The 2014 NHL Entry Draft is less than a month away and shortly after that the Free Agent market will open up as well. Another important date will be July 1st, the day that Sam Gagner’s no-trade clause comes into effect. The Oiler center was ineligible to have a NTC until that date as he was still under full club control until this summer when he was set to become the youngest ever traditional UFA in NHL history. The Oilers have effectively until the Draft to trade Gagner before all the power to move teams is his.
Gagner joined the Oilers at 18 years of age when Craig MacTavish was still the Coach for the club and has been starting over and over with successive head Coaches ever since. Every year the team seemingly got worse and every year he had to prove he belonged in the top 6. He never could top his output from his Rookie season until finally under Kreuger he had what looked like a breakout offensive season. He went 48GP, 14-24-36 in the lockout shortened season which over an 82 game schedule would translate to 24-41-63, far and away his best offensive production.
This year the Cro-Magnon Kassian violently broke Gagner’s jaw in a pre-season incident that would have been labeled insanely reckless if it wasn’t completely intentional. Gagner lost weight unable to eat solids for some time and struggled to regain his form after returning at least a month too early into NHL action. Ultimately he put up similar numbers to his previous NHL campaigns (67GP, 10-27-37) for a pace around roughly 45 points over a full season.
Gagner has always had detractors. He’s not overly big although his weight isn’t an issue at just over 200lbs. He isn’t particularly fast, but he isn’t Jason Allison slow by any stretch. And he isn’t very well versed in what to do in his own end either, making too many mistakes for some people’s liking. Having his face wrecked in September didn’t help any of those deficiencies at all. Losing weight, being off the ice for a while, and missing out on the 1st part of the new coach’s 1st season are surefire ways to make those things that were already questionable worse.
Here’s what he still does well. He produces offense at a level worthy of the top 6. Even if he doesn’t get any better than a season that started as poorly as it did, he can bring a guaranteed 40+ points. He can fit in well with other offensive players. He is a complementary player, but every team needs them. He has shown solid chemistry with Hall and Eberle in the past which can free up RNH to be used against softer opponents (not that I think they NEED to do that). He’s a battler. He wont win every fight or puck-battle, but at least he’s in it and he’s generally good for 1 actual fight a season.
Gagner’s a player I’m rooting for, that much I wont/cant hide, but it might be the right time to move him. For me it still comes down to what happens when the Oilers pick 3rd. Are they going to replace Gagner organizationally with a Leon Draisaitl in the long run and maybe run with Arcobello in the short term? Or, if Ekblad is available might it not make more sense to keep Gagner in the Organization rather than trade him?
Obviously the Oilers aren’t trying to trade Gagner away for nothing but the consensus is they need Defensemen. So if 89 is moved and the return is a D-man then the Oilers are pretty short on forwards even close to being top 6 players. More specifically, they have almost nobody with top 6 potential as a center. It’s Arcobello and nobody else, all the way down the organization, and I don’t even want to hear somebody mention Lander’s potential.
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