Monday Mailbag – Ads on Jerseys?

We’re another week closer to the draft (AND THE DRAFT… UHHH… CONNORVERSARY PARTY!) and that means we’re getting closer to, what could be, the implosion of this website. Can you imagine what the comments section will be like once Peter Chiarelli trades someone of actual value to the team? Wild time are coming, my friends. Until then, we do everything we possibly can to kill time and the Mailbag is 3000 words worth of time wasting wisdom for you to soak into your brain bank. I need questions, as always, so please send anything you can think of to me through email or on Twitter. For now, it’s time to learn something. 

Upgrading the blueline in a meaningful way will likely mean Chiarelli will have to dip into that group of forwards to acquire the right players, so it’s difficult to say. Unlikely, no matter what changes Chiarelli makes this off-season, that the Oilers climb all the way into the playoffs next season.

Yes, I believe so. Edmonton has some ridiculous talents and if they can stay healthy there should be more then enough to get them into the second season. A quality two-way winger would not go amiss.

I think the top six would do fine in the playoffs, it’s the bottom six that still worries me. If you swap out Korpikoski and replace him with Pakarinen then I start to like it more. Looking at the line up on paper I doubt they beat a red-hot Pens team, or even the Sharks, but I’m fairly confident that team could at least make the dance.

If he is going to upgrade the defence, one or two of the current crop of forwards won’t be here, so I expect him to make some other additions for this team to compete for the playoffs.

It depends on health. I think a McDavid line/Hall line combo is a strong top-six combo, but last year the Letestu line ended up as the third unit and the fourth line was the sub-Letestus. If Mark Letestu is the No. 4 centre all year next year, then yes.

I’m not entirely sure but I like the depth down the middle. I like the left side. I’m really interested in how much a competent (or even “good”) defense changes this team. I bet that two quality additions yields massive results.

Good question. As I watch the finals I see two groups of forwards very determined to use speed and aggressiveness to pressure the other team every shift. Big or small they have a lot of tenacity. I don’t think the Oilers group has enough of that attitude spread across the lineup. McDavid does. He uses his speed and legs to apply pressure.

I think the Oilers have a very good foundation to build around, but they’re missing some solid veterans. I wish the Oilers had a slightly younger Matt Hendricks clone that could play in the top six and provide a little bit of offense. 

I doubt it. Winning matters more. Money matters more. Lifestyle in the city matters more. 

I think the Oilers have been a losing organization since Pronger left. I believe Connor McDavid changed all that. Justin Schultz is not a factor either way.

I doubt it. This same thing happens in every single fan base, though your milage is going to vary from team to team in terms of the frequency of it and how loud it gets. At the end of the day it’s about playing for a competitive team, and to a slightly lesser extent opportunity. I really doubt any NHL player looks at Edmonton and says “GEEZE IF I’M BAD THE FANS WON’T LIKE ME BETTER NOT SIGN THERE” because I would assume that’s just a given being a professional athlete.

I believe people overrate the importance of signing free agents. Very few are huge difference makers. Usually the best ones are more complementary guys. Edmonton has signed many UFAs over the years, and thankfully missed out on some like Nylander and others. The Oilers ten-year playoff drought would be a bigger red flag than some fans booing. If the team was competitive players would be adored in Edmonton. Winning is a much bigger factor than a few boos.

Yes, I imagine it’s one of many factors the player considers. Playing in a hockey market means exposing oneself to love and/or hatred, and not all players are going to be comfortable with that level of passion.

Not if they saw how terrible Justin Schultz is. I imagine how a terrible defenseman who cost his team success on a nightly basis was treated factors highly into the thoughts of free agents. Numbers 1-3 in some order are probably “Can I win? How much money will I make? Is it a good place to live?”

Players talk to each other all the time about what it is like to play for this or that team. There are no secrets in the league. But trust me every group of fans has their whipping boy. I don’t think it is just here in Edmonton so no I don’t think it hurts the team.

Who knows how much it would affect a person. Drake Caggiula (he’s only a college guy blah blah I know) just signed here he would have surely heard about what happened with Schultz in Edmonton. Who knows how much guys care? It would depend on who you’re talking to. 

He’s had a year to decide who is worth keeping and who is expendable. He knows his scouting staff better and might weigh varying opinions differently than he did one year ago.

I believe he has to be very aggressive this summer and part of that will be some substantial moves—but the goal of building up the middle and adding veterans will be the same. The team will be more physical and bigger. As for advantages, I think he has seen the team for a year and identified the issues. That is a big deal for a manager.

I feel like he’s going to be much more aggressive in terms of acquiring talent this season. I really liked his patient last year; he didn’t just start trading everyone in a panic when the season started to swirl down the toilet. He’s got the advantage of having a much better idea of the makeup of the roster, and a better read on the individual players themselves, so he can work the trade/free agent market efficiently this summer.I feel like he’s going to be much more aggressive in terms of acquiring talent this season. I really liked his patient last year; he didn’t just start trading everyone in a panic when the season started to swirl down the toilet. He’s got the advantage of having a much better idea of the makeup of the roster, and a better read on the individual players themselves, so he can work the trade/free agent market efficiently this summer.

I don’t see his approach changing. He knew it wouldn’t be an instant fix last summer. He wants to improve his RD and he wants to add some skilled, size and tenacity. He won’t be afraid to make a big trade, and I expect him to make one to add a quality defender, and he will likely make a few other moves as well.

The advantage now is that he intimately knows the team in a way he didn’t a year ago, and that knowledge will likely embolden him.

He better change. Last draft he went in and spent huge on something the team didn’t need (big left defender) and it turns out all he did was waste two valuable assets. This year he can’t waste time on vanity projects. Advantage is he’s seen the club for a year. Disadvantage, he still hasn’t seen the lineup healthy.

His advantage is he knows the team and organization. He has made a list and just like Santa he is checking it twice to see who is in and who is out. He couldn’t do it last year because he didn’t have enough info, now he does.

Peter Chiarelli finally got a taste of what it has been like around here for the past decade. He had heard the stories before, but he actually experienced the horrible sucketry® that is the Edmonton Oilers for himself. Knowledge is power. 

If accurate, the projection helps identify teams that may be headed for salary cap issues if they aren’t there now.

The Oilers may be able to get a quality defenseman from a team with cap issues. There is danger too, though. Acquiring Brent Seabrook for the erosion portion of his career is not a good idea.

There are quite a few teams who are going to be in some serious cap trouble, notable among them the Columbus Blue Jackets #OfferSheetSethJones.

Hopefully Chiarelli can use this to his advantage to pry some solid defenders away from other teams for pennies on the dollar.

I don’t think it favours them. The Oilers don’t have a lot of cap flexibility, despite finishing 29th. Currently only nine teams have less cap space than the Oilers ($10 million). Some of them need to sign some players of course, but the Oilers don’t have a lot of cap space, however, the fact they likely will move one of the $6 million players they will be able to take on a big contract by giving up one.

Edmonton has cap space, many other teams won’t. That opens up the door to acquire a player or players from a team that otherwise would not consider moving them.

That favours Edmonton greatly: Offer Sheet Seth Jones. The Blue Jackets are already at 68 million on the cap and need to resign Jones plus have cash for Puljujarvi. Someone can cripple them with an offer.

I am a simple man, not an accountant. I also like disco.

Of course it will be a benefit to the Oilers. Garth Snow was able to get some solid defensemen from cap strapped teams without trading anything but picks and plugs. Jonathan Willis covered that a while ago, and you should read it. Why can’t history repeat itself? I BELIEVE!

I also think that the Oilers should offer sheet Seth Jones. I love offer sheets. They spice things up, and hockey is supposed to be entertaining. MOAR OFFER SHEETS!

I don’t like having everything inside a rink, including player jerseys, for sale, but it’s likely on the way as teams try to squeeze every bit of revenue they can.

Yes, I think so. I am a traditionalist—the DH rule still pisses me off—but Bobby Orr retired and we all got past it so we will live through this, too.

I think it’s inevitable. There are ads on the boards, the ice, HOLOGRAPHICALLY projected onto the end glass, ads covering basically every square inch of space throughout the concourses, 90 minutes of commercials during a three hour broadcast, ads telepathically delivered straight into our frontal lobes, etc. As with literally any change to the NHL we’ll all hate it at first, then within a few months we’ll be hard pressed to remember a time before the Oilers jersey wasn’t just one giant Rogers logo!

It is inevitable. It doesn’t bother me. The NHL cares about money first and foremost and if ads on jerseys increase revenue they will do it. I don’t see many other revenue streams opening up for them. The Canadian dollar returning to even par and Canadian teams making the playoffs are the two major factors to increase revenue. There is no guarantee of either every year, so I see ads on jerseys coming.

Is it inevitable that the NHL will take advantage of an available revenue stream, when the only cost will be the displeasure of their fans? Do bears poop in the woods?

Totally inevitable. Just like expansion. Even though the league has floundering franchises bleeding money and talent isn’t going to greatly increase, the NHL will expand anyway because owners want more money right now. Well, ads are more money right now. At least the Cap should go up because of new revenue.

I played in Europe where the jerseys are covered in ads. Didn’t bother me there won’t bother me here.

I don’t like it but you know it’s going to happen. I think it would be very strange to buy an Oilers jersey with a Tim Horton’s logo on it, don’t you? Then again, how many people buy soccer jerseys and those things are just (questionably) fashionable billboards. 

 

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