The Edmonton Oilers finally found a "name" unrestricted free agent willing to play in Edmonton.
Various sources in Canada report Souray is about to sign a five-year, $27 million contract with the Oilers. The terms of the deal will be officially announced soon.
It'll be interesting to find out from GM Kevin Lowe why he made this move, because quite frankly, it appears as though he's scrambling to live up to his promise to Oilers fans to land a big-name UFA.
This deal really doesn't make much sense when one considers Lowe supposedly addressed his need for a puckmoving defenseman last week with his acquisition of Joni Pitkanen via a four-player swap with the Philadelphia Flyers.
While I'm sure Lowe will laud Souray's leadership and experience, he wouldn't have needed that if he hadn't traded away Jason Smith as part of the deal for Pitkanen.
In fact, one wonders why Lowe even bothered dealing for Pitkanen, when he could've signed Souray last week and retained Smith.
Of course, the ever-changing UFA market and the Oilers needs are responsible for that. Souray was believed until recently shopping his services to the LA Kings, New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils, so his interest probably wasn't with the Oilers at that time. Lowe needed an offensive blueliner and he was still involved in futile efforts to bring in a scoring forward like Michael Nylander and Thomas Vanek.
Souray's big shot and his leadership will make him a good addition to the Oilers, but I don't think he's the big name UFA Lowe and company wanted under contract when the UFA market opened on July 1st.
And whoever pairs with Souray starting next season will have to be defensively responsible to cover off his shortcomings in that department. Steve Staios or Matt Greene could draw that assignment.
So now that the Oilers have three offensive blueliners (Souray, Pitkanen and D. Tarnstrom), will that foster rumors that the latter might be traded at some point next season for a defensive blueliner? Let the rumor mill churn.
Souray and Pitkanen on the same line? Oh man, Roloson and Garon will be sweating bullets anytime that pairing hits the ice. Seriously, neither player's defensive game matches their offensive game, and I think it would be a mistake to pair them on the blueline unless it's on the PP. Souray-Greene and Pitkanen-Staios might be a better idea.
Am I the only one breathlessly waiting for Matt to give his take on this?
Good work Kev. I knew you could do it, big guy. You finally managed to drag someone off to Edmonton. One wonders how much longer it would have taken Souray to sign had the Oilers not been in this situation. When you look at the move, it screams just find someone with a name and get them to sign a contract.
Hopefully Souray actually signed this one. I would hate to hear that he's really gone to Washington. I think Oil fans can relax though, because from what I understand, Sheldon has an ex, so the gossip might not be quite as powerful.
That's great. Edmonton's net wil be full of pucks this year ensuring a playoff spot for an American club. At a minus 25 rating this guy can be the margin of defeat in 25 games.
Last edited by loufontinato on July 12th at 2:45 PM.
WOW, I'm not sure who to pitty more, Souray for having to settle for the oiler or the oilers for having to settle with Souray. He does have a great shot, he won't back down from anyone, and sometimes he even plays behind his blue line! It would be nice if they did pair Souray and Pitkanen together, as a flames fan, every time they hit the ice, go for a break out pass....The oilers really look bad this year.
I made fun of them when Smyth was their star player, now who is it.....Horcoff? Hemsky? That other guy????
I'm still going to say since Souray didn't sign with the rangers, they still don't have the money to keep both Avery and Hossa, so I'm thinking they sign Avery and trade him to the flames for Huselius. Not saying it would be a great move either way, but a decent one.
Ryan- he hasn't signed him because he is going to trade him and one of their draft picks to the Hurricanes for Andrew Ladd and Mike Commodore or Nick Wallin (VERY underrated physical, stay-at-home defenseman). The Canes will then send the pick and Anton Babchuck to the Rangers for Matt Cullen and a prospect.
These moves could address the Oilers need for defensive help and more scoring, the Rangers need to dump salary and the canes needs for a 3rd line center and an offensive defensman. The Canes were trying hard to land Pitkanen on draft weekend, offering Wallin (should he waive his no-trade clause) but the deal fell through.
The goaltending will get a work out that is for sure... I am see some break away action going on in Edmonton...
Spector,
Now how does this affect the Vanek deal if Buffalo lets him go to the oilers will they have enough cap or how does that all work... Or can they take back the offer...
Man I still can't decide if this is going to put Edmonton further in the whole or not.
Ryan: No offense, but that's just crazy talk.
Souray could end up playing on the first or second line when it's 5 on 5 depending on how well he ends up covering his own zone in the begining of the year. If he starts going into the minus fast, then I think they'll do something like this:
If he trade's Pitkanen then I surely hope that it's in a much better deal than the one hockeyhick is mentioning. I'd rather see them packing Pitkanen with a high draft pick(maybe both of next years 1 rounders) for a forwards who after aquired will have the fans saying "man, now he'll definatly be playing on the first line."
Edmonton doesn't need a defensive defenseman at this point as much as they need someone who's a shoe-in for 35-40 goals.
I just through names out there. Staios is only good for 15minutes and then he is horrible in his own end. What we might have here is 3 parings getting close to equal time
Didn't hear it anywhere...just wishfull thinking. I think the Oilers do need defensive help. Souray will command mucho icetime ti justify his contract, and the rest of the backend crew aren't exactly stalwarts...Commodore would be a great addition to the Oil as he is sound defensively, rugged, and not afraid to jump up in the rush (I don't have his offensive stats at the ready-but he had a respectable season). Andrew Ladd is young and going to get 20-25 goals per in the near future. A move like this also allows the team to go after more offense with the remaining cap room and other assets...Furthermore, and this is the kicker-Jim Rutherford has the savvy to dupe Kevin Lowe into making the deal!
As I see it maybe the oilers should sit back and do nothing. They have a good core of young guys with some veteran leadership. Give Schremp, Cogliano, Nilsson and O'Marra their shot and then make a decision on whether or not to make the trade. Flipping Pitkanen for Ladd or Cole is just plain silly. Unless they can somehow get a true number one center or winger to play with Hemsky I think they should sit still and wait. They don't need another possible 20 goal scorer or depth player. Ever wonder why Buffalo has looked good the last few years. They rebuilt from within and picked up a piece of the puzzle here and there. Thats what Edmonton needs to do.
Hockeyhick: I hope you've jinxed ir bay saying it.
And about Vannek... he HAS signed no,hasn't he? Or are the Sabers making him wait? If he gets on board will the Oilers then I don't think they'll be missing the Smyth nearly as much as I initially thought they would be, as Vannek can play a full season of hockey.
not a good move by lowe. souray scores 16 goals tops this year. 06-07 was a fluke.
gainey should be praised for letting souray go at that price. hamrlik four years for $22 or markov for four years for $23 vs. souray for five years for 27 is a no brainer. does anyone think souray's slap shot will still be there in five years?
Ryan: But Edmonton can't do that, because in the 80's Edmonton's fans became acustomed to winning. We lost enough games in the 90's and have run out of patience for "slow and steady wins the race."
Another potential Canes-Oilers trade that addresses your point Thadd-Pitkanen and a 1st rounder to the Canes for Anton Babchuck and Eric Cole.
Cole was rumored as being headed to the Oilers around the draft (Rutherford denied shopping Cole, but who believes a GM, right?)Also, the Canes have been trying to move Babchuck. I actually think he can become a top 3-4 dman-he was just the odd man out in a crowded backline in Carolina.
I would HATE to see Cole leave, but the Canes seem intent on landing Pitkanen and sending Cole to the West would minimize the risk of him burning them in the future. The Canes could also use the pick, as some of the deadline deals they made during their Cup season have seriously depleted their depth.
Habsync: I'm not worried about his slapshot dissapearing 5 years down the line. I'm worried about him getting tired and taking a nap in his own zone right now.
The thing is Edmonton never had a good chance to rebuild now they can (because everytime they developed someone we had no money) . Look at Pittsburgh bottom of the league for a few years a bunch of 1 and 2 overall picks, wait for the guys to develop and then add the veteran UFA.
I'm glad he isn't a Hab, but I am kind of bitter he turned down the $22M offer for four years. Remember he "wanted to stay in Montreal." If you are going to leave Montreal for LA, that's fine, but heading to Alberta? Ridiculous!
He bought a pretty descent house here in Sherman Oaks.
Excuse me for being a naiive hockey fan in Teal Country, but if the Oilers had the cash to pony up for Souray or the money for Vanek, why didn't they just sign Ryan Smythe last season? And I agree with you Mr. Spector, why let Jason Smith go for Souray? Oh well. I wonder what Doug Wilson is looking for now?
AlamoSharkie: Do the Sharks need someone to move the puck out of their own zone that badly? As an Oilers fan I honestly can't tell you if I'm happy or dissapointed to see Souray land in Edmonton. If he signed this contract in San Jose I can tell you that Sharks fans would be crazy to be happy, because they're so pressed for cap space and they're already a very complete team. They don't need to put themselves into a situation where they're pressed right up against the cap limit for a guy who coughs up the puck all the time.
But then again there have been all of those Patrick Marleau rumors. Maybe Marleau could go to Edmonton for Souray and another forward. Mannnn I'd be happy with that!
I have been calling for the Matt commentary from the beginning of the thread. I am quite sure he won't disappoint. He's probably sharpening his verbal barbs as we speak. Anyway, if Lowe flipped Souray for Marleau, I'd take back everything negative I've said about him on this board. And that's quite a bit. Lowe never thought Souray would be on the board at this point, and therefore pulled the trigger even after rendering it moot by landing Pitkanen as Spector mentioned. At this point, while they will have to shuffle some bodies defensively, it might not really be that bad. Pitkanen has the ability to eventually develop into exactly what he wasn't in Philly, and as mentioned, Souray at the very least can chip in big time on the man advantage. Lowe should be able to engineer some smaller moves and give his team a fighting chance, but they weren't getting it done this year anyway. If Pitkanen blossoms, you can always attempt to move Souray later. If he doesn't, you can dump him off and not look too far to get scoring from the point.
I'd hate to lose Stoll, but what about Stoll and Souray for Marleau + (insert player who'd be moved as a salary dump) ?
San Jose can't just let go of Marleau. If Thorton wasn't there he'd be looking great playing as a first line center.
The Oilers can afford to give up Stoll, because they have a handfull of prospects who could be NHL ready for the nxt season.
The other problem is that Lowe would need to beleive that Marleau would be with the Oilers long term. He will be a UFA next season and would need to sign a contract extension with the Sharks before the deal went down. What would he go for? 6-7 million a year? He's put up incredibly numbers playing on the Sharks' 2nd line for the last season and a half.
If Marleau was officially on the market (and with no new center in SJ) that's a big if, there would be a long line of teams looking to land him. If Lowe or any other GM was to make that move, they'd have to get assurances they could immediately lock him up long term. Otherwise as you suggest it would be one hell of an expensive rental. Marleau didn't have his best game this year, but he's a real find and he'll step up again in the playoffs before too long.
MPH: If Marleu signed an extension with the Sharks, do you think any other team could give a better offer?
I think that Stoll is a legit 2nd line center who should be playing first line minutes in Edmonton. He won't be though, because if Mac T puts Hemsky and Stoll on the first line there won't be anyone to set up people like Horcoff on the 2nd line. A lot of Oilers fans are screaming for Schremp to get 2nd line minutes, but you can't take a guy who's played one, that's 1, one ONE SINGLE NHL GAME and leave him in charge of making things happen on the 2nd line.
I can't lie and say i wasn't hoping he might come full circle to NJ. We could use the points from the D, and Marty saves at least 2/3's of those twnety some odd muffs he may or not make this year. But again, a team way over pays. The money being thrown around is insane.....ask the Rangers this time next year how hard it is. they gotta win now....but I digress
Praise the Heavens! Finally, the Oilers decide to tap the relatively shallow pool of bitterly divorced free agents and actually gets somebody to sign in Edmonton!
Okay, just to make sure I'm following along, the plan last year was that while the Oilers would have no defense because Chris Pronger, #### Tarnstrom and Jaroslav Spacek walked out the door, things were okay because our offense was going to outscore everybody. Sadly, things didn't quite work out that way...
So we shuffle the deck. Goodbye Ryan Smyth, Petr Sykora, Joffrey Lupul and Jason Smith. Hello #### Tarnstrom, Joni Pitkanen, Geoff Sanderson and Sheldon Souray. What are we to conclude the new plan is as of mid-July? Evidently, we're going to have no defense OR offense, but our defense is going to outscore everybody! ("That trick never works." "This time for sure! Presto!")
I presume this is an opportunity signing by the Oilers, brought about by the healthy contract to Henrik Lundqvist that firmly closed the door on Souray getting picked up in Manhattan. It's a deal that wasn't there a week ago while Souray still thought he had other options and an example of how the salary cap is going to work in this new NHL: When the music stops you've got to run to the team that still has cash.
*** continued ***
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on July 12th at 6:22 PM.
Lots of sidebar issues with this move. Since July 1, the Oilers website has listed Joni Pitkanen with Chris Pronger's old number 44 (reassigned from Robbie Schremp who claimed it for the preseason and one real game last year). That's likely to change before the evening's out, and Souray may wind up taking more than just Pitkanen's sweater number. With a five-year contract and a no-movement clause, Souray just might make that young Finn expendable tradebait. That would be a shame, because I really like Pitkanen, but we've got massive holes up front and a log jam of rushing defensemen. And barring a trade, this signing pretty much guarantees that the plucky Tom Gilbert heads straight to Springfield from training camp.
I need dinner and a glass of wine to properly mull this over. My initial reaction to the news is not cartwheels, but neither is it an insanely stupid pick-up. What vexes me is puck movement isn't the strongest part of Sourey's game, and that was the Achilles heel of the Oilers last season.
I wonder... Souray has the size and the shot: Would it make sense to move him to left wing?
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on July 12th at 6:25 PM.
Souray on LW would be too much up&down skating for the big man.
Oilers were better off signing Lindros than Souray...Are there really no other top tier FA's left?
he could of signed the side shows of yashin, lindros, barnaby, jason allison and berard combined for this.
What if Lindros moved over to the wing? I think it would make him less of an injury liability and he'd put up better numbers on Edmonton's second line than on Dallas's second line because of Edmonton's style of play. Wonder what the big guy's asking price would be.
Then again, I bet Lindros is too much of a yuppy for the city of Edmonton.
HAHAHAHAHA, even the die hard oiler fans are starting to hate Lowe. This isn't a good move, its a desperation one as sooo many people have said. They were a bad team last year, lost key players, picked up players who aren't as good and signed an over paid, over hyped devensive liability. Roloson isn't good enough to stop what Souray gives up, he's going to throw a hissy fit after a while then they'll even have to find another goalie! Where to start with them....Its such a good time to hate the oilers right now
Oh I didn't start to hate Lowe recently. I've mentioned more than once about how he usually can only make deals which work for the team with a few teams in the league. I honestly don't care what happens to the Oilers this year. If they make the playoffs, I'll be happy. If they miss the playoffs, get a really great draft possition and Lowe gets fired, I'll be even happier.
That's a great thing for Edmonton... I am a Montreal Canadiens fan and i liked Souray. This player is very good in PP or at the blue line so he his a great player but he has difficulty deffenivly. In passing sorry for my english (i'm a quebecer so i speak french) So i wanted to say than it will be good for Souray to go to Edmonton and in passing, Souray prouved that he wanted more to play at Edmonton than at Montreal because Montreal Canadiens offered 22 millions/4 years (5.5 millions/season) and Edmonton Oilers offered 27 millions/5 years (5.5 millions/season) so he wanted to play where he was born. So that's what i had to say!!
This may be the first time I have ever disagreed with you Spector. (also my first post, not getting of to a good first impression). But Souray + Pitkanen is a big upgrade over.. Smith. You retain leadership, improve the powerplay drastically.. and add a puck moving defenseman. I don't know if it's fair to say Souray would have been that puck moving defenseman, as all he really is.. is a monster shot, and a big tough imposing body. The oilers now have a solid defense corps, and I think they have improved greatly. Also under-rated is the pickup of hometown boy Geoff Sanderson, the oilers have really nice 3rd and 4th lines now. People are harping on Lowe cause he promised at least 6 new faces.. well we have 4, Garon (a solid pickup), Sanderson, Pitkanen and Souray. Another forward wouldn't hurt, but you'd have to think a kid or two is coming up! BTW, I am a die hard Montreal fan who just moved to Edmonton, so please don't think I'm Oilers biased, infact I was of the opinion they had the worst squad in the league until this offseason. Most of the pieces from thier stanley cup run have been replaced nicely. A forward or two (and some are still out there, plus the oilers still have tons of money to overpay a forseberg or someone of that ilk) and the oil could be back in business.
I agree with many that this was a "what's left on the table?" pick-up, but not a bad one overall. Not sure this team will regain it's position in this division (what with Calgary, Colorado and Vancouver against them) and may still end up battling Minnesota for the bottom spot of their division. (Sorry Matt! You deserve better!) Oilers will certainly be interesting to watch and see how they gel and attempt to re-gain an identity post-Pronger/Smyth.
First, let me say this is a good pick-up for the Oilers. As a Habs fan who goes to at least 12 games a year at the Bell Centre, I can tell you Souray's -28 is not a reason to attack his defensive abilities. He did a lot of time on the PK this year and last time I checked, MTL wasn't worst in the PK this year, not even close to last.
Souray's achilles heal is in his transition game particularly when 5 on 5.
Despite this, Souray still logged well over 20 minutes per game. Maybe coming home will motivate him to improve the weak parts of his game. In Edmonton, he will get every opportunity.
ya, its a good pick up....but at this point, Yashine would have been a good pick up for the oilers! As for praising Sourays slap shot, its awesome, I'll give you that, passing up the middle...its pretty good, defensive game.....still looking to see if there ever was one. you can argue he wanted to play in edmonton cause its close to his home, but you could have made any arguement to where he would have ended up. Souray is a good player, someone you put on the allstar game because its all offense, but he wouldn't make an international team because they only want to take players who are good all around. Souray isn't. To say that the oilers are making a team that can make it to the stanly cup finals again is a farce! They don't have any depth what so ever, their defense stinks, and they have lots of seconday scoring, but no primary scoring....
If I were an edmonton fan, I'd be standing up for them too, but I'd know that they were doomed. Change things up in the head office. The only reason Lowe and McTavish are there is because they "represent" the old dynasty....but times they are a changin'
I don't understand why everyone including Spector are saying that Pitkanen isn't needed now that Souray is an Oiler. Souray is slow is hell, and won't be lugging the puck up into the offensive zone. The majority of his points are on the PP, meaning the puck is already in the zone, he gets his points off of his shot. Pitkanen is the guy who will carry the puck from the Oilers zone into the offensive zone, and then setup Souray for a blast from the point. I guess Tarnstrom would be on the 2nd unit.
Also, if the Oilers don't make a move, maybe Robert Nilsson will finally get a deserving shot as LW with Horcoff and Hemsky. He does have the potential that his father displayed, maybe more
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
