Monday Mailbag – Should Oilers sell high on Nuge or Nurse?

Greetings, Nation compadres! It’s Monday morning and, as always, that means it’s Mailbag time again. Every week, I’ve taken your questions and sent them off to our panel of geniuses to assess and pass along some hot wisdom that you’ll be able to carry forward with you for the rest of your life. With that in mind, I need questions for next week, so open up your internet machines and send me any query you may have about the Oilers or life in general. You can get them to me through email or on Twitter — I’m good like that. Until then, it’s time to learn something. Enjoy.

So trade two of your top-five players will make significant positive change? I don’t see that being the best strategy. Anyone can be traded, but this off-season I’d look at other people to trade.

If you truly want significant positive change you don’t send away your best players. Trading a player who just enjoyed a one-off kind of year is selling high. Trading away one of your best three forwards or top two D-men who are consistently good/improving isn’t selling high, it’s selling stupid.

I’m really against trading Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. If you have him on your second line, then you can afford to keep McDavid and Draisaitl together. If you lose him, then you’re weakening your top line and have to break up the NHL’s most dangerous duo. Keep RNH, it’s that simple. As for Nurse, I’d be more open to dealing him. He’ll be an RFA next summer and I could see a scenario where they trade Nurse for a good top-six forward and then deal some future assets (Jesse Puljujarvi, a second-round pick, Ethan Bear) for a more offensive defenseman to slide into Nurse’s spot. Still, I would be hesitant to move either. I think their best years are ahead of them.

I would consider moving anyone except Connor McDavid and maybe Leon Draisaitl. The Oilers aren’t good, so it’s always interesting to see this huge list of ‘untouchable’ players. The Oilers have sold low on players for far too long. I’d absolutely consider trading Darnell Nurse or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. If they weren’t considering it, I’d be disappointed. Doesn’t mean they’re 100% gone, but this team shouldn’t be limiting their options to get better.

I think Nurse and Nuge are going to be the reason we find success over the next few years. Sure their value is high right now, but that’s not a good enough reason to see them go. As far as future salary goes, I think there are other significant areas of the organization where you can relocate salary to try save some money.

Personally, I think the Oilers are in need of more good players not less. To me, the goal should be to get rid of the guys that are not producing to clear space for guys that can. The Oilers need cap space, the Oilers need a bottom nine (outside of Nuge) that can contribute. Trading RNH or Nurse, at this point, is stealing from Peter to pay Paul.

I can only speak for myself. I’ve never felt Russell was nearly as bad as his “haters” claimed. It isn’t his fault he has had to play his off-side the majority of the time here because management was incapable of acquiring right shot defenders. Simple truth is the Oilers have to clear salary, and if they acquire a RD, then having Sekera and Russell as third pair LD is not ideal at the cap hit. But I’d keep Russell over Sekera, because he can play both sides and his $1.5m cheaper.

Talk about moving Russell is more about circumstances than cap hit. He’s a good player. Needs change.

I don’t think anything changed. I like Russell and think he makes a positive impact on the Oilers but he’s not worth $4 million, he’s worth half of that. He’s overpaid and the Oilers need to free up cap space. He would have some value on the trade market and you wouldn’t have to package an asset with him just to get rid of his contract. In fact, you might be able to get a decent piece in return for him. So if they can lose the $4 million and bring back a decent asset, I think they should do it.

I wrote about not signing Kris Russell prior to his four-year extension. I thought you can find someone else fairly easily and signing him would lead to a Ladislav Smid/Andrew Ference/Mark Fayne scenario where he makes too much money for a third-pairing guy and you’d be looking to move him shortly after signing him. I think people saw him playing big minutes on a team that went to the second round and thought you can’t let a guy who helped get you there walk. That was more on Andrej Sekera, Oscar Klefbom, and Adam Larsson. I bet some team takes him at his full salary, though. I don’t know how he got four times four and a no-move clause. Chiarelli, man. Whoever is the next GM needs to stop handing out bad contracts to depth players.

I was never an individual who said Russell is part of the solution. I think he’s a great player and he’s an asset to our team, however, due to his salary and some upcoming defensive prospects of ours, I would feel okay if we moved him to relieve cap space.

I know what you mean and I think it’s kinda funny. If Kris Russell made $2 million and not $4 million then I don’t think we’re talking about this right now, but the Oilers need cap space and moving the cowboy out of town would save them a fair chunk. Personally, I’d much rather see the team trade Russell than Sekera at this point.

I think he would be open to it, but I doubt there is a long list of teams who will acquire him. The best chance of him being moved would be in a three-way deal where each team is retaining some of his salary. The new GM will need to be creative.

Small chance. Oilers would have to take Loui Eriksson. They’d save a year on the contracts, but Eriksson doesn’t score much anymore either and brings no other elements.

The interview in Vancouver was weird and honestly, made me think that there is a real chance that we see him moved this summer. There are rumours that a team called about him at the deadline too. I would still say there’s like a 10% chance he’s not here next September. If they deal him, it would likely involve a bad contract coming back and if they deal him to Vancouver it would probably be Loui Eriksson. I would be all over that. Eriksson can actually score goals and he came out and said that he “doesn’t get on 100%” with Head Coach Travis Green. I think an Eriksson for Lucic swap makes sense.

It’s strange, but I don’t mind it. I appreciate Lucic’s honesty compared to saying he’s ‘all-in’ on the Oilers and turning it around here. We know he asked for a trade last summer and probably will do so again this year, so this is some rare honesty from an NHL player. There’s a chance he gets moved. They need to figure out a resolution to the Lucic situation. You can’t have him back as a third/fourth-line player with the attention it brings.

It’s easy for us to run with his comments and speculate all summer long. I think our new GM will look into trying to move Lucic, however finding the right deal for him might be challenging. Lucic easily could have been speaking about playing for Vancouver much further down the road than next season.

The only way the Oilers are going to move Lucic is if they take a horrible contract back in return and Loui Eriksson would certainly qualify. Just this week, Eriksson was complaining about his usage in Vancouver and Lucic was talking about how much he loves the place so I can see a scenario where something gets done there. Then again, I also thought Lucic might get moved last summer and we all know how that went.

McElhinney on a one-year deal…If you can get Varlamov on a decent deal, I’d look at him as well. I don’t see him getting starter’s money and if he’d take a  one-year deal I’d sign him. Then they have a healthy competition.

Petr Mrazek is the best of the bunch, but why would he come here?

I think they need to go the trade route for their next backup. I wrote about this not too long ago, but I really like Tristan Jarry. He’s coming off a really good year in the AHL and has a little bit of NHL experience as well. The Penguins have three goalies so I think Jarry would be available this summer. He’s young, can play in the NHL, and there’s room for growth. He also has a low cap hit.

There are some interesting options. Tristan Jarry and Eric Comrie require waivers next season. They’re young and inexperienced, but could develop into more than a backup goalie as well. I wonder if the Islanders would part with Thomas Greiss.

There are quite a few goalies that will be available in free agency. If we’re able to afford one, I’d be happy to pick up one of them for a one year deal. Lehner and Mrazek are two possibilities.

I don’t think free agency is going to solve it. I think that the Oilers are going to look at making a trade. As for who that is? That’s anyone’s guess right now. We’ll have to wait and see how Holland plays this thing out.

McDavid. He fought in junior. Crosby has seven NHL fights, and I could see McDavid getting frustrated with someone hacking or whacking him.

Draisaitl.

I will say both of McDavid and Draisaitl get into a fight next season. I would say Draisaitl is more likely but I think both guys will eventually get super pissed off at someone. As long as they don’t get hurt, I’m cool with it.

I’m putting my money on Draisaitl.

Out of those three players, I think Draisaitl will be the first to fight. He seems to have an angry side to him and he plays pretty aggressively. He might be able to hold his own in a fight in my opinion.

I can definitely see Connor getting into a scrap because he’s finally had enough. That dude takes more shit on the ice than anyone else in the league and I could certainly understand how he’d reach a breaking point.

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