Tambellini's Discards

Now that we've had a look back at Steve Tambellini's lackluster additions to the Oilers, it's time to see what names have been sent out the door on his watch. The following is a list of players who played at least one game for the Oilers and left the team via free agency or trade since Tambellini took over on July 31st, 2008. Names from the list of acquisitions are not duplicated here.

Mathieu Garon

Erik Cole

Kyle Brodziak

Denis Grebeshkov

Steve Staios

Dustin Penner

Andrew Cogliano

Tom Gilbert

Lubomir Visnovsky

Robert Nilsson

Sheldon Souray

Marc Pouliot

Rob Schremp

Fernando Pisani

Ethan Moreau

Liam Reddox

Jean-Francois Jacques

Tim Sestito

Ryan Potulny

Zack Stortini

Ryan O'Marra

Dwayne Roloson

Jeff Deslauriers

That's a much more impressive bunch than the players who were brought in to fill the holes they left behind. In order to fully grasp the difference, I'll match up the two groups by position in depth chart form so you can see for yourself how they stack up against one another. First, here's Tambellini's discarded team:

Dustin Penner	Andrew Cogliano	Erik Cole
Robert Nilsson	Kyle Brodziak	Fernando Pisani
Ethan Moreau	Marc Pouliot	Zach Stortini
Liam Reddox	Ryan Potulny
JF Jacques	Rob Schremp
	Ryan O'Marra
	Tim Sestito

Sheldon Souray	Tom Gilbert
Lubomir Visnovsky	Steve Staios
Denis Grebeshkov

The first thing you'll notice about this group is obvious: it resembles an actual NHL team. There's some driftwood in there, but plenty of useful pieces as well. In fact, there's a significant chunk of talent that the Oilers could use right now. A sizable, complete centerman in Brodziak; some size in the top six in Cole, and even Penner. Could the Oilers use any of those defensemen? And the goalies for this group are Roloson, Garon and Deslauriers.

Here is the depth chart for Tambellini's additions:

Ryan Smyth	Mike Comrie	Ales Kotalik
Ryan Jones	Eric Belanger	Mike Brown
Ben Eager	Patrick O'Sullivan	Jesse Boulerice
Lennart Petrell	Colin Fraser
Steve MacIntyre	Alexandre Giroux
	Ryan Stone
	Josh Green

Ryan Whitney	Justin Schultz
Nick Schultz	Kurtis Foster
Mark Fistric	Corey Potter
Andy Sutton	Taylor Fedun
Jim Vandermeer	Colten Teubert
Aaron Johnson	Cam Barker
Shawn Belle	Bryan Rodney

I forgot to add Mike Comrie to the list of Tambellini's acquisitions in the first article, which of course absolves the general manager of any wrongdoing. If for some reason you still think it's worthwhile to read an indictment of Tambellini, I'll carry on despite this oversight:

Steve Tambellini has tinkered a great deal with his defense, and yet it's still not up to snuff with the defenders he all but gave away. It would be an even more embarrassing comparison if the stars had not aligned so perfectly for the Justin Schultz Sweepstakes. Before that signing the best right-handed defenseman that Tambellini could find was a toss-up between Kurtis Foster and Corey Potter, and he traded one away in Tom Gilbert.

The forward group is a mess as well. Take a moment to imagine an Oilers third line that features Kyle Brodziak. Are you picturing it? Now think about Eric Belanger. Instead of Brodziak, the Oilers have enjoyed the talents of Kyle Bigos and Olivier Roy. Incidentally, the Oilers also gave up a sixth round pick in the Brodziak trade that became goalie Darcy Kuemper. It's difficult to imagine any of the forwards Tambellini has added being terribly important to the rebuild, but one or two names on that first chart could be quite useful.

Tambellini has also transferred the goaltending from Roloson, Garon and Deslauriers to Khabibulin, Gerber and Danis. Devan Dubnyk has been there all along and thankfully he hasn't been traded so the Oilers would have room for a Dominik Hasek comeback.

Based on the evidence, Steve Tambellini must be one of the worst draw poker players in the world. He discarded some pieces that would be useful in both long and short term plans, and received or added mostly downgrades in return. This same man is now responsible for lifting the Oilers out of the NHL's basement. It's a poor bet.