What could have been....was there any reports that Murray or any of these guys were even interested in signing in Edmonton. Just bc you think your team should have signed the player doesnt mean that player wanted to sign with your team

There was reports of Oilers being really interested in Murray

That is not what saying... Just bc you think your team should have signed them in hindsight, no idea either way if these players had any interest in the Oilers regardless if the team did or not.

You can say the oilers should have offered them contracts, they could have and they didnt want to go there. That is all im saying. Players have to want to play and sign in Edmonton, no way of knowing one way or the other. Just playing devils advocate with these train of thoughts.

I don't think you understand the concept of UFAs. There is no reason to think that those UFAs would have signed for Oilers, especially for the same money. And please Larsson was a UFA, it didn't matter one bit if he Oilers had protected him or not.
I'll agree with you that the Oilers made some real gaffes last summer. Just for long term cap reasons, I don't like Hyman, RHN, Ceci, Barrie signings...that's 18m plus.

just because the oilers were interested doesnt mean murray was...

lmao gotta love the logic

would have been a waste of protection on larsson because he wanted out of edmonton regardless

guy plays NHL on PlayStation to much where he gets every signing. far from reality...

salary cap off

Just fire this man already

The Oilers offered him the same contract he got in Seattle (and I believe possibly a little more). He wanted out of the shadow of being traded 1 for 1 with Hall. He was a good player for us but clearly not being able to shake that (which is in no way his fault) had gotten to him over the years.

All said and done, this defense really isn't any better. Obviously not getting salary retained on Keith was just plain dumb but I would still argue he's more effective than Jones if you take salary out of the equation. I don't think Jones/Murray is a huge improvement on Keith/Koekkoek/Russell.

So far I would say the one signing that has worked out is Ceci. With Larsson effectively not actually being an option as he wanted out, Ceci has been decent. He's not an all star by any stretch but has been our most reliable RHD and his salary is reasonable (although term is still a little iffy).

I think the biggest offseaon miss by ol Kenny Holland was not getting in on the Buchnevich trade.

Jones is not a top 6 dman in the NHL.