The Godfather of Hockeybuzz has spoken.

There are rumors of an offer sheet being in the works for Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. Who would do it? If you're thinking the Oilers could be the mystery team, you might be right.

I have no information or knowledge that the Oilers have talked offer sheet with the Doughty camp. But that being said, an offer sheet would absolutely be plausible and logical for the Oilers and Doughty. Let's start by talking compensation. Provided the offer sheet is under $7.5mil per season average, the compensation for Doughty from Edmonton would be two first-round picks, a second and a third.

The Doughty camp is mad at the Kings because the team will not offer more than $6.8mil per season. The last rejected contract offer we know about was for nine years...huge money over the length of the deal. Over $60mil. Doughty's camp sucks for not signing the deal, but he's a RFA and it's his decision as to whether or not he wants to sign something and play this season.

The Oilers forward situation is brilliant. Haters, I don't care if this is a team filled with young, unproven players. At least 20 teams in the NHL would trade forward rosters with the Oilers right now if they could. The depth of the Oilers up front is ridiculous. The problem in Edmonton is not the forwards; it's the defense, especially in respect to having a legitimate Top 2 pairing guy to go with Ryan Whitney.

So let's say the Oilers camp offers Doughty something stupid, like $7.2mil per over 10 seasons. $72 million...committing to that is a huge risk. The reward? Having a Top 5 defenseman in the league on your team, and knowing at his current age (21) that he'll fit in amazing well with the rebuild timeline. Money is not the issue in Edmonton. There is cap room. With Dubnyk in net, with the Oilers forward depth, and with Whitney and Doughty as the top pairing, the Oilers immediately are a playoff team. As in right now, this season. Recovering Doughty's contract money wouldn't take long if the Oilers are in the playoffs, and especially if they can go more than one round.

Considering the Oilers depth, losing four draft picks would hurt, but would not be a major issue. We all know success sells...if the Oilers need players and if they have a decent team, UFA's will sign here. As it was, the Oilers finished last, and still, a bunch of UFA's signed up this summer. The "Edmonton" factor is not the issue people make it out to be. Players will play here, especially if they think the team has potential.

An Offer Sheet from the Oilers on Doughty makes total and complete sense. It fills a big hole on D, and it sticks it to Kings management, which is always entertaining. But will an offer sheet actually occur? I doubt it. No matter how much the Oilers could use Doughty, there is less panic in Oilerville about getting better than perhaps there should be. Making Doughty and offer makes too much sense.

Oilers Cut 12
As I indicated they would yesterday, the Oilers reduced their roster today by 12 players. Eleven were sent to the Oklahoma City Barons of the AHL, and one player, Martin Marincin, was returned to Junior.

Players sent to the AHL included: Ryan Lowery, Tyler Pitlick, Curtis Hamilton, Olivier Roy, Kirill Tulupov, Tanner House, Chris Vandevelde, Ryan Martindale, Philippe Cornet, Milan Kytnar and Alex Plante. Martindale is still unsigned to an NHL deal, so his demotion to the AHL will likely be followed by a contract signing announcement in the next few days. Tulupov is also without a contract, but he can sign a deal with OKC this season, instead of having his contract be part of the Oilers cap of 50.

35 players remain in Oilers camp:

Forwards (21): Lennart Petrell, Teemu Hartikainen, Antti Tyrvainen, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Smyth, Ryan Jones, Ben Eager, Shawn Horcoff, Eric Belanger, Magnus Paajarvi, Anton Lander, Linus Omark, Darcy Hordichuk, Sam Gagner, Gilbert Brule, Ales Hemsky, Josh Green, Ryan O'Marra, Ryan Keller

Defensemen (11): Ryan Whitney, Jeff Petry, Taylor Fedun, Corey Potter, Taylor Chorney, Theo Peckham, Cam Barker, Ladislav Smid, Tom Gilbert, Andy Sutton, Colten Teubert

Goaltenders (3): Devan Dubnyk, Yann Danis, Nikolai Khabibulin

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