Either Belanger or Horcoff goes, EDM can trade Belanger and buy out Horcoff contract with new CBA. Both will go, but I suggest to keep at least one, unless Lander can step up and be 3rd line centre and promote another to 4th line.

I think keeping Eager may be good, but Hordichuk can be tossed.

Omark, Peckham, and Barker will all be traded for mid-late draft picks or let go.

Bulin, only a rebuilding, young, desperate team trying to reach cap floor will deal for Bulin. I suggest trade him too for mid-late draft pick, EDM try to sign a UFA and let the goalie prospects to grow.

Smyth is a tough one, I prefer to let Smyth go. He will simply take up another roster spot that is better to offer to a prospect. EDM brought him back, great, but either him or Horcoff should go.

Hemsky and Gagner will be unknowns, all depends at the draft. I suggest draft another forward and trade one of them and package it with other prospects to get a defenseman.

Petrell should be resigned and Hall is not going anywhere.
- deks1

This.

Either Belanger or Horcoff goes, EDM can trade Belanger and buy out Horcoff contract with new CBA. Both will go, but I suggest to keep at least one, unless Lander can step up and be 3rd line centre and promote another to 4th line.

I think keeping Eager may be good, but Hordichuk can be tossed.

Omark, Peckham, and Barker will all be traded for mid-late draft picks or let go.

Bulin, only a rebuilding, young, desperate team trying to reach cap floor will deal for Bulin. I suggest trade him too for mid-late draft pick, EDM try to sign a UFA and let the goalie prospects to grow.

Smyth is a tough one, I prefer to let Smyth go. He will simply take up another roster spot that is better to offer to a prospect. EDM brought him back, great, but either him or Horcoff should go.

Hemsky and Gagner will be unknowns, all depends at the draft. I suggest draft another forward and trade one of them and package it with other prospects to get a defenseman.

Petrell should be resigned and Hall is not going anywhere.
- deks1

Interested to hear why Petrell should be here but Horc/Belanger/Smyth shouldn't

Richard Cloutier: Who Stays? Who Goes?
- Maxbone

Obviously I wouldn't mind a bigger guy than Belanger, but I don't mind how little offense he brought to the table. Our goals scored aren't as dire as our goals against. I really wish we could have gotten Steckel, he'd have been a perfect pickup. I also would have taken Vernon Fiddler before Belanger.

Keep Eager. In fact, I'd throw a lot at Minny to add Clutterbuck as well. I know I know, he' s integral to the franchise, but they just had a huge collapse AND traded their longest tenured player, so who knows what would happen if we dangled Omark, Hamilton, Pitlick type players at them?

At this point, I honestly don't care if Omark goes on to be a career 60 point player for another team. I am SO sick of hearing about him.

blah blah blah, who cares.

Smyth at 2 million sounds perfect. Let him get frustrated and sign somewhere else if he doesn't like it. He's one of my favourite oilers ever, but he's not the centre of this team anymore. If he stays, play him on the 3rd line, maybe he won't get so gassed.

Horcoff is the best two-way forward on the team. When the best two-way player on your team scores a scant 34 points, what does that tell you? That the kids, while being great offensively, have a lot of growing to do defensively. Horcoff remains necessary.

My roommate keeps claiming Grabs was a sign and trade scenario. Maybe Hemmer is too. I don't think he'll fetch a 1st though, and here's why: If a team close to a cup wanted Hemmer, they would have got him for a 1st at the deadline. Late 1st means top 5 finish in the league. Unless Florida makes a surprise run for the cup, I don't think any of the top 5 finishers will feel that Hemsky is the missing piece.

If we do wrangle a late 1st though, I take that late first and our 2nd and move up further in the 1st round.

Leafs won't acquire Gagner. They just won't. Just because we've got a centre and they've got a Dman doesn't mean it's a good fit. They specifically need a #1 centre, but specifically have no need for a centre that isn't a #1 guy. We specifically need a top 2 (possibly top 4) dman but specifically have little to no need for a non top-4 guy. It's not a good fit.

Good blog though clouts

Let's dump all our NHL players in favour of prospects. What a brilliant idea. How about we extend the rebuild five years, and make up bullpoop dressing room problems as excuses for jettisoning all the veterans?
An even better idea, let's play prospects in difficult roles next year, instead of filling those roles with NHL players. Play Lander way above his head. Give a #12-13 forward like Petrell a long term deal. Draft Reinhart because he's the solution to our defensive problems.

I think this whole article speaks to the problem. Edmonton has too many prospects. There is an immediate need to fill positions but that leaves several guys that need to be dealt. Also there is the problem of emerging players needing roster spots.

Trading these guys for picks is useless. Extremely useless. Edmonton doesn't have the ability to fit prospects like omark and pajarvii and I am not convinced anyone drafted after the top 15 will match their skill. Unless the oilers draft first overall I would trade down. Package prospects, players and picks to pick two in the top 15. There are several good dmen in the top 15. If edmonton can somehow change pick 2 to 6 and 11 would be great. I am thinking with Anahiems lack of entire team next year and Buffalo could do with a second overall pick, plus they have depth.

This is one possibility but realistically Edmonton will pick high. Just Tambillini's way. However I still believe St Louis, Anahiem, Ottawa, Minnesota and Toronto remain the most ideal trade partners. They all have need to fill and players edmonton could use. Respectively a goalie, contract dump, dmen, a goalie and dmen.

Edmonton must dump contracts or look at buying out if they are going to improve next season. I think khabby is a good back up but I am not convinced dubnyk is good enough to be number 1. Not with Edmontons dmen. If they improve their dmen then he would do. But as is, they have to take a look at Harding, Halak, schneider... Truth be told Vancouver has no need for 2 goalies as schneider will need a raise and they have no prospects. Which is important for them when they have their salary sunk into Kessler, Sedins and Luongo. Something is going to have to give to keep their dmen and schneider is the obvious trade. They won't want to trade with edmonton but prospects are cheap to pay and not many other teams could offer what the oilers can.

I am not convinced on trading gagner. He is one of the few players that showed up every night to play. I still think Hemsky is the guy to move and with his play in the last couple games he might be a good person to move. I think his role is the most easily filled. Plus his contract allows edmonton to play the UFA market.

Replace Belanger with Lander? So Belanger minus the experience and face-off ability?

You guys are (frank)ing hilarious. Some want Eager on the third line, some what him traded. How about we just keep him on the fourth line, you know, where he's been his whole career?

How about we give some of these signings some time to actually pan out? You know, instead of just trading away a bunch of bottom six players for different bottom six players because they couldn't take a 30th place team to a playoff spot?

These blogs are getting (frank)ing ridiculous.

Belanger is going nowhere. His veteran presence and his leadership are valuable. Those who thought this guy was going to come in and be a 40pt player are (frank)ing retarded. Hes averaged roughly 25-30 points a year his entire career. A guy signed for 1.75 mill for your 4th line who's going to give you a solid effort each night, play the PK, bring a ton of leadership, a win a ton of faceoffs? You show me a better option then Belanger for the fourth line, and I'll show you how to turn horse-poop into gold bricks.

Same exact thing can be said for Eager. Those who think Ben Eager is a top 9 forward are also sadly mistaken. He can play up on the third line in a pinch, but any team that goes into a season with Eager penciled into their third line is destined for failure. He's an above average fourth line player. He is a fourth line player on a contending team, meaning that for a team like the Oilers, he looks much better then he actually is. Keep Eager on the fourth line. Again, who are you HONESTLY going to replace him with that's going to be THAT much better.

"@TSNBobMcKenzie: Final NHL CSB rankings: 1. Yakupov 2. Murray 3. Grigorenko 4. Galchenyuk 5. Rielly 6. Ceci 7. Faksa 8. Maatta 9. Trouba 10. Reinhart 11. Dumba
- OilHorse

Murray

Murray
- laughs2907

Agreed.....I noticed Dumba is falling...

Agreed.....I noticed Dumba is falling...
- OilHorse

Yeah... I'd love to have him, but to take him over someone like Murray would be a bat-sh1t crazy thing to do.

Yeah... I'd love to have him, but to take him over someone like Murray would be a bat-sh1t crazy thing to do.
- laughs2907

(frank) Dumba....Murray, Trouba or Reinhart...the rest is b!tches that can lick my sack...

(frank) Dumba....Murray, Trouba or Reinhart...the rest is b!tches that can lick my sack...
- OilHorse

Why reward them?

Barker, Hordichuk - gonzo no doubt

Omark & Peckham - might be qualified just to trade for a low draft pick

Eager & Belanger - stay, and next season both will be better

Khabibulin - stays as a backup and mentor to Dubnyk

Draft Ryan Murray, sign Justin Schultz, resign Petrell & Smyth and one more additional bottom 6 forward with grit. Keep building from within and don't look for the quick fix.

Size in the top 6 will still be an issue next season, but Eberle, Hall, and RNH will all come to training camp a little bigger and more physically mature in 2012/13. Gags too potentially. We will see a better version of Hemmer next season, hopefully he doesn't get injured along the way. That one spot on the left side is up for grabs, Paajarvi or Hartikainen will take it out of training camp but it's up for debate if either of them is the long term answer.

I think the most pressing question for the draft is who steps up and offers their first pick for Nash. I'd guess that Toronto or NYI would be a good fit for Nash, and Yakupov and Galchenyuk would look great in a Blue Jacket uniform next season. Unless of course the Oilers win the lottery tomorrow, which would be epic!

Why reward them?
- laughs2907

I always hope for the underdog..so might as well give a prize

Keep building from within and don't look for the quick fix.
- bazmagoo

I vote for this.