CHIARELLI WISE NOT TO TRADE FUTURE FOR DEADLINE DEAL
While fans believe Oilers are in Year 11 of their rebuild, GM is in just Year 2 of his
If you're an Oilers fan who has been dealing with trade deadline envy, we feel your pain.
And hey, it could be worse. Your team could have the mumps.
What your team has now is David Desharnais, a five-footseven, 170-pound depth centreman. He's not Brian Boyle. He's not Martin Hanzal. He's not the prototypical big forward that general manager Peter Chiarelli normally stockpiles.
And if Desharnais doesn't cure your deadline envy, we understand. He's a water bug who fell out of favour in Montreal and comes to Edmonton for defenceman Brandon Davidson, a youngster deemed expendable in the face of serious blue-line depth. At age 30, Desharnais is a modest, experienced, short-term upgrade on rookie pivot Drake Caggiula. He is a career 50-per-cent man on the faceoff dot, so there's that.
And if this move is just the first step of a few — Chiarelli said he is working on other fronts — Oilers fans who had been cheering on a perennial trade deadline seller for most of a decade might well be sated by the buying spree. If he doesn't or can't add another piece on Wednesday, Chiarelli said he is perfectly happy to proceed as is. Oilers fans might well feel the same. Or not.
Because a week ago the National Hockey League market was littered with juicy unrestricted free agents. That fact, together with the intoxicating blend of the Oilers' point total and the urgency of March 1, put fans in a buying mood. They hoped it had the same effect on Chiarelli.
Instead, four other Canadian teams with playoff dreams were among the many making predeadline deals while the Oilers kept their powder dry until Tuesday night.
To be fair, Chiarelli had issued a warning. He stepped in front of a gaggle of reporters at Rogers Place and poured a bucket of cold water on the notion he was going to shore up each of the few obvious holes in the team's roster.
He really didn't want to play on the rental market, he said. The cost of an offensive defenceman was going to be too rich for his blood so he wouldn't be pursuing one at this trade deadline, he said. Goalie Laurent Brossoit was going to get a real chance to prove himself as Cam Talbot's backup, he said, when asked about acquiring a netminder.
But before he was done fielding queries and crushing dreams, he acknowledged that he owed it to the team to throw them a bone as a reward for staying in the playoff conversation all year long. The Desharnais acquisition amounts to keeping that promise. How much more it contributes we will simply have to wait and see.
Other teams are definitely improved. The Capitals won the Kevin Shattenkirk sweeps, such as they were. And it made sense for Washington to load up. With Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, Braden Holtby and a bonafide power-play anchor in Shattenkirk, their window is wide open today.
Ottawa added wingers Viktor Stalberg, Alex Burrows and Tommy Wingels, though you have to wonder why the Sens would think they can go deep in a conference full of Caps, Penguins, Rangers and Habs.
Toronto got Boyle for their fourth line. New York add Brendan Smith, Pittsburgh get Ron Hainsey and Montreal acquired Jordie Benn, proving once again that an NHL team can never have too many experienced blueliners at playoff time. Minnesota bolstered its front end with Hanzal and Ryan White. Unless the Wild are derailed by mumps — Zach Parise and Jason Pominville were suffering from the malady on Tuesday — they're ready for a run.
L.A. got themselves a 1A goalie in Ben Bishop. And in a search for depth, Anaheim added Patrick Eaves, Nashville acquired Vernon Fiddler and Chicago grabbed Tomas Jurco.
So the clock is almost finished ticking and most preferred additions are off the board. Oilers fans might still be hoping to snag veteran goalie Michal Neuvirth or Anders Nilsson as insurance behind Talbot. But that's another modest move that won't necessarily change the way fans feel about the team's chances of a post-season run. It certainly would if — no jinx intended — Talbot were to get hurt. Or the mumps.
But fans wanted help for the power play and faceoffs, because the Ducks are going to kill the Oilers on the dot if they match up. Fans wanted a burly, shutdown centreman to take on Joe Pavelski, Ryan Getzlaf and Jonathan Toews, and Desharnais isn't that guy.
If fans have been harbouring any of those desires, their level of satisfaction with the performance of Chiarelli might have dipped. But consider where the Oilers are in Chiarelli's rebuild. Fans are in Year 11, he's in Year 2.
Some of his additions didn't last, some are still getting settled, some have blossomed, some have struggled. As a group, they have exceeded expectations and when they make the playoffs, it will officially signify considerable progress.
But Chiarelli said he doesn't see the Oilers as a potential Cup winner and has, to his credit, acted accordingly. Without rock-solid conviction, he had no business going all-in at the deadline, given that it always involves mortgaging big pieces of the future.
At age 30, Desharnais is a modest, experienced, short-term upgrade on rookie pivot Drake Caggiula.