Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!
From NHLRumors.com
TSN: Pierre LeBrun on teams that are top-heavy in terms of salary.
- “There are a lot of executives that I’ve talked to, that continue to point at that and saying, ‘you can’t be top-heavy on your cap and win.’ Is essentially the real message here, and I don’t know if that is true. Obviously, the numbers bear it out, but it just means you have to be really good elsewhere in your lineup.”
- “But you look at the Blues, Bruins final in 2019, the highest paid player was $7.5 million. Tampa wins the Cup last year, highest paid player I think is Kucherov at $9.5. No one in double digits. They have a pretty deep lineup.”
BLH’s Thoughts: Interesting that Washington, Pittsburgh, and Chicago were left out of the conversation… That said, I think it’s a very valid question to contemplate for fans in markets like Edmonton and Toronto.
What I’d say is that having one or two players on a team’s roster who make substantially more than the rest doesn’t make it a “top-heavy” team in my books. Why couldn’t Tampa be considered a top-heavy team when they’ve got Kucherov, Stamkos, Vasilevskiy, Hedman, McDonagh, and Point combining for nearly $49M of an $81.5M cap? That’s almost 60% tied up in six players…
The trick for clubs like the Oilers and the Maple Leafs is that they have to find value down the roster in players making very little and the players that are taking up considerable portions of their salary cap MUST be contributing year in and year out. There’s no buffer room there.
Something else to consider are hometown discounts and all-star netminding. For example, Duncan Keith made more than $5M in a given season only five times in his career. This is a sure-fire hall-of-famer when he’s all done we’re talking about and look at the teams left in the playoffs right now. Is there one team who’s goalie isn’t playing out of his mind right now?
Personally, I’d like the Oilers to add more depth to the team in the form of $3M and $4M players and I want to see them sign or trade for a goaltender that is considered a top-10 talent or considered to be someone who will one day be a top-10 talent. If that’s not possible, draft one and develop him (Sebastian Cossa says hi!), but in the meantime don’t try to go cheap and gamble in net. Grab a guy who’ll be able to hold the fort for the next three or four seasons until it can be turned over to the kid.
Jason Gregor on the DFO rundown podcast.
- “I heard a rumour, I don’t know how true it is, that TOR offered Hyman $5M AAV and he said no”
Chris Johnston responds with him thinking that teams could go upwards of $6 million on long-term contract.
- @Account4hockey: Frank Seravalli and Zach Hyman’s agent have both said that that rumor is not true.
(LINK)
BLH’s Thoughts: If it’s not true, isn’t that essentially telling the market exactly what he wants? I mean, why would you even comment on something that specific publicly?
I don’t know if Gregor heard that rumor from Bob Stauffer because that’s who I heard say it first.
Look, I really dig what Hyman brings to the ice. He’s got some Ryan Smyth in his game and blue collar Oilers fans eat that shit up, but it does concern me that the $6M/yr figure is being tossed around for a player who’s 29 years old and on the back nine of his career most-likely. It sends vibes down me spine that scream, “MILAN LUCIC!” and I do recall thinking David Clarkson when his name started to pop up in connection to the Oilers.
Don’t get me wrong, if Connor McDavid and Jesse Puljujarvi had peak Smytty on their LW, that would be an outstanding line. If he signs in Edmonton, they’re not getting peak Smytty though…
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