Oilers Should Be Buyers, Not Sellers This Year

Dumps, that’s where the Oilers are right now. Even after a shootout win last night versus the Boston Bruins they still sit in 30th place overall. This last place record is also bringing with it a ton of trade rumors and criticism about poor play.

Let’s face it though, none of us really had the Oil in a playoff spot though, right? New GM Peter Chiarelli knew he had his work cut out for him when he took over the team from Craig MacTavish.

Chia mentioned in the summer that he’d want around 20 games to evaluate the players he has on the roster before he can better understand what moves he had to make in order to get this team back to the playoffs. The problem is he hasn’t really had a chance to properly evaluate because the injury bug has struck and struck often.

Eberle hasn’t had a chance to play with McDavid, Schultz was out for an extended period of time. Letestu, Hendricks and Klinkhammer, all on the IR for a time. Basically Chiarelli hasn’t had a large span to evaluate his roster as a whole so the chances of a big trade coming down the pipe are probably a lot lower, at least until he has a chance to see his team together and healthy for a stretch. Hopefully he gets that opportunity in January when McDavid returns.

Let’s say for argument, and hope, sake that McDavid is as far ahead of schedule as we all wish and is able to return in early January. If by some off chance Connor is able to return to action, say, January 4th at home against the Carolina Hurricanes. PC will, without more injuries, be able to watch a mostly healthy team for 24 games before the February 29th trade deadline. Sure I’m probably being a bit ambitious with young McDavid’s return, even if he was another week out that would still be the 20 games we’ve heard the GM wants.

So Then What?

The trade deadline, and the weeks leading up to it are where PC should start making his moves. But don’t be sellers, it’s time to buy. The Oil need to improve on many fronts and while you may not land a number one defenseman at the deadline, teams with true number one guys are still going to be in the playoff race. There are good players that would fit the Oilers system well on teams that will be out of it, just like the Oilers, at the end of February.

I wrote yesterday about a player like Wayne Simmonds from the Flyers, but there are others teams as well that Chia could target. Carolina, Winnepeg, Florida, New Jersey, Buffalo, and Columbus are all teams that are currently out of the playoffs and unlikely to be close anytime soon. I’ll list a few players that I think may fit into the newer tougher Oilers I think Chiarelli and company are trying to build.

Scott Hartnell from Columbus, he’s getting a little long in the tooth but is still able to put points on the board and can play in all situations. He’s signed for a few more years (Thanks Philly) but having him around the younger core can’t hurt. Also maybe he could get Taylor Hall to join his Hartnell Down charity.

Also from Columbus is defenseman Jack Johnson, he’s got a good shot and plays on the powerplay. Johnson put up 40 points last year but has struggled a bit this season. His downfall for the Oilers would be he’s another left handed shot, but with Nikitan, Gryba and some others coming off the books next season having this guy in your 4/5/6 role wouldn’t be a bad thing. In fact he’s better then a few guys the Oilers have now.

Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien are two players I’d really enjoy watching every day on the Oilers, and they’re both UFA’s at the end of the year. If Kevin Cheveldayoff can’t or doesn’t think he’ll be able to resign one or both of those players by the deadline then there is a chance they become available, although the return will have to be huge and will be the bold move we’ve been hearing about for years.

The Carolina Hurricanes have a few players heading to free agency at the end of the year, and while Eric Staal will be un-affordable and not necessarily they player I’d target. A guy like Kris Versteeg may be on the market. Versteeg has seen playoff success and might be a guy that can bring some winning experience to the top 6 forward group. Although he’s more likely to be targeted to a team looking for a deep playoff run.

More then likely the big moves to really improve this team are going to happen around the draft, via trade, and into free agency. For real change to happen though, I believe they need to go into the trade deadline as buyers. It’s time for change, it’s time for this team go start digging themselves out of the dumps.

Thanks for Reading