F'ed in the A

I guess I should stop ignoring the White Elephant in the room and post something about the Pronger trade...

Let's see. Pronger for Lupul and a prospect (Smid) and some high picks (first rounder, a conditional first rounder and a second rounder).

Yup, it's an "F" alright: an F right in the A.

Or at least it seems to be - from an Oiler's perspective, anyways. Especially considering the short-term ramifications. Take a look at the Greaser's current blueline brigade, for instance:

- Steve Staios
- Jason Smith
- MA Bergeron
- Matt Greene
- (Syvret, Smid)?

One can almost hear Spacek's agent cackling gleefully. Not only did this weekend's activity set the bar obscenely high for slightly above average defensemen (like Spacek), but he now has mountains of leverage in the form of KLowe desperation which he will no doubt turn into a long-term, lucrative deal for his client. Just another gentleman caller looking to woo the Oil with his "rapist wit" (apologies to Dumb and Dumber).

Not that the Oil won't be well used and lubed by the time that comes around. First, Pronger screws them by demanding the trade. Then, a little drunk from their SCF run, they bow to the pressures of Roli and Pisani and overpay to keep them around. Then that wily ol' Burke sneaks up on them in the showers and delivers the above deal to boot.

Ouch.

Course, it's not really ALL bad. Edmonton has a ton of cap room and a pretty deep core of young, scoring forwards...especially with the addition of Lupul. IF Lowe can somehow patch the gaping 30 minute hole left by Pronger through trades or free agency, they might escape this whole debacle sans Pronger and pride but otherwise intact.

So what's left in the UFA pool anyways? Not much.

Gone are premium names like Redden, Chara, Jovo and Blake. Heck, even most of the 2nd-tier d-men have been claimed - McKee, Witt, Ward, Zyuzin, Kuba, Kubina, Gill, Pothier, Corvo, Mitchell, Johnsson - all snatched up between Saturday and Monday.

Which means there's certainly no ONE guy out there that can take Pronger's place in Edmonton. Here are some players who are (unofficially) still available:

Radoslav Suchy, Jason Woolley, Shane Hnidy, Daniel Tjarnqvist, Jiri Slegr, Ian Moran, Rory Fitzpatrick, Cale Hulse, Bryan Marchment, Jamie Pushor, John Erskine, Dick Tarnstrom, Joel Kwiatkowski, Jamie Allison, Alex Karpovtsev, Todd Simpson, Tommy Albelin, Joel Bouchard, Jason Strudwick, Brad Norton, Lyle Odelein, Patrick Traverse, Cory Cross, Igor Ulanov, Jamie Rivers, Chris McAllister, Kevin Dallman, Mathieu Biron, Jason Doig, Brad Brown

Assuming they'll re-sign Spacek, Edmonton will probably want at least one more d-man that can play 20 minutes a night. Radoslav Suchy maybe? Dallman? Erskine? Jason Woolley?? Of course, what if they DON'T re-sign Spacek? Which 2 of the above would you take to play top 4 minutes??? *shudder*

It's an unpleasant prospect to be certain. 'Course, there's always the trade route...though, considering the leagues frothing-at-the-mouth demand for quality defensemen currently, one can figure that a top 4 guy will come at a pretty significant cost. Is Hemsky, Stoll or Horcoff worth a top 4 guy? Would one of each even be enough in the current market?

Tough questions, tough call. Grabia has an exhaustive post at the Battle of Alberta for those of you that are morbidly curious about the future facing ol' Shelbyville...

As for the Anaheim perspective - well...

you give up a young up-coming scorer...something you have in spades anyhow. You acquire one of the top 5 d-men in the league, even though you ALREADY HAVE one of those in Niedermayer. With those two anchors on the back-end it almost doesn't matter who else they decide to dress on the blueline. Oh...and they have cap room to spare. Scary.

If Anaheim is able to garner the kind of seasons they got out of Selanne, Getzlaf, MacDonald and co. again next year, they could be a force to be reckoned with. One thing's for certain, though - the Battle of California is sure going to be interesting to watch.