Post by Declan on Aug 15, 2009 22:18:10 GMT -5
If the Edmonton Oilers could get a do-over, would they move Matt Greene and Jarret Stoll for Lubomir Visnovsky?
Would they have felt the crushing need to get the pro's pro Visnovsky from Los Angeles last summer if they knew that Denis Grebeshkov would evolve into a fine puck-mover in his own right, giving the Oilers a surplus of offensive guys on the back-end? enthusiasm, not to mention his ability to play the body.
In addition, they have yet to fill Stoll's role on draws, as a right-hander. He wins 56 to 58 per cent of his faceoffs. He may never be the second-line centre they thought he would be in his early days with the Oilers, when he had 68 points one season, but he can (a) play the point on the power play, (b) shoot a ton and (c) check and win faceoffs, something the Oilers could always use more of.
When a player wins faceoffs, especially while killing penalties, it's easier to keep the puck away from the other team as the clock ticks down.
The Oilers were 27th on the penalty-kill last season, in large part because they missed Stoll.
Sooner or later, the Oilers are going to have to trade a defenceman to get a forward who can score a goal. They are going into training camp with the same lineup that finished last season in 11th place in the NHL's Western Conference, except for 36-year-old Nikolai Khabibulin in goal rather than Dwayne Roloson, who turns 40 in October.
The Oilers struck out on Dany Heatley, who left them hanging in the wind for a month. They didn't sign any scorers as free agents. The best way to get one would be to move a defenceman, but that likely won't play out until training camp is over and the Oilers see which teams are scrambling for puck-movers.
Teams all need offensive defencemen. The Oilers have two (Souray, 53 points, and Gilbert, 45)who finished in the top four of the team's scoring race. Grebeshkov was eighth with 39 points in 72 games, while Visnovsky had 31 in just 50 games, good for 11th place.
They could move one of them for a scorer, but they have lost Greene and Stoll.
Have they replaced them? No, they haven't.
www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/edmonton-oilers/Oilers+sacrifice+much+Visnovsky/1892817/story.html