Would The Oilers Management Have The Balls For A Proper Rebuild?

If the Oilers can't acquire Heatley or a player of his ilk it seems as if the team is already on the outside looking in on the western conference playoff picture before the first puck drops to open the '09-10 NHL season.

The team isn't a winner, doesn't have elite young talent at the NHL level, and seems to be blacklisted by many NHL players. In essence we are screwed from all fronts. We can either try to overpay players to come here or try to rebuild this team from the ground up.

Here is what I propose......

Keepers:
Gagner
Cogliano
Gilbert
Grebeshkov
Jacques
Stortini
O'Sullivan
Horcoff (we're stuck with his salary)
Penner (we're stuck with his salary)
Smid

Trade Bait:
Hemsky
Souray
Visnovsky
Staios
Moreau
Pisani
Nilsson (shed more salary)

Promote:
Peckham
Schremp
Brule
Stone

I'd hate to move Hemsky and Souray, but who are we kidding? If we can't get quality players to come here we're screwed unless Hemsky and 1 of Gagner, MPS, or another prospect/young player becomes a legit superstar. We may as well move Hemsly because he is our best trading chip and he cannot be happy with the direction of this franchise and maybe not signing Kotalik could have cut deep for him unless we do somehow catch the Hail Mary pass and land Heatley.

Souray for Jack Johnson and a 2nd round pick/prospect
Visnovsky for Jakub Voracek and Jason Chimera
Hemsky for Atlanta's '10 1st round pick, Ondrej Pavelec, and a 2nd round pick in '10
Ethan Moreau to ? for a 2nd or 3rd round pick in '10
Staios to ? for a 2nd round or 3rd round pick in '10
Pisani to ? for a 2nd round or 3rd round pick in '10
Nilsson to ? for a 3rd round pick in '10

Let's look at the blown up roster at this point.....

O'Sullivan-Gagner-Voracek
Chimera-Horcoff-Penner
Schremp-Brule-Cogliano
Jacques-Stone/Pouliot-Stortini
Stone/Pouliot, MacIntyre

Grebeshkov-Gilbert
Smid-Johnson
Peckham-Strudwick
?

Khabibulin
Deslauriers

Also acquired but not listed in the revised lineup are: Ondrej Pavelec, Atlantas '10 1st rounder, and no less than five 2nd and 3rd round picks. That's 6 top 90 picks in the '10 draft along with our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks. That's 9 selections in the first 90 picks or one out 0f every 10. We could package 2 second rounders to get into the bottom 1/2 of the 1st round or use some to trade up on either or both of our 2 1st rounders (if we don't land the #1 overall with our gutted team). Needless to say the '10 draft would be a landmark in Oilers drafting history and it would be time for the Oilers to really make a move in terms of building the future of this team.

Then in '10-11 we bring MPS over as well as Omark, Petry maybe ready, so could guys like Chorney, Wild, Eberle, and maybe a few others that step up their games in the '09-10 season.

Omark/MPS-Gagner-Voracek
MPS/Omark/Schremp-O'Sullivan-Eberle
Cogliano-Horcoff-Penner
Chimera-Brule-Jacques

Grebs-Gilbert
Smid-Johnson
Peckham-Petry
?

Khabibulin
JDD/Pavelec/Dubnyk

The bottom line is that we build around what we have already drafted or accumulated via trades and what we will be drafting with a lottery pick in '10 and a number of other high picks. It will be an ongoing thing for at least 3 seasons but at least we would be stockpiling our system and getting a bunch of guys like Gagner, Cogliano, O'Sullivan, Johnson, Smid, etc. all entering their primes in about 3 seasons time. It might not be what we all were hoping for after almost winning it all in '05-06, but if we went that route then, maybe we'd be in a much better position now, or at least the future would look much better with more young talent and none of the Horcoff, Penner, Souray, or Visnovsky deals on the books.

Quinn could teach these young players a lot in his 3 seasons as the bench boss. A veteran coach like him could leave a great impression on our current and upcoming young players. Withing 3 seasons our cupboards would be stocked and our young guys would be coming into their own. Seems like the right thing to do unless Tambellini is nothing short of a genius that can fleece a number of other GM's something fierce and shed salary while vastly improving our team in the process.