In an attempt to address the teams biggest weakness the Edmonton Oilers have traded for veteran goalie JS Giguere. Heading to Washington is backup goalie Brian Boucher and former 1st round pick Zach Hamill. The Oilers will also receive a 5th round draft pick in this years draft.
Heading into the season Jonas Gustavsson was handed the starting job by default, and while his play has been much stronger than anticipated, GM Jeff Kirk didn't think he would be good enough to give his team a chance to win.
"After the whole Nabokov for Huet debacle Gus was kinda our starter by default. While we have hopes he'll develop into a quality HFNHL goalie he's not quite ready to carry a team yet." GM Kirk said at the trade press conference. "We like our team and felt we were a quality starter away from competing for a playoff spot. After kicking a lot of tires a deal was reached fairly quickly for Giggy."
Some might be surprised to see Hamill, a former 12th overall pick, leaving town. The Oilers don't have a ton of depth to their prospect pool so this move is not without risk.
"Trading Zach wasn't something we were looking to do. At all." answered GM Kirk when questioned about trading perhaps the teams top Centre prospect. "After discussions with several other teams and finally with Washington we realized that without offering up a quality prospect we weren't going to get the goalie we needed. Zach has been a little slow to develop and has a few players to hurdle on the depth chart but we still feel he has a very good chance to contribute to the Capitals in the future and wish him the best of luck."
Giguere looks to make his Oilers debut later today against division rival Colorado Avalanche. If he's to have any chance of guiding his new team to the playoffs he better hope the offense starts to pick it up as they have scored only 3 goals in their last 3 games and 10 in their last 7 games.
Marty McSorley
Edmonton Journal
PS...As a Vancouver resident I feel dirty and ashamed having the NHL Leafs goalie tandem on my team. Running the Oilers is bad enough, the Leafs goalies has me standing on a ledge.
Heading into the season Jonas Gustavsson was handed the starting job by default, and while his play has been much stronger than anticipated, GM Jeff Kirk didn't think he would be good enough to give his team a chance to win.
"After the whole Nabokov for Huet debacle Gus was kinda our starter by default. While we have hopes he'll develop into a quality HFNHL goalie he's not quite ready to carry a team yet." GM Kirk said at the trade press conference. "We like our team and felt we were a quality starter away from competing for a playoff spot. After kicking a lot of tires a deal was reached fairly quickly for Giggy."
Some might be surprised to see Hamill, a former 12th overall pick, leaving town. The Oilers don't have a ton of depth to their prospect pool so this move is not without risk.
"Trading Zach wasn't something we were looking to do. At all." answered GM Kirk when questioned about trading perhaps the teams top Centre prospect. "After discussions with several other teams and finally with Washington we realized that without offering up a quality prospect we weren't going to get the goalie we needed. Zach has been a little slow to develop and has a few players to hurdle on the depth chart but we still feel he has a very good chance to contribute to the Capitals in the future and wish him the best of luck."
Giguere looks to make his Oilers debut later today against division rival Colorado Avalanche. If he's to have any chance of guiding his new team to the playoffs he better hope the offense starts to pick it up as they have scored only 3 goals in their last 3 games and 10 in their last 7 games.
Marty McSorley
Edmonton Journal
PS...As a Vancouver resident I feel dirty and ashamed having the NHL Leafs goalie tandem on my team. Running the Oilers is bad enough, the Leafs goalies has me standing on a ledge.
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