It reads to me like a bunch of hypochondriacs that don't seem to grasp the math on Cup winning chances and also don't seem to understand that being an appealing place to (re-)sign involves having a functioning organisation with an attractive future.

Then your move, what do you think the Oilers should do to make their future an appealing place for 97 and 29?

trading leo with his great cap hit would help this team

I'd have to agree with this. The more stable the organization and the higher the likelihood that they'll continue competing for Cups will likely be the strongest motivators for either of those two dudes to re-sign. Have to imagine the team will make whatever cap room is needed.

I don't think they should give up those kind of assets for an all-in move

Tough to do overnight as there are many things I'd have done differently the past few years, but I'll assume you mean "if you took over today".

1.) invest more heavily in scouting and, specifically, on signing NCAA FAs to fill gaps in the prospect pool
2.) limit the trading of picks in comparison to how many have been thrown around in recent years (not opposed to trading 1sts or 2nds, though)
3.) work to keep the team further from the cap limit so that you can use leftover space as the 3rd party in cap retention trades at the deadline
4.) to achieve the above and in general, be less risk averse and sacrifice some present stability for potential & future success (give young players REAL chances early in the year to see what they can do)

To be more specific, I'd achieve the latter two by involving Kulak in a deadline trade. His 2.75mil would open up a whole host of options without losing much in terms of roster quality. A trade that I quite liked and was posted by a PHI fan earlier involved Kulak, Lavoie, and the '24 1st going to PHI for Walker (50%) and Seeler. This is an example of a "win now' trade that I can get behind as it both improves the roster and opens up possibilities for the future (getting Broberg playing time, adding to the RD which makes it more likely that Broberg would thrive, opening cap space to potentially re-sign Walker if he proves to be a good fit, etc). Put simply, a proper balance of present and future thinking.

IMO for this season we have a solid crew and are completely cap strapped, we can move 3rd-4th rounders for a backup goalie or bottom 6 forward but that's it.
I think that we do need to make a bigger move this offseason once we can buyout Campbell and get a lot of cap back, something for someone/multiple pieces that have around 2-3 years of term that are large difference makers.

We then have 2 years with Mcd and Drai (assuming a 1 year re-sign), in those 2 years and with the cap space growing we will need to find ways to entice them back through proof that we are serious contenders.

Maybe...

Makes sense then...

Thank you for your input... But if you were to have one concern and you can take over today regarding 97 and 29, what would it be?

Thank you!

We’re winning the cup this year.

McDrai will be given blank cheques to sign for whatever they want. Oilers trust their character to not get too greedy.

Done.

I'm afraid I don't understand precisely what you're asking. Do you mean "if you could do any one thing, what would it be?" or "if you had the power to focus the organisation's attention on one particular issue, what would it be?" or something else that I'm missing in my interpretation of your question?

Oilers are barely in the playoffs rn... What makes you think they are winning the cup?

Basically, as an Oiler fan, are you scared that 97 and/or 29 will walk or that they'll leave no room for depth etc.

The FACT that this is the best team in the McDrai era since Knob/Coffey took over coaching duties.

And? It's been 14 games

Yeah, I have some concern about it. However, I also know two things: 1.) this core is very close-knit and the other members of said core are locked up long term (Nurse, Hyman, RNH) & 2.) like most elite players, both have talked at length about winning a Cup being the single most important goal they have. I'm sure they and most other people in the world are able to understand the best way to improve the chances of that is by taking a pay cut of some kind. Whether that pay cut is here or another team will very much depend on what happens between now and the end of next season.

If I were to put it concisely, the main challenge is actually re-signing Draisaitl as he's been on a contract that saw him being underpaid relative to his market value for a ~6 years. If they can get him signed and at a reasonable cap hit, the chances of McDavid staying increase dramatically.

It's actually been 23 games and they're 17-6 with two 7 game win streaks in that time while also generally dominating their opposition.

https://theathletic.com/5140907/2023/12/16/paul-coffey-edmonton-oilers-coach/#:~:text=The%20Oilers%20are%2010%2D4,change%20from%203.92%20before%20it.:

"10-4"

"The Oilers are 10-4 since Coffey and Kris Knoblauch replaced Manson and Jay Woodcroft on Nov. 12"

So, it all lands on Draisaitl in your opinion?

Care to read when that article was posted?

Not really...

Searched up: What's the Oilers record since Paul Coffey took over" and it said 10-4

Pretty much. If he re-signs, that's the primary indicator for the team's future and the answer would be clear exactly 1 season before Connor's contract is up.

Put a little more effort in, man https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/EDM/2024_gamelog.html

With what time ?

Thank you... That's fair