Active Summer For Oilers Breeds Optimism
16/08/2008 04:11
The Edmonton Oilers made bold aggressive moves this summer, signifying a change in direction under the ownership of Darryl Katz.
Former general manager, and now the team's President of Hockey Operations, Kevin Lowe engineered three significant trades to shake up the Oilers lineup.
First, he dealt underachieving centre Jarret Stoll and bruising defencemanMatt Greene to the Los Angeles Kings in order to acquire offensive defenceman Lubomir Visnovsky.
Next, he shipped Raffi Torres to Columbus in exchange for one-time top prospect - and Edmonton native - Gilbert Brule, who is still just 21.
Third, Lowe moved enigmatic blueliner Joni Pitkanen to Carolina to get power forward Erik Cole.
Add in a few minor tweaks, like bringing in Jason Strudwick to make up for some of the size and toughness lost when Greene was moved, and a couple of runs at big-name attractions like Jaromir Jagr and Marian Hossa and the Oilers were very active in the player acquisition game this summer.
They may not be finished moving the pieces, but the Oilers have a quality returning crop up front, including Cole, Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff,Sam Gagner, Dustin Penner as well as Andrew Cogliano and Robert Nilsson, who will both be battling for top six forward minutes after finishing well in 2007-2008.
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SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:
As a new/old season ticket holder again this season, I can hardly wait for it to start.