The Oilers managed to accomplish most of what they were looking to do at the trade deadline, and GM Steve Tambellini was left smiling, the Edmonton Journal reports.
"We were able to accomplish a lot of the things we set out to do," Tambellini told the paper. "We knew that we needed to make some change and we did that."
The Oilers shipped defensemen Steve Staios, Lubomir Visnovsky and Denis Grebeshkov out of town over the last 48 hours, replacing them with Ryan Whitney, Aaron Johnson and draft picks.
In total, the Oilers freed up significant cap space and now have 10 draft picks heading into this summer's NHL Entry Draft.
The Oilers had some other deals on the table, but weren't able to finalize them.
Veteran forward Ethan Moreau was prepared for a trade, but the Oilers did not receive an offer they felt was enough to complete a move.
Defenseman Sheldon Souray was considered a lock to be traded until it was found out yesterday that his surgically repaired hand had become infected, ending his season.
The Oilers were also involved in serious trade discussions with the New York Rangers, who were trying to acquire defenseman Tom Gilbert.
Sources told TFP the Rangers were extremely interested in Gilbert, but were reluctant to move one of Brandon Dubinsky or Ryan Callahan as part of a deal.
"You can't accomplish everything at the deadline but we're darned pleased with what we did," said Tambellini. "We wanted to accumulate more picks. Now have a lot more options and we will try to explore the possibility of moving more people (at the draft)."
Files from:
Edmonton Journal
