Mac T Shows His Cards – Again

Back in the summer Craig MacTavish came out in front of the media and said that it was time for veterans Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky to move on. In front of everyone he showed his cards, while managing to flip Horcoff for Philip Larsen and a pick appeared to be a great hand for the rookie GM, he never made it past the flop with Hemsky and he is still in the deck.

Now if you read this blog regularly you will know that one of the things to expect from me, besides frequent grammar and spelling mistakes, is to defend Ales Hemsky. I’m going to say I told you so, but how many of you are disappointed Hemsky is here now? This article isn’t about Hemsky though it’s about MacTavish and him showing his hand to opposing GM’s.

When Bob Mackenzie broke the news that the Oilers “…more open to business than most GMs would be after the first week of the season,” The news was once again out there that the Oilers might be desperately trying to make a trade. MacT showed his cards again, the GM is sitting there with two aces and two kings in one hand and a straight draw in the other and is trying to pick up the full house in one and the straight in the other. But everyone knows it.

EDIT: MacT didn’t come out and say he was looking for a trade, Bob Mackenzie did. But Bob doesn’t make things up and it had to come from somewhere. Sure it may be another organization floating the rumors, but I believe this one was “accidentally” leaked by someone within the Oilers organization. Also, I know nothing.

The team has started the season with arguably the worst defense in the league and rightfully wants to improve that. Goaltending has been iffy to, and no matter which way Craig MacTavish decides to go with it, either goaltender or defenseman, there isn’t a GM in the league that won’t try to absolutely fleece their Oilers counterpart. “Hey MacT, you want Jake Gardiner? Ok I’ll take Eberle and Marincin” or “Hey Craig, heard you were looking for a goalie, well I’ll give you Michael Neuvirth for that young Yakupov kid..oh and throw in your second pick this year” That’s how I see this going.

If A Trade Were To Happen

If MacT does manage to make a trade to improve the team right now I hope he goes after a defenseman not a goalie, but either could be possible. Above I mentioned two players that might be targeted, Jake Gardiner has been mentioned everywhere from main stream media to the blogosphere. I haven’t seen Washington’s goalie Neuvirth named anywhere, but if there’s a chance to get him and that’s the avenue MacT decides to drive down, he’s the goalie I’d be targeting.

Defense, however, is where I’d be looking and a few of the guys I’d be making calls are;

Dan Girardi – He’s 6’1 and 206lbs plays tough and averages 25 minutes per game over that last few seasons and also in the last year of his deal. The Rangers have been struggling and may look to shake things up early as well. It’s tough to say what the asking price would be but if the Rangers were listening he’d be worth the conversation.

Brayden Coburn –A rumor blog about defensemen wouldn’t be complete without him. Coburn is huge (6’5” 220lbs) and can push guys around in front of the net. He can move the puck well but I would expect his physical play that I would look forward to having. Philly is another team that’s had a rough start, and GM Holmgren may be getting desperate to make a move.

Fedor Tyutin – Columbus may not be willing to move the 6’2” d man, but the feelers should be put out on him. He’s a horse on the blue line, averaging 24 minutes a night and will get you about 20-30 points from back there too.

There is another player on Columbus whom I would be interested in, I won’t say who (involved in a trade for Jeff Carter) but if MacT could pull something like that off I’d ,well I don’t know what I’d do.

But in the end Craig MacTavish is a rookie at this GM thing. A job I would never be good at, but, if I could give him one piece of advice it would be to stop showing the rest of the table your cards…you can’t bluff anyone if they know the cards you’re holding.

Thanks For Reading