I'm still attempting to recover from the announcement this morning that the Oilers dealt a 4th (or perhaps a 3rd round pick instead) to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Mike Brown. It's not that Brown's a bad chap. He plays hard every game; he hits and he fights. He's a decent 4th line forward and he'll be popular with fans in Edmonton.

The problem with the deal is just how meaningless it is.

Why do the Oilers continue to suck from season to season:

1. The defense has too many guys who can't move the puck. Justin Schultz and Jeff Petry can, but everyone else is slow, or can't complete passes, or seems like they have checked out already. The Oilers need to have three functional puck-movers, and three functional stay-at-home types. They are perhaps short of one of each.

2. The Oilers lack size in their Top 6. The hope was that Teemu Hartikainen will turn into "that guy" but he has yet to do so. If the Oilers hope to improve immediately, they need to acquire a big forward of quality immediately, and that means the Oilers will need to part with a few serious assets.

3. Speaking of parting with serious assets, it's not something Oilers management tend to do. Obviously Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, Nail Yakupov and Justin Schultz aren't going anywhere. When we say "serious assets" the Oilers could move, we're talking about guys like Sam Gagner, Ales Hemsky, Magnus Paajarvi, Ladislav Smid, Nick Schultz, or the Oilers 1st and 2nd round picks in 2013 and 2014. You need to give something to get something.

4. The Bottom 6 is filled with guys who aren't performing. Shawn Horcoff was having a decent season until he got hurt. Lennart Petrell does what we ask of him. But after that? Ben Eager doesn't play like he cares. Eric Belanger doesn't care at all. Ryan Smyth looks a million years old. Talk about three guys the Oilers need to rid themselves of ASAP. They don't contribute anything in the way of offense.

5. And, as usual, injuries have gotten out of hand. Half the team is either on the IR or are playing while injured.


So now that I've listed the five issues with the Oilers, ask yourself what problems Mike Brown fixes. He doesn't bring offense. He's not a Top 6 players with skill. He doesn't make the D better. And would you play him ahead of wingers Paajarvi, Smyth, Hartikainen, Petrell and Eager? Not really. He certainly has less skill than everyone else on this list.

So why make this trade? All I think this was about is a way to distract an unhappy and frustrated fan base. Sad to say, but it has managed to excite a number of people. Are people really in this much denial about what the issues on the Oilers are?

If the Oil lose to Columbus on Tuesday (and they might), I'm ready to throw in the towel on the rest of the season. The Oilers need to make a number of deals and need to undertake a mini-rebuild of sorts.

Who stays?
3 centers - Nugent-Hopkins, Gagner and Lander.
4 RW - Eberle, Yakupov, Paajarvi and Petrell
2 LW - Hall, Hartikainen
6 D - Justin Schultz, Petry, Fistric, Nick Schultz and Klefbom. If Smid can be signed to a long-term deal for reasonable numbers, he's #6 to stay. Otherwise deal him at the trade deadline for a late 1st round pick.
1 G - Devan Dubnyk

Move #1 - Buyout Shawn Horcoff. Not because he's bad; he's just way overpaid and the Oilers have an opportunity to get rid of his contract at no cap hit. Buyout Ryan Smyth while you're at it. Not because his cap hit is a pain; just to get him off the roster. Some players don't know when it's time to retire.

Move #2 - Draft a big center, unless they pick 1st overall. If that happens, take Seth Jones. But otherwise, Aleksander Barkov or Shawn Monahan are the exact type of player the Oilers could benefit from adding.

Move #3 - Attempt to move a prospect and a 2nd round pick to acquire a 2nd - 1st round pick. This will allow the Oilers to look at a defensive prospect if they use their first pick on a center. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen has fallen down draft lists, but he could be a quality puck mover in the NHL in a few years. Oilers fans will recognize the last name.

Move #4 - Draft goaltender Eric Comrie with the Oilers 2nd round pick.

Move #5 - Deal Ales Hemsky and change to bring in a winger with size or a legitimate puck moving defenseman. Deal Ryan Whitney, Corey Potter, Theo Peckham, Eric Belanger, Ryan Jones and Ben Eager for whatever you can get. Plenty of 2nd, 3rd and 4th round picks that could be acquired from these guys. These acquired picks could be added to Hemsky in an effort to add a better player.

Move #6 - Pick up any missing pieces during UFA season. The Oilers would have all the cap room in the world to make a few things happen.

End Result

L1: Hall - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle
L2: Big Winger with skill from trade or UFA - Gagner - Yakupov
L3: Hartikainen - Barkov - Paajarvi
L4: Brown - Lander - Petrell

D1: Nick Schultz - Justin Schultz
D2: Ladislav Smid - Jeff Petry
D3: Oscar Klefbom - Mark Fistric

G1: Dubnyk
G2: UFA signing

Keep in mind the Oilers under this design would still have cap space to work with, so improvements could come to the D and up front. I'm not convinced Brown is anything more than a 13th forward. I'm not sure about continuing with Nick Schultz in the top pairing. Eventually it will be Klefbom and J. Schultz together.

One final note: This roster would once again be doomed for the next season, but at least you can see the logic in this. The Oilers Top 9 forwards for the next ten seasons would be settled. More work would need to occur with the D, but the Oilers will need to work magic at the draft and on the UFA market to truly fix things.

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