With release of Bob McKenzie's most recent draft rankings, and with less than three weeks remaining in ahead of the trade deadline, it is time for the Oilers to start asking some big picture questions about how they intend to take the next step in their rebuilding process.

There is already a great deal of talk that the Oilers, likely to be a lottery team again, obviously need to upgrade their defence. This is not new information. What looking ahead to the draft will do is inevitably lead to people asking questions such as, "who should the Oilers' draft?" or, if they end up picking in the top two as they currently sit, "Should they trade down to take a defenseman?". Host James Duthie asked as much of TSN Scout Craig Button last night, to which Button replied that he would consider trading down to take Matt Dumba if the Oilers find themselves with an opportunity to draft Nail Yakupov (or, presumably, also Mikhail Grigorenko).

Right now, and over the next 20 days, I think the Oilers need to start making some tough decisions on exactly how they plan to address the notion of upgrading their blueline, and doing so in a manner that fits into the timeline of the rest of their rebuild. Whether or not Steve Tambellini is the right man for this job (he's not) is a discussion for another column.

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Author's Note: As the Hemsky firestorm looks to careen off the rails in the next two weeks, I take a look back on the construction of a media narrative.

"At this moment [Feb. 4th], Ales Hemsky's situation is the most important decision for the Oilers," writes Jason Gregor. It's hard to think of a more pressing situation. Indeed, the Edmonton media has been rife with Hemsky speculation since at least mid-December. This speculation, however, has not been limited to the dry endnotes of contract terms and trade rumors. Rather, the Hemsky talk of the last several weeks has traded on the currency of insinuation and taken on the shape of a clumsy, hectoring hive-media.

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"Ken Campbell is the senior writer for The Hockey News and a regular contributor to THN.com with his column."

If I were to read this line at the beginning of an article, I would offer some respect for Mr. Campbell and likely start reading his material. Unfortunately, this line appeared at the end of his most recent article: an ignorant rant through which he attempts to declare Sam Gagner's eight-point game as a mistake. He has taken some heat for his writings before, but this one struck me as extra bitter. I will include a link to his article here.

Did that piss you off? If you'd like to blow off some steam, I wrote up a critique of his analysis on my website, tyutininstaals.blogspot.com. Here's the direct link for my article, as well. I feel that beneath my swearing, heavy sarcasm, and irrelevant inside jokes is a strong rebuttal against Campbell's terrible argument. I appreciate honesty so let me know what you all think; even though we've been writing on this blog for three years, this is the first time I've sought public opinion. Hope you enjoy/hate/read it! Go Oilers!

I was looking at past drafts and found this gem:

The Edmonton Oilers trade the 17th pick (Zach Parise) to the New Jersey Devils for the 22nd pick (Marc-Antoine Pouliot) and the 68th pick (Jean-Francois Jacques).

Think about the Oilers got nothing out of this as both players left as free agents, and the Devils got Parise.

What do you think the Oilers worst trade was?

What about the worst (Quiet) Trade [I.E. No one talks about it]?

This past summer Oilers GM Steve Tambellini traded Colin Fraser and a 7th round draft pick to the LA Kings to bring back fan favourite Ryan Smyth. While most fans embraced this trade with enthusiasm and open arms, I had some serious doubts about bringing back a 35 year old scoring winger at this point in the rebuild. The problem that I had most seriously concerned the continual development of players such as Taylor Hall, Magnus Paajarvi, Linus Omark, and Teemu Hartikainen. I was worried that bringing back Smyth would take away top six minutes specifically from Hall and Paajarvi while holding players such as Omark and Harski father back in the depth pool.

After a little bit of though and mulling it over I realized that Smyth could bring a lot of leadership back into the line up that removal of guys like Ethan Moreau, Jason Smith, Steve Staios, etc over the past two seasons had taken with them to their new respective teams. Also I imagined, Smyth would be playing a third line role, seeing time on both special team units for his expertise in the crease and determined grinder mentality which could aid the struggling penalty-kill. Anyways, I realized my opinion didn’t matter to anyone of any importance in Oilers management, and that only time could see how Smyth’s return would impact the team.

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The Oilers have loaned Milan Kytnar to HPK Hämeenlinna of the Finnish SM-liiga. His new club claims he's a "future NHLer", but this transfer spells the end to his career as an OIler.

HPK announced the acquisition of Kytnar late Monday night Finnish time. Kytnar had spent time with both the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL and the Oklahoma City Barons of the AHL this year, and appeared in what now seems like his only NHL game just a couple of weeks earlier.

According to the Hockey Coordinator of HPK, Janne Laukkanen, Kytnar is a "future NHL player" in some mysterious "scouts'" papers, but I don't think he even believes that himself. Kytnar's entry level NHL contract was expiring and a transfer to Europe probably means he wasn't going to get another one.

"You know what? I look forward to the Battle of Alberta for the next X number of years. If the idea is, ‘Burn it to the ground,’ then (Flames president) Ken (King) can find another manager to do it."

- Jay Feaster.

This past week, Feaster revisited his comments about rebuilding with a lighthearted and "just playing around" tone when it comes to his underlying message about the Oilers sucking forever and a day. Whether he meant the sharp jab or not, his words have left many an Oiler fan somewhat confused about the whole situation. The common response is to tell Jay that his team will always be chasing 8th place while the Oilers will be sipping on the Champagne every spring starting 2014ish. At the same time, the Oilers DO suck and as the days and losses and excuses pile up, we inch closer and closer to a year that closely resembles 2014.

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A couple days ago I made a post giving my take on Tambi's trades since he took over, today I want to focus on his free agent signings. Again this is only my opinion and in no way am I insisting I'm right in my scores. Im going to use the same scale (1-5) for ranking these signings/re-signings, total up the scores and give a percentage grade. Give your take on the poll at the end and please leave comments below. If you see an error please point it out and I will correct it ASAP. Again I'm only looking at impact signings and not spending time on AHL signings (while some has been important for the most part they have no real impact on the big club).

1. July 1, 2009

Nikolia Khabibulin 4 Years 3.75mil Cap Hit Score 2

Eeek... this one is just plain bad. He was old when we signed him and he's even older now. First season here so was solid for about 5 games then got hurt. The next season IMO he was surpassed by Devan Dubnyk based on poor play all the while fighting an appeal for an extreme DUI from the past year. This season Khabby was the best in the league for about a month posting a ridiculous 0.965S% before coming down to reality since then. He's been better than Dubnyk this season and only has a handful of awful games but I struggle with the idea we couldn't have found a cheaper/younger option until Dubnyk was ready to take over.

2. September 10, 2009

Mike Comrie 1 Year 1.25mil Cap Hit Score3

Say what you want about Comrie's first stay here in Edmonton the fact that this was a player that wanted to come back to Edmonton to make amends with his home town is impressive. He came here well bellow his market price and played above his contract when healthy. Only played 43 games but got 21pts, more than you expect for a guy of his cap hit. PS he brought Hilary Duff to town, bonus points.

3. July 1, 2010

Kurtis Foster 2 Years 1.8mil Cap Hit Score 2.5

He came cheap, and he was a solid offensive defense men hitting the 40pt plateau twice in his career, one year being the one prior to the signing. Foster was a giant let down here in Edmonton but that isn't Tambi's fault. He was big, puck moving dman, with an absolute cannon for a shot (unfortunately not an accurate one). He played 74 games and only recorded 22pts. Again this a case of player drastically underachieving here but can't be pinned entirely on Tambi.

4. August 6, 2010

Martin Gerber 1 Year 500K Cap Hit Score 3.5

He was brilliant in his 3 game stint with the big club and that is the only reason this makes the cut for this list, great signing for OKC. Score would be higher if he played more games in the NHL (as most fans wanted after those 3 games)

5. March 8, 2011

Taylor Fedun 2 Years 900K Cap Hit Score 3

This kid would have been an Oiler over guys like Corey Potter, Jeff Petry, and IMO Theo Peckham. If he didnt break his femur in freak incident in Mini in the preseason we could have seen more of what he has to offer. Hopefully he can recover fully. I love this kid (maybe the reason i score this so high for a guy who hasnt played an NHL game)

6. June 15, 2011

Lennart Petrell 1 Year 900K Capt Hit Score 2.5

He may never be an NHL regular but he killed penalties, hit, fought once, and put up a few points in his days with the Oilers. He likely will bounce around between OKC and the Oilers depending on injuries, trades, etc. I like Lennart but his NHL future is unsure.

7. July 1, 2011

Corey Potter 1 Year 525K Cap Hit Score 4

Might have originated as an AHL signing but he has stuck with the big club and thrived, with the exception being maiming Taylor Hall a week ago in St. Louis. He's calm, poise, has a cannon, and is a major cog in the powerplay. 16pts in 35 game this season for the low cost of half million? yes please. I'll address the re-signing later on but expect high scores there as well.

8. July 1, 2011

Eric Belanger 3 Years 1.75mil Cap Hit Score 4

Now before I get chewed out for the high score, how many of you liked this signing in July? My guess is in the +90% range. He has been abysmal as a 3rd line center and even worse on the power play. I personally blame his for MPS's slump and lack of confidence as well as Omark starting down in OKC this season but hey that has nothing to do with the signing. He belongs on the fourth line but again in July this looked like a terrific signing. Tambi can;t be blamed for the failure on the part of the player (or coach if you see it that way).

9. July 1, 2011

Cam Barker 1 Yeark 2.25mil Cap Hit Score 2

Now this was basically a hail mary signing with not a lot to lose expect for 2.25mil out of Katz's rather deep pockets. Barker hasn't been good IMO and I have yet to see the offensive flare that got him taken 3rd over all. He's a 3rd pairing dman on the Oilers which translates to an AHL dman on any other team, well maybe not CLM. We got pretty well what we sign him for, I dont like the high cap hit for a dman recently waived.

10. July 1, 2011

Darcy Hordichuk 1 Year 825K Cap Hit Score 3

He's cheap, he hit, he fights (well), and he hates the Canucks. He doesnt play a lot of games and doesnt get a lot of ice-time but thats more attributed to coaching philosophy than anything. We got what we paid for and he did increase the toughness on the team. Bonus: he hasnt done anything stupid/crazy yet.

11. July 1, 2011

Ben Eager 3 Years 1.1mil Cap Hit Score 2.5

He seems to be injury plagued this season and is often a healthy scratch. He's fast enough to keep up with on the first line but doesnt bring the toughness we was signed for. He hasnt snapped yet which is nice (or maybe not) and at least we know he can get in the Canucks heads.

So as of right now we have 11 signings (noteworthy ones) since July 31, 2008 when Mr. Tambellini took over as GM. Out of the possible 5pts possible Tambi (IMO) has scored a 32/55 for a grade of 58%. Drastically lower than the 75% Tambi received on my previous post on trades. This will be an interesting summer for Mr.Tambi if he is indeed re-signed (please no!) where he has Smid, Gilbert, Gagner all to re-sign and the possibility of Hemsky as well. Its going to be an interesting Trade Deadline and summer for the franchise and whoever sits in the GM chair.

So like a lot of Oiler fans over the past week or so I have been outraged by the rumor of Mr. Tambellini. It's not that Tambi have done anything overly wrong in his stay in Edmonton. This post will only show my personal opinion on the trades (I'll address signings in another post later on. of Tambi and how I would score them on 1-5 scale (5 = great, 4 = good, 3 = ok, 2 = poor 3, 1 = disaster). Now Tambi only took over the franchise in 2008 so I can/will only hold him accountable for the moves made after that period. Only significant moves will be evaluated here.

1. January 17, 2009.

Mathieu Garon to PIT for Ryan Stone, Danny Sabourin, 2011 4th rounder (Tobias Rieder) Score 2

I may be biased here because I always preferred Garon to Roloson when the split duty in the pipes. Garon gave the Oilers solid goaltending until the 3 headed monster in net came about. Stone and Sabourin lasted a season each bouncing between the AHL and NHL before both being let go. Tobias Rieder really isnt that interesting of a prospect but could suprise down the road.

2. March 4, 2009.

Erik Cole + 2009 5th rounder to LA for Patrick O'Sullivan and 2009 2nd rounder (William Wrenn) Score 2.

While I cant entirely fault Tambi for this being a bust because O'Sullivan has been a waste of skin on all teams since his LA days, the fact he had to trade Cole after less than a season points to a failure more than anything. O'Sully was terrible here and will not be missed in the slightest.

3. June 28, 2009

Kyle Brodziak + 2009 6th to MIN for 2009 4+5 rounders (Kyle Biggos+Olivier Roy) Score 1

While Roy may develop into an NHL goaltender down the road, I have serious doubt about his abilities, especially his glove hand. Biggos doesnt appear to have any real promise to be and NHLer but hey, anything could happen. Kyle Brodziak was a PK and FO whiz kid, the perfect 3rd liner. (I drool imagining his centering Glencross and Jones). Now Brodziak is a 2nd line center on a very competitive Wild team and on pace to clear 20 goals this season.

4. March 2, 2010

Denis Grebeshkov to NSH for 2010 2nd rounder (Curtis Hamilton) Score 4

This is a bright spot for Tambi, Garbagekov was IMO, the worst dman we've had since Booboo Miranov. Big turnover machine will no offense or physical game to speak of. That 2nd rounder turned into Curtis Hamilton who shows nothing but signs of become at the minimum, an effective 3rd line grinder, with an upside of a top 6 power forward.

5. March 3, 2010

Lubomir Visnovsky to ANA for Ryan Whitney + 2010 6th rounder (Brandon Davidson) Score 3.5

This is a tough one, we lost the eventual top scoring Dman in the league but the way Whitney played in the 54 games last season leads many to believe he could be all that and more. Unfortunately Whitney has had serious health problems since becoming an oiler and now ponders if he will ever be more than 80% healthy the rest of his career. If Whitney can regain last years form this trade could be a 5/5 but if he doesnt it could be a 3. This one isnt on Tambi since he cannot predict health but it could be a tough bullet to bite.

6. June 26, 2010

Riley Nash to CAR for 2010 2nd rounder (Martin Marincin) Score 4

Nash was never fitting into the Oilers line up and was frustrated with the organization, Marincin shows signs of bring a Chara like game to Edmonton. Big mean Slovak that along with Gernat could bring some serious, and much needed, stability and physicality to an underwhelming d core.

7. June 30, 2010

Patrick O'Sullivan to PHX for Jim Vandermeer Score 3

Like i stated above, Sully was brutal here and continues to be in each new market. Vandermeer was a solid shut down 5-6 dman who hit, fought, and had a touch of offense in him game. Letting him walk for nothing was a failure on Tambi's part but this is solely based on the trade itselft.

8. Feb 28, 2011

Dustin Penner to LA for Colten Tuebert and 2011 1st (Oscar Klefbom) and 2012 3rd Score 4

I liked Penner as an Oiler but this was a solid trade. I would have rather seen Hemsky go than Penner but maybe that will comes true at the deadline this year. Tuebert is still a little green for the NHL but isnt any less capable than most of our dcore . The real steal here is Klefbom. Some scouts say he has more upside than Larsson in the long term. He may never reach that potential but I like the sounds of the big swedish dman who was all world at the WJC this year.

7. June 26, 2011

Colin Fraser + 2012 7th rounder to LA for Ryan Smyth Score 3.5

A lot of fans will say this is the best trade ever, we got back the heart and the soul of Edmonton with the infamous "mulletgate trade". Fraser wasnt anything special here and at times was downright awful. Smyth came for practically nothing and does bring leadership and scoring to the team. Long term however, he will need to sign for under 3mil a season for no more than 3 years for his to appease me. Hes 36 and likely wont break 50pts in his career ever again. Currently, IMO, hes keeping the 2nd line LW spot warm for MPS (taking into account he breaks out of his cavern of a slump) and next season Smyth should be on the 3rd line with Jones and Horcoff. You cant deny the excitement and fan base smyth bring home. Welcome back captain Canada!

8. July 12, 2011

Andrew Cogliano to ANA for 2013 2nd rounder Score 3

Cogliano showed signs in his rookie year along with Gagner and Nilsson of being the future of the franchise. That fades quickly. Unreal speed and good checking abilities but with no the offense he became expendable. the 2nd round pick is about what he was worth in my mind so this is a fair trade. In 2 years we'll see what we get with this pick.

Out of the 8 major moves (my discretion) we have a total of 40pts for Tambi to possibly reach. When the scores all add up we get a combined score of 30pts for a total of 75%. Is that good enough? My opinion on Tambi is that I personally dont want to see him resigned. What are your thoughts.

Greetings, The Copper & Blue.

I recently started a community research project on Die By the Blade. We got off to a good start but I thought reaching out to other fan-bases would only help. Please follow the jump for details.

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