Comically Mismatched Trade Proposals

It always amazes me how some bloggers are so desperate for material that they just ignore the reality of the NHL’s salary cap and contracts, like this guy did. It makes your operation look amateurish and oblivious.

Yes, it would be great having Jonathan Toews as an Oiler, but the Oilers can’t afford him. It would be great having Nathan Mckinnon or Cale Makar too, but the Oilers can’t afford them either and their respective clubs would laugh in our face if we asked what they would want in exchange – it would be a king’s ransom, I guarantee you – and that’s only to get them even thinking about it.

Yes from a hockey perspective it would be great to have Jonathan Toews in Oilers silks, but it’s not going to happen this season for many reasons, not the least of which is he makes $10.5 million a year. Even if you pro-rate that if a trade was made right now, that’s still $7.665 million, and considering the Oilers don’t even have a million dollars in cap space right now that’s not happening. Even if Chicago retains 50% of that, we still can’t afford him.

Even if we part with a high draft pick in exchange for a third team retaining another 50% of that as well, leaving the Oilers with only 25% of the cap hit, we still can’t afford him. He also has a NMC on his contract so even if Chicago did want to trade him to us – which is no guarantee – he can still veto the trade because of that.

If you had played your entire career with one franchise, would you be in a hurry to move and uproot your family for seven or eight months in another city? Probably not – and before you bring up the example of Duncan Keith, don’t forget he asked for a trade to Western Canada.

That would make the Hawks much more motivated to part with the player. Toews is also from Winnipeg, so if he’s going anywhere in Canada, it would probably be to the Jets, not the Oilers. And again, with his NMC he calls the shots. I’m sure Duncan Keith – who now works in player development for the Oilers – would be willing to make a phone call to his ex-teammate if necessary, but that’s not happening this season anyway.

So this is an incredibly foolish suggestion right from the start because there’s no way the Oilers would be able to make the money work unless they traded one of Connor Mcdavid, Leon Draisaitl, or Darnell Nurse the other way, and there’s no way any of that is happening.

Maybe next season as a free agent for a short term contract under a significant discount from his current pact, but that’s the only way it’s happening.

Say what you want about my trade suggestions but at least they’re realistic, and take the salary cap into account. Hey, if they can do it in GM mode on gaming systems, why not in blogs?

But this got me thinking…..why don’t I provide a bit of comic relief and pretend the salary cap – and special clauses in contracts – don’t exist? What trade proposals could I make? Oh the fun I could have. Get ready for some comic relief.