Edmonton Oilers: Talking Reinhart and Trade Bait

The Edmonton Oilers are not on pace for the 6 points that I thought they could earn this Eastern Road Trip. They could end up with a potential five points, which is some what close, but boy.

There were two stinker games and one of them we managed to get a point. I do not get this team at all. They can make teams like Carolina, which are not that good, look like Stanley Cup contenders, but on the flip side they are able to hang tight with teams like Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington and Pittsburgh.

They somewhat remind me of the 1980-81 team from The Game of our Lives by Peter Gzowski. In that book (I wasn’t around for that season), the Edmonton Oilers are a young team that are struggling to find wins. They could contend and beat teams they should not beat but lose in spectacular fashion against teams they are capable of beating. I’m not saying that this current iteration is close to the second season of Gretzky, Messier and with rookies like Kurri and Coffey, but it’s just curious that this current team is able to hang in there.

Still, fans and media are angry. We’ve had posts saying that the Oilers are not a 30th place team, but they are. Sure, they are improved in some other aspects but at the end of the day, they are still tied for dead last in the NHL.

I wonder how much this season would have been different if McDavid did not break his clavicle.

Griffin Reinhart

Reinhart was sent down to Bakersfield as Justin Schutlz returned to the line up.

This in turn, drove out the unreasonable claims that the trade was a failure. Could it be? Sure. Right now? Too soon to tell.

Look. I get the cost of Griffin Reinhart was a lot. A 16th overall pick and a 33rd overall pick. It was a steep price for a guy who is not a bonafide NHLer. What I don’t understand is that people are ready to proclaim that this trade was a huge back fire for management. My counter argument is that we will not know the true winner of this trade until a few seasons for every asset in play.

Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beaulivier are looking like fine NHL prospects. Are they NHL players right now? No. That would be unreasonable to expect them to be in the NHL.

You could also interpret Chiarelli’s words when he claimed that Reinhart would be a top four guy at some point. Chiarelli did not say when though. Chiarelli did say that he had to make the team. Look at Reinhart’s Time on Ice: out of all defenceman he was ranked 8th. That did not mean that Reinhart was going to be immediately a top four defenceman. Who was Reinhart’s most common partner? Eric Gryba.

For crying out loud: Let’s not write off this trade because a rookie defenceman was playing third pairing minutes and was sent down because he was not waiver eligible (where they would not want to risk losing Davidson, Gryba and could not move Ference).

He’s 21. Defenceman do not develop in a linear fashion. Jeff Petry did not have his rookie season until he was 23 and he’s playing extremely well on a good Montreal Canadiens team.

The reasonable way to judge this trade is to wait a couple years to see how this trade pans out. It’s as simple as that.

For example: The Dustin Penner trade to Los Angeles featured Colten Teubert and a 2011 1st round pick and a conditional pick.

Five years later: Penner won a Stanley Cup with the Kings that season, while Teubert was a bust. However, we are finally seeing Klefbom pretty good. So who won that trade? In 2011, Los Angeles because they did win the cup with Penner playing a role. Now though? Penner is out of the NHL. Teubert is out of the NHL. Klefbom is looking solid.

Give it time. I’m biased in favor of Reinhart. I would have loved to see him play with someone not named Eric Gryba. Silver lining is that he will play top minutes in Bakersfield and hopefully exceed. Brandon Davidson looks like a real keeper lately too. There’s still hope for Reinhart and we can’t give up on that after 12 games played.

Trade Bait

There was a lot of rabble rousing when some media members suggested that the Oilers should trade a core piece like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle because they were “soft” skilled players.

I think it would be a grand mistake to trade away Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. A very costly one. Why can’t the Oilers finally have center depth? Right now, Nugent-Hopkins is the most responsible defensive forward on the team. Yeah, he’s not piling up the points, but he actually goes into the corners. I think the soft claim is pretty ridiculous.

Jordan Eberle on the other hand, is probably my first pick to get traded, especially with the Hamonic rumors still lingering. I listed Eberle as the most likely candidate to get dealt and I still stand by that. I don’t know for what or where, but in terms of assets I think he’s the most expendable.

He plays a position that is not exactly a high need. Yakupov does not have trade value since McDavid went down and he too is out with an injury. At this point, I’m crazy, but I’d almost consider keeping Teddy Purcell. Yet, I think Purcell too is trade bait for a draft pick for a playoff bound team.

More from Oil On Whyte

Eberle hasn’t produced this season. Yes, he was injured. However, a pathetic three goals and three points in 11 games is woeful. Especially for someone who is part of the core.

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