For as ridiculous as the above headline is in 2011 terms, this almost happened back in 2007 when Edmonton signed Thomas Vanek to a monster offer sheet. Had Buffalo let Vanek walk, the Oilers would have none of the above players. That offer sheet turned out to be too much too soon, and now Buffalo is saddled with a good but very over-priced player instead of 4 first round picks. Relax Sabres fans, there is no guarantee that Buffalo would have drafted those players had they accepted the picks, maybe Edmonton gets a little better and the picks aren't as high, but still it illustrates what a terrible business decision that was. Hindsight being 50-50, Edmonton would have lost out on 4 of the best prospects in hockey had they acquired Thomas Vanek (who has averaged 63 PTS over the last 2 seasons).
If you ask me, Edmonton made a dumb move offering the offer sheet, only to be saved by the Buffalo Sabres making a similarly stupid decision by matching the offer. If Edmonton decided to trade all 4 of those players tomorrow, they could get a heroes ransom in return.
owner of the oilers is diehard fan who wants to win cups in the future, everyone knows he is tanking on purpose. last few games of the past two seasons key players get "injured" for exactly the remainder of the season.
ReplyDeleteif edmonton traded those picks they might have actually tried to build a team the past couple years instead of letting an ahl team wear their colours