freelancer

Edmonton • Canada • 25 Years Old • Male

A Disturbing Trend Developing

Late on Tuesday, the Oilers made a trade that sent Brandon Davidson to the Canadiens in exchange for David Desharnais. From a managerial outlook I understand the trade. Brandon Davidson was almost certainly going to be lost to Vegas in the expansion draft and the team knew it. Desharnais is a couple seasons removed from his last productive season but Chiarelli and the Oilers are hoping he can come in and be an effective bottom 6 centre. This team desperately needed help at that position and had the defensive depth to make the deal. I'm not disputing any of that.

But there is one little thing that is starting to worry me about how Chiarelli makes trades.

In my opinion, here is how a trade should work. A team looks at the player they want to acquire, determines the asset(s) they have to make the deal. If that player cannot be had, you move on to the next player and then figure out a new value of assets you have to make a deal.

It is that second part of the equation I don't think we are seeing the Oilers GM do very well, and it's becoming a trend.

The first time we saw this was a couple short weeks into his tenure. It was reported the Oilers had offered the 16th and 33rd pick to Boston in exchange for Dougie Hamilton. The Oilers traded those exact picks instead for Griffin Reinhart.

We all know the Hall trade but it wasn't until a week ago when we discovered that Chiarelli had tried to trade Hall for Shattenkirk first. Now we look at the Desharnais deal, and while it hasn't been specfically reported, I am willing to bet the Oilers offered Davidson for Hanzal and Boyle.

Simply put here is my issue; Chiarelli seems to isolate the player/assets he is willing to move and moves down his list until he finds a trade partner. This is a very dangerous system that is going to result in losing more trades than you win.

Overall I like the direction the team is going as well as the overall depth the team has. However to ensure the team can maintain long term success I hope this is a trend that stops today. The difference could be Eberle being traded for Simmonds or for Brouwer.

Thanks for reading.

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