1st July, NHL Free Agency
 

Sure would be nice to know what goes on during some of these conversations. Was nobody interested in Duchene or Wheeler?!? Blackhawks would rather sign Perry, oldest and slowest? in the league, for $4M than go after 6'5" 220 lb, former Captain who had 55 pts last year? Did they try and could make it work? Nobody wanted Duchene for "Future Considerations" at $4M per if Nashville retained salary, which would be cheaper for them in the long run and be a shorter cap hit. 65 goals over the last two seasons and 0.95 pts/game over 149 games played. Isn't that exactly the type of player Arizona would be looking for to help lead some of these young guys along?

Bit closer to home, Oilers send Yamamoto and Kostin to Detroit and Detroit immediately buys out Yamamoto. Feel getting rid of Kostin was a mistake, but guess we'll see.

Just waiting for the Flames to trade Hanafin for a 3rd round pick now and the summer will be complete. That and resign Stecher.

Unlikely Kostin plays in the NHL this season.

Indeed, Kostin will probably go to the KHL. Feel bad for Yamamoto. A ton of heart with just not quite enough skill or size.

You guys don't think Steve Yzerman found out what it would cost to sign him prior to making that deal? Just doing Edmonton a favor and then hoping it works out?

Holland said the two parties were far apart. Think Kostin was playing the KHL card to up his paycheck. A few players have taken less to stay with this team, Kostin did not. While I really liked him and what he brought, he didn't seem to really want to stay.

Holland was the GM and Woodcroft was the video coach during Yzerman's last season in Detroit. Maybe they have some dirt on Yzerman. :sHa_shakeshout:

Seriously though, this trade made no sense when it was first announced and it makes even less now.

Cap is king and this season it is even more so. I would have thought
Yamamoto + Kostin + a 1st in exchange for a 5th or something like that. Kind of like when Toronto traded Marleau to Carolina.

Oilers have a cap issue and every one knows it. Why Detroit would help out another team in this manner is beyond me.

Maybe someone knows the answer to this question. Now that Detroit bought out Yamamoto and he becomes a free agent, are the Oilers allowed to sign him ( presumably at a much reduced rate ) ?

Yes.

Pretty sure you can't buy out a player then resign him, so he can't go back to Detroit.

Lot of weird things occurred the past few days. Not sure anymore what the team "decision makers" are thinking.

Winners so far?

LA, PHI, CHI, and NJ.

Losers so far?

Calgary, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Montreal on the fence with their D pick.

My opinion...so far...:)

Kostin is an RFA with arb rights. Detroit just needs to offer him a qualifying offer for 850k to remain his rights. Kostin likely wants 1.5 to 2 mil. Holland could probably only afford the qo and new Kostin wasn't going to sign it and file for arb rights.

Oilers are really squeezed for space so paying kostin more then league min is out of the question, and he couldn't risk an arbitrator finding in favor of the player which they usually do.

So Kostin was the throw in to dump Yamamoto instead of a pick since Edmonton barely had any. Holland probably wants to keep what picks he has next year for an upgrade at the deadline if he can get it.

Don't think thats ^ quite accurate. As Kostin didn't recieve a Qualifying Offer from Edmonton by 25th June he's scheduled to be a UFA tomorrow.

Pretty sure they had until noon today or 5 pm today to give qualifying offers although cap friendly shows hi. As an upcoming UFA so maybe Detroit did not qualify him either.

And in the biggest mismanagement move of the year, Kostin hits free agency and signs with Edmonton! :)

Trade tracker

https://www.tsn.ca/tradecentre/trade-tracker

Free agent tracker

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/free-agency

Available free agents

https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/

Connor Brown signs with Oilers at about oh 9:01 am

That would be fantastic but highly too late. Love the player but getting rid of Yamamoto and his 3.1M is major addition via subtraction. Maybe you meant Yamamoto becomes a FA and they resign HIM? Wings wanted Kostin as the prize all along and can afford to pay him what it takes while eating less than a mil for KY's buyout. Easy math. Keeping Yamamoto and signing Kostin = $5.1M of payroll. Buying out Yamamoto and signing Kostin = $2.55M of payroll. Neither happening.

Great opportunity for 2 up and coming affordable kids like Holloway and Lavoie to step up while Bourgault and Petrov mature for the year in the A. Oilers have only this year to make the call on Lavoie as a player.

Major mismanagement would be letting 2 of your top 4 players go for next to nothing in the same year and bringing in an expensive bum you're hung with for 9 years.

That would be cheating by one hour and they'd get their peepees slapped. :)

As expected, Kostin resigns with Detroit.

Pretty much right on and now with the news of him signing for 4 mil - no way the Oilers could have or should have paid that

The Kostin part of the trade was pretty simple to understand. Oilers couldn't afford to sign him as it would impact their ability to sign Bouchard. What Detroit was basically trading for was a 2 day window to attempt to sign Kostin before free agency starts.

It'll be interesting to see how these future considerations shake out.

Really interested in how the Yamamoto part of the trade ends.

I did a bit of digging and it looks like Detroit or Edm can sign Yamamoto after his buyout. A couple of years ago the Flames bought out Stone and then re-signed him a month later at a much reduced rate.

From capfriendly
I'd be surprised to see Yamamoto go back to Edm due to their cap constraints. Edm can only offer a low dollar contract and with Detroit already paying Yamamoto $0.5 million for the next two years it wouldn't take much for Det to beat any offer Edm could make.

2 x 2 is not too bad. Really hoped Holland could have found a way to keep him.

Yup. My mistake. I heard 4 mil and thought it was per year not a 2x2 deal. They must not have been able to fit that in the available cap space - I don't see that as a big over pay

Crazy world, Ryan Reeves almost signs for more than Wheeler and JVR combined with a longer contract than them combined.

I dont get Holland at all with the Brown signing. I guess the Oilers will run 2 forward lines and cross their fingers they can outscore every team they play 9-7. Wouldnt have given Brown a contract over $1.75 let alone a raise over his last contract.

Ok now I do. $775k cap hit. That'll work

With bonuses could reach close to 4 mil. Listening to the radio in the truck heard Stauffer say bonuses could be an easy goal like a mil for playing 20 games, another mil for 40 and so on

He only played 4 games last year, 20 is a pretty big jump! :)

Assuming he hits his bonus', $4M does seem like a lot, especially give some of the contracts given out, even though the cap hit is deferred till next year. Also doesn't really seem to address their major needs.

If he maxes out his bonuses it will error most of the cap jump next year or Edmonton.

Meanwhile at Flames HQ...Conroy discovered the sleeping pills left behind by Treliving. Must be happy with the team they've got I guess although Why? might be the question.

Flames with $2.4M in cap space? That bodes well for contending.

They hired some guy that played 7 games, and he's 27.........:thinking-006: