The most succinct summation of Steve Tambellini's reign as Oilers' General Manager ever captured on film, or in .gif format:
Thanks to Neal at www.tendthefarm.com for the capture.
Watch that clip and then read the passage below. It all makes sense, especially with Kevin Lowe lurking in the background, right over Tambellini's shoulder.
He has maybe two assets who are worth anything. "Well, damn," he says. "I have to trade something or the fans will have my head." Well, there's a saying in the hockey world: he who listens to the fans will soon find himself among them.
So he calls Anaheim. "Hey," he says. "You guys were asking about Lubomir Visnovsky earlier? Well, I think maybe we could make this work."
Bob Murray, on the other end, is nobody's fool. He aims high and works his way down. "So how about Ryan Whitney?" says Bob. "He's younger, bigger, and he makes less." He's also worse. Considerably worse. Epically worse.
Steve Tambellini glances at the clock. It's 12:45, Mountain Standard Time. He knows that if he doesn't pull the trigger on something his press conference will be awkward, or it would be if Edmonton's hockey media wasn't competing to get him into the sack.
"Throw in a sixth-round pick," Tambellini says.