Willis: Oilers fleeced Flames in Smid trade

[heep223]

Smid is a good complement to our 3 puck moving, skating d-men. I actually think our D has great balance right now...need guys like him for toughness and to play against other teams 3rd lines.

I just basically ignore anything coming out of the Oilers camp. They're desperate for any kind of good news given the inevitable rebuild the rebuild that's coming. I'm actually starting to feel bad for their fans...

[mile]

lol

[dissentowner]

I bet if you polled fans of neither team about this trade 99% would say we fleeced Edmonton.
The sad part is this guy is drawing a paycheck to write this garbage.

[Flash Walken]

I can't help myself:

Smid went from being a top pairing/top 4 defender for the last place team in the league to a bottom pairing defender on a bottom 10 in the league.

He'll be part of a package for a top pairing defender or he'll be an important part of a contending team, according to Willis. Reality is knocking and letting you know Smid was moved for a guy who chose to play in the KHL and a Goalie who plays two leagues below the NHL. That's either a staggering ####up by management or it's a staggering ####up by Willis to label Smid as such.

Either scenario is so far away from a fleecing that one has to wonder if Jonathan Willis has a different dictionary than the rest of us.

Here's another Willis gem to rub it in our faces. Ooooh, that Jonathan Willis, he gets me every time with his facts, analysis and critical thinking:

My Cult colleague Jonathan Willis thinks the Flames did well here. On Twitter, he wrote, “They just added a solid defenceman and a marginal prospect for a pair of middling prospects. Nicely done.”

As for the Oilers’ side of it, Willis said: “For those asking, my reaction is this: it depends what happens next. If it stops here, I think it was a poor move for EDM. I doubt it does.”

We all know that it did, indeed, stop there.

[jammies]

0% of goals against the Oilers this year have occurred while Roman Horak has been on the ice. ZERO PERCENT!!!! Trade. Won.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Willis

"The players coming back were marginal prospects with some positive points (Roman Horak’s playing nicely in the KHL these days, Laurent Brossoit has shown flashes in the ECHL)."

I quite love that this is the best that the Oilers apologist can bring himself to claim for the return that Edmonton received in the trace. By "fleece," he must mean "burlap."

[Coach]

We have an NHL player. They don't. I don't even need to read the article to know that it's a joke.

Horak should be on their team, but he bolted because he didn't get a fair shake. Seriously, with the C depth they have, how was Horak not on the team from the first day of the trade? Guy is a good player.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Edmonton Oilers;
Rays of sun on Rexall Place;
Edmonton Oilers.

This is very no good
Edmonton Oilers Haiku
Very much no good

[nemanja2306]

Two things. One, love how he wrote this after the Oilers went 4-1 in the last five, and NOT when they were in contention to be the last team in the league to win a game.

And two, Smid is still better than most of their d-men.

[Locke]

The best part was that they only got rid of Smid in order to sign Bryzgalov. One of the many who left Edmonton to play in Siberia.

Siberia >> Edmonton

[BurningSteel]

I willl let out anthem singer George explain this one.

THATS JUST DRINKIN THINKIN, LIQUOR LOGIC IN A CAN
YOUR BRAIN-CELLS PARTY, AND YOUR BODY
BELIEVES YOURE SUPERMAN
THATS JUST DRINKIN THINKIN
AND HERES WHERE THE TROUBLE STARTS
THE MORE YOU DRINK, THE BETTER YOU THINK YOU ARE

[Flash Walken]

Because it's slow today, here's so more Creskin-esque 'Journalism' from Jonathan Willis:

A $4 million cap hit – the number Van Diest suggests – is less than ideal, but with a weak group of free agents on defence this summer it might be less than what Smid would get on the open market. Given the player’s repeatedly stated desire to stay in Edmonton, I wonder if the team might not be able to knock down the cap hit a little – perhaps by offering another year or by frontloading the deal a bit. Even if they can’t, Smid is the best left-side defenceman currently on the roster and is only replaceable via trade – something that’s likely to be a costly proposition.

In other words: in a perfect world, the dollars would be a little lower, but the critical thing is getting an important player under contract.

http://############.com/2013/3/31/is...-deal-imminent

HE'S ONLY REPLACEABLE BY TRADE

HE WAS TRADED

HE WASN'T REPLACED

Conclusion:

Fleeced.

This guy is a corner boy and the oilers are a drug. He's just peddling whatever stepped on, low grade, hazardous dope he's got, taking advantage of the goodly and needy nature of the dope fiends (oiler fans) around him. He knows he's wrong, but he doesn't care, as long as he makes that bank.

To quote The Wire:

If you live in Edmonton, you ain't ####, but if you write blog posts there, you got the game by the ass!

When Lowe referred to the 2 types of fans, I think unconsciously this is what he meant. They have tier 1, the guys who lie to themselves and others promoting the club no matter what and then you have tier 2 who don't profit off of the team whatsoever who have criticisms.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by MattyC

We have an NHL player. They don't. I don't even need to read the article to know that it's a joke.

Horak should be on their team, but he bolted because he didn't get a fair shake. Seriously, with the C depth they have, how was Horak not on the team from the first day of the trade? Guy is a good player.

I agree. I seem to recall we liked Horak. Just had no room for him. If Horak was playing for them, maybe we call it a wash... but nope, this wasn't a fleece. I say it was just pure dumb asset management by Edmonton.

[krynski]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Different % of what with or without Smid? With Smid the Flames defensemen drank between 3.0 and 14.1 less Gatorade?

Very informative article. It has about as much detail as the oilers coaches strategy book.

What was the unit of measure?

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by krynski

What was the unit of measure?

Corsi. Shots for %

[trumpethead]

Actually the only player showing 'flashes' in the ECHL this season is Olivier Roy. Laurent Brossoit has started exactly 2 AHL games this season and has won neither

[Coach]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I agree. I seem to recall we liked Horak. Just had no room for him. If Horak was playing for them, maybe we call it a wash... but nope, this wasn't a fleece. I say it was just pure dumb asset management by Edmonton.

Yup. And if they had been able to retain Horak, he would have been able to take Draisitel's place so they didn't have to keep him.

I'm not sure he even received a recall last season. I'm convinced the Oilers' managment honestly can't recognize something called "defensive awareness". Can't value something you don't see.

[Nme-Territory]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

This is very no good
Edmonton Oilers Haiku
Very much no good

Ummm...

Five in the first line
Seven in the second line
Five in the third line

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I bet if you polled fans of neither team about this trade 99% would say we fleeced Edmonton.
The sad part is this guy is drawing a paycheck to write this garbage.

A half a chocolate bar for an empty wrapper. No way we got fleeced, but no team who picks up Smid can cackle about fleecing anyone.

Smid is not a very good defenseman, but neither prospect is going to play for them

[Senator Clay Davis]

Edmonton sports journalists are so bizarre. Most local sports writers live to slam the home team, yet these guys bend over backwards to try and make an utterly horrible team somehow not horrible. It's almost like Stockholm Syndrome or something.