I would agree with you generally, except for one thing. The Oilers need more balance in the top 6. If they can sign a solid fee agent in the off-season to fill the void, I would be all up for keeping Hemsky. If not, something has to give--and, IMHO, it's either Hemsky or Gagner who has to go in a trade.
The problem is, of course, that the embarrassment who's managing the club will never be able to complete a good trade. But that's another story.
The "need" angle has been invented here. Largely a result of looking specifically at Boston, LA, and thinking this is the only, ever, means to success. Which is the first fiction invoked.
The next fiction being that we are, and always will be, small up front. Hall and Yak are both future power forwards and Make a similarly aged Mark Messier look weak and ineffective. Hall and Yak give us a size tandem that even the best ever Oiler team didn't often have going for it.
Look at a club like Chicago. At one point weren't they somewhat small up front in topsix? But being that they're good guys like Hossa and Sharp chase in to fill out a roster. Who's to say stuff like that would never happen when we need it.
Lets worry about size intangibles when its time to contend for anything. lets focus now on retaining talent and building a talented club that will be attractive for good players to join.
One of the things that commonly gets forgotten is that any player agent is always kicking stones around teams that look like they could be the next high flying scoring thing. Because contract evaluation is largely based on pts obtained. Especially in the case of forwards. The same players that won't want to go to STL or Nashville or Phoenix will soon enough WANT to come here.
We already saw this with Justin.
