Turn Left, Follow for 8 Blocks then make a U-Turn. Destination will be 9 Blocks on your right

“Maybe they could find another guy like Gilbert, signed him and made this trade. "
Maybe they had really targetted Shultz for what he brings and they jumped to step 2 and this summer they will complete step 1? ala Ryan Murray, Reinhart or a trade? Maybe they feel that Klefbom or Maricin will be taking a Gilbert style role? Maybe they like that he’s got family in Alberta and they are paying more attention to these intangibles? Maybe it will all add up in the long term plan? I don’t see it being so bad?

The Oilers re-arranged the deck chairs on the titanic and broke up the life rafts to make a card table.

Your choice of hyperbole is ridiculous. You suggest that the Oilers organization is the Titanic, which suggests that it’s doomed due to incompetent leadership.

As you point out earlier in the article, the work to build a solid farm system is worth a great deal. So, suggesting that the Oilers are incompetent leaders when they are clearly working to address problems in the organization is uncharitable at best.

Re-arranging the chairs suggests that the team didn’t actually make a significant change. Schultz is certainly a defense first defenseman, whereas Gilbert is more of a two way D-man. Regardless of how you value Tom Gilbert vs. Nick Schultz, this trade was certainly more than rearranging deck chairs.

Finally, suggesting that the Oilers are chopping up life boats to build card tables is ludicrous. The Oilers aren’t dealing off Hall Eberle and RNH for draft picks and Wade Redden! They are trading one NHL defenseman for another – one who has a TON of experience practicing and working on “the little things” that help make a player better on the defensive end.

I’m not going to suggest that the Oilers are a lot better off with this trade. But simply panning it because you don’t like it doesn’t make it a bad move for the club.

And it certainly doesn’t make the Oilers the Titanic.

I’ve said this somewhere before, but I don’t think this deal is as disasterous as some are making it out to be. From the advanced stats, this deal does look like a loss, but it doesn’t look like a bullet to the head kind of loss.

Someone thinks the elements that Schultz brings are more important than the elements that Gilbert brings to the club. I don’t think Schultz is a better player based on what I know, but I do think the defense-first holes are perhaps the biggest current woe of the organization, or perhaps goaltending.

I’m very curious to see how the defense fits together over the next twenty games. I think after then we will be able to better judge if this was a true loss, and perhaps not even until after the summer where we might add in another complementary piece.

Most of the articles I’ve read strongly lament Gilbert and don’t talk very much about the benefits of Schultz, but I thought Jason Gregor did a decent job of being optimistic about the trade, and I respect Gregor’s opinion as much (or more) than anyone else in MSM. If anyone is interested here is the link: http://oilersnation.com/2012/2/28/thoughts-on-the-trade

Why now? One of the following would make sense:
- Schultz was about to be traded somewhere else: now or never
- Since coming off injury Gilbert has been worse, soon that would start to show in his stats and it would drive his value down

I think the unfortunate part is Gilbert’s weakness is losing his position when pinned in the zone for extended periods. He will either make the Wild look much better by not getting into that position, or (my guess) these situations will occur just as frequently and will amplify his biggest weakness.

I think Shultz will do very well here, but Gilbert will be missed and likely under-appreciated by his old and new fan bases.

I want an Oilers shirt with your article title on it – epic!

Great title DB. Did anyone else watch the Wild vs Kings last night? Gilbert looked okay. I think that team would negatively affect anyone’s performance. The Wild’s defensive zone coverage was laughable (not just Gilbert). Gilbert’s numbers will suffer in Minnesota and people will laud the trade as being fantastic. But it won’t be due to Gilbert’s poor play….the Wild really do suck.

You realize that with Gilbert gone, the Oilers now have room for Mike Green, potentially, if Washington decides to shake things up.

Brad Stuart, who mostly plays the right side, is a UFA this summer (although LA or San Jose or Anaheim or Vancouver are more likely destinations for Stuart).

They have also created room for Shea Weber.

One cannot be certain that there is no longer term plan. Smid and Schultz are a solid base to anchor a top four with. With two years left on Schultz’s contract, it gives the time necessary to sell the player long term on Edmonton.

The Oilers could have made the determination that Gilbert was likely to bolt after this contract., or that Schultz will be more affordable and a better value and easier to re-sign to a new contract.

The decision could well have been made with the medium term in mind rather than today.