The NHL season is scarcely more than a week old but the rumour mill is already heating up and one of the teams at the center of it is Edmonton. Now, this is something we should maybe have expected considering the new GM didn’t get to scratch the itch of a “Bold Move” that he was so clearly trying to make in the off-season. Edmonton is loaded with talent up front and considerably weaker in all other areas, so the speculation is beginning to swirl.

Bob McKenzie of TSN reported that Craig MacTavish is more open for business this early into the season than other GMs because his defense and goaltending have been questionable. Now Bob McKenzie is one of Canada’s leading sports journalists and it is rare that someone would accuse him of floating out rumours without anything behind them. This leads me to believe that MacT is out there kicking tires a bit.

No doubt the goaltending has been questionable early on. Dubnyk has a 6.52 GAA and a save percentage that is shockingly poor. Even LaBarbera’s save percentage (after a whopping 1 game) is a frightening .892, so it’s not like the team is getting the stops. We know that MacTavish isn’t someone who completely trusts in Dubnyk to lead the team. It is more than speculation that the Oilers were trying to get Ben Bishop and Cory Schneider this past summer. Neither worked out and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Oilers were kicking tires on an upgrade in net.

Now the Defense is a little different. When the goaltending is bad the defense looks terrible. Now obviously if the Oilers uncover the chance to acquire a legitimate top 2 defender then they should be all over it. That said, this is a club that has outshot/outchanced their opponent in 2 of 3 games. The defense, to my eye, has hasn’t been as terrible as the Eastern media has made it out to be. One of the X-factors in that is Anton Belov who has come over from Russia and played pretty well as a relative unknown.

No doubt the defense could use a boost, but the club is deep with 4 and 5 blueliners and stocked in the AHL with guys pushing to break in at the NHL level. The Oilers need high end additions, not someone else’s problem. That brings us back to the speculation from Eastern sources. Some of them are great sources reporting things they hear, others are just throwing stuff against the wall or thinking out loud, and when they do we get some pretty crazy stuff. Here’s one that came across the twitter-box the other day via Howard Berger.

Might be tempted to deal for Yakupov. But patience could produce one-of-a-kind D nucleus of Gardiner, Franson and Rielly. Tough call. #Leafs

— Howard Berger (@Berger_BYTES) October 8, 2013

Maybe from the Center of the Universe it seems as though us Provincials in the West aren’t intelligent enough to recognize when we’re getting a raw deal, but it seems to me that trading a recent 1st Overall pick who happened to lead all rookies in scoring last year for a defenseman that the Leafs’ coach wants to send to the Sun on a rocket ship would be a terrible move.

There is NOBODY on the Leafs I would trade Yak for. Nobody.

Take your favourite Leafs player, add someone else. Not for that either.

I am of the mind that the Leafs would be foolish to move Gardiner anyway, but if they do then Oilers are not that great of a fit for him. They need top pairing guys for right now, not for tomorrow. It would make more sense to target Reimer than it would Gardiner. Take away the wishful thinking on the part of a few people and we still have one of Hockey’s most trusted and plugged in reporter saying the Oilers are interested in making a move. This should be a fun.

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