Best and Worst of the Oilers Managment

Since 2006, The Edmonton Oilers have hired four general managers to right the ship from the constant mediocrity to down right awfulness.

Join me down memory lane as I look at the best trade and the worst trade from Kevin Lowe, Steve Tambellini and Craig MacTavish. In this article, I am only focusing on the trades. I feel like for Kevin Lowe for example, it would be tough to list free agent acquisitions pre-salary cap as well….Edmonton still could not compete with the bigger market teams.

I have also left out Peter Chiarelli because I feel it’s still too recent and talking about the Taylor Hall trade (which would have been his worst, by the way) has been done to death.

For the sake of this, I used this wonderful website to research the trades and making sure I had everything in order. It’s a fantastic tool.

Kevin Lowe

Kevin Lowe was the man who took over the Oilers after Glen Sather left in 2000 for Broadway. Lowe was famous for being an Oilers defenceman and key cog of the Stanley Cup Winning teams. Now a days, he is not held in high esteem for his time as Head of Hockey Operations, but as a General Manager, Lowe was alright. His Oilers teams were competitive from 2000-2008 where he was promoted. During his reign, the Oilers made the playoffs three times, which is three more than his successors, all of whom he had a hand in hiring.

Best Trade: Chris Pronger from the Blues for Eric Brewer, Jeff Woywitka and Doug Lynch

This is not even close for Lowe as he made not only the best trade for the Oilers during his tenure, but probably one of the best trades for the Oilers of all time. Sure, Lowe gave up Eric Brewer who was at the time, the Oilers top defenceman and former Gold Medalist for Team Canada in 2002, while Woywitka was a main piece in the Comrie trade and Lynch a prospect. That was nothing compared to the eventual Hall of Famer Chris Pronger.

Pronger was acquired at near peak at 30 years of age and immediately signed a five year 31.25 Million dollar contract. This was monumental for Edmonton as it signalled a change in times: they could finally compete with big market teams and did so by acquiring one of the best defenders in the NHL.

Pronger lived up to his end of the deal. He was elite and my candidate for the Conn Smythe trophy as he led Edmonton to the Cup Finals in 2006. However, Pronger’s time with the Oilers was short-lived as he requested a trade for unknown reasons shortly after the defeat.

Worst Trade: Ryan Smyth To the Islanders for Robert Nilsson, Ryan O’Marra and a 2007 First Round Pick (Alex Plante)

Sure someone can mention the eventual Pronger to Anaheim trade, but this one is a stinker as there are no pieces from that trade within the Oilers organization. This was Lowe’s worst moment as Oilers General Manager as he traded fan favorite Ryan Smyth on the trade deadline of 2007 over a reported negotiation difference of $100,000. This was a collective punch in the gut. The return, I foolishly thought, was good as they were promising youngsters. They were two former first round picks AND an additional first round pick!

Ha! Robert Nilsson was out of the league after the 2009-10 season, Ryan O’Marra played a pathetic 31 games with the Oilers and Alex Plante was one of the worst draft picks of the past decade. He’s currently playing hockey in South Korea.

Ryan Smyth, meanwhile, would only finish the season with the Islanders and would sign a five year deal in the off season with the Avalanche. After two seasons, he would be traded to Los Angeles and eventually return to Edmonton in a 2011 trade. This could have all been avoided for a measly 100k.

Even worse? The trade happened on the night where the Oilers were retiring Mark Messier’s number 11.

Steve Tambellini

Imagine a General Manager who lost nearly every trade he did during his time as General Manager. Imagine a General Manager who would be content with sitting on his hands and letting first overall picks play high minutes right off the bat without little to no help in the form of veteran support.

That man was a reality in the form of Steve Tambellini, who has my distinction as the worst Oilers General Manager. Under Steve Tambellini’s rule, the Oilers were not even close to the playoffs. The Oilers managed to draft three first overall picks, with Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov, but drafting under Tambellini was a disaster in itself.

Look up the Oilers’ draft choices beyond the first round from 2009-2012 and you will see another reason why the team is poor: a horrible lack of development with questionable picks.

David Musil over Boone Jenner? How about Mitch Moroz at 31st when he was ranked to go in the third round or later? That was under Tambellini’s watch.

Best Trade: Dustin Penner to Los Angeles for Colten Teubert, a 2011 First Round Pick and a conditional 2012 3rd round pick

When your best trade involves two pieces that are no longer with the organization, you know it’s a pretty sad list. Teubert has been gone for several years. The conditional 3rd rounder was Daniil Zharkov who is in the KHL. The only remaining piece is the 2011 First Rounder, which turned out to be Oscar Klefbom.

I’m really high on Klefbom and I think he can develop into a top pairing defenceman. We have seen glimpses of this, but these expectations have been dashed by injuries. A healthy season would be grand for the dreamboat.

Penner would go on to win a Cup in Los Angeles, but is no longer playing hockey after the 2013-14 season. Overall, the trade wasn’t bad for Tambellini, but it wasn’t great.

Worst Trade: Kale Kessy from Arizona for Tobias Rieder

The 2011 draft held a hidden gem in the form of Tobias Rieder, a German born player who was suiting up for the Kitchener Rangers. Drafted in the fourth round, Rieder was putting up some good numbers in Major Juniors, including an 84 points in 60 games during the 2011-12 season.

This is the most Steve Tambellini move ever as once again, he downgraded in a trade by acquiring Kale Kessy. At the time, I was hoping Kessy would continue his development as a power forward (Steve Tambellini loved drafting those) but nope. Kessy is gone from the organization after not being tendered while Rieder just played his second NHL season with the Coyotes.

Rieder: 154 NHL games played, 58 points. Kessy: 0 games NHL played, 0 points.

This transaction is representative of Steve Tambellini’s tenure in a nutshell.

Craig MacTavish

Yeah, when MacTavish was hired it was a headscratcher and easily Lowe’s lowest moment as head of Hockey Ops: Bring back a coach he fired AND give him a promotion. Craig MacTavish was not a horrible coach: he did his best to make a team competitive and, like Lowe, he did bring the team to three playoff appearances. As a General Manager though?

Nope.

I’m guilty of being optimistic and will support management, but by November 2014, I had to take an Oilers break. It was too much. MacTavish started off strong but ended horribly. His worst move was not a trade but a hiring: Dallas Eakins. A coach that I had a lot of hope for but turned out to set the team back a couple years.

Best Trade: David Perron from St. Louis for Magnus Paajarvi and a 2014 2nd round draft pick.

This was a great trade. Paajarvi struggled here in Edmonton, never putting up high offensive totals and most likely never will. While being an effective two way player, Paajarvi never seemed to gain his footing here in Edmonton. The 2014 second round pick turned into Ivan Barbashev who is a formidable prospect.

Perron was a good player. Perron posted career highs in the 2013-14 season with 57 points in 78 games. However, Perron voiced frustration with the team’s losing ways in the 2014-15 season. While it was a breath of fresh air, he would be traded to Pittsburgh in January for a 2015 1st round pick and Rob Klinkhammer.

Worst Trade: Jeff Petry to Montreal for a 2nd round pick in 2015 and a conditional 5th round pick in 2015

Jeff Petry is a type of defenceman the Oilers have been lacking since they’ve traded Jeff Petry: A capable top four defenceman who shoots on the right. Of course, Craig MacTavish valued Justin Schultz and his Norris Trophy potential over Petry.

Petry was challenged with a one year deal worth 3.2 million dollars….which would make him a UFA at the end of the 2014-15 season. Knowing Petry was a goner, fans prepared themselves for an eventual trade and the return was garbage.

Petry signed a long term deal with Montreal, worth 5.5 million dollars over six years.

Conclusion

Since Glen Sather left Edmonton for New York and not including current boss Peter Chiarelli, the Oilers have had three different GMs, each who have had their ups and downs. Out of the three, I feel like Kevin Lowe was the better General Manager, but that does not make him a great one. As someone whose influence has lingered in the organization, Lowe’s later hires hurt his reputation and have contributed to the stink of losing that still lingers today.