If Holland wanted to play Russell, Why would he sign Koekkoek?

Realistic offer. Koskinen isn't as bad as people make him out to be. He is an average goalie. (Not really above but not below either imo.) And the other pieces have some nice value. The Ducks would have to sign a UFA starter next season (but I honestly have no idea who's a UFA next season). If I were GMBM, I might accept.

No way the Oilers make this trade. It's really over the top. And Gibson hasn't had the best numbers the past couple of years. No chance this happens.

Depth, injuries

Koskinen is an average goalie, this is true. So why would the Oilers trade a whole bunch of high-end assets for a below-average replacement? Gibson hasn't been elite since 2018 and everyone knows it. There's no way anyone is paying those kind of assets for a cap dump.

Realistically Russell and Koekkoek will split the 6/7 duties. Russell has the advantage of playing both sides and can fill in with injuries. Looking at the line-up the bigger thing I see is Ryan is your 3C and in this case Turris likely starts in the line-up on the wing (sounds like he's put in a ton of work over the summer to try and salvage the remainder of his career). They'll make Holloway force the issue to get into the line-up. Just in general not a great idea to have 2 of your 4 centres as rookies to start the year although I did really like McLeod's 2 way game last year.

In terms of the Gibson deal, I think I'd take that gamble. Hate to give up Broberg but Samorukov looks good and with the long term contracts signed this summer, it's clear the Oilers are trying to win now. Gibson/Smith gives you good goaltending more nights than not.



I take Gibson's sv% over the last few years with a grain of salt. Prior to the last 2 years, he had never posted less than a 0.917. He didn't just turn 26 and the forgot how to stop a puck, the team went from a contender to a tire fire. Huge difference playing for a playoff team vs a rebuild.... seen that over the years with the Oilers. Gibson won't get moved before this year but I'd be curious if he gets playing time with USA during the Olympics to see what he looks like when the games mean something.

Everyone uses Anaheim's rebuild status as an excuse for Gibson's shoddy performance, but in reality if you look at the past 2 years Koskinen has faced a similar number of shots and high danger shot as Gibson has and has similar results. The fact is that Gibson sustained an injury (maybe more than one) early in 2019 and has never been the same since. At this point he's a cap dump - he has a massive contract and isn't living up to it and hasn't been since 2018. The fact that you're willing to give up high end assets for him just shows that you care about reputation more than actual on-ice results.

http://naturalstattrick.com/playerteams.php?fromseason=20192020&thruseason=20202021&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&stdoi=g&rate=y&team=ALL&pos=S&loc=B&toi=2870&gpfilt=none&fd=&td=&tgp=410&lines=single&draftteam=ALL