No, this is not to be confused with a certain section of a local fish wrap, which regurgitates their beat writers information, two weeks later, but I digress...
Just saw this on Hockeybuzz.com, from our (LTL's and mine) good friend and solid writer/reporter, Eric Smith:
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Eric-Smith/Free-Your-Mind-And-The-Rest-Will-Follow/96/26235
More Trade Talk
The Edmonton Journal reports that the Blue Jackets are interested in defenseman Tom Gilbert. The Blue Jackets have been scouting the Oilers and the Oilers were in town for the Sharks game to take a look at the Columbus squad. Gilbert is a reliable defenseman that has played all 82 games the last 2 seasons. He showed he could score in the 07/08 season with 13 goals but don't expect that kind of production going forward. He does have a right handed shot.
If this trade is to take place, my guess is that a defenseman will go the other way. The Blue Jackets have 6 d-men signed at least through next year and Anton Stralman and Mathieu Roy are restricted free agents who most likely will be signed. Also, with the play of Milan Jurcina, he will get a long look by GM Scott Howson as he will become a UFA at the end of the year. Not much room to add another defenseman unless another is going the other way. My guess would be Marc Methot. No inside information but just an educated guess. He hasn't had the year that he had last year and the Oilers would get a defenseman that is signed through next year at just over $1 million. Methot will be a RFA after that and the Oilers would then have options. We will see how this unfolds.
This possibility has also been discussed on HFBoards.
From our perspective, this deal makes a lot of sense.
Gilbert is an interesting option, although it still doesn't address a #1 defensive pairing resource.
The bigger question is what/who would go the other way. There has been some are speculation that it's Methot, which may explain why they are playing the crap out of Methot right now -- thus my point, from a prior article, to "Display the trade bait".
Then there's the Edmonton connection, a team Scott Howson has strong ties to.
More to follow, I'm sure, but still, an interesting potential development.
- Mase1
