According to Scott Howson, Assistant GM of the Oilers, discussions with Don Meehan regarding Ryan Smyth have not resumed. Meehan is off to Europe next week and they are hoping to get some talks done before that happens. In other words, talks are imminent but they have not begun yet.
Howson on contract talks: "We want to get it done here in the next couple weeks or have an answer in the next couple weeks because we've got big decisions to make. February 27th is the trading deadline, so, we want to not only plan our roster for the rest of this year but plan our roster on a going forward basis into the next year or two. Obviously we'd like Ryan to be a big part of that and if we could do that in the next couple weeks then that would give us some certainty in that area."
Howson on the possibility of trading Smyth if talks break down: "Not something we've thought about yet and given the position of our team it's not something we'd consider right now. But, we do want to put ourselves in a position where we know exactly what we have on a going forward basis so that we can make those types of decisions; I certainly can't comment one way or the other on whether we'd even consider trading Ryan. You know, we'd like to have the certainty of whether he's going to be here for the next forseeable future into next year or whether we're either going to have to try to replace him in the summer or resign him in the summer."
Howson will be a guest on Inside Sports on 630 CHED Radio after the conclusion of the All-Star game tonight.
On a side note, there is absolutely no interest in Darius Kasparaitis. They're looking for a puck-moving defenseman...he's not it. And his salary is ridiculous.
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