David Perron has been traded for a 1st Round pick and Rob Klinkhammer.
With this move the Oilers have reset the rebuild and Dallas Eakins' ominous demand for 5 years to become good again just a few short weeks ago is starting to ring true. David Perron is an NHL body on a great contract. He is a top 6 player capable of getting under the skin of the opposition and possesses fantastic skill.
Would I have traded David Perron? Yes. For a bloody Defenseman!
Trading away legitimate NHL players for picks is a slap in the face to Oiler fans who have endured almost a decade of losing and acquiring picks. I am immediately disgusted by the move even IF this is the deepest Draft since 2003. Why anyone should trust the management of this team to do anything right is beyond me.
It's true that the Oilers also acquired Klinkhammer so it's not as if the pick is the ONLY thing they took back from the Pens, but Klinkhammer is not a replacement for Perron. Klinkhammer is essentially a replacement for Pitlick who lacerated his spleen against the Flames. As a Doctor relayed to me Spleen lacerations are common in violent collisions. So one of those thunderous hits he made the other night was effectively the equivalent of being in a car crash.
In any case, here are the numbers for Rob Klinkhammer who has been playing the wing.
2014-2015 29GP, 4-2-6, 11:07 per game with the Pens Career 139GP, 20-19-39
Klinkhammer is on his 3rd team this season, he's 6'3", 214lbs, and 28 years old. He is a solid possession player with the Penguins at 53% CF which rates fairly well on the club but, make no mistake, this is a 4th liner. He should fit in on the 4th line with Hendricks and Gordon which should help that unit.
Perron's Cap Hit is 3.8M per season and Klinkhammer is 625k so the Oilers gain a ton of space on the Cap but Klink is also a UFA so the team will see him leave entirely at season's end.
David Perron's acquisition was one of the team's first departures from loading up on young players and draft picks as it took former 1st Rounder Paajarvi and a 2nd to pluck him from the Blues' roster. It was supposed to be the beginning of finding players in the primes of their career to help lead this team out of the basement.
The team stayed in the basement though not because of Perron, who lead the Oilers in goal scoring a year ago. Perron was exactly what the Oilers needed. He is a player unafraid of standing at the front of the net and battling. He instantly became the only pest on a team full of choir boys and a fan favourite.
Trading him for a pick is tantamount to saying this rebuild is not close. This rebuild will be forever. There is no end in sight. More teenagers who might be impact players in 4-5 years are needed to dig this team out of the muck, apparently.
Is there direction? Is there a vision leading this franchise or is it simply lost in the woods without a map?
What does this move tell you about how MacTavish views the core if he wants to effectively start over again? This team has been told management would rather roll the dice at the prospects table than go all in with them. It may only be a matter of time before core members of this team get tired of losing to draft high every year because the team is icing half-rosters and demand out.
The Oilers have turned their back on winning. They turned their backs on the plan they had just barely more than a year ago. They have turned their backs on the paying fans who shell out big money every home game to watch this beleaguered roster fail at hockey. This team was bad and just got a lot worse. I need some time to trick myself into thinking that the Oilers have done anything positive.
The Tank is on. The Tank is permanent.
Welcome to the new Rebuild. Same as the old Rebuild.
LINEUP
The trade puts a lot of things up in the air. The team recalled Lander earlier and Aulie was suspended for being relatively tall. That should mean Nikitin draws in and Klinkhammer will probably wait for the next one. Pitlick's insides exploded after one of those hits and Pouliot suggested he wanted to be back in today so I'm assuming they made room for him by trading Perron. Draisaitl looks to be sitting.
Hall RNH Eberle Pouliot Roy Purcell Yak Lander Fraser Hendricks Gordon Gazdic
Ference Petry Klefbom Fayne Nikitin Schultz
Scrivens
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Somebody Better Care. Management doesn't want this team to win but the players still here might have something to say about that. Then again...
2) Line Changes. That game against the Flames was lost on an extremely idiotic line change from Schultz and Ference. With the puck very shallow and the Oilers on a long change the Defense abandoned Hall all alone in his own zone while the Flames attacked during 3v3. I hope someone explains to them why that was a bad idea.
3) Play For The Scouts. We should see some great games from guys like Petry who are also likely to be moved. Perron was airlifted to a legitimate team and the rest of the guys have to be hungry to leave this mess. Some great individual efforts ahead.
Puck drops tonight at 7:08PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Tank On!
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