The Edmonton Oilers are looking very good one week into the free agent window, but work remains. How much the management group gets done before fall will be a “tell” about where this next season is going in terms of wins and losses.
The original free agent target list is here, Edmonton struck with numbers 1 and 4. Here’s a reset.
- F Daniel Winnik The Smyth signing might make his addition impossible, but if the Oilers decide to throw Hemsky on LW then a de facto shutdown line of Horcoff-Smyth-Winnik might be invaluable. Let the kids fight it out for 4line duty and flush the extra veterans.
- D Michal Roszsival: Can play 20+ minutes a night and does play quite a bit on the PK. Should Edmonton add him Roszival could serve as a legit top 4. He is not good Whitney insurance, as he’s a defensive defender and is part of the Smid-Schultz the elder family.
- R Shane Doan: If he’ll take the Oilers call, they should make right a horrible wrong .
- D Marc-Andre Gragnani, Vancouver: I know he isn’t a physical defender and he’s LH, but this is a pretty damn good puck mover laying on the side of the road.
Not much left, folks. Up next: trade targets and cost.