I dont know. Why did they spend a 5th round pick on Nikita Nikitin, a constant healthy scratch for those very same Blue Jackets, and then proceed to pay him $4.5M?
He could have been had for free. And he certainly isnt worth his wages.
ummm ... that's sort of my point. Why trade an asset like Perron to get Anisimov when a draft pick-- 3rd or 4th round --this summer will be able to acquire the player. And sometimes a player in one organization and in one particular situation can go to a new team/ organization and flourish (aka Sequin in Dallas) and sometimes the player is the same player everywhere, and that's sort of the "hope" with acquiring players like either Nikitin or Anisimov.
In terms of Nikitin, the Oilers didn't give up a player who is clearly superior (aka what they would do in a Perron--Anisimov swap), they just dumped a late round pick (and their drafting success of 5th round players is zippo nothing) for a chance at a bit of a "magic bean".
And thus far Nikitin has been mostly terrible ... but maybe a glimmer of a wee bit of hope was seen re: potential in terms of his goal against St. Louis, and he does have somewhat of a shot from the point too .... sure a bit of grasping at straws ... and at an unreasonable salary of $4.5 million??? (which isn't a good precedent in terms of the team's internal dynamics) ... but the Oilers weren't likely to acquire any sort of body who was playing real games in the NHL for that 5th round pick anyways--- ... when the Oilers actually acquire a Jamie Benn (like Dallas did) for that pick or something similar, that's when things have truly truly turned around for the organization and a "lottery pick" jackpot has come home to roost.
and Anisimov will he be soon a healthy scratch for Columbus??? as soon Dubinsky will be returning to the line-up AND since Boone Jenner (drafted #37 2011 after #31 David Musil) has the 3rd highest increase in total ice time in the league from last year to this year (14.08 min to 19.43 min) -- only exceeded by Brent Burns and Philip Forsberg ie Jenner has become the de facto #2 center in Columbus, and the Swedish kid?? Wennberg also made the team out of training camp tooo .... so once the team is healthy, Anisimov's spot in is jeopardy, ... wouldn't you say??? ... and at a cap hit of $3.3 million ... sort of maybe reminiscent of what happened to Nikitin in Columbus????