Okay, let's be real, I think everyone knows how this scenario is going to play out:
1. The Oilers are going to be active in the trade market for rental forwards, with targeting guys like Silfverberg, Ferland and maybe even Eberle. They'll trade draft picks and prospects for those guys, which will gut their future.
2. The Oilers will either not re-sign whatever rental(s) they acquire or will overpay them to keep them around. Ferland becomes Lucic or Clarkson 2.0 when Chiarelli gives him a 5 year, $5 million deal. Silfverberg becomes Eriksson 2.0 when he re-signs for $5.5 million a year on a long term deal. You get the picture. Either those guys leave, which results in the Oilers just pissing away assets, or the Oilers overpay to retain those guys.
3. When those terrible UFA contracts fail like a majority of UFA contracts (it at least seems like a ton of them fail), they'll be stuck with the new versions of Lucic or Eriksson, and they won't have any young talent coming from the minors because of the picks and prospects given up to acquire them as rentals. So they're just in a circle, back to where they started.
To make your team good, you have to complement good drafting with good trades and good free agent signings. You can't build your team through trades or free agency. Until the Oilers fix their drafting and developing, they aren't going to improve as a team. They'd be better off blowing it up (again) and rebuilding.
