hbadger

"Oh Really"

32 Years Old • Male

Something is brewing in oiler country.

<p>The news that Sam Gagner was sent out of town for Ted Purcell. This trade is at its base a hockey trade. The oilers add a big winger who can provide secondary scoring but he's know more as a skill player than for his grit. I think he'd look just fine slotting in on the second line and taking some of the pressure off the kids. This leaves me with some questions.<p><br />The oilers are thin down the middle as is and removing Ganger makes their depth down the middle even worse.<p><br />The deal is almost dollar for dollar. The oilers are not in any form of cap trouble, except maybe not making the cap floor.<br />The lighting who are solid down the middle making this trade in the first place only to dump him as a package for a 6th round pick. I get dumping salary, but I'm sure somebody would be more than willing to take Teddy Purcell off your hands for the same draft pick.<br />The trade is a little perplexing , since there is nobody to replace him right now. Even with the drafting a Leon Draisaitl. Leon is not ready to take that role over just yet. He needs at least one more season in the whl, maybe two.They shouldn't rush him, their track record with rushed prospects is not very good. If Draisaitl was the answer we would have heard about him signing his elc. This only leads to one conclusion there is another David Perron like deal around the corner.<br />As per cap geek, Philadelphia,Chicago and Boston could all use a little cap relief.There are some teams that could use the wiggle room but are not up against the cap as of yet , Pittsburgh (14 million free and only 14 players signed), New York (23 million free and only 11 players signed) and toronto (20 million free and only 12 players signed).Looking at a team by team basis there are many viable targets but they fall into two categories.<br />a) not in your wildest dreams( they are either the premier centres of the team or they hold a full no movement clause /no trade clause): Giroux, Lecavalier,Toews, E.Staal, J.Staal Etc.<br /> b)
possible but would require a lot to acquire or have a limited ntc :Couturier, Schenn, Krejci,Sharp,kruger,shaw etc.<br />I won't even bother trying to include possible free agent targets as the oilers have a poor history when it comes to signing top tier free agents.<br />So in closing oilers fans keep your eyes open, the trading of Sam Gagner is only a precursor to a larger deal.

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