Yeah I get the urgency to improve soon, but they simply cannot afford to give up so much of their future for only 2 years. One MAJOR problem with the Oilers has been their lack of prospects. They finally seem to be turning that around, but 2 years of control for that much future does more harm than good. To give up so much, they would need more term on players coming back. I could see either of Skinner or Faulk going to Edmonton, but not both. They couldn't come close to recovering the loss of the 2 assets sent out within 2 years, and don't have the answers within the organization.
As for the politics, I live in the Soo so don't really pay much attention to your comparison.
I think we agree Mikey, but I'm trying to think more like Chiarelli and Katz rather than how I might personally approach the roster going forward. I do realize how this type of trade could go horribly wrong, but it could also result in a Stanley Cup parade next June. Katz wants that more than anything or anyone, and Chiarelli needs to do everything in his power to deliver that or he'll be out of a job and have a hard time getting another one based on his bad-in-hindsight moves for Edmonton.
If you look how Chiarelli built that 2011 team in Boston, he definitely wasn't thinking about the negative implications two or three years down the road and, hey, it worked out for him. He got his ring there.
Prospects are developing faster in general these days, so the hope would be that a Benson or a Safin or a Maksimov would be ready to step in if Skinner bolted for free agency. Ditto with Bear and Jones, among others, on the back end if Faulk isn't interested in re-signing with Edmonton or also prices himself out of the cap situation.
Are these the right moves? The moves I would make? Probably not. Are these the moves that a desperate GM would make to save his job and try to deliver a Cup as early as next season? Sure, seems plausible when you think of it that way. At least from an Oilers' perspective.
