Trade Deadline Approaches

Oilers Trade Deadline Acquisition History

1. Depth players instead of superstars (ex. Dick Tarnstrom, Dwayne Roloson, Sergei Samsonov, Petr Nedved, Anson Carter)
2. Pending UFAs / RFAs or signing free agent role players (ex. Rem Murray, German Titov)

Recent Oiler Trade Trends

1. Acquiring local products (ex. Jason Strudwick, Joffrey Lupul, Gilbert Brule, Robert Nilsson)
2. Trying to develop within the system to fill organizational needs over paying a price to acquire superstars (ex. Jeff DesLauriers, Ladislav Smid, Ryan Potulny)
3. Trades involving big names have all come in the off-season (ex. Chris Pronger, Erik Cole, Lubomir Visnovsky)

Conclusions

1. Unless hell freezes over (or Tambellini is GM Christ), the Oilers will not acquire a big name before the trade deadline
2. The Oilers will acquire a depth player for lines 2-4 or defensive depth 4-7
3. The Oilers will not acquire another goaltender (all the available goaltenders are not cap friendly)
4. Possibility of a local product being acquired is high

Reasonable Trade Deadline Acquisitions

1. Trent Hunter
2. Erik Christensen
3. Mike Commodore (unless the BlueJackets are going to make a serious, serious run at the playoffs this year)
4. Doug Weight (I'm sure there is some smoke to this gun)
5. Jonathan Filewich
6. Bryan Little (I know we have a lot of small forwards, but we seem to be collecting them lately in the form of Brule, Potulny, Gagner, etc. but hey, they're currently higher on the depth chart than the Brodziak's and Strudwick's of the team)
7. Jason Smith
8. Johan Franzen (I don't know about you, but he would be a great fit on this team)
9. Steve Begin
10. Chris Neil
11. Nik Antropov (yes, it is possible even with Brian Burke)

Random thoughts and questions on tradeable assets:

1. Do we still have the rights to Mikhnov and Bumagin? I'm sure these skilled players would have some market value to teams like the Maple Laughs, the Rangers or the Red Wings
2. What is a reasonable expectation for what Rob Schremp (Hockey Jesus himself) will fetch on the open market?
3. Who is the most expendable Oiler core player (for the purposes of trading for a skilled LW)? I've heard names like Staios, Gilbert, and Penner tossed around
4. If we only get to pick one to keep - Grebeshkov (RFA) or Cole (UFA) - who would it be?
5. Do we bring in a goalie to replace Roli next year - or resign him to backup DesLauriers who might be given every chance to prove he deserves the #1 job?