I'd assume blowing up the team means

I'd assume blowing up the team means
by Rick Sanchez (2022-06-07 16:17:52)
Edited on 2022-06-07 16:18:09

In reply to: Mike Smith basically has one foot in the grave. posted by voidoid

trading McDavid, Draisitl, and Nurse for futures and going back into tank mode. Anything short of that is probably along the lines of a "retooling". Also McDavid and Nurse have full NMCs. They're not going anywhere but to a contender, and any smart contender isn't going to blow up their own roster for either of them (especially for Nurse).

I'm trying to picture what a hypothetical McDavid trade to a contender would even look like and there's absolutely no way Edmonton would get the better end of that deal in the short and long term given his NMC. If McDavid didn't have the NMC it'd be a different story, but trading him would be an absolutely massive gamble no matter what.

I think a competent GM (i.e. not Ken Holland) could turn them into a legitimate contender this offseason, especially if Letang makes it to free agency. You're right, though, that as long as Holland is there they'll mostly get by on how much better McDavid and Draisitl are than 99% of the league.

I think there are coaches on the market that could squeeze a lot out of a Ken Holland Oilers team. Trotz and Cassidy, in particular, would be good hires. I'm assuming they'll just make Woodcroft the full time coach, though.

Can you imagine the fan fallout if they dismantled?

The people of Edmonton would burn down Holland's house if he traded McDavid and went into a rebuild.

Trotz would be a great hire there. My Islander friends are pissed that he got the axe.

It'd be worse than with Gretzky, IMO.

At least they had four Cups with Gretzky and a fifth after he was traded. Edmonton hasn't won anything with McDavid and they'd be in for at least another five years of lottery finishes without him - and that's assuming they have a Rangers-esque rebuild. How often does that happen? Holland wouldn't be able to show his face in public in Edmonton.

I tried looking through a few rosters to see if a viable trade for McDavid to a contender is even out there and it's pretty much impossible due to all the NMCs in the league. Every contender would have to shed a lot of salary to get him and those high salary guys pretty much universally have some form of NMC or NTC. I doubt any would waive to go to a McDavid-less Edmonton.

Yeah the Trotz firing was dumb, especially if Lou legitimately did not talk to anyone about it. Oh well, they're one of the oldest teams in the league and are unlikely to get better next season.