31 Takes: Oilers want to clear salary, but for what?

The trade that sent Cam Talbot to Philly and the one that sent Ryan Spooner to Vancouver were widely hailed in Edmonton as shrewd.

On some level, that’s understandable. The team shed salary for this season, got younger in net (in theory), cleared out one of Chiarelli’s blunders, and brought back a fan favorite so maybe everyone would stop saying mean stuff about the management group.

This is going to shock you, though: The moves were little more than deck-chair-rearranging that ultimately doesn’t matter and likely did little besides get everyone in the local media to say how smart Keith Gretzky is.

Clearing salary for this season doesn’t matter, really, because this team isn’t making the playoffs and everyone knows it. Talbot-for-Stolarz is a lateral move even if they can re-sign Stolarz this summer, because a Koskinen/Stolarz battery is likely to be subpar. Just as a Koskinen/Talbot battery would be. Just like a Koskinen/any-cheapish-UFA-goalie battery would be.

As to the Spooner-for-Gagner trade, hey great, it’s erasing a mistake made by a previous administration, but at the expense of adding a declining player at a higher cap hit to the NHL roster for next year. I know the Oilers come across as a minor-league organization and Gagner was ripping up the AHL this year, but is adding a guy who couldn’t crack the Canucks roster really making any kind of difference? Even if you think so, you can’t posssssssssibly think it’s the kind of difference that gets this team back into the playoff conversation next year.

The fact is that if these trades were Wins — and I consider them both pushes, if we’re being honest; Stolarz’s numbers this year are better than Talbot’s, but he also had the benefit of not-playing for the Oilers most of the season — you have to say they were more like Edmonton Wins, in that they were not Obvious Losses. Two pushes and adding salary for next year at the end of the day isn’t really a big needle-mover for me.

The general idea that the Oilers need to clear salary is well-taken and well-founded, of course. If they can find a buyer for a lot of the crap contracts weighing down that roster, that would be great. The problem is that they would have a hard time doing that without giving up assets — and the locals would have you believe they have a raft of future top-pair defensemen just bursting at the seams for the chance to get a roster spot, if only they weren’t held back by talents like Kris Russell, Brandon Manning, and Alex Petrovic.

Also, that requires you to believe the Oilers will make a good hire at GM. Which, at this point, is extremely hard to believe. Not that there’s a particularly high bar here or anything, of course, because Gretzky is being praised as a conquering hero for adding a high-end AHLer to his NHL roster and getting a younger below-average goalie. But nonetheless, don’t you want to see proof of concept on any trade that doesn’t involve an exchange of expiring contracts or too-rich contracts paid to Quadruple-A talent? I think it’s quaint and everything that we’re being really nice about the job Gretzky’s doing here but his job as interim GM is basically not accidentally agreeing to a McDavid-for-Toews-and-Seabrook trade.

If you can get Milan Lucic or Russell to waive their no-moves, great. Trade them for literally anything someone will give you for them. If you can flip Gagner or Koskinen elsewhere, have fun. But this team has more than $72.1 million committed to 14 players for next year. The cap ceiling will, at most, be less than $10 million more than that. Swap out two or three bad contracts here and you can make some adds, but realistically no one is taking those players off your hands unless you make it incredibly worth their while.

But, again, what evidence do we have that Oilers management is going to be able to identify the real “something” of the “something in the water?” What evidence do we have that whoever they hire to be GM sees hockey the right way, and will make proper use of the cap space Gretzky is allegedly going to try to clear? And what free agent in their right mind would willingly come into this situation?

Because here’s the clear concern with this: Gagner is being talked about not just as a potentially okay offense-only contributor, but also as a veteran presence. Which, hey, if you need a little more positive culture in the room, one place you have to turn is a guy who was on the Oilers from 2007 to 2014.

Those were the good ol’ days!

31 Takes

Anaheim Ducks: Scott Niedermayer getting his jersey retired in Anaheim for five seasons of work in his early and mid-30s is questionable for me. Definitely got them a Cup and was awesome there, but I just kinda feel like you should only be allowed to have one team retire your jersey, and Niedermayer is a Devil.

Arizona Coyotes: These guys have won three of the last four and have points in 11 of the last 17. They’ve pulled close-ish to a playoff spot, but imagine where they’d be if they hadn’t dropped five in a row in the middle of that streak. That’s the West for ya.

Boston Bruins: Also, the Bruins have won five in a row and seem to be firmly positioned as the No. 2 or 3 team in the Atlantic. Montreal kept it closer than anyone expected for a while, but I think this streak just about does it.

Buffalo Sabres: How much longer do we have to pretend the Sabres are still in the playoff race? Losers of five of the last eight, all but one of which was at home, mostly against Eastern Conference opponents? Come on.

Calgary Flames: Any time you can get the W in a Mike Smith start, that’s a positive.

Carolina Hurricanes: It’s amazing what happens when you can get even a bare-minimum amount of goaltending. ‘Canes netminders are up to just .907 in 2019, but they’re 15-5-1 in that stretch because that’s what happens when you’re plus-64 shots in 21 games.

Chicago: And people talk about the NBA having a tampering problem.

Colorado Avalanche: The Senators’ pick is only gonna get better the rest of the way. This trade is working out well.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Gotta get that trade value up.

Dallas Stars: If these guys aren’t careful, one of the 17 teams that are two points below them in the standings is gonna pass ‘em.

Detroit Red Wings: Like most Kronwallings, Kronwall left his feet on this one.

Edmonton Oilers: They’re1-8-2 in the last 11, but I bet Sam Gagner and Anthony Stolarz can turn this around.

Florida Panthers: Looking like the Panthers are going to renovate an old building in Miami into a rink with two ice surfaces. Pretty cool.

Los Angeles Kings: This is gonna be a big surprise, but a team without a lot of offensive talent struggled on the power play against a team with some of the best penalty killers in the league.

Minnesota Wild: I feel like I’ve been hearing “the Wild are playing like garbage” for a month and a half. How are they still in a playoff spot?

Montreal Canadiens: I’ve said it a million times this year, but: Sometimes you play the Lightning and that’s it.

Nashville Predators: These guys are good, but definitely still need help.

New Jersey Devils: I can’t believe Cory Schneider has three years left on his deal after this one.

New York Islanders: If the Islanders’ arena situation was happening anywhere below the Mason-Dixon line the Canadian media would be in a 24/7 freak-out mode over it.

New York Rangers: A guy who’s gonna get a lot more time when the Rangers’ big sell-off happens is Filip Chytil, who keeps getting healthy scratched.

Ottawa Senators: You mean to tell me that the Senators’ only three good offensive players were their best players again in a win? Huh. Interesting.

Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers are seven points out of the playoffs. Cam Talbot isn’t making any kind of difference for them at all. Honestly don’t get the point.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Starting to get the feeling a major change is coming, probably not before the deadline but maybe in the summer.

San Jose Sharks: Damn,Erik Karlsson’s back. That’s probably it for the Western Conference.

St. Louis Blues: The Blues are playing eight afternoon games in February and March. That seems very strange to me.

Tampa Bay Lightning: The Bolts play the Bruins THREE more times this year, and Toronto twice more. Should be fun. They might only go 3-1-1 in those games.

Toronto Maple Leafs: This is the correct take. Sometimes you don’t win on the road and it doesn’t matter how good you are.

Vancouver Canucks: The Spooner acquisition is a low-risk bet that probably won’t work out, but what’s under-reported here is that it’s a cost savings over Gagner since the Rangers are retaining salary. Clear win for the Canucks.

Vegas Golden Knights: What if Malcolm Subban ends up turning into a legit starter? Like these guys need the help.

Washington Capitals: Ah, okay man.

Winnipeg Jets: Mason Appleton is one of those guys where locals seem to really want to protect him at all costs because he’s got great AHL numbers, but he’s 23 and scoring a third of a point a game in the NHL this year despite some comfortable minutes. If you gotta trade himto get someone to really help, you do it. No questions asked.

Gold Star Award

Minus of the Weekend

Not interested in “if the playoffs started today,” which is starting to crop up. They don’t start until early April!

Play of the Weekend

Tuukka Rask had some kind of game, man.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User “scotchtapejr” has one that’s a little outdated but no less perfect:

Yes, I would. Personally.

Signoff

Good boy. Don’t stop the music.

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Ryan Lambert is a Yahoo! Sports hockey columnist. His Twitter is here.

(All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)