You can re-tool your bottom six every year. There is never a lack of grinders on the free agent market.
- Lahey

that's a good point. i think the oilers should sign tootoo. he'd be loved here and he'd protect the kids. can you imagine him and ben eager on the same line? (insert crazy train intro here)

i believe this season is a better UFA class for dmen

barret jackman
brad stuart
dennis wideman
bryan allen
matt carle
ryan suter
jason garrison

if the oilers wanted to go after a fwd this year, there are a few:

zach parise
david jones
parenteau
jordan tootoo

actually if edmonton wanted to retool their bottom 6, this year would be a good year for that.

chris kelly
jay mcclement
torrey mitchell
adam burish
greg campbell
dan paille
dominic moore
cody macleod
daniel winnik

its also a good year for backup keepers:

niitymaki
vokoun
hedberg
biron
harding
sanford.
- kelholtz

The thing is, I don't think our bottom 6 is that poor. Belanger, Horcoff, Jones could all be keepers for me. Smyth, Eager and Petrell are all good enough guys. I don't know if that is a cup run bottom 6, but for me we lack four things:

1)Size and two-way talent in the top six
2)Confident Puck-movers/minute eaters on the dcore
3)Options in net.
4)Scoring depth

I'm not opposed to adding someone like Tootoo, but each and every one of those dmen could help our team more than any of those bottom 6ers would imo.

Staal would be a number 1 center on a lot of teams. He is a great 2 way forward, and is still so young. Give him 1st line pp minutes, and 1st line forward minutes, I think his numbers will be even better. I wish the leafs could trade for him.
- Allstarzz

Staal is a 2nd line center at best... except on the Leafs, he'd be a number 1 center there.

Sorry, I obviously didn't look closely enough at his team affiliation. And by the way, I think the Oilers are headed in the right direction, and building a nice team. From my view here in the peanut gallery, If I were you guys, I'd be looking to add a big, hulking Shea Weber type defenseman before I'd be looking to add another forward. I just don't see the Oilers being a match for the pens here, even if the Pens decided they had to deal Staal.
- Emperor Filonius

Seems to me you guys need the same things we do (solid dmen and big wingers), except we need them more. The guys that we'd need to shell out in a Staal trade (Paajarvi, Smid, etc. ) are the guys that we need to hang on to.

You guys completely over value Staal. If traded, you're going to get A LOT less than any of you(Pens fans) on here think, anyone who overpays for him and thrusts him into a number 1 center role is going to be disappointed. He's just not that good.
- Cptmjl

You also forget that the guy is only 23 and is really just starting to come into his own. Don't forget, he gets very little powerplay time, yet still potted 25 goals in 62 games. Merely looking at stats also ignores how well he plays in his own zone and on the PK. He'll never be a throughbred scorer, but he has all the tools to be a modern day Ron Francis.

Seems to me you guys need the same things we do (solid dmen and big wingers), except we need them more. The guys that we'd need to shell out in a Staal trade (Paajarvi, Smid, etc. ) are the guys that we need to hang on to.
- Morris

I'd agree with you 100%. The Pens don't need more scoring, they need to play better team defense, which is why they aren't a good trading partner match. (which Clouts chooses to ignore because it doesn't serve his premise)

If I were the Oilers, I'd be trying very hard to work out a sign and trade with Nashville for Weber.

The thing is, I don't think our bottom 6 is that poor. Belanger, Horcoff, Jones could all be keepers for me. Smyth, Eager and Petrell are all good enough guys. I don't know if that is a cup run bottom 6, but for me we lack four things:

1)Size and two-way talent in the top six
2)Confident Puck-movers/minute eaters on the dcore
3)Options in net.
4)Scoring depth

I'm not opposed to adding someone like Tootoo, but each and every one of those dmen could help our team more than any of those bottom 6ers would imo.
- Morris

Sign Stoll
trade Belanger, pick and lower level prospect for Stewart
sign tootoo
trade Potter and Omark for Schultz
Sign 1 top 4 d-man.

That's what I'm hoping for as we stand today.

Sign Stoll
trade Belanger, pick and lower level prospect for Stewart
sign tootoo
trade Potter and Omark for Schultz
Sign 1 top 4 d-man.

That's what I'm hoping for as we stand today.
- Lahey

do you wanna sign stoll to be the 4th line center?

I think that this upcoming season will determine the direction the team goes in terms of trades/signings the most since the rebuild began.

will pajaarvi turn into the two winger everyone is hoping?
where will hartikainen fit?

I'm of the opinion that edmonton can start dealing quantity for quality anytime now.

Sign Stoll
trade Belanger, pick and lower level prospect for Stewart
sign tootoo
trade Potter and Omark for Schultz
Sign 1 top 4 d-man.

That's what I'm hoping for as we stand today.
- Lahey

That would fix the team alright.

Do you mean Chris or Anthony Stewart? Even after his year this year, I don't know that we get Chris Stewart for that cheap.

And do you mean Jeff Schultz or the rights to Justin Schultz? Jeez, we're going for worldwide Schultz domination here.

I would be jacked to get Stoll back, I was really sad to see him go.

Stewart-Nuge-Eberle
Hall-Gagner-Yakupov
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
Tootoo-Stoll-Eager

Whitney-Carle
Petry-Smid
Schultz-Schultz

is the best Oilers lineup in years. P.S. I acknowledge Hemsky isn't there. I'd assume if we acquired a couple of bangers and drafted Yak we'd flip Hemsky for fairest return possible.

That would fix the team alright.

Do you mean Chris or Anthony Stewart? Even after his year this year, I don't know that we get Chris Stewart for that cheap.

And do you mean Jeff Schultz or the rights to Justin Schultz? Jeez, we're going for worldwide Schultz domination here.

I would be jacked to get Stoll back, I was really sad to see him go.

Stewart-Nuge-Eberle
Hall-Gagner-Yakupov
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
Tootoo-Stoll-Eager

Whitney-Carle
Petry-Smid
Schultz-Schultz

is the best Oilers lineup in years. P.S. I acknowledge Hemsky isn't there. I'd assume if we acquired a couple of bangers and drafted Yak we'd flip Hemsky for fairest return possible.
- Morris

smyth is a UFA so i'd put hartikainen there. otherwise that's a solid lineup. I'm not sold on either of the stewart brothers. deal gagner and hemsky to boston for lucic and put him on that 1st line with RNH and Ebs.

do you wanna sign stoll to be the 4th line center?

I think that this upcoming season will determine the direction the team goes in terms of trades/signings the most since the rebuild began.

will pajaarvi turn into the two winger everyone is hoping?
where will hartikainen fit?

I'm of the opinion that edmonton can start dealing quantity for quality anytime now.
- kelholtz

3rd/4th

As for PRV and Hartikainen, time will tell. I'm hoping PRV goes deep into the playoffs, but there is already rumors he is playing hurt so that's not good.

Harti can probably slot onto our 4th line, but I rather him continue to grow in the AHL if possible.

That would fix the team alright.

Do you mean Chris or Anthony Stewart? Even after his year this year, I don't know that we get Chris Stewart for that cheap.

And do you mean Jeff Schultz or the rights to Justin Schultz? Jeez, we're going for worldwide Schultz domination here.

I would be jacked to get Stoll back, I was really sad to see him go.

Stewart-Nuge-Eberle
Hall-Gagner-Yakupov
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
Tootoo-Stoll-Eager

Whitney-Carle
Petry-Smid
Schultz-Schultz

is the best Oilers lineup in years. P.S. I acknowledge Hemsky isn't there. I'd assume if we acquired a couple of bangers and drafted Yak we'd flip Hemsky for fairest return possible.
- Morris

The key with Chris Stewart is he is a RFA making a good chunk of coin. Maybe the pick has to be a 2nd. I'd be looking regardless.

Justin Schultz. My thinking is if we are worried about too many contracts we can move some in these trades.

I'd agree with you 100%. The Pens don't need more scoring, they need to play better team defense, which is why they aren't a good trading partner match. (which Clouts chooses to ignore because it doesn't serve his premise)

If I were the Oilers, I'd be trying very hard to work out a sign and trade with Nashville for Weber.
- Emperor Filonius

I would jizz in my pants. But the asking price might be too much.

3rd/4th

As for PRV and Hartikainen, time will tell. I'm hoping PRV goes deep into the playoffs, but there is already rumors he is playing hurt so that's not good.

Harti can probably slot onto our 4th line, but I rather him continue to grow in the AHL if possible.
- Lahey

does anybody know what the line combos are for OKC? they start the 2nd round of the AHL playoffs soon. It would be nice to see where they are playing PRV and Harti. on the OKC website harti has 2pts in 4 games and PRV has and assist. other prospects not mentioned before, anton lander has 2pts and tyler pitlick has 4pts.

Am I the only that feels Staal is overrated and always has been?
- GuyLaDouche

I thnk he would be a perfect fit as a 2nd line center for Edmonton, or even 1st line for Toronto.

I can understand the overrated comment, but I think it depends on what the expectations of him are. I doubt he is ever a top 10 center in this league, but on some teams he would be an OK number 1 and on a lot of teams he would be a great #2.

has anyone seen the UFA list for 2013? maybe the oilers will wait and try and pick up a no.2 center and dman then?

corey perry*
ryan getzlaf*
mike fisher
scott hartnell
david clarkson
alexander edler
nathan horton
derek roy
jordan staal*
sidney crosby*
niklas backstrom*
jarome iginla
mike smith*
kari lehtonen*
jonathan quick*

*means N.G.H (never gonna happen)
- kelholtz

Unfortunately free agent lists are meaningless. Anyone remotely useful will not make it to free agency.

As a Leafs fan, I have been watching free agent rumors for years and only on real big name ever became a possibility... and even then everyone knew where he was going to end up anyway.

The key with Chris Stewart is he is a RFA making a good chunk of coin. Maybe the pick has to be a 2nd. I'd be looking regardless.

Justin Schultz. My thinking is if we are worried about too many contracts we can move some in these trades.
- Lahey

Yeah that's fair to me for Schultz. It'd be nice to have a head start on signing him, since we're not doing anything this month anyway.

As far as Chris Stewart goes, it's definitely a bold move, but one that could pay off in the future. He'd still cost us some coin though once we'd acquired him. It would accord PRV and Hartikainen a nice slow development curve. And between Stoll, Tootoo and Stewart we would be adding A LOT of toughness (3-4 more hits a game)

I like Johansen, don't get me wrong. I like his junior numbers and I like what he looks like on paper. He hasn't translated that to the NHL yet and neither has Yakupov. I do know that the scouts like Yakupov better than Johansen and again we are talking 3 inches in height and 10 lbs. We learned with penner that doesn't make him a power center but we do know that Yakupov hits everything he can. Plus he doesn't do it in the balls to the wind way that Hall does that leaves himself open to injury. I love Hall but that guy has no concern for his own body out there. It would worry me as a GM.

Johansen might be a better player than Yakupov in the future but right now I don't think there is any way of knowing for sure.

I do disagree that Centers are hard to come by. There was a time 2 years ago when all the oilers were centers (or so it seemed). Today's young stars are thrust into the center role and those that have played wing can be taught to play center. Most of these kids have played both. It is a different position but with each coach every position changes anyway so these guys are use to adapting. The only difference is the draw and the defensive play. Especially since the oilers like to cycle the triangle down low and the center might be the one behind the net. Not his traditional place.

The draw can be taught. Penner was taking draws before he left and when he was on the ice with 2 other centers. RNH's face off wins improved considerably over the course of the year. If they wanted to make Hall a center its as easy as working on his face offs. It really is. Forward positions are a preference, they are not set in stone and that is why so many players in the league play more than one. It is not tough if you have a mind for hockey which I hear Yakupov has.

I disagree with gagner too. He has been on a losing team his entire career. I don't think it is fair to say his potential has been maxed out at the age of 22. I can list 20 all stars current or past that didn't become good until after that age. Plus he had an 8 pt game. He didn't play as well towards the end but that at least has to show some signs for potential. Give him a year on a team that makes the playoffs before you decide his potential or at least let him hit 25. You know our team is too young when people are peaking at 22. Imagine if people thought that about the sedins and traded them because they are small and don't hit? Their top points between either of them was 43 and that was daniel (6 less than Gagners top). Plus Vancouver made the playoffs every year during that time. Edmonton, quite the opposite. Also from what my hockey cards tell me, Gagner has 10 lbs on them when they were 22.

I think anyone watching Gagner play saw dedication, saw him barely missing, scoring beautiful goals and that he has double the next player on the team in terms of shootout goals. scoring 66.7% (6/9). You don't trade a character guy like him.

I know everyone buys into this burke mentality where everyone has to have size but as Penner showed, it is not size, it is what you do with it and if you remember the fight Gagner had last year I think with Ryan Kessler, size is not a factor with him.

We have a number 2 center. We can't fill every hole this summer. We need a 2 dmen of quality, we need to dump contracts and we need a goalie. WHAT WE DO NOT WANT IS PROSPECTS. From my count we have 49 contracts if we sign the player we are expecting to. We don't need players that are worse that the ones we have already playing in hopes they become better.

What we need is to dump a contract for the rights to suter, we need to offer sheet schneider (just to screw over vancouver), we need to offer a trade sending depth and Hemsky for the very locally unpopular Chris Stewart and the back up goalie Halak and/or offer sheet Weber (again to screw nashville over and to keep them from holding on to both their d). Plus we need to go aggressively after dmen Matt Carle, Grossman, Wideman and Harding.

The theories here. An offer sheet to Vancouver forces them to match any made up number we come up with as Luongo has asked for a trade. This will tie their hands when they go for Parise as rumored. Which helps us.

Trading for Stewart and Halak allows St. Louis the chance to get rid of Stewart who they have practically benched and Halak who is riding the pine at 3.5 million a year. It provides Edmonton a RW replacement to Hemsky that isn't injury prone and before his drop in ice time was putting up good numbers (comparable to hemsky). Plus he adds size with a significantly smaller price tag freeing up room for UFA's. Also the Blues might be interested in some of our depth players or prospects that would shed our contract number.

After that we need 2 good dmen. Suter would be the best if we could get him. Shultz might pay off if we could sign him but he is again unproven. But one more would solidify our back end. Then Harding provides a cheap second goalie. He can fight for number one but I think you can get him for under 3 mill which is good for a goalie of his caliber. Then khabby can be placed on waivers or put in the minors.

Sign Stoll
trade Belanger, pick and lower level prospect for Stewart
sign tootoo
trade Potter and Omark for Schultz
Sign 1 top 4 d-man.

That's what I'm hoping for as we stand today.
- Lahey

I can live with that. I am all for Chris Stewart. Healthy scratch and in the Hitchcock doghouse for this season. Get him out of STL to EDM if possible. I like to see EDM go with a more inexpensive bottom 6 if possible.

I can live with that. I am all for Chris Stewart. Healthy scratch and in the Hitchcock doghouse for this season. Get him out of STL to EDM if possible. I like to see EDM go with a more inexpensive bottom 6 if possible.
- deks1

Not going to happen with Horcoff there.

Sign Stoll
trade Belanger, pick and lower level prospect for Stewart
sign tootoo
trade Potter and Omark for Schultz
Sign 1 top 4 d-man.

That's what I'm hoping for as we stand today.
- Lahey

i remember sugesting going after stewart.... trading PRV and a 2nd for him an ya'll said that never happen.....

But ya I'd be down for that

Stewart/Nuge/Ebs
Hall/Gagner/Yak
PRV/Horc/Thor
Eager/Stoll/Tootoo ex Jones

That leaves Hemmer and Lander looking in from the outside. If PRV or Thor is not ready yet, they could go down to the AHL for a year and Put Hemmer in...

Smid/Petry
Whitney/Gleason
Schultz/Schultz-Sutton

I like Johansen, don't get me wrong. I like his junior numbers and I like what he looks like on paper. He hasn't translated that to the NHL yet and neither has Yakupov. I do know that the scouts like Yakupov better than Johansen and again we are talking 3 inches in height and 10 lbs. We learned with penner that doesn't make him a power center but we do know that Yakupov hits everything he can. Plus he doesn't do it in the balls to the wind way that Hall does that leaves himself open to injury. I love Hall but that guy has no concern for his own body out there. It would worry me as a GM...
- bsteinley

Everything you said almost means EDM needs a much more aggressive GM. Which I don't see in Tamby.

i remember sugesting going after stewart.... trading PRV and a 2nd for him an ya'll said that never happen.....

But ya I'd be down for that

Stewart/Nuge/Ebs
Hall/Gagner/Yak
PRV/Horc/Thor
Eager/Stoll/Tootoo ex Jones

That leaves Hemmer and Lander looking in from the outside. If PRV or Thor is not ready yet, they could go down to the AHL for a year and Put Hemmer in...

Smid/Petry
Whitney/Gleason
Schultz/Schultz-Sutton
- Killbot460

That was when he had value. He has very little now, especially seein as he is a healthy scratch in the playoffs.

i remember sugesting going after stewart.... trading PRV and a 2nd for him an ya'll said that never happen.....

But ya I'd be down for that

Stewart/Nuge/Ebs
Hall/Gagner/Yak
PRV/Horc/Thor
Eager/Stoll/Tootoo ex Jones

That leaves Hemmer and Lander looking in from the outside. If PRV or Thor is not ready yet, they could go down to the AHL for a year and Put Hemmer in...

Smid/Petry
Whitney/Gleason
Schultz/Schultz-Sutton
- Killbot460

I dunno that we get Gleason away from Carolina. Maybe sign a guy like Bryan Allen or Barret Jackman to play some 2nd line minutes.

I also would rather Smyth and Jones on the 3rd line than PRV and Thor. At least for this year, they're a little green.

That was when he had value. He has very little now, especially seein as he is a healthy scratch in the playoffs.
- Lahey

I'd by a bruthas jersey