Anaheim Ducks at Edmonton Oilers, Game 43 Breakdown

Anaheim Ducks
@ Edmonton Oilers

Friday, Jan 13, 2012, 7:30 PM MST
Rexall Place

Anaheim Calling

To Rebuild or Not To Rebuild, or Should We Fire Murray? - Anaheim Calling
Most know where I fall on a majority of these discussions, but every now and then, I suppose it's good to check in with a more thorough explanation. Therefore, this is my take on three key issues: Trading one of RPG, whether the team should rebuild, and whether or not Murray is the GM to do it. In the immortal words of Shakespeare, "I will bite my thumb, let them take it as they list."

While I Have The Conn - Anaheim Calling
But that's the job of being a small market GM. You don't have the assets or flexibility to trade affordable superstars for less affordable ones. You do not marry your team to a coach or a system; you are married to your core players. That is reinforced during every hand wringing contract negotiation. I've never heard of a GM signing a system to a five year contract, or worried about his coach hitting the free agency market.

Armchair GM: Kristen's Fire Sale Core Player Trades - Anaheim Calling
It was important for me to trade Cam Fowler for another young defenseman, especially considering the age of the Ducks' blueline. PK Subban (more on him later) and Michael Del Zotto were both great suggestions. But if I had my choice of any young defenseman in the league, I'd pick the Washington Capitals' Karl Alzner. He's arguably the best defenseman in the Capitals organization, and is only 23 years old. But more importantly, Alzner satisfies a giant need within our organization: he's capable of playing huge, shutdown minutes. If he keeps developing, he'll be the next Shea Weber.

Taylor Hall – Sam Gagner – Ales Hemsky
Ryan Smyth – Shawn Horcoff – Ryan Jones
Anton Lander – Eric Belanger – Magnus Paajarvi
Darcy Hordichuk – Ryan O`Marra – Ben Eager

Ladislav Smid – Corey Potter
Andy Sutton – Jeff Petry
Theo Peckham – Colten Teubert

Nikolai Khabibulin

G43 Ducks at Oilers - Lowetide
The Oilers recalled Milan Kytnar the other night and as things go there’s a chance he’ll only have that NHL game when he’s 40. I’ve always cheered for him and am happy he isn’t in the Larry Mavety family of guys clearly good enough to plan an NHL game but denied by the Hockey Gods.

Anaheim @ Edmonton - Oil On Whyte
FROM THE ‘NOT QUITE THERE YET’ DEPARTMENT: Both Alex Plante and Cam Barker skated this morning. Plante hasn’t played since suffering a concussion, Barker has been shelved since having ankle surgery back in November. I haven’t heard a timetable as to when either will be back, but if they’re skating, they’re closer.

Oilers vs Ducks – Game 43 – Putting on the Foil
There aren’t many teams worse than the Oilers, but as luck would have it, the Ducks are one of them. That means the Oilers should play pretty awful tonight :P I’ll be rooting the team on live at the game tonight. Hopefully it’s a good one. The Ducks are only 3-10-6 on the road while the Oilers are 10-6-3, so it SHOULD be a good one for us. But you never know.

Today's Frustrated Edmonton Fan: Spaded Image

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