Joe Pack’s, “Four things we learned in the NHL: Crosby halfway to 50,” column, which was posted this morning on Sportsnet.ca, either directly or indirectly highlights a number of former Edmonton Oilers. The piece notes how Columbus has extended their winning streak to 13. Sam Gagner isn’t specifically mentioned but his scoring (27 points in 32 games) has been a contributing factor to the team’s first half success. Pack next praises Sidney Crosby’s scoring prowess this season. While discussing #87 the writer includes a screen capture of a tweet from the @penguins which reads, “Schultz’s 16 points (6G-10A) in December ranks third in the NHL behind teammates Evgeni Malkin (19 points) and Sidney Crosby (19 points).” Justin Schultz was third in the NHL for points for the month of December. Let that sink in. The article then moves to the Minnesota Wild and directly mentions their goalie Devan Dubnyk, “goaltender Devan Dubnyk has set a franchise record for Wild netminders with nine straight wins. He hasn’t allowed more than three goals in a game all year.” Three former Oilers who are all having career type seasons.
Here is what the Oilers received in return for these players:
- 2016 3rd round pick (Schultz trade)
- Ted Purcell which turned into a 3rd round pick in 2016 (Gagner trade)
- Matt Hendricks (Dubnyk trade)
In fairness to the Oilers none of these players was playing anywhere close to decent when they were traded. Gagner was coming off a season where he scored 10 goals and 37 points. Dubnyk had a 3.36 GAA and a 0.894 SP at the time of the trade (and subsequently stunk up the joint in Nashville). Schultz was in way over his head as the Oilers force-fed him first pairing minutes. Nonetheless, like Jeff Petty and others before them, they have found their games and success in other markets.
It is also fair to point out that these players were mis-managed while in Edmonton. They were either put into roles where they were doomed to fail or had unfair expectations heaped on them in respect to the overall (lack of) quality of team they were playing on. Even though he has yet to find success in St. Louis there are still some fans who will tell you Nail Yakupov should be added to the mis-managed list.
Which brings us to today’s poll question:
[poll id=”8″]
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