performance (and projection we can make based on his age). If he plays on the 3rd pair with a good partner, it could work. On the ice.

Business-wise, it's a bad move to acquire a 37yo D with a $5.5M cap hit for better D (although not by much) but most importantly a mid-pick when Chicago should have to pay to move him. In addition, they now have to protect him due to his NMC (unless he waives it).

Staples first line in his take was "Hard to see this as anything but a massive overpay by the Oilers" and goes on to hint that it might be Katz going for a salary below cap hit given a lot of our trades of recent have had been trading our front end loaded contracts out after the bulk of the money was paid but the team should've said it was financially motivated if that was the case. Not necessarily trying to defend him, just don't see them as "on the team payroll".

they have a spot to protect him nurse bear and Keith.
and when your team is in edmonton yes there are UFA you could get that may be better player and cap it they need to want to come to edmonton. and there are not many of those.
So yes they cap it should be lower wished they retained 1-1.5 mill on it but at the end of the day that is the only thing wrong with this trade. you take a player who can still play at a decent lever brings cup expereince and leadership shich oiler lack on both and wants to be in edmonton.

did the oilers over pay yes is this a horrible trade that ruins the oilers not even close.

Actual salary is relevant only to the owners though. All the rest of us care about is the cap hit which is indeed $5.5M x 2.

Keith may be an upgrade on Caleb Jones, but there are many, many better options available in free agency, most of whom will cost less than $5.5M. Its a stupid deal no matter how you slice it.

https://twitter.com/CopperandBlue/status/1414647632954204174?s=20

"you take a player who can still play at a decent lever brings cup expereince"

I guess we'll agree to disagree.

So hes trying to justify the move bc he has dirt cheap salary and it helps the owner not the team....that seems to me like back tracking and trying to paint a positive about it.
That feels like backing the front office dont you agree.

If Katz wanted a dirt cheap salary, Caleb Jones would have made less. Hes carrying water

guess so

He's saying it's a possible theory and if that is the case, why wouldn't the organization just coming out and saying so. People would maybe be more understanding than pissed off. Keith makes more than Jones but Jones is a fringe dman while Keith is still a roster Dman. Keith has $3.6mil in actual salary vs $11mil in cap hit. It's a way to appear to "spend to the cap" without actually spending to it. Filling a role on the UFA market will likely require upfront cash and signing bonuses. I see it as more searching for possible reasons why we would do something so stupid than blindly supporting the front office.

Keith is not an upgrade over Jones, thats why people are mocking the Oilers. Keith is AWFUL and at 38 he is not getting to get better.
So waste cap space and more prime years of mcdavid bc you want to seem like you are trying but not actually trying? That is even worse.

I'm not defending the move, I think it was awful. I do see Keith as an upgrade on Jones but from my perspective the trade HAD to include either 50% retained on Keith or James Neal going back the other way to make the money work. I see the positives from having a guy who has won stanley cups, olympic golds, norris trophies, and conn smythe trophies in the dressing room with guys like Nurse/Bear/Bouchard/Broberg in terms of mentorship. That should have come at a much cheaper price though.

he did that because he was trying to keep the playoff streak alive, Pittsburgh will be making move like that soon.