Trade Deadline Day Hangover

 oooohhhhh...my head hurts.

Ok.  So the trade deadline came and went.  It looked like it was shaping up to be a deadline where the Oiler brass would sit on their hands and not get anything done.  I had my fire and venom blog almost completely written when about 20 minutes after the deadline passed, word came down that the Oilers had possibly made a trade.

I says "Pardon?"

*deletes venomous blog*

With my ears glued to the Tradecenter broadcast from TSN I impatiently waited, for what seemed like an eternity, to find out what the hell the Oilers had actually done.  News slowly started to trickle in...and It was confusing.

"The Oilers have completed a trade with Carolina"  was the first word we received.

...oookkk....  Robin Brownlee over at Oilersnation.com had mentioned a couple weeks ago that if the Oilers traded Erik Cole, Carolina would probably be their dance partner.

"The Oilers have traded with Carolina, for Patrick O'sullivan" was the second words we received.

.....oookkk....  But O'sullivan doesn't play for them.  What the fuck TSN?  Gord Miller, are you on the sauce again?

"Ok, the Kings have made a deal with Carolina for Justin Williams for Patrick O'sullivan."

...oooKKK!....It became clear, at that point, that the Oilers, Kings and Hurricanes got down and dirty with some raunchy 3 way action!

Sweet!

But wait...what'd we give up?  Not Erik Cole...Not Erik Cole...NOT ERICK COLE........fuck...it was Erik Cole.

I liked Cole.  I thought he was just starting to hit his stride with the team.  He was looking good over the past few weeks and had a helluva game in Nashville the other night.  But in this crazy, 

salary capped NHL, it all comes down to asset management and with Cole being a UFA this summer, Tambo couldn't risk the chance that Cole would walk and the Oilers would be left with nothing but a nice parting handshake.  So, I GUESS...from that standpoint, the deal is alright.  We also got a 2nd round pick in the deal.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

But wait...what was this?  ANOTHER deal had happened with the Mighty Oil?  Jesus guys, it's like 30 minutes past the deadline?  I waited impatiently once again to find out what the hell happened.

Turns out Tambo struck a deal with the Sabres to bring Ales Kotalik over for a 2nd round pick.  Ohhhhhhhhh....but wait........I thought the Sabres brass absolutely hated everything about the Oilers and would do anything in their powers to fuck us over cuz of the whole "Vanek Offer" sheet debacle in the summer of '07.  I guess they burried the hatchet, or simply wanted to do the deal cuz they needed to shed salary from roster to give some breathing room after the Tim Conolly extension they inked earlier in the day - plus they wouldn't have to deal with Kevin Lowe.  Either that, or Tambo is a smooth operator and had Darcy Regier eating out of the palm of his hands.  I like to think the the latter.  Honestly - WHO SAW THIS COMING!?!

Wow, guys, sexy pictures.  I hope you play hockey like you look in pictures.

So far, this season is like shades of ‘06.  The team is kinda floundering, hovering around the last playoff spot. People are calling for MacT’s head on a plate. The team is maybe somewhat lost in the weeds, some players aren’t playing up to their contracts… and then the trade deadline comes along. We pick up some somewhat fringe players that are kinda noteworthy, but not superstars, basically throw some duct tape on the roster and head on down the stretch. All of a sudden the playoffs arrive and our team is playing the best hockey we’ve seen them play in years and voila…SCF.

Let's hope history has a way of repeating itself.

Towel Boy signing off from the TBHQ Tradecenter HQ Headquarters Center and Conference Center, Toronto