The Edmonton Oilers have had a relatively active offseason in spite of their limited salary cap space but not everyone is happy with the decisions that have been made by Oilers general manager Ken Holland.
Oilers insider Mark Spector recently commented on the most recent move from Holland, the signing of unrestricted free agent forward Dominik Kahun a move we reported on last night, and it was while he made those comments that he let slip the fact that he felt the Oilers had not done enough to improve their roster.
Now to be clear Spector began by seemingly praising the signing of Kahun, a move that I think just about every fan and pundit agrees was a solid acquisition on the part of Holland. Kahun became an unrestricted free agent when the Buffalo Sabres failed to sign him to a qualifying offer, but I suspect there are fans in Buffalo who were left scratching their head when they saw that the Oilers had locked Kahun in on a 1 year deal for just $975,000 against the cap.
Spector's criticism of Holland's moves comes instead as a result of what he feels has been a lack of improvement defensively for the franchise. Spector points to the fact that the Oilers were eliminated by the Chicago Blackhawks, a team that wasn't even supposed to be in the playoffs, because they were simply incapable of shutting down the Blackhawks offense. He acknowledged the addition of Tyson Barrie and the re-singing of goaltender Mike Smith but made it clear he felt those were not significant improvements defensively, and I am inclined to agree.
The harshest criticism on the part of Spector however came when he compared the Oilers to another Canadian team, one that I don't think fans in Edmonton will appreciate being compared to. Spector wondered aloud whether or not this new iteration of the Oilers would too closely resemble the current iteration of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He pointed to the Leafs ability to score a high volume of goals during the regular season, as well as their failures to translate that to any kind of success in the playoffs. This is no doubt what he now fears will befall the Oilers given the moves made by Holland in this offseason.
Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
