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What if Vanek became an Oiler?

LexLuthor871

By LexLuthor871
in The Aud Club

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shrader Hall of Famer

shrader

Posted
Posted

What a stupid analysis. There is no way of knowing where either team would have picked in the drafts if this deal had gone through. He too quickly blows off that idea and his whole brief story is based on the Sabres getting Hall.

Eleven Hall of Famer

Eleven

Posted
Posted

Coincidentally, a coworker and I were talking about this on Friday. The first thing we both thought of was, well, maybe the Oilers wouldn't have had such great draft picks with Vanek on the team. But in a vacuum--without considering whether the team needed wins sooner rather than later, well, we concluded that four first-round picks would have been preferable.

 

Of course, the team did get wins sooner rather than later; rebuilding without Vanek would have taken longer. There would not have been a division title this year, and probably not even a playoff appearance. But division titles, apparently, come cheaply to some fans on this board (including one who called a four-playoff-team division "weak"), so maybe that doesn't matter. To some, playoff appearances only matter if the team wins it all; to others, it's a step forward after two years of not making it.

 

Without Vanek, there would have been no playoffs last year, but there may have been the chance for a deeper run in 2014 or something. But 2014 doesn't excite people now; why should it have excited people if the Sabs had more first-round picks?

TheChimp Third Liner

TheChimp

Posted
Posted

A better article would have conjured up what life might have been like had Darcy followed up his Vanek signing with getting him a ###### centerman so as not to waste said signing. Seeing as Darcy seems adamant to let Vanek's entire contract slip away without doing so. So sad. THAT article would make me cry. So forget I mentioned it. That article would suck.

carpandean First Liner

carpandean

Posted
Posted

Of course, the team did get wins sooner rather than later; rebuilding without Vanek would have taken longer.

Not necessarily. Having 8 first-round picks over the next four years does not mean that Darcy would have had to use all of them in the draft; he could have trade 2 or 3 of them for immediate help. The question is could he have traded them for more help than Vanek provided? I've always said that I would prefer to have my big-money players down the middle than on the wing. Would three or even four first-rounders, maybe in combination with a player or prospect, have been enough to get a true top-tier, #1 center? Alternatively, having Edmonton's four first-round picks would have allowed Darcy to use his own first-round picks as compensation for a big offer sheet should the opportunity to snag another team's big center RFA arise. Lots of options.

bob_sauve28 All Star

bob_sauve28

Posted
Posted

I thought they should have let him go. Not only the draft picks but the money to sign another player would have been nice, BUT, no way could they have done that. Losing all three players would have made the organization look like a complete joke, IMO

 

If they could have let him go and quickly turned around and signed a free agent for the same money and pocketing the draft picks would have been nice. But whatever

PotentPowerPlay22 Top Prospect

PotentPowerPlay22

Posted
Posted

In hindsight -- one playoff appearance, a first round exit in three years -- probably would have been the way to go.

 

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/34585-THNcom-Blog-What-if-Thomas-Vanek-became-an-Oiler.html

 

 

I have said that was a bad deal for the Sabres since the day it happened and it is interesting to see objective people see it that way also.

 

The Sabres were presented with a "Herschel Walker" magnitude trade that could have transformed the team for years, but they panicked and choked because they so badly mishandled Briere and Drury the year before.

 

It was an opportunity of a generation that was lost.

 

We'll never know what would have happened, but I would have loved to see it play out the other way.

SabresneedaCup Fourth Liner

SabresneedaCup

Posted
Posted

this is a tough one. it would have been nice to see those 4 first round picks, but i think vanek was worth resigning. i guess it didnt really matter to me what happened with vanek. both of the outcomes are good in their own way.

thesportsbuff Second Liner

thesportsbuff

Posted
Posted

I have said that was a bad deal for the Sabres since the day it happened and it is interesting to see objective people see it that way also.

 

The Sabres were presented with a "Herschel Walker" magnitude trade that could have transformed the team for years, but they panicked and choked because they so badly mishandled Briere and Drury the year before.

 

It was an opportunity of a generation that was lost.

 

We'll never know what would have happened, but I would have loved to see it play out the other way.

 

I don't know how you could have said it was a "bad deal" for the Sabres the day it happened. You seriously would have been happy losing Briere, Drury, AND Vanek in one off-season? I, for one, would have flipped, and I'm not even that big of a pro-Vanek guy -- I think he's mostly just disappointed since that season, but that's for another thread. And, as other logical posters have mentioned, just because Edmonton drafted Eberle, Paajarvi, etc doesn't mean Buffalo would have drafted the same crop, nor does that argument hold any weight, because who knows where Edmonton would have finished with Vanek? Drafting can be a real crap-shoot, and sure four first-rounders sounds great now, but it wouldn't have equalled the loss of our big three at the time (or even in the long run necessarily.)

 

Also I like Inkman's post. Buffalo drafted Myers 12th overall -- without Vanek, we probably finish a lot worse that year and likely would have drafted somebody else with the higher pick. It's possible we still get him, sure, but if you're going to take everyone Edmonton drafted since then and say "we could have had these guys" then you certainly have to look at who we did end up with and say "we probably wouldn't have these guys."

Taro T Hall of Famer

Taro T

Posted
Posted

what if is a stupid game to play in sports.

Agreed, but sometimes it helps to pass the time.

 

What if the ref made the right call in game 6, 1999?

Then they'd still be playing that game. :thumbsup:

 

It's a moot question, the ref wasn't allowed to make the call. The crew upstairs made the call. Which was blatently against the rules in place on that fateful night. :censored:

apuszczalowski First Liner

apuszczalowski

Posted
Posted

At that point, it wouldn't have mattered if they lost Vanek too, they already lost Briere and Drury, losing Vanek wasn't going to hurt much more.

 

Now in hindsight its even worse. Vanek is not an elite, top level kind of player, and 4 1st rounders are the type of thing a team can really build off of if you have a great scouting staff. Even if you only hit on 1, unless Vanek becomes a top tier kind of player, its an even trade. And looking back on the last few seasons, its not like Buffalo has done anything fantastic that Vanek has been a key part of

gregkash Third Liner

gregkash

Posted
Posted

You still have to account for the butterfly effect. Trading Vanek might have made Edmonton a Stanley Cup team, trading Vanek might have made them middle of the road. Maybe something clicks for Vanek in Edmonton and he leads them to four stanley cup victories in a row so instead of 4 top 10 picks we have 4 bottom picks. This is a stupid stupid game.

nfreeman Hall of Famer

nfreeman

Posted
Posted

What a stupid analysis. There is no way of knowing where either team would have picked in the drafts if this deal had gone through. He too quickly blows off that idea and his whole brief story is based on the Sabres getting Hall.

+1. That article was weak.

 

I thought they should have let him go. Not only the draft picks but the money to sign another player would have been nice, BUT, no way could they have done that. Losing all three players would have made the organization look like a complete joke, IMO

 

If they could have let him go and quickly turned around and signed a free agent for the same money and pocketing the draft picks would have been nice. But whatever

Now that is an interesting idea. I don't remember who was out there that summer who would've been a good pickup at $6MM - $7MM, but there probably were a couple of guys.

 

Even with hindsight, I'll take Vanek.

 

Never trade proven talent for prospective talent.

+1. 40-goal scorers are the rarest talents in the NHL.

Stoner Hall of Famer

Stoner

Posted
Posted

+1. 40-goal scorers are the rarest talents in the NHL.

Even rarer -- 40-goal scorers whose coaches give them 16 minutes of ice time.

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