Cheap Role Players (cont'd): RFA List 2009

The Oilers will probably try to find cheap role players to fill holes this season by more than just the UFA route. One such alternative is trading for RFA's or making offer sheets. Though the latter approach is more risky considering the compensation involved (see Penner) and less likely to be successful (see Backes), one can always acquire them and resign them afterwards (see Lupul).

I was going over this season's RFA list and found the following RFA's of interest:

Erik Christensen, C/LW
2008-09 Salary: $750,000

Kari Lehtonen, G
2008-09 Salary: $3,000,000

Colby Armstrong, RW
2008-09 Salary: $1,200,000

Matt Hunwick, D *1
2008-09 Salary: $775,000

Martin St. Pierre, C *2
2008-09 Salary: $500,000

Drew Stafford, RW *3
2008-09 Salary: $984,000

Cam Barker, D
2008-09 Salary: $984,200

Ben Eager, LW
2008-09 Salary: $650,000

Kris Versteeg, RW
2008-09 Salary: $490,000

Olle-Kristian Tollefsen, D *4
2008-09 Salary: $750,000

Jason Bacashihua, G
2008-09 Salary: $708,092

Kyle Cumiskey, D
2008-09 Salary: $475,000

Mark Fistric, D
2008-09 Salary: $650,000

Jiri Hudler, F *5
2008-09 Salary: $1,150,000

Ville Leino, LW
2008-09 Salary: $875,000

Steve Eminger, D
2008-09 Salary: $1,200,000

David Booth, LW
2008-09 Salary: $675,000

Dan Fritsche, C
2008-09 Salary: $875,000

Benoit Pouliot, C
2008-09 Salary: $850,000

Josh Harding, G
2008-09 Salary: $750,000

Christopher Higgins, C
2008-09 Salary: $1,900,000

Tomas Plekanec, C/LW
2008-09 Salary: $1,800,000

Kyle Chipchura, C/RW *6
2008-09 Salary: $860,000

Matt D'Agostini, RW
2008-09 Salary: $508,000

Travis Zajac, C/RW
2008-09 Salary: $984,200

Blake Comeau, RW *7
2008-09 Salary: $735,000

Sergei Ogorodnikov, C *8
2008-09 Salary: $600,000

Brandon Dubinsky, C
2008-09 Salary: $635,000

Scottie Upshall, LW
2008-09 Salary: $1,250,000

Enver Lisin, RW *9
2008-09 Salary: $850,000

Marcel Goc, C
2008-09 Salary: $775,000

Thomas Greiss, G
2008-09 Salary: $725,000

Tomas Plihal, LW *10
2008-09 Salary: $500,000

Jeff Woywitka, D *11
2008-09 Salary: $725,000

Roman Polak, D *12
2008-09 Salary: $475,000

Matt Lashoff, D *13
2008-09 Salary: $685,000

Jannick Hansen, RW
2008-09 Salary: $500,000

Eric Fehr, RW *14
2008-09 Salary: $735,000

1. Matt Hunwick - a player that was rumoured to Edmonton at the recent trade deadline
2. Martin St. Pierre - Guy Flaming talks about this player as a potential pickup as a seasoned veteran offensive player for the farm in Springfield
3. Drew Stafford - thickoil loves this guy. Great player, bound to get a raise this off season.
4. Olle-Kristian Tollefsen - big guy does it all: block shots, fight, play hard
5. Jiri Hudler - this guy was almost an Oiler when Frank Musil recommended him to the Edmonton scouting staff; Detroit snapped him up first
6. Kyle Chipchura - my favourite on this list; team captain of his WJC team and team captain of the Hamilton Bulldogs who won the Calder Cup in 2007
   
7. Blake Comeau - he was the linemate of Tyler Spurgeon and Troy Bodie for the "Network Line," and he would make a great Springfield addition
8. Sergei Ogorodnikov - there has been talk that S.O. was having adjusting to the North American game in terms of an offensive game but you can't deny the leadership factor that e brings, and he could be a solid farm player in the mold of a Kytnar or Pisani (and a cheap replacement for that bum O'Marra)
9. Enver Lisin - another speedy skilled forward in the mold of Ville Leino and Jani Rita: the catch is this guy doesn't want to play in the AHL and that's really where he belongs at this point
10. Tomas Plihal - this checking forward has decent hands and is a cheap plugger
11. Jeff Woywitka - journeyman defenseman who is no stranger to Edmonton
    
12. Roman Polak - some think this guy is ready to play a top-4 role as a shut-down D-man opposite a good-to-medium offensively skilled D-man
13. Matt Lashoff - another D-man who was rumoured to Edmonton at the last trade deadline
14. Eric Fehr - the Oilers wanted to draft this guy but Washington got him; the Oilers have a history of acquiring guys they missed out on drafting (Nilsson, Pitkanen, etc.) and I wouldn't be surprised if they did it again with Fehr because this is one good hockey player; more on Eric Fehr here
    

If I had to pick one, just one RFA out of the entire list, it'd have to be Drew Stafford. The only problem is I doubt that Buffalo lets this guy get away and so realistically speaking, I think a guy like Chipchura, Polak, or Fehr would benefit the Oilers.

On the goaltending front, Lehtonen and Bacashihua seem to be the only goalies that have any NHL experience worth mentoining, though both have been known to be injury-prone.

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?