Random Thoughts: Zach Hyman, Rumour Season, Wild Buyouts, and more

It’s a gloomy Saturday here in the capital city and that means your ol’ pal Baggedmilk is back with another dose of Random Thoughts. As I do every week, I’ve emptied my brain into this here blog post with all of the hockey thoughts that have been rolling around in my head over the past week and I invite you all to join me for a leisurely tour of my idea factory.

One name that has been flying around these parts for a while now is that of @Zach Hyman. The 29-year-old winger just wrapped up his fifth full(ish) season with the Maple Leafs where he registered 15 goals and 18 assists for 33 points in 43 games and is now in line for a sizeable UFA contract. At the moment, the Leafs have granted Hyman’s representatives permission to speak with interested teams and by all accounts, the Oilers are among those vying for his services. The problem I have, however, is that the numbers being talked about for Hyman don’t really make sense to me, and I’m hoping someone will be able to explain what’s going on here. With a career high of 21 goals and 41 points, I guess I’m a little bit confused by the 6×6 numbers (or in that ballpark) that are floating around right now, especially after the Oilers just locked up a more productive player in RNH at $5.125 million. Now, I know Hyman had better 5v5 numbers than Nuge did last season but that’s basically the only time that’s really happened, and I have real concerns that overpaying this guy on a long-term deal. Maybe I’m just gunshy about UFA solutions for big dollars after Milan Lucic blew up in our faces, but this Hyman chatter about six or seven-year deals definitely has my Spidey senses tingling in a bad way.

Look, if we’re going to go fishing for a high-priced UFA winger to sort out the top six then I would much prefer to see Ken Holland overpay on Gabriel Landeskog rather than Zach Hyman. Landeskog is younger, has been a more consistent scorer, generally misses less time than Hyman, and would bring a physical flavour into the top six that would likely go a long way. That said, Andy Strickland suggests that Landeskog’s camp could be looking for as high as $9-10 million in free agency, which is a number that is absolutely bananas considering his points production is pretty similar to that of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Even so, if the guy is going to test the market, then I sure as shit hope that Holland is at least kicking tires on the 28 year old winger to see what he would want. Put another way, if your choice is to overpay Landeskog or overpay Hyman then you take the chance on the better player. Dare to dream?

For the last couple of years, we Oilers fans have heard all about how the 2021 offseason was going to be the time when we’d have the most cap space available to try and get something done that finally pushes this team forward. This was going to be the Summer of Ken and was going to be a new beginning in terms of bolstering the lineup with more skill, but as we’re moving along, it’s becoming apparent that our ample space is quickly starting to run out. Now, with just over $11.2 million in space available, Holland needs to get a bunch of current Oilers signed along with potentials UFAs and I’m starting to wonder how it’s all going to get done without shedding a costly contract or two.

Speaking of stress, how much of a meltdown is the Oilers’ expansion list going to cause when Ken Holland decides to protect player A over player B or C? I know we all have our preferences regarding who should be protected or exposed, but the reaction that follows should be pretty entertaining. As soon as the Oilers list is out, we’ll have it up here on the site for everyone to yell about as quickly as possible.

Every time I look at the dead cap space that the Minnesota Wild are going to have from 2022-25, I can’t help but be marveled at the number, and I honestly wonder how the hell they’re supposed to do much of anything with up to 16% of their cap (for now anyway) tied up in two guys that don’t even play there anymore? I mean, how is Bill Guerin even going to convince players to sign or re-sign in Minnesota if the bulk of the roster has to be filled with players cheap enough to make it work? Is the plan to tank and collect as many high draft picks as you can possibly get over those three years before things settle down and go back to normal? I don’t get it.