As summer winds down, it signifies many things, the most important being, the new hockey season. For the Oilers it has not been the whirl-wind offseason like it was last year with a certain selfish sniper named Dany Heatley. But, that is long forgotten (somewhat), and as we Oilers fans begin to speculate who has it to make the NHL squad, let's take a look back at what transactions took place in this rather satisfying offseason for the Edmonton Oilers after their historic draft:
June 29 - Oilers waive Captain Ethan Moreau, who is picked up by the Columbus Blue Jackets on June 30th
June 30 - Oilers trade Patrick O'Sullivan for more than he's worth (a bag of pucks in my opinion), and received Jim Vandermeer from the Phoenix Coyotes (O'Sullivan's contract is bought out by the Coyotes hours after the trade)
June 30 - Oilers buy out the remainder of Robert Nilsson's contract, he signs with KHL's Salavat Yulaev on July 23rd
July 1 - Oilers sign big D-man Kurtis Foster, who has a had a very tough career but is a very solid player.
July 1 - Oilers UFA Charles Linglet signs with KHL's Nijni Novgorod
July 2 - Oilers UFA Chris Minard signs with the Detroit Red Wings
July 2 - Oilers sign UFA Richard Petiot to a 1-year contract
July 2 - Oilers re-sign UFA Jason Strudwick to a 1-year contract
July 2 - Oilers bring back UFA tough guy Steve MacIntyre on a 1-year contract
July 3 - Oilers sign former AHL MVP UFA Alexandre Giroux to a 1-year contract
July 5 - Oilers sign Number 1 Pick Taylor Hall to a 3-year Entry Level Contract
July 7 - Oilers UFA Ryan Stone signs with the Calgary Flames
July 7 - Oilers sign UFA Brad Moran to a 1-year contract
July 9 - Oilers sign UFA Ben Ondrus to a 1-year contract
July 9 - Oilers UFA Colin McDonald signs an AHL contract with the Oklahoma City Barons
July 13 - Oilers re-sign RFA Devan Dubnyk to a 2-year contract
July 13 - Oilers sign UFA Shawn Belle to a 1-year contract
July 14 - Oilers re-sign RFA J.-F. Jacques to a 1-year contract
July 15 - Oilers re-sign RFA Theo Peckham to a 1-year contract
July 16 - Oilers UFA Slava Trukhno signs with KHL's Novosibirsk
July 16 - Oilers sign UFA Gregory Stewart to a 1-year contract
July 16 - Oilers re-sign RFA Ryan O'Marra to a 1-year contract
July 23 - Oilers UFA Marc-Antoine Pouliot signs with the Tampa Bay Lightning
July 27 - Oilers re-sign RFA Gilbert Brule to a 2-year contract
July 31 - Oilers re-sign RFA Jeff Deslauriers to a 1-year contract
August 6 - Oilers sign UFA Martin Gerber to a 1-year contract
August 9 - Oilers re-sign RFA Liam Reddox to a 1-year contract
August 11 - Oilers UFA Dean Arsene signs with the St. Louis Blues
August 18 - Oilers UFA Fernando Pisani signs with the Chicago Blackhawks
Oilers UFA's unsigned: 6 (Mike Comrie, Josef Hrabal, Aaron Johnson, Matt Nickerson, Geoff Paukovich, Ryan Potulny)
Oilers RFA's unsigned: 2 (Andrew Cogliano, Sam Gagner)
If you look at last years roster, and then this years roster, you will notice that there are huge changes. It's a new era in Oil Country folks. We've finally gotten ridden of the small, inconsistent players that we've had for the better part of four seasons. Here are my projected lines for this year:
Forwards
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Hall - Eberle - Brule
Paajarvi - Horcoff - Cogliano
Jones - Fraser - Stortini/Jacques/MacIntyre
Scratches: the two tough guys that aren't in the lineup
Defensemen
Whitney - Gilbert
Smid (Souray*) - Foster
Vandermeer - Strudwick
Scratches: Chorney
Note: Souray will have to accept the fact that no one wants his contract, and will play in Smid's spot if so, leaving Strudwick the odd man out.
I will hold off on fully evaluating the roster until the final roster is announced after pre-season, but I can promise this, there's something special going on here in Edmonton.
-Nick "Oilers Fan" Walker
(As posted on NHLTALK202.com)