Habs Fan in Edmonton

I am not joking, just illustrating that's its far too early for the Oilers to give up by giving an example of a team that was in last place far later in the year and recovered to not only make the playoffs but win the cup.

I agree that deals are difficult to make but 10 points is hardly insurmountable this early in the year.

Hardly, the St. Louis Blues were in last place on Jan 3rd, 2019. Guess who won the cup that year???

There is zero chance the Oilers give up on the season, 10 points out of a wild card spot with 64 games left, very doable if they can turn things around. As mentioned in another post, Holloway is the guy I would target. I think there is a deal there.

Absolutely, much rather have Holloway than Bourgault, far better prospect in my opinion.

Any of the Oilers with no movement clauses I wouldn't be interested in anyway as we are rebuilding. Agree that any trade will have to be money in money out but Monty doesn't require much in the way of money out for the Oilers. Holloway is the one I would be interested in the most and /or picks. I think he has high upside. Broberg would interest me if we weren't so deep in LD prospects.

Agreed, I would think Monty is the goalie teams would be interested in for the reasons you mentioned. His contract can be easily absorbed. Depends on the return.

Another loss for the Oilers, the desperation increases.

Edmonton would make that trade in a heartbeat (I assume you meant Broberg to Montreal and Xhekaj to Edmonton). Arber would be difficult to replace and Monahan will get a good package at the deadline by himself. Pickard does nothing for us, RNH is 30 and won't score nearly as much with the Habs and is also making 5.1M for the next 6 years and Broberg does have some potential but has struggled. Montreal can do far better than this for what they are giving up. Certainly an excellent trade for a desperate Oiler team.

So using Commandant's example, if someone offered you say a 3rd round pick for Joshua Roy would you accept it as he was drafted in the 5th round? Would you accept a late 1st round pick for Lane Hutson considering he was drafted late in the 2nd round? You trade based on current value of the player not on the value of the player from 3 years ago. I am pretty confident that Hughes won't sell his players short.

I think you just put the curse on Monty.

I think that explains it well. It's not easy as a GM to always project correctly how a player will turn out down the road and I think goalies are even harder to project. A 2nd rounder (likely a late one) is not enough for me to give up on Monty. Unless of course he is asking for the moon in contract negotiations.

I agree that it's more than just the goalie, something happened between last year and this year and they are playing a lot worse defensively, goalie included. When they lost the season opener 8-1 a lot of people wrote it off as just one game but obviously it was a pretty good sign that something wasn't right.

Will it ever end. Sheesh

Yup, they do need a goalie. The Oilers are 8 points out of a wild card spot with 65 games left. They are far from out of it BUT they have a lot of work to do and better goaltending is an absolute must.

It would be a good return but Monty's value has increased from a stopgap waiver pickup so that is the wrong way to look at the return you would get.

Teams don't give up top notch goalies easily as they are hard to find and develop. Edmonton is in a tough spot right now. Their goaltending just isn't good enough and they are in win now mode as much as any team in the NHL, Holland has to do something, just don't think Montreal's goalies are a huge upgrade, an improvement perhaps but not a huge upgrade.

Sometimes with goalies it's just a matter of being in the right situation where they can build some confidence. The most extreme example of that is Johnny Bower, kicked around the minors a lot, a few stints with a bad Rangers team and then joined the Leafs when he was 33 and the rest is history. What about Linus Ulmark, all of a sudden at age 30 he is probably considered one of the best in the NHL. Perhaps going to an organization like Boston helped his confidence. I think with goalies being in the right situation is really important. Hard for a goalie to build confidence on a bad team.

I don't think Allen is the long term answer but Monty could be. He just turned 27 and has showed signs of being a dependable goalie. If Monty isn't then I don't know who is. Primeau hasn't shown any sort of consistency yet and any other prospects are a few years away.

Absolutely. With Monty being a UFA his salary demands will certainly play a role in any decision they make. I just don't see Primeau having a lot of market value so I think Monty/Allen are the more likely trade candidates.

Good analysis. Dependable goalies are not easy to find and Monty is showing signs of maybe, possibly being a good one. A 2nd round pick is not enough. I am hardly a great judge of goalie talent though so I trust Hughes will make a good decision as I can't see them carrying 3 goalies all year long. Someone is going to get traded.

But you did mention it. But I also see your point. That's another topic we beat to death.

Exactly, they beat such terrible teams in the playoffs like Toronto and Vegas so it doesn't count.

Agree there would have to multiple pieces involved to make it work and the Habs would need a pick and/or prospects. Reid Schaefer went to Nashville in the Ekholm trade so the Oiler prospect pool isn't overflowing right now.

It's likely Florida doesn't finish bottom 10 this year so Philly gets their #1 pick this year. Then most likely as you said Florida is likely the pick they get in 2025 as Florida is likely to finish higher than Calgary next year. But if they are both outside the top 10 then the Habs get the better of the pick. I spent a lot of time looking through the conditions of the trade so I think I understand it well now but it is complicated.