ARMCHAIR GM XIV: GOT BALLS?

When July began I complimented Edmonton Oilers GM Steve Tambellini for doing some nice work, mostly of the housekeeping variety, this off-season but suggested there was more to do. As August approaches, we’re still waiting on that.

Landing former Anaheim Duck property and UFA defenseman Justin Schultz made for some justified excitement with the fans on the heels of the selection of Nail Yakupov at the Entry Draft, but everybody with a functioning brain stem realizes there is more to do – specifically, putting the right players in a package that will land the Oilers another top four defenseman.

That won’t happen by tossing spare parts at a GM – the Spin-o-rama shootout guy from Sweden, Corey Potter and a box of tape. It’ll take a top-six forward (Sam Gagner), one of the four or so bottom-pairing caliber defensemen the Oilers have looking for a roster spot and a prospect. In other words, a deal that sends out two of three bodies and returns only one. This, we know.

It’ll mean identifying the right defenseman and picking up the phone willing to part with a player who has real value from a depth position to get a player of value where the depth remains questionable. Does Tambellini, who I recall saying more than once this off-season he intends to change the complexion of the team, most likely by trade, have the wherewithal to pull it off?

Again, I don’t have a problem giving Tambellini credit where it’s due, but if you look through his portfolio as Edmonton’s GM, is there a trade that stands out to you as a big bang win for the Oilers – a put-it-together transaction that was both ballsy and smart? I don’t.

No time like the present . . .

. . . So, according to an item Saturday by Jonathan Willis, "Linus Omark believes he’ll be an NHLer in 2012-13." I "believe" I’ll be on the cover of GQ Magazine in 2012-13 as well. That doesn’t mean there’s a chance in hell of that happening, but I’m certainly free to believe it might.

Perhaps, as Willis pointed out, something actually was lost in the translation – like the part about the over/under on NHL GMs who’d have even the slightest interest in the one-trick Swede (and Omark isn’t even all that prolific at his one trick) is probably two, and those are maybes.

. . . Shane Doan is a helluva player and is leader of men, but if he’s expecting a four-year contract for $30 million at the age of 35 to leave Phoenix, he won’t have to worry about the need for a moving van unless there’s an NHL owner out there who has fallen down the stairs and hit his head in recent days.

Sorry, but $7.5 million a year for Doan at this point in his career would be an over pay of biblical proportions. I get it that Doan wants to cash in on his final contract and that Jason Strudwick is a Kamloops alum, a former teammate and a friend, but listening to him trying to justify how Doan is worth a tall stack like that on Jason Gregor’s show Friday made me squirm.

. . . If Tambellini doesn’t get anything done in the way of adding another top four defenseman, I see the roster as it stacks up now missing the playoffs but finishing ahead of the Calgary Flames in the standings for the first time in a decade (I had this discussion on Twitter the other day) in 2012-13.

Aided by the new software I acquired for the Bronte 5000, my best guess is the Flames (90 points in 2011-12) will drop off by five points or so, putting them in or around 85 points. I see the Oilers (74 points in 2011-12) improving by 12-15 points, putting them in the range of 89. They’ll come up short of a post-season berth for the seventh straight year but finish ahead of the Flames.

. . . If you look at the Twitter rankings of people covering the NHL and combine MSM types with bloggers, Eklund rates third behind only Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger of TSN in terms of followers. One of these three is not like the others . . .