Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Hemsky On The Move? Hopefully


Ales Hemsky is a perfect candidate to move for Steve Tambellini. He has a track record of point production, is signed for next season, and he's in his prime. Now the bad part, he's injury prone, doesn't have the ability to develop chemistry easily with most other players, and the Oilers are loaded on the wings while also having glaring weaknesses on the blue line and down the middle.

Ales Hemsky is a fine trading chip at this point and if Steve Tambellini is even an average GM he should be fetching quite a nice return for Hemsky before long. There appears to be numerous suitors and it also appears to be a sellers market. Everything points to either Hemsky or Dustin Penner being on the move before February 28th, perhaps even both players could end their tenure's as Oilers in less than two weeks time.

With the Oilers being so far from contention it makes little sense to lock Hemsky up long term considering his injury woes as well as the emergence of our rookie wingers. The Oilers have both Jordan Eberle and Sam Gagner to work the left side half boards on the PP, and they have Eberle as the heir apparent to Hemsky's throne as the teams top RW. It's time to see what Steve Tambellini is made of as a potential Hemsky trade could be the defining moment of his short career here in Edmonton. A botched trade could really set the rebuild back, while a clear win could go a long way into turning this team into a perennial powerhouse.

Thanks for the memories Ales.

4 comments:

Jefferson Rank said...

Good riddance. That is, if he doesn't break his arms and concuss himself circling into the boards the night before the deadline.

Bryanbryoil said...

Yeah if Tambellini gets the deal that he wants he shouldn't wait until deadline day because of his injury history. Also is a 1st is involved and he gets hurt shortly after being traded there that helps our draft position.

slopitch said...

Hey Bryan, its Sean the guy who sat behind you at the Oilers game vs LA. How were the better seats?

Im not behind trading Hemsky unless the return is exceptional. It has to be a trade that the Oilers win in the next 1-2 years or we will be the perpetual rebuild.

Bryanbryoil said...

Hey Sean! The other seats were exceptional! As for winning the trade short term, IMO that's pretty unrealistic unless a guy like Schenn or Bogosian is the return. I believe that we see another bottom 10 finish next year and then the following season we'll be in the thick of the playoff race.

IMO we can afford to wait on these assets if need be, of course it'd be ideal to land Schenn or Bogosian but I'm not sold that those deals are on the table for us now or on deadline day to be honest.

My major concern with Hemsky Vs. a guy like Penner is the durability issue, Hemsky is in his prime but in 4-5 years from now all of this abuse will factor into his quality of play, that and the fact that he is already having a devil of a time staying healthy despite being in the prime of his life.