If he does indeed want to come back home like it's been speculated the Oilers should make a strong push to acquire him. Maybe a combination of Penner and Taylor Chorney would get the job done? By adding Bouwmeester it would allow the Oilers the flexibility of dealing Denis Grebeshkov for a young forward.
It would also give the Oilers a cornerstone on defense to compliment their cornerstone up front (Hemsky). Not to mention that UFA contract should be significantly cheaper than they have been in quite some time with the shrinking salary cap.
If we could sign him for $5 million per for 7 years that would be a superb deal for the Oilers. Sheldon Souray has paved the way in terms of high profile Alberta born players returning to play for their boyhood team. If we could encourage that to happen, we could ice a team with people that know first hand what wearing the Oil drop means and who would play with pride.
The Oilers have to do something to entice quality players to play in Edmonton. If they concentrate on kids that grew up as Oilers fans they could build a winning environment with locally born talent.
Imagine a team with 10 players that have the same enthusiasm that Jordan Eberle did when he was drafted by the Oil. Detroit has the Swedes, we should concentrate on Alberta boys that want to come home.
3 comments:
How are you going to get a gut who turned down 5+ years at 7-8 million a year to accept 5 million a year? The Cap going down is still likely a year away and the Top End guys won't be the one's taking the pay cuts. A good barometer I would say is this year's MLB Free Agents. Top Guys still getting paid, mid, low end and older guys getting the shaft.
Also, I'm pretty sure Jay doesn't want to go from one bad team to another as sad as it makes me to say it. The Oilers need an impact forward ASAP (Hossa or Kovalchuk) not another Top End D man.
guy not gut
I think the only way Bouwmeester could come to Edmonton would be if Visnovksy was sent the other way. I could see a deal being made with him a prospect and a pick possibly. What I would be weary of would be the pressure of being an edmonton native playing in edmonton. I dread to think of him being traded for and pulling a Joffrey Lupul...
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