Edmonton Oilers Trade Rumors: Whitney, Smid, Hemsky & Horcoff

A nice read from Elliotte Friedman of CBC Sports on his 30 thoughts has a couple points on the Edmonton Oilers who, according to Friedman will have some tough decisions to make in the next three weeks.

Friedman starts on the Oilers by saying that Ryan Whitney will be traded by this year’s deadline.  Set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, Whitney’s name has been circulating the rumor mill for the last couple of weeks.

After being a healthy scratch a handful of times this season, Whitney is a regular in the Oilers lineup lately, thanks to some injuries on the blue line and also due to his offensive contributions of late.  He has 3 goals and 4 assists in 18 games this season and despite some critics saying he’s lost his foot speed for the game, there appears to be a market shaping up for Whitney with multiple clubs looking for a puck-moving, big bodies d-man.

The Oilers also have Ladislav Smid who is set to become an UFA this summer and surprisingly to Friedman, there hasn’t been much chatter about extending the 27-year old.  The blue line is by far the Oilers Achilles heel and after doing very little to shore it up last off season, allowing a bruising defenseman like Smid to walk would be foolish.

There has been talk of trading Smid with the Detroit Red Wings showing interest.  GM Ken Holland has wanted to bring in a big name blue liner for months, but won’t pay the price for Keith Yandle or Jay Bouwmeester.  That’s where a guy like Smid might fit in.  Not a big name, but an effective defender.

Ales Hemsky was the subject of trade chatter at this time last season in Edmonton and his name is again coming up in the rumors this year.  Friedman points out that while Hemsky’s name will be floating around from now until April 3rd, he doesn’t think Edmonton will get much for him or any other potential unrestricted free-agent for that matter.  Why pay for a player now when you could potentially sign him in the summer and not have to surrender any prospects?

Friedman then mentions Shawn Horcoff and while it’s merely a random thought from the CBC hockey expert, he does bring up an interesting debate.

Horcoff is a solid centerman who is the Oilers best faceoff guy.  That’s a coveted asset for many clubs heading into the playoffs.  But Friedman wonders aloud if the Oilers would look at moving their captain.  Horcoff does have a no-trade clause through this season  and has two years remaining on his deal that carries a cap hit of $5.5 million. Friedman thinks that there could be a market for Horcoff despite his declining offensive production.

But would the Oilers give up the defensive edge and face-off ability of Horcoff? Not to mention the veteran leadership that Friedman writes about?  Or do the Oilers need a shakeup and need to trim some of the fat that has been hanging around for too many years.