RapierShot

Oilers have 8 picks in the draft - the first being 22nd and the last being 208. Lots of room to play with, gamble and long shots. Have fun PC!!!

The NMC kicks in after the 2nd year. Would Russell have got that contract if Sekera wasn't injured? Maybe not.

OF2011....I agree that the return was not "good" but it was decent (i.e. has a potential upside with a 23 year old). Given Ebs' plummeting value over the course of the last two seasons, I'm happy with a decent return. Nuge was drafted 1st overall - 5 years ago! In the interim, he and Ebs, Hall and others, had the benefit of poor development, poor team building, questionable coaching, and no real "win" commitment. That changes a player's game big time. I would love to see Nuge have a great year and become a proven 2C but I'm not betting on it.

With the cap issues and the pending contracts for McD and LD, I think the spotlight will be on Nuge this offseason. PC managed to make a decent trade for Ebs when expectations were pretty low, so he should be able to manage a decent return for Nuge. After all, a center should have higher intrinsic value. In the interim, I question those that say we can flip Nuge to the wing position....based on what? He's never played there....his only shot is a 30-foot wrister that floats; his playmaking consists of dumping (and turning over) the puck; and he's always the guy waiting for the puck in the corners (never getting it). Compare that to a Kassian, Lucic, Slepy, Pitlick or Caggs to see how big a gap there is. Let's not foul the team play to make room for someone.

I'm concerned that the Oilers are vulnerable on defence because of Sek's injury. While I liked Russell's first-half of last season (pre-injury), the second half left me wondering. As many have noted, he's not a puck mover or quick. He does block a lot of shots, but I'd rather have a Dman that hits the shooter (ala Gryba). If the choice is a bad contract (over 3 years and $3.5m), then I'd rather bring up Oesterle and work on a trade. Not a perfect solution but avoids a roster problem.

I want PC to get the message out that players have to compete for a position - no sliding into the lineup. That means good off-season conditioning as well. We have a lot of vacancies in Bakersfield available for the complacent players. It's time for Slepy, Pitlick, Caggs, Pak, Nurse, Strome and others to kick down the doors and stake a claim.

LV is looking for draft picks and many teams gave up their picks to protect players in the expansion draft....I think we'll see good trades by many teams to acquire picks. Especially as this year is not considered to be a great draft (i.e. less inclination by teams to keep picks).

Agree with OP97...this move was necessary to deal with our top priorities....and the fall-out is moving Ebs .....reality time. Within 365 days, expect Nuge to follow suit (and hopefully, we can rid ourselves of lesser value contracts of Pouliot and Fayne much sooner).

Losing Reinhart is not a big deal for us. In fact, it clarifies things on defence (as he was becoming an 8-maybe-7-hoping for- 6 Dman) for us and the Condors. That's an irritant now out of the way (yes it cost us picks but that can't be changed anyway).

Kudos to Connor! Very deserving of the awards and a great representative of our team and city!! Also, a shout out to coach TM for his nomination, and to PC for his. This organization has not had much to cheer for the past decade and now we're awash in quality hockey people!!!! Loving it! By the way, PC...Poile had 19 years to get his team to the Cup final (and he got the award?).....please don't follow his footsteps.

While I'd love to do that trade, the Habs are supposedly looking for size / playing hard (notwithstanding the Drouin trade).

One of our true character guys for sure! And who will ever forget the MH Cup incident??? Some time ago, folks had talked about him going into coaching eventually....hope that's something that develops. Good luck, Hendy.

Sorry JT....don't have one. It was a blogger that was mentioned on TSN radio a couple of days ago. They also mentioned that the Leafs were a possible destination for him (lesser odds).

Rumours out of Chicago say that Niklas Hjalmarsson may be headed our way. He's a 30-year old left shot. No talk of what the return would be (though given the Hawks' cap issues, expect prospect or draft pick).

Despite the odds (Vegas picked the Oilers as faves to win the Cup some time ago), the Pens repeated as champs. Congrats to them! But you know, there were times when I watched the finals and couldn't help think that the Oilers would have done well against either team.....maybe not win, but certainly pressure them. Maybe next year, we won't have to get to the final through the zebras.