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Names Off The List

June 20, 2016, 1:40 PM ET [516 Comments]
Matt Henderson
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
This next 7 days or so will be critical to Edmonton’s long term success. Everybody knows what the club needs. Everybody knows the assets they have in the top 6 and at the draft table outnumber those on the back end. The cards are on the table. And over the past several weeks, potential targets to solve their particular problems are seemingly vanishing.

First went Travis Hamonic, so we are told. The player who spent an entire season with a trade request for a personal matter that is almost certainly not ever going to be resolved pleasantly rescinded his trade request after the Islanders dropped out of the playoffs. That was a huge blow to Edmonton who was one of the theoretical trade partners with the Islanders.

Hamonic was going to be the great acquisition of the club. A big minute defender capable of playing on the top pair to complement Oscar Klefbom. A leader who is still young enough to grow with a team that has not come close to reaching its potential. Physical, unrelenting, young, and (not to be overshadowed) cheap. Hamonic’s contract combined with his ability makes him incredibly desirable for any team, especially the one he’s already on.

And that’s the problem with all of the players that the Oilers covet, be they Hamonic, or Vatanen, or Barrie. These players are all good. It would take a significant amount of ineptitude or payment to pry these players loose from their teams. Ineptitude is something Oiler fans have grown accustomed to. It has the power to dash hopes against the rocks as much as it can fuel them. Maybe the Avalanche are being run by a bunch of buffoons, for example. I mean, the Oilers hired a rag-tag group of former players to run their club and it lead to decisions like Schultz over Petry and/or Petry for picks.

The problem is that this brand of idiocy is almost entirely unique to former Oiler management. It isn’t all that common for supposed hockey people to look at a good player and see garbage or to look at a garbage player and see a Norris trophy candidate. Certainly not at critical positions. Does every GM seem to have his favourite bottom 6 forward? Yeah, even when that player is objectively terrible.

So over the past week or so when the names of Vatanen and Barrie got crossed off the list of imminently available defenders I was disappointed but not shocked. Joe Sakic said this recently, “I’d like to do a long-term deal with Tyson. If that doesn’t work out, it’s expected he’ll go to arbitration. Either way, he’ll be here.” It’s a smart move. It’s THE smart move for Colorado. Even if they plan on moving him down the road, Barrie is a better tradable asset while on a long term deal.

I’ve seen reaction of several insiders who said that Sakic’s words mark a change of approach in recent days. Maybe that’s what happens when everyone is calling to see if one of the NHL’s most productive blueliners is actually available. Perhaps there’s a change of heart that’s inevitable in these situations. The alternative is that there has no change of heart and the Avalanche just want to appear to be taking their asset off the market in order to bump the price up. Someone is going to pay a big price for Barrie, or they should.

The fact that Vatanen was signed long term was only a little surprising because the reason he was supposed to be available was because the Ducks are on an internal budget and were rumoured to be in a particular bind with both Lindholm and Vatanen requiring new deals. The Ducks weren’t about to trade Vatanen because they were too blind to see his value, they were supposed to be too poor to pay it. That remains the only reason why the defender may still be moved.

That said, there’s no reason why the Ducks couldn’t simply keep Vatanen, re-sign Lindholm, and take another run at a lengthy playoff run to offset going over their internal budget.

The pieces Edmonton needs are the same pieces everybody in the NHL needs. There aren’t that many teams with a glut of right-shooting defenders who can play 20+ minutes a night against top competition. Who knew?

Names are getting crossed off the list. There are still a few players that will be available in free agency or via trade, but teams like Edmonton have to be feeling the squeeze as the market tightens. I’m not super confident that the team can get what they need today without creating a massive hole for them to deal with tomorrow.

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