Monday Mailbag – Winners and losers from Deadline Day

The Trade Deadline is in the books, the Oilers are playing out the stretch, and it’s another Monday back at work. As far as tough times go for Oilers fans, I think we’ve had our share now and it’s time for a rebound. Fortunately, the Mailbag is here to help turn the ship around and kill a little bit of company time while we’re at it. If you have for next week’s mailbag you can email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or DM on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk. Until then, let’s all gather round to learn a little something together.

None really surprised me. If Aberg turns out to be a regular bottom-six forward then they did fine. We won’t know until 2024 if the 3rd round picks pan out.

I was mildly surprised at the Davidson trade because I really like what he brings but also because a third for a waiver wire pickup is actually good work by Chia. Then I was surprised that an incredibly cheap, productive, bruising forward with playoff experience went for the lowest return of all his comparables.

I liked Davidson a cheap third-pair guy next season, but that’s tough to do with Kris Russell on the books. A third-round pick isn’t bad for a guy claimed off waivers. I don’t mind taking a shot at Pontus Aberg, but the Maroon trade is underwhelming. He’s cheap, skilled, and can play with really good players. That should have been worth more than a third and a throwaway prospect.

Obviously, I would have loved for something drastic to happen – like the Oilers acquiring Karlsson. Other than that nothing was very surprising. I was pretty disappointed with the Maroon return but I mean based on recent history you can’t really expect much more than that. The Letestu return was better than expected, and the Davidson trade was actually a shocker. In a perfect world, we land Maroon in the summer again for super cheap, and Davy comes back too! Then I’ll be satisfied.

I was surprised that they got a better return for Mark Letestu than they did for Pat Maroon. That one blows me away. Chiarelli says he only had one offer on Maroon but I don’t buy it for a second. I think he dropped the ball.

Winner for me was Tampa (McDonagh and Miller), Boston (Nash), Winnipeg (Stastny) and Sharks (Kane). The Jets needed to keep pace with Nashville and the Pacific is wide open and Kane should help them. Losers for me. Toronto might regret not adding a D-man. They have a deep forward group and solid goaltending. I thought they would have improved their D, especially with Boston and Tampa improving their teams.

Winner was probably Tampa. Loser was Ottawa. I like what Yzerman is doing and how he manages to pay less than what everyone expects. Ottawa basically told their whole team they were unwanted but still kept them around.

I like what the Rangers did. They might not have gotten exactly what they wanted, but I don’t think McDonagh had more value going forward in the summer. As for losers, I’m not sure why the Islanders or Calgary didn’t do more.

The losers were probably Vancouver. They got fleeced on the Vanek trade and I still don’t understand why Benning went for it.

I think a couple teams crushed it on deadline day. The Lightning acquiring Miller and McDonough was huge. They paid a hefty price but now their already stacked team is even more stacked. I thought the Knights getting Tatar was huge as well for them. They’re just dishing out their draft picks right now and I’m pretty curious how it will affect them down the road.

Winner is Stevie Yzerman and the Lightning. How did they go from trying to get Erik Karlsson to “settling” on Ryan McDonagh? That’s amazing GMing right there.

Loser has to be Jim Benning and the Canucks. How did he not get any draft picks to help move the rebuild along?

If you could get him to sign for seven years at $4.1 mill I’d do it. I suspect he might want a bridge deal and see him signing around $2.5 million/year.

I think if he was signed to $4M or so for long-term that he could provide reasonably close to that for the foreseeable future. I don’t think defensemen like him get cheaper even if I’m not sure he’ll ever be worth more than Klefbom.

I have doubts about his offence. He’s on pace for 26 points and I don’t see him as a regular power play guy. I’d bridge him since defenceman usually get paid based on offence. I don’t see him becoming a huge offensive threat where Edmonton regrets signing him to a bridge deal like Montreal and P.K. Subban.

I would go bridge just to be safe. Apparently cap space is super valuable around here so I would save it if we can. I would hope Darnell wouldn’t hesitate to re-sign here once his bridge is over anyways because of McDavid, obviously.

I could see them signing Darryl to a Oscar Klefbom type contract. That would be good value imo. Unless, of course, he has a down year like Klefbom is having right now and everyone wants to run him out of town.

I believe he didn’t do it earlier in the year because Strome was struggling and they didn’t have a legit 3C. Strome and Khaira look more comfortable in 3C and 4C roles now. McDavid is clearly 1C, and Draisaitl is a better centre. McLellan said today it is something they will look at. once RNH returns. He did say he will play him at centre his first few games back, because he is most comfortable there and he wants him to find his game before asking him to switch positions. But after talking Todd after his press conference I got the sense it is something he would like to see. The four centres playing now, McDavid, Draisaitl, Strome and Khaira, can fit their slot effectively so moving RNH would be much easier.

I have stopped trying to understand McLellan’s player usage. I think I get why he likes Draisaitl and McDavid together. Maybe he likes them so much as a duo that it doesn’t matter if Nuge would also benefit the same way.

I wonder if he likes the McDavid-Draisaitl combo better. It’s a lost season so now is the time to throw RNH on the wing and see what he can do. Having all three of McDavid, Draisaitl, and RNH playing center is expensive, and they don’t have the wingers to run them effectively. I know McDavid and Draisaitl are amazing together, but that’s too much money on one line. Draisaitl should run his own line at $8.5 million. I’d see if RNH and Draisaitl can be a good pair.

Honestly, have no idea. He’s pretty much tried every single person on McDavid’s wing except for Nuge. GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT TODD!

I’ve been saying he should try Nuge with McDavid since before the season even started so it’s nice that people are starting to come around on the idea… I mean, except for McLellan apparently.

Death by a 1000 Pucks

“One For One: The Peter Chiarelli Story”

Peter Chiarelli’s Paranormal (Lack of) Activity

Gone but not forgotten.

Pointing Fingers

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