I was reading a comment on an Oilers fan page on Facebook just now. There's so many Oilers fans still ripping General Manager Craig MacTavish for his inactivity so far this summer. I'm not sure I agree.
You all remember the Summer of Steve? That was a few years ago, when then-Oilers GM Steve Tambellini made around six roster moves in one day. Added Andy Sutton, Ben Eager, Darcy Hordichuk, Eric Belanger, and Cam Barker. I forget who #6 was. Was reacquiring Ryan Smyth part of the Summer of Steve? I think it was.
What's important to this discussion is, Tambellini failed miserably. Sutton's career has ended due to injury. During his short playing time as an Oilers, he missed a number of games due to suspensions.
Eager and Barker both possess potential but are head cases. Belanger cares not, Hordichuk isn't good enough to be in the NHL, and Smyth's career seemed to tank after a solid 42 game stretch in his first season back after the Oilers. All six players, on a scale from 1 to 10, rated a combined 1 or 2. Brutal.
Let's look at MacT's Bold Summer '13.
- Acquired a legit Top 6 winger in David Perron by dealing a pick and a legit 3rd line winger in Magnus Paajarvi. Winner? Oilers.
- Signed UFA Boyd Gordon and made a roster spot for him by moving Shawn Horcoff. I consider Gordon's and Horcoff's ability more or less equal. Not saying they play the same way...just that they are more or less equals with respect to talent and skill. Only Gordon is younger, meaner, and comes with a $2.5mil less cap hit per season. Winner? Oilers.
- MacT signed a competent backup goalie in Jason Labarbera. He signed a legitimate NHL defenseman who possesses toughness and grit in Andrew Ference. He signed a number of other tougher players who are borderline NHL'ers. Will Acton, Ryan Hamilton, Jesse Joensuu, and Richard Bachman. When Tambellini signed Eager and Belanger, they were billed as a big part of the future solution. Everyone knows Gordon and Ference are the significant UFA signings this time around, and they're completely in a different class than Eager and Belanger. The other depth players signed by MacTavish aren't being asked to save the team. No one expects them do. They'll play in the AHL, or NHL, and regardless where they are, they're good enough to contribute on at least some level. Winner? Oilers
- MacT dumped Head Coach Ralph Krueger and replaced him with It-Kid Dallas Eakins. Krueger is a lovely, lovely man, but perhaps that has been part of the problem. Eakins is a fitness freak who is tough as nails and isn't afraid to kick guys in the shins when required. I could have lived with Krueger getting another season to prove himself, but I'm stoked to see what Eakins will do with this team. Winner? Oilers
- Oilers management have so far managed to accomplish another goal, which was dumping dead weight and prospects who were going nowhere. Goodbye Peckham, Plante, Teubert, and many, many others. It was about time the Oilers did this, as last season, the depth on the farm was keeping several key prospects off the ice. We need players like Curtis Hamilton and Tyler Pitlick to be playing quality minutes, for the very least so we can rule them out as future Oilers. Maybe, just maybe, one of them will turn into something if they actually get to play. Winner? Oilers.
We've looked at positives. Negatives.
- Sam Gagner remains unsigned and has filed for salary arbitration.
- Ales Hemsky has yet to be dealt.
- The Oilers didn't do anything exciting at the NHL Draft. However, time could show this was more positive than negative. Much depends on how Darnell Nurse turns out.
- The Oilers are still requiring two 3rd line wingers, and perhaps now have one too many NHL-level defenseman. Some feel the team has yet to add the key piece for the D: A top-pairing left-side defenseman.
- Some still consider the Oilers to have a lack of size (although I think in truth the team is about average compared to others in the league).
Here's the good news about the bad news: Gagner is going to get signed, and if he isn't, the Oilers will be able to deal him for something of quality. Hemsky has trade value, and can be used to bring in one of the missing 3rd line wingers. MacT can turn one of the extra D into the other required 3rd line winger. So in other words, all roster issues outside of adding a top-pairing D man are manageable this summer.
I think Craig MacTavish is doing very well as the GM and the Oilers will be a playoff team next spring. His summer isn't over, but I have confidence he'll get the moves done he needs to. It's going to be a great season.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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