Hemmers

Now that the Oilers season is over, I can officially come over here and cheer for the Red Wings again. And what a note to go out on. Ahh, the sweet taste of schadenfreude.

Okay, then let's call goaltender interference on the rush where Roloson ended up on the endboards

Hate to break it to you, but when your team pushes a guy into your goalie, it's not goaltender interference.

1) Pronger for Lupul, Smid (who looks to be evolving into a very solid 3/4 d-man at the very least), and a plethora of picks. Let's at least be honest, otherwise you may be accused of strawman'ing. 2) Lupul and Smith - One a player who didn't look like he was going to flourish in Edmonton, one an aging defenceman on the downhill slope for one of the best young defencemen in the game and an aging winger who's on the downhill slope.. tell me what's bad about this. 3) Trading Smyth for Nilsson, O'Mara (who is another big power-forward type who looks like he'll turn out well) and a draft pick is hardly NOTHING. Again, at least be honest if you want to be taken seriously. Nilsson looks like he'll be a legitimate scorer soon and O'Mara looks like a good 3rd-liner. This for about 20 games of Ryan Smyth, gee, what a bad deal. 4) Your opinion. I'm of the opinion that since every single defenceman with a bad +/- has improved dramatically upon coming to Edmonton, Souray will turn out to be a much better player than people are giving him credit for. But hey, this one you at least based partially in fact, so well done. Anything else? If you're going to try and debate, at least be accurate.

Tell you what. Let's look at this contract in 3 years. If in 3 years, Penner is putting up Smyth or Bertuzzi (in his good years) type numbers, then you get to eat your words. If he flops and drops below the 20-goal mark, I'll eat my words. When you're trying for an RFA, of course you overpay. Don't overpay, and the other team matches your offer without blinking. Burke set himself up for this; he's got no one to blame but Brian Burke. Why didn't he sign Smyth last season? Because Smyth wanted more money than Kevin Lowe felt he was worth. The better question is why he didn't sign after the Cup run, when everyone else was getting contracts, but that's neither here nor there. And calling tihs a 'desperation move' is just the latest phrase du jour. Kevin Lowe felt this was the best way to make his team better, so he took it. Got a problem with it? Sign your RFAs earlier, then. No sympathy for Burke here. And replaced? Two of the last three season Kevin Lowe has done a good job as GM. I'd say wait until we see where the Oilers finish this year before proclaiming him dead and gone.

No, definitely not. Comparing Eklund to a pedophile, however, is a bit of a stretch. Perhaps respect was a poor choice of words. Credit where credit's due, though, even if he is a bit of a scumbag.

His agent (or family representative, or whatever it is he's calling himself) has made some noise, but as far as I'm aware nothing has really come of it. I doubt they'll make an exception for Tavares, because quite honestly it opens the door to too many things in the future. They may, however, look at resetting the date of eligibility for future drafts, but I wouldn't expect any moves on that for a couple of years at least.

Say what you want about the man's hockey knowledge, but he's got people paying him for complete loads of bulls***. He may be a complete fraud insofar as a hockey analyst is concerned, but as a businessman, he's got my respect.

Pretty much. Means that the days of 'oh, you're just an RFA, how's 2 million for 2 years look so you shut your yap' are over. On a side note, with any luck this will eliminate the idea that Burke is some kind of Messiah of GMs, where everything he touches turns to sweet ambrosia and where he can do no wrong. Because honestly, I'm tired of hearing about how great a GM Brian Burke is.

You've failed to inform me how this is a bad thing, though. You see it one way, I see it the other. Let's say that RFAs belong to column B and UFAs to column A. The way it's been for a long time, Column A gets about 80% of a team's resources. Why is that? Because they knew that RFAs were, for all intents and purposes, untouchable. This allowed them to spend the other 80% on various UFA signings, where good players got superstar-like money (for example, the recent signings of Drury and Gomez being still the best examples). RFAs, on the other hand, were usually signed for plugger money, at least short term. Sure, later on they might get a big contract, but as it was teams knew they didn't have to worry about it and could low-ball them, since hey, who else would take 'em? Now, teams know that their RFAs are no longer safe. Instead of going out every few summers and blowing 15'ish million on a couple of players, they have to manage salaries a lot more. Leave an RFA unsigned, and someone might just take them. As it is, an RFA will sign for what they feel is a fair price, and if you don't offer it to them, prepare to lose that player. The big difference between an RFA and a UFA, of course, is draft picks; despite all your efforts, your team might still suck and you stand the risk of losing out on the next Sidney Crosby or something. Not to mention you still give the team the opportunity to match. If one team thinks player X is worth 5 million and the other team thinks he's worth 3 million, then it should be up to the player to decide where he goes; not some gentleman's agreement between GMs not to touch these players because they want to lowball players. Suddenly Column B and Column A are far more even, and talent gets rewarded; rather than just blowing the load on the best available UFAs, giving ridiculous contracts to players who really haven't earned them, you have to worry about your RFAs now, too. I think you'll see RFA contracts spike a little, and then soon both UFAs and RFAs will settle around where they should, not at this ridiculous level they were at the whole summer. EDIT: And no, I wasn't impugning Cleary's defensive abilities. I just happened to mention that Penner is fairly sound defensively. Plus, yes, comparing how long they're in the NHL is a damn valid fact. You do your best work in a job in your first year? How about five years down the road? Experience makes a huge difference. Regardless, looks like we agree to disagree.

Yes, because there's no salary cap to ensure that.. oh, wait, I'm sorry, I seem to have overlooked a crucial part of the puzzle. Now let's play a game where no one in this board is involved in a professional capacity with an NHL team. Let's continue this game by suggesting that maybe the people who are actually in these positions may know more than we do. Still with me? Let's continue. Now you look at Dustin Penner, and you see a big, defensively responsible forward with good hands and who has 45 points in their second NHL season (first full NHL season). Hmm, now who does this remind me of? Seems there was a player in Detroit just last season.. can't quite place my finger on it.. Oh yeah, Todd Bertuzzi. Sorry, but comparing Dan Cleary (as much as I like him) to Dustin Penner is just farcical. Dan Cleary's been in the NHL for how many seasons? How about Penner? If you honestly think that offering RFAs more than the traditional 'we'll keep you around for a while and figure out what to do when you hit UFA' change is going to drive salaries up, you're entitled to that opinion. I belong to the opposite camp that believes that since GMs are now going to be forced to commit money to RFAs in order to pay them what they're worth, they won't have as much money to blow on UFAs and what will happen isn't salaries spiking, but rather being more evenly distributed. Sorry, but NYR signing Drury and Gomez for as much as they did? That's a far more egregious crime than signing a kid who has the potential to have tremendous upside for 4.3 million. You think it's a huge overpay, I'd disagree. In two years, if he turns out to be the next Brad Isbister, I'll gladly eat my words. If, however, he turns out to be the next Bertuzzi, I'd expect the same courtesy from you.

And that's the problem, the whole 'unspoken rule' thing. Sorry, but it's a part of the CBA, and quite frankly there is no reason that Burke should be upset that someone chose to take advantage of the rules. It's collaboration, and there's no way that Burke should be angry at anyone but himself.

But Burke is the bestest GM in the entire NHL! Didn't you hear, everything he touches turns to gold! As for this offseason, Holland has my respect for not throwing ridiculous numbers at some of the UFA forwards on the market; same reason I'm happy with what my GM (Lowe) has done so far, because as much as I'd like to see Briere in an Oilers jersey, I'd rather not see it at the price he got. Next year's UFA crop should be very good, and this time there won't be as many people in the running.

Take it from an Oilers fan who actually knows hockey (unlike the usual 'OMG it's a name I don't know, they must suck!' fan); Smith was in a severe decline. Anyone who has watched this team consistently could see that Smith was only going to get worse from this point on. Sure, he may have recovered a little next year, but I think he's in the twilight of his career. As for Lupul, well, there's no way he was going to hit his potential in Edmonton. Psychologically he was a mess for this team, and so you're trading an unproven young winger with good upside for an unproven young defenceman with great upside. Sanderson cancels out Smith, both are solid players in decline, but I think that Edmonton ended up with the better defenceman. Let's revisit this deal in 3 years (if Pitkanen stays in Edmonton) and see how it looks then. When a player is said to have the same kind of potential upside as some of the greats, it's probably not a bad idea to pick him up.

People forget that last year's Oilers D was a sad, sad place to play. Roloson is also not exactly a young man anymore and when you don't have a backup that can be relied on to shoulder part of the load, you get overplayed. He still managed to put up .909 SV% and a 2.75 GAA. With Garon as a backup, he won't be played nearly as much and the Oilers D is a marked improvement over last year. As for Souray, I think he's a good fit for Edmonton. He's a guy who's not afraid to play physical, and considering that Charlie Huddy is probably the only good coach the Oilers have I imagine his +/- will improve and he will become more responsible defensively. Desperation signing? A little bit, but I do believe the Oilers just got better with Souray on the team.