Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Perfect Storm?


It's been raining in Edmonton for what seems like weeks, and sometimes when it rains, it pours.
And sometimes things get crazy.
Could Edmonton load up for a crazy cup run as soon as this year?  It's not impossible... but it's a reach.




It's sounds like a good idea/bad idea. Everyone likes the Oilers and winning in the same sentence, but it looks like we're trying to force it too hard in some ways, kinda like Colorado with Foote and Forsberg in 2007–08.  It's not like me to entertain foolish nonsense or people suggesting "Well we should trade for (insert persons favorite player/ media flavor player of the month here)".  Trust me, (you'll have to likely as this blog is new) I am NOT a guy who would EVER suggest that we should rush things.

To this point it's been my belief that this team will be a lock as a  playoff team in say the 2013-2014 season with it's current look.  Before that is gravy and after that we're hoping to keep moving forward to become a perennial strong contender for the cup.  Come about 2014-2015 some of the stronger picks from the Stu MacGregor era will require new contracts and Hall Eberle and Paarjavi may already be signed to higher end money so our future gets blurry.

But things have been starting to get interesting.  Really, is it possible that we in Edmonton, as conservative as everyone (the media, the fans) have been with expectations for this team, that we have missed the bigger picture forming around us?  It's a long shot even still, but the evidence mounts.  In the back of your mind, you should be aware that these things are happening.

Evidence:

1) Jagr

April 30th 2009 - article here

"If I ever go to (the NHL), they would be my No. 1 pick because they showed the interest first. I never forget that and I respect that. They would be my first pick." - Jaromir Jagr


 June 21st, 2011 artical here

"Jaromir Jagr appears NHL-bound and it's only a question of which team he'll sign with, his agent told ESPN.com on Tuesday morning.

Agent Petr Svoboda said Pittsburgh, Detroit "plus another team I can't name" are the three options for his veteran client."


  
We all know Jagr and Hemsky have a friendship and mutual respect.  I believe Hemsky would need to remain an Oiler for this part to happen.  Edmonton has  Jagr would also know what's happening here in Edmonton with all the quality young talent and know he doesn't necessarily have to be the go to guy while still being a difference maker.

2) Smyth

June 20th, 2011 - article here

"sources tell TSN the 35-year-old left winger has indicated to the Kings his preference would be to play next season in Edmonton if a trade can be worked out." 

The report is denied by Smyth here

But confirmed here

3) Salary Cap Room

Cap geek committed numbers here.  Bottom line we're sitting with $22,150,000 with

A list of UFA's can be found here and a list of RFA's can be found here

Keep in mind our RFA's are:
Ladislav Smid, Theo Peckham, Andrew Cogliano, Taylor Chorney, Ryan O’Marra, Zack Stortini, Jean-Francois Jacques, Kevin Montgomery, Matt Marquardt, Jordan Bendfeld and Bryan Pitton.

4) High Draft Picks in Deep Draft

The Oilers draft picks are
1st, 19th, 31st, 62nd, 74th, 92nd, 114th, 122nd and 182nd as they sit now.  The first 5 picks should be good prospects at least.  1 and or 19 could play this season depending on the players.  Plus there is speculation of us trying to move up.

I don't know which players with trade value move if we keep Hemsky.  Not much comes to mind.  Gagner, Cogliano, Brule, Gilbert.... How much value is there and would it be worth moving?  Am I missing something/one?

5) We already broke in the rookies, successfully

Hall, Eberle and Paarjavi are tracking (very) well.

Bottom line the waters are not still.

2 comments:

Racki said...

I'm not of the belief that we should bring Jagr in. I don't think he'd want to be here anyways, even though he said he would. I think he had an assumption that we'd be further into the rebuild than we are when he said it.

But really, he would make a good mentor to the kids, I just think we've got the RW locked up right now.

Pisani's Irish Cousin said...

I like our top 2 RW's but we could use some depth. Also There are some logistic problems as Hemsky/Jagr would probably like to play together and they are both RW's... I think Jagr played centre when they played together at the Worlds. Obviously that's not ideal in the NHL.