PERFECT FIT?

8 years ago

Among the possible matches for the Edmonton Oilers’ laundry list of problems are the Ottawa Senators. A team that made the playoffs, has three good goalies, runs on a budget, and has some horrible contracts. Oh, and their GM isn’t going to buy anyone out. It’s too good to be true. Or is it?

The Blog 6th Sens delivered some interesting news a few days ago and Oilers fans will be interested in what they had to say.

6th Sens: Bryan Murray indicated in an interview that he has no intention(s) of buying out any of the Senators’ contracts.

6th Sens: What Murray did say is that he could use one of his goaltenders as bait to dump a bad contract in a trade.
Source

Interesting. For the record, Ottawa’s goalies are:

Craig Anderson, 406 career NHL games, .915 career SP
Robin Lehner, 86 career NHL games, .914 career SP
Andrew Hammond, 25 career NHL games, .942 career SP
Chris Driedger, 1 career NHL game 1.000 career SP
Matt O’Connor, newly signed college man

There is a lot of talent there, but issues impact the group. First of all, there’s the matter of money, always front and center with the Ottawa Senators. Anderson ($4.2 times three, then UFA); Robin Lehner ($2.25M times two, then RFA); Hammond ($1.35M times three, then UFA) are the NHL options for next season, with O’Connor possible if things break right.

Anderson has the most trade value, Lehner’s injury (concussion) impacting the asset in a trade.

Bruce Garrioch: The Senators would like to clear up the crowded crease before the draft
if it’s at all possible. After signing Hammond to the extension, the
talk is Murray has been fielding calls on Craig Anderson and Robin
Lehner with significant interest in both. “Five or six teams have called
and there has been some discussion and there will continue to be. We’ll
see what comes of it,” Murray said. It’s believed the Edmonton Oilers,
Buffalo Sabres and San Jose Sharks are among the teams looking for
goalies. The 23-year-old Lehner is the most attractive option for
several teams because he’s got upside potential while Anderson could
help a team that wants to contend immediately. There won’t be any
shortage of teams looking for goalies because Calgary and St. Louis may
also be sniffing around. Source

The team has indicated Lehner is back to health, but for me the most valuable goalie is Anderson. What would Edmonton need to do? Send value for Anderson, and take back one of these contracts:

C David Legwand, $3M cap hit times one year
L Colin Greening, $2.65M cap hit times one year
D Jared Cowen, $3.1M cap hit times two years

I could list Chris Phillips but we’ll go with this group. So, the deal might be:

G Craig Anderson ($4.2M times three) and D Jared Cowen ($3.1M times two) to the Edmonton Oilers

Wow. that’s $7.3M dollars in cap hit—an absolute monster—in exchange for something of value to the Ottawa Senators.

(Source: NHLNumbers.com)

WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE?

You make the call! I think the Oilers can afford to take on significant cap room, and trade back some talent in exchange. However, $7.3M is a lot of coin and Anderson—while he has value—isn’t worth that kind of Denver boot.

I’m not sure about this deal. Martin Marincin (maybe $1M cap?) and a pick (3rd?) should get it done, but is it worth it? This is one of the issues with acquiring a veteran G like Anderson. At what price? Peter Chiarelli has to be careful of the cap and that’s a major deal.

Winning games in 2015-16 is important, but acquiring Craig Anderson commits him to a major contract through 2018 summer.

What is fair value here?

PERFECT FIT?

WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE?

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