Owen Michaels Signed: Oilers Ink MVP of NCAA Frozen Four
Edmonton has signed Owen Michaels, one of college hockey's top forwards. What do you need to know?
Video Transcript
Connor McDavid looking for?
He's looking for unrestricted free agency in July 1st of '20.
Yeah, there you go.
I mean, I already had it written down, but go for it.
Yeah, I mean, I, I mean, I, I, I like, you know, Connor McDavid is the best player or one of the best players in this league, un- undoubtedly.
The structure and the building of the Edmonton Oiler organization has been flawed for years.
And Stan Bowman comes in last year, they lose two players in, on, to offer sheets.
Mm-hmm.
And at the trade deadline, they don't address the biggest problem for them, which was goaltending.
And, you know, they said, "Oh, we're gonna stick with Stuart Skinner."
Well, how did that turn out?
I know you got to the Stanley Cup Final, you had to rely on Calvin Pickard standing on his head and winning six games or seven games in a row, and then Stuart Skinner, Skinner was up and, up and down.
They ne- they're, they're the Carolina Hurricanes of the Western Conference.
The, their management and their ownership de- deny the i- the, the, the fact that they need a, a starting goaltender who can steal games for you.
Sometimes Skinner can do it, but he does- can't do it consistently, and I think that's the biggest flaw with them.
But honestly, it, it's McDavid and Draisaitl, and then, I mean, not saying not much, 'cause I like Zach Hyman as a player, and there are a few other players I think are good players, but there's just not enough there.
Yeah, there's just not enough there, and, and when you're paying, you know, Draisaitl 14 million, and you're probably gonna pay, you know, if you're gonna sign McDavid or if McDavid wants to stay there, you're gonna be making him, paying him 15 or 16 million.
There's not gonna be not a lot of room for every- anybody else.
It's, you know, like, like Toronto.
Too many, too many players making too much money, and then not enough money to have a support- supporting cast.
Mike, I, I gotta disagree, because I, I get it.
They didn't win the Cup, but back-to-back finalist?
Like, we're talking about a dynasty in Florida.
Edmonton's right there, and to beat the Dallas Stars back-to-back years, and basically, like, Dallas is the Like, what you're saying about Edmonton, that's what people are saying about Dallas right now, and it's like, "Okay, how do we get over the hump?"
Or, you know, Carolina, you mentioned.
Like, how does Carolina get over the hump?
With Edmonton, they're in the dance.
Like, they're getting to the final.
That, that, that right there, you know, they're so close, and to say that, you know, they need to do this or they need to do that, you know, what they needed was a healthy Zach Hyman, and they needed a Evander Kane to play the way he was playing in the first three rounds.
And, you know, the goaltending, as, you know, you know, as, you know, I'll agree with you, the goaltending wasn't great, but they were getting good goaltending from Calvin Pickard when they weren't getting good goaltending from Skinner.
And then when Pickard went down, Skinner was incredible.
And then it just, you know, they couldn't make it last for the entire playoffs.
But, you know, I don't think they're far off.
Obviously, they c- they can't be that far off, because they made the final, back-to-back years.
You know, what do they need to do next year is, you know, chin up and maybe get a better goaltender and hope that they're, you know, they don't run into the Panthers again.
