Oilers Trade Logic

This is about as "BOLD" as it gets for MacT, and this was a while ago....

Craig MacTavish walked into his role with the Oilers with the ballsy statement that he was going to be making some "bold" moves to better the team. Someone needs to buy Craig a dictionary, highlight the definitions of bold and better and then go throw it at his head.

To recap, BOLD has gotten the Oilers:

• Andrew Ference
• David Perron (in getting rid of Paajarvi) 
• Boyd Gordon
• Luke Gazdic
• Jason LaBarbera
• Denis Grebeshkov
• Richard Bachman
• Ryan Hamilton
• Will Acton
• Jesse Joensuu
• Philip Larsen

Now don't get me wrong, there are some good acquisitions there, whether or not they were through trade or straight up signing, but "BOLD" is certainly not the word that should be used to describe those moves. At all.
Then tonight, November 8, happened. And I have a feeling I will be editing this post by the time I post it to include another move by the Oilers, but let's just talk about what has happened already.

Read on for:
Move 1: Smid Trade
Move 2: Bryzgalov Signing


Move 1
"General Manager Craig MacTavish announced today the Edmonton Oilers have acquired centre Roman Horak and goaltender Laurent Brossoit from the Calgary Flames, in exchange for defencemen Ladislav Smid and goaltender Olivier Roy." 
Wait, what? Don't the Oilers kinda need defencemen, and have a surplus of centres? Alright then.

Goalie for goalie, basically a wash.

Laurent Brossoit

• Cap Hit: similar enough to be irrelevant
• Contract Length: Roy is in his contract year; Brossoit is under contract until 2015-16.
• Career History: Brossoit has played his entire [semi-]professional career with the Oil Kings in the WHL; Roy has played games in the QMJHL, ECHL and AHL. 

Roy might be considered slightly more veteran as he has played in a couple leagues, but basically a wash. And obviously building the team with all young players is working well for the Oilers, so why not get a younger goalie? But obviously the goalies aren't the interesting part of this trade.
Ladislav Smid, Ladislav Smid, Ladislav Smid. Oh boy. This is a tough one. Smid has been playing quite well in Edmonton, and obviously the Oilers are hurting on the back end. Trading Smid makes no sense, except to free up cap space.
Smid is arguably one of the Oilers top two defencemen, and he is nothing but heart. Everyone loves him, both on the ice with him and the fans. He's just so goofy, it's tough to dislike him.
But he's gone now.
Smid has played well in Edmonton, you can't deny that in any way, however, he is also one of the players that has the potential to flourish with a new team. For Smid's sake, I hope Calgary works out wonderfully for him, he certainly deserves it. And if it does work out well for him, that sucks for the Oilers considering he's now with the provincial rival.
Due to the goalies basically washing each other out, that makes this trade essentially Smid for Roman Horak. As for Horak, I don't know. I do everything I can to avoid watching Flames games, so I don't have a whole lot to say here. I mean I could read a ton of his stats and then just extrapolate some bullshit from it, but that wouldn't be right. I will say though, Oilers are not hurting on centre at all, so if the signing of Horak means another guy gets sent down to OKC who has certainly earned his spot in the big league, that's bull; if Horak got picked up to be sent straight down to OKC, that's a waste of Smid. So either way, the Oilers lost this trade, other than freeing up cap space. Also Horak is on the smaller side, definitely not what the Oilers need.

Ladi Smid

• Cap Hit: Smid's at 3.5 million, Horak is just over $600,000. Definitely saving money there. 
• Contract Length: Horak is in a contract year; Smid's contract is up at the end of the 2016-17 season. 
• Career History:
  Horak has split his professional career between playing with the Flames and with their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford. He's not exactly lighting it up with goals and assists, but he's not sitting at zeros across the board either.
  Smid has played his entire professional career with the Oilers with a brief stint down in Springfield. Smid's a defenceman and his stats reflect that, but he's not there to be putting up points like crazy, he's there to shut down the opponents and he does a very decent job of that. 

Move 2
"The Edmonton Oilers have reached a verbal agreement in place with goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov on a one-year contract. The agreement is pending the completion of the Oilers and Flames trade from earlier this evening." 

Well this explains some of the freeing up cap space. Only some of it though, as it is expected that Bryzgalov will only be rolling in anything from around $2.5 million and down.
Now, it's VERY apparent that the Oilers' goaltending situation is questionable at best. They have put a lot of faith and time into Dubynk developing into a star goaltender, and it's just not going to happen; Dubnyk has essentially set himself up for a life of backup. So then that leaves Jason LaBarbera. LaBarbera is good, but he's also a career back up. He can't be the guy that is counted on to play in 60 games a season, it's just  not going to work. Richard Bachman was playing down in OKC and got recalled, he played exceptionally well but now he's hurt. Despite his injury, he's also a career back up.
Three backup goalies, and no starter. How is that ever going to work? Answer? It doesn't.
With the signing of Bryzgalov, I think I've actually mentioned it on here before, but I'm not 100% sure. I personally adore Bryzgalov. I like him way more for who he is than how he plays, but I will certainly be a huge supporter of him, even if it's simply because I think he has one of the best personalities in the league. That all being said, Bryzgalov is not going to the answer for Edmonton. Bryz could be the bridge this year that buys a few wins, until the Oilers can acquire a goalie in the off-season or feel that one of the many in the system is ready for the pressures of the NHL. One of the main things that I fear will inhibit Bryz' effectiveness in Edmonton is the same reason that I love Bryzgalov - his personality. We all have seen the clips of his interactions with the media, and if you haven't, just go type his name in youtube and spend a solid half hour watching them, it's worth it. I digress though. Bryzgalov has a personality the size of Edmonton. It's going to fill that locker room. On a team full of cocky, young guys, do they need to be influenced by a personality like that? I don't know. Maybe it will all be okay and he will just teach them about the universe. Also, I don't know if Dallas Eakins will put up with some of the bullshit that Bryz pulls. It's been very clear that Eakins takes no shit from anyone, and I don't think Bryzgalov will be an exception to that rule. Definitely the potential for some friction there.
And then there's the media. The media for the Oilers is nuts because the hockey market in Edmonton is nuts. And the fans in Edmonton, they get crazier by the season, and that rubs off on the media. We all know how Bryzgalov feels about media and what he's about to be thrown into in Edmonton should throw him right off into another media meltdown.
But hey, as long as Bryzgalov has his thermos full of tea and is ready to face the north pole, he should survive this season just fine, and hopefully come out on top.

To quote my dad on all of this, because I think this sums up the frustration most Oilers fans are feeling right now.... "Nothing bold about this, other than I'm boldly upset."