[Trade] Oilers trade Gagner to Tampa for Purcell. Tampa flips Gagner to Coyotes for a 6th

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Dion

Denver hockey writer Adrian Dater @adater
Two grossly overpaid, mediocre forwards change hands with Oilers-Lightning. Nothing to get excited over

Mark Spector ‏@SportsnetSpec
Gagner’s future is as a winger, IMO. Oil now short at C, unless they’ve penned Draisaitl in at No. 2 C.

Globe & Mail hockey writer James Mirtle ‏@mirtle
Oilers really rebuilding the rebuild now aren’t they?

RCN ‏@RossCreekNation
@hockeysymposium Oilers C depth chart:
1. Nuge
2. player to be named later
3. Draisaitl
4. Gordon
5. Arcobello
6. Lander

Not a fan of Dater at all but he does get it right as it's just bad contracts changing hands. MacT really has made a lot of moves over the past year maybe more than any other team but none of them of the bold variety. All of them what I would call medium to small moves over the past year but at the end of the day I look at that roster and I just don't see the progress. On paper they kind of look worse than they did a few years ago.

[killer_carlson]

Lecavalier, st louis, richards and boyle

[4oh3]

I really hope the oilers get fleeced for yak. Rub it in the faces of oil fans that think he'll be like ovechkin. His value is low already.

[EldrickOnIce]

All it really means is Gagner' value outside of Edmonton is exactly what we thought it was - nothing.
Given that, that MacT got an asset (such as it is) for something that has zero value is probably a decent deal in Edmonton.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Can we please stop continuously linking back to HFboards? While some of them are funny, I don't need a play-by-play of what Oiler fans are thinking. If I wanted that I'd go sign up over there.

If I wanted to know what Oiler fans think I'd be an alcoholic with a lobotomy.

[Erick Estrada]

To put things into perspective what does that mean when your 2nd line center has negative value? Backlund was drafted 18 spots below Gagner and I can guarantee if the Flames put him on the market there would be considerable interest and the offers would be better than mediocre players with bad contracts. Kind of puts that draft into perspective now and how bad the Oilers botch things when they aren't picking first overall. They could have had Couture, Sutter, McDonagh, Pacioretty, Backlund, etc. Heck they could have drafted Perron and wouldn't have had to give up a 2nd round pick and another of their 1st round busts (Paavari) for him. Man the Oilers really are no good.

[4oh3]

Draisatl has nowhere near the same buzz Hall,RNH, or yakupov had. Look at them now. Look at Draisatl in 3 years. I bet him and yak sign together in Russia.

[dammage79]

I know it's all the rage to hate Oilers picks. But Draisaitl seems like a good egg. I really hope for the best for him. The rest of their prized picks can all burn though, except maybe RNH, he also seems like a good egg but the Oilers left him out under the sun too long. Too bad.

Disappointing that the same may very well be happening to Draisaitl as well.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I know it's all the rage to hate Oilers picks. But Draisaitl seems like a good egg. I really hope for the best for him. The rest of their prized picks can all burn though, except maybe RNH, he also seems like a good egg but the Oilers left him out under the sun too long. Too bad.

Disappointing that the same may very well be happening to Draisaitl as well.

I feel sorry for all of them, actually.
No matter how good they are/were - they can't overcome the no good that is Edmonton.
They were just unlucky kids afterall, like Draisatl.

One of the reasons Sam Bennet was grinning so broadly is because he dodged that death sentence.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

To put things into perspective what does that mean when your 2nd line center has negative value? Backlund was drafted 18 spots below Gagner and I can guarantee if the Flames put him on the market there would be considerable interest and the offers would be better than mediocre players with bad contracts. Kind of puts that draft into perspective now and how bad the Oilers botch things when they aren't picking first overall. They could have had Couture, Sutter, McDonagh, Pacioretty, Backlund, etc. Heck they could have drafted Perron and wouldn't have had to give up a 2nd round pick and another of their 1st round busts (Paavari) for him. Man the Oilers really are no good.

You can pretty much say the same things with every draft and every team.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I know it's all the rage to hate Oilers picks. But Draisaitl seems like a good egg. I really hope for the best for him. The rest of their prized picks can all burn though, except maybe RNH, he also seems like a good egg but the Oilers left him out under the sun too long. Too bad.

Disappointing that the same may very well be happening to Draisaitl as well.

Yeah he looks to be of high character. I guess it's a matter of seeing if he gets sucked into the Oiler dysfunctional culture.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I know it's all the rage to hate Oilers picks. But Draisaitl seems like a good egg. I really hope for the best for him. The rest of their prized picks can all burn though, except maybe RNH, he also seems like a good egg but the Oilers left him out under the sun too long. Too bad.

Disappointing that the same may very well be happening to Draisaitl as well.

I hope they all have careers like Cogliano: Start with strong rookie campaigns that get all the Oily fans revved up, followed by declining performance every subsequent year until the Oilers finally dump them for a minimal return. Then, reboot their careers with their new team, leaving everyone wondering, "Did the Oilers give up on him too soon?"

Repeat forever.

[djsFlames]

That they're penciling Draisaitl in as the #2 center already is the proof on top of proof that they're no good.

Seriously, does no one over there believe in even an iota of development or patience when it comes to highly skilled prospects? Learn from the past, you duds.

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

My brother loves Stauffer. Told me he's really connected and really hockey smart. Listens to his podcast daily.

Jones is usually better, but jeez

Stauffer is smart enough to know that so long as he is the #1 Oiler prostitute, he'll always have a job... that blows...

But he is highly entertaining (to a point) while he spins his wheel of justification to rationalize Mac-T's moves.

[AlbertaOiler72]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

That they're penciling Draisaitl in as the #2 center already is the proof on top of proof that they're no good.

Seriously, does no one over there believe in even an iota of development or patience when it comes to highly skilled prospects? Learn from the past, you duds.

wait...what?
link?

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

That they're penciling Draisaitl in as the #2 center

To be fair, until free agency is over we don't know this to be the case.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by nobles_point

Stauffer is smart enough to know that so long as he is the #1 Oiler prostitute, he'll always have a job... that blows...

But he is highly entertaining (to a point) while he spins his wheel of justification to rationalize Mac-T's moves.

Stauffer was the biggest critic of the Oilers in the Edmonton media, so Katz bought him. Have to love that business strategy.
Katz only looks like an idiot.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

There's no way LD starts as the #2 C for the Oilers next season. I mean, I guess it's not impossible, but unless they want to wreck his development and their season they shouldn't do it.

[Boreal]

That would be like Murray Edwards hiring a broadcast team of Bruce Dowbiggin & Eric Francis to silence dissent so Darryl remained GM. I agree, brilliant strategy. The Oil are a great case study in understanding the perils of groupthink.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

There's no way LD starts as the #2 C for the Oilers next season. I mean, I guess it's not impossible, but unless they want to wreck his development and their season they shouldn't do it.

This is the Oilers we're talking about.