Oilers defense pairing for next season

From Dave Staples of the Cult of Hockey:

Charlie Huddy told Dan Tencer of 630 CHED that the Oilers plan to go with Smid
paired up with Denis Grebeshkov to start, also Lubomir Visnovsky and Tom
Gilbert, as well as Steve Staios and Sheldon Souray.

Read the entire post here.

Looks like a pretty solid top six to me.

Oilers will miss Pitkanen

From John MacKinnon of the Edmonton Journal:

He also had a reputation for fragility and for being a bit of a loner, an introvert, which can make it difficult to fit in, especially in a tight locker room like the Oilers.

Still, he's a big-time talent and just 24 years old, a guy who ate up minutes, skated with ridiculous ease and posseses high-end skill.

I'll miss the guy and, sooner or later, I think the Oilers will, too.

Meanwhile, Lubomir Visnovsky, who will turn 32 before the 2008-09 season opens, will earn $7 million this season, the first year of his five-year contract.

Read more from Sweatsox here.

I can see the Pitkanen argument from both sides. But I think everyone agrees on one thing, and that's that Visnovsky's 2007/08 better not have been a sign of his imminent decline.

The Edmonton take on the Visnovsky trade

From Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal:

"Although it's tough to see good players and good people move on, we feel we've made a step towards improving our overall offence," general manager Kevin Lowe said in statement released by the team. "(Visnovsky) has been one of the premier offensive defencemen over the past five years."

Read the short article here.

From Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun:

In making this deal, Lowe telegraphed another - acquiring Visnovsky means Pitkanen is about to become part of a package deal for a forward.

Read the entire article here.

From Jonathan at Copper & Blue:

What does this do to the Oilers defense? The first thing I'd like to point out is that the Oilers have made the correct choice in the Smid vs. Greene choice for the bottom pairing, since in addition to his higher upside and younger age, Smid's already a better player. Secondly, the obvious answer is that Joni Pitkanen is on his way out of town, because there simply isn't room for 4 defensemen in the 4M+ range. As nice as it is to imagine that the Oilers have Sheldon Souray on the way out, it just isn't happening, and Tom Gilbert just signed a long-term deal, so Pitkanen's out, likely for a top-6 forward with grit. My guess would be Erik Cole, but there are other possibilities. It's too bad, really; Pitkanen's a better player than we've seen to date.

Read his entire entry here.

There you have it. I have to admit, I am somewhat surprised by this deal. With Souray having a contract that no one will take on, the Oilers have a lot of money locked up in him and Visnovsky. Also, with this trade most definitely comes the inevitable trade of Joni Pitkanen. If Pitkanen is traded for another higher salaried player, then I think the Oilers will have taken on too much money. Keeping Pitkanen, who is younger and has more prime years, and trading for a scoring winger (I guess that wasn't possible) may have been the preferred route.

Lombardi's take on the Visnovsky trade

From Rich Hammond of the L.A. Daily News:

"It's never easy to give up a player of (Visnovsky's) caliber, but for the direction of this franchise, this exchange allows us to add two players who fit the long-term vision for this team," Kings president and general manager Dean Lombardi said in a statement.

Read the entire article here.

The Kings are clearly purging some salary that was going to their veteran players, and re-allocating that money to their youthful core.

Visnovsky traded to Oilers

From Lowetide:

The Edmonton Oilers have acquired defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for C Jarret Stoll and D Matt Greene.

A hat tip to Bob Stauffer from Team 1260 for getting to this before everyone else.

The trade just happened so I think it's important to take a look at it one item at a time.

Visnovsky: His contract is 7M, 7M, 6M, 5M, 3M and isn't complete until the summer of 2013. The annual cap hit is $5.6M, effectively making him the highest paid player on the roster.

Read more on the trade here.

Not very surprising that the Oilers dealt Stoll and Greene, however, it is quite surprising that they traded for a big-time offensive defenseman. Speculation had the Oilers looking for a steady veteran defenseman, and an offensive scoring winger. While Visnovsky is a good puck-mover and power play quarterback, he is quite expensive. Unless there is something we don't know about Sheldon Souray, then I don't really understand this deal. It seems like Lowe has a bigger plan in action here, but we will have to wait and see if that is truly the case.