A few of us down in Denver(including myself) have had a serious mancrush on Omark for a few years now, mostly because of his shootout videos on youtube. We could use the winger depth, mostly as a future replacement for Hejduk. He seems a bit undersized to take the abuse of playing in the NHL permanently, but the chemistry that he and Duchene could potentially get makes this a very interesting trade. I don't think I'd give up any current prospects for him, but a 4th? round pick for a RFA that the Oilers will never see crack the regular lineup seems more than fair. So, how does this sound, and I would really appreciate your help with why we should stay away from someone that has no issue airing the clubs laundry.

Hall has signed for 7 years after the expiration of his current contract with the Oilers. The deal is back-loaded with an average of 6 mil per year. Thoughts?

A lockout wouldn't be bad for everyone -- Timrå's General Manager dreams about a lockout so he could sign Henrik Zetterberg, Anton Strålman, Anton Lander, Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson, Anders Lindbäck, Tom Wandell, Frans Nielsen and Peter Regin. Interestingly, he lists Zetterberg and Lander as his first two priorities.

Omark's recovery has led him to work on leg strength and speed. He also notes that his agent, Patrik Aronsson, has said there are other NHL clubs interested in Omark.

As Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal hinted last week, the Oilers have resigned AHL vets and fringe call-up options Chris VandeVelde and Alex Plante. Both were qualified as restricted free agents. Interesting that it took this long for both to agree to terms, though I'm guessing things got put on hold for the other business that the team had to take care of over the past month.

An individual player’s likeability, the way he performs his emotions, may contribute in some small, fractional way to his team’s success, but you know what contributes even more? Scoring goals. In fact, you might say that scoring goals contributes more to winning hockey games than pretty much anything else. Of all the tangible hockey skills, the measurable, definable, quantifiable things that contribute to winning, scoring is the most important, the rarest, and the most expensive. Guys who can smile in the locker room and be first on the ice in practice are a dime a dozen- or would be, if there wasn’t a League-mandated minimum salary. Guys who can put up 20+ goals and 50+ points a season? They’re five million per, and for good reason.

Steve Staios has announced his retirement as a player, but has already found his first post-playing gig in the front office of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Staios took the long road to the NHL, spending almost three full seasons in the minors before establishing himself in the NHL. He played his first full NHL season after turning 23, but would go on to have a splendid career that saw him play 563 of his 1,034 career regular season and playoff games with the Oilers.

I wonder whether the Stockton franchise will move at some point: perhaps sooner rather than later? There's probably a degree of exaggeration with the 'most miserable city' quote. But still, a bankrupt city with growing social and political issues can hardly be a good place for a minor league hockey franchise.

It was around the trade deadline that the Oilers, a team without great centre depth, traded Ryan O'Marra, who was finally looking like a decent fourth line NHL option (kills penalties, wins face-offs, good defensively, takes regular shifts), for Bryan Rodney, whose contract expired, and who they haven't even bothered to resign (probably a good idea). My only question is why make this trade?

Another OKC Baron has flown the coop (is that what the landed nobility do? Fly the coop?), as Mr. Keller is off to Genève-Servette of Switzerland's National League A. I am having trouble seeing this as in any way a good thing for the Barons in '12-'13 - didn't Keller get some consideration for a call-up to the NHL at one point last season?