Welcome Back Grebeshkov + Where do the Oilers go from here?

Posted 9:33 PM ET | Comments 0

Do you remember him? Played for the Oilers a few years ago, wasn't half bad. Got a good pick for him when they traded him to Nashville. He fleed to the KHL and made Nashville look stupid. Well, now he's back in blue and orange. Like it or not.

This signing confuses me. Grebeshkov is a good player and is a good addition to Edmonton's roster but the Oilers already had enough defense before hand. With Schultz x2, Ference, Petry, Smid, Belov, Larsson, Klefbom, Potter and now Grebeskov the Oilers now have 10 NHL defensemen. 4 more than they need. How's this add up?

Going into the 2014 season the defense on Edmonton looks like......

_______ - Schultz

Ference - Petry

Belov - Grebeshkov

Potter

Klefbom and Larsson can start the season in the AHL since Klefbom is inexperienced and Larsson had a tough season last year in Dallas and could use some experience by being the #1 defense in OKC. A little developpement never hurt anyone.

After looking at this the Grebeshkov signing looks a bit better. He's a good, cheap 3rd pairing defense. Smid and N Schultz are too expensive for the 3rd pairing given that they make 3.5 + million a year. But neither one is good enough for 1st pairing. See a problem? If niether one of them are good enough for the 1st pairing, what do the Oilers do with them?

Obviously, They have to go. The Oilers have no spots for them since they can't play 1st pairing minutes. But what do the Oilers need that they can trade Schultz and Smid for?

Hall - Nuge - Eberle

Perron - Gagner - Yakupov

_________ - Boyd - _________

Joensuu - Lander - Jones

Ex. Brown, Smyth

_______ - Schultz

Ference - Petry

Belov - Grebeshkov

ex. Potter

Dubnyk

LaBarbara

There are 3 spots the Oilers need to fill for next season. 3rd line wingers and 1st pairing defense. I think Hemsky will get Edmonton one of the 3rd liners and Schultz could be traded for the other. I don't have any actual names that come to mind other than Steve Downie. Trade Schultz for Downie and Hemsky for someone else and we're good.

That gets rid of one of the excess defensemen but there's still Smid that we have to deal with. The Oilers need a 1st pairing defense, but Smid isn't enough to get a player of that quality. The Oilers would have to sweeten the deal to make a trade for a player of that calibur.
What player do you think the Oilers should target. Weber? WAY too expensive, the Oilers would have to give up half their team for that to happen. Letang? No, he just got re-signed. Coburn? That's sooooo June 28th. Jake Gardiner? Hey! That's possible. Didn't Eakins used to coach him? And isn't he friends with Schultz? He's young like the rest of the Oil right? We found our player.

What would the Oilers have to give up for Gardiner? The Oilers would want to send Smid back to Toronto if they make this deal but half the reason Toronto would make this deal is because they have too many defense with Reilly and them coming up from Juniors. What do we do now? Maybe trade Smid for the 3rd liner and put Hemsky in the Toronto deal? Toronto has cap space right?

Anyway, the Oilers would have to add another asset or 2 to make this deal happen no matter which of these 2 they have in the trade. Would Hemsky and a 1st be too much? Not enough? Hemsky, 2nd and a prospect like Rajala? That could work. Rajala is poised to break into a NHL lineup next year and be a contributing 2nd or 3rd liner. Maybe they'd have to add another prospect or pick to the deal to convince Toronto. Hemsky, 2015 2nd, Rajala + another pick for Gardiner. Good for both teams I think.

Would you like this roster going into 2013?

Hall - Nuge - Eberle

Perron - Gagner - Yakupov

Downie - Boyd - player aquired through trade

Joensuu - Lander - Jones

Gardiner - Schultz

Ference - Petry

Belov - Grebeshkov

Dubnyk

LaBarbara

I would. This is a team in a position to make a push for the playoffs. There won't be no cup, there won't be no Clarence S Campbell trophy, there proberly won't even be a series win, but the Oilers are close. It may not be this year but the Oilers are close to being a playoff team.

Welcome back to a competitive team Oil Country.

Filed Under: Oilers