What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

Remember that jingle? This commercial illustrates just how easy it could be…

If life was only this easy, imagine what your lady friend would do if you cleared the whole table??? Dare to dream boys, dare to dream. Of course remember once you set that precedent then you’ll be expected to do it again. So weigh your options.

What would you do for Heatley Bar?

That is the question many teams will ponder for the next three weeks, since I expect the Sens to trade the former Calgary Canuck before his $4 million signing bonus is due on July 1st.

Oiler fans what would you give up for Heatley? While you ponder that, can you name the last Oiler to score 40 goals? (Answer at end of article).

I bet many of you can’t recall the last Oiler to pot 40, and it’s doubtful you’ll remember the year. Hell, some of you were still in diapers.

Yesterday I had Rob Daum, Perry Pearn and Clare Drake in studio. Daum had a great point about goal scoring. “It can change the outcome of a game more than any other element. It boosts your team, deflates the other, and can alter the entire game in a moment.”

The Oilers haven’t had anyone who can do that with regularity in a long time, and it is clear that their owner recognizes that.

I’ve been told that Daryl Katz is prepared to do whatever it takes to try and land Heatley. He has given Steve Tambellini the green light to put together a package that will ensure Bryan Murray doesn’t overlook them.

That doesn’t mean he will grossly overpay for Heatley, rather, it seems that he would be willing to hide a salary in the minors come October if that’s what it takes. Let’s just clarify that it won’t be Horcoff or Penner, because that is too big a price to pay in the minors, plus putting either player there makes no sense.

Basically the blessing is there for Tambellini not to worry about where everyone will fit when acquiring Heatley. It makes the GM’s job much easier if the owner gives him that sort of leeway.

The Oilers are also very interested in trying to land Jay Bouwmeester. Could they land both? Highly unlikely because the odds of trading for a top-three goal scorer and signing a top-ten D-man in the span of ten days are near impossible, but Katz is willing to pull out all the stops to ensure they get one.

Bouwmeester won’t cost any assets, but I’d still take Heatley over him right now. The Oilers have depth on the backend, but their scoring pool is thinner than Nicole Ritchie.

You can argue that Heatley is a one-trick pony, but he is damn good at his one trick. He scores goals and he does it well. The Oilers sign him and you can mark him down for 40 goals. They don’t have anyone who is a sure bet to even score 30 right now.

In the past four years he has scored 180 goals, 362 points and was a +82. Horcoff and Hemsky have combined for 151 goals in the same span.

He has more career PP goals (99) than every Oiler has career goals, excluding Horcoff (120) and Moreau (136).

Some argue he just finished an off year with 39 goals, but that still put him tied for 9th in the league and only one back of being tied for 5th. An off year for Heatley is a career year for 95% of the other players in the league.

I don’t think it is trade for Heatley at any cost, because if you deal Hemsky that doesn’t leave Heatley much to play with, but every other player should be on the table. Regardless of who it will cost, the fact Katz has given his GM his blessing to make it happen, means the Oilers are not just in the mix, they might end up stirring the drink.

Here are the years the Oilers had a 30-goal man since Garbage Pail (Klima) potted 40:

Smyth… 36… 2006
Comrie… 33… 2002
Smyth… 31… 2001
Guerin… 30… 1999
Smyth… 39 and Kovalenko 32… 1997
Ciger… 31… 1996
Arnott… 33… 1994
Klima… 32… 1993
Damphousse 38, and Murphy 35… 1992. Oilers had eight 20-goal scorers that year; Simpson 24, Mellanby 23, Klima 21, Nicholls 20, Buchberger 20 and Semenov 20.