[FIELDSET="TRADE: WINNIPEG - EDMONTON"]
acquires LAK 1st '11 (19th OV) & Linus Omark
acquires Zach Bogosian & Patrice Cormier
[/fieldset]
Edmonton acquires a defenseman the club can grow with. He has great role models in fellow Americans Ryan Whitney and Tom Gilbert to learn his craft. More importantly, Whitney and Gilbert can indoctrinated Bogosian into the fresh culture within the Oilers locker room. We feel he needed a fresh start and to feel like he's a key part of the solution. In Edmonton, we can offer that direction as well as providing him an opportunity to grow into the talented defender he projects to be.
In Cormier we add a player that has leadership, defensive acumen, grit, PK ability, and has demonstrated to be a excellent faceoff option in a small sample size. Perhaps what we love most about Cormier is his gumption to play on the edge, an effective quality we saw Brad Marchand demonstrate in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Oilers need more players that other teams hate to play against, and with Cormier, we feel we can develop that player out of him.
We feel at #19, we wouldn't have found a defensemen with the same pedigree and talent as Bogosian, so that was an easy piece to swap. Omark needed a Top-6 spot, and with my vision, those winger spots will be occupied by Hall, Eberle, Paajarvi, and Hemsky for the next decade. We wish him all the best in Winnipeg.
We'd like to find a solid defender to pair with Bogosian, but failing that, we are prepared to go into next season with these defense pairings:
Ryan Whitney - Tom Gilbert
Ladislav Smid - Zach Bogosian
Theo Peckham - Jeff Petry