I'm an outsider looking in on both the Oilers and Flames. I am a Habs fan, so hopefully I am not biassed.
The Oilers are a few players away from being competitive. I think using Hemsky as the cornerstone of the rebuild might be a mistake, only because he is made of glass. How can you Flames fans say Penner is overpaid? He's a 4 million dollar guy getting 5 and 6 million dollar points.
As far as losing players to free agency, I really think that Eberle and Hall will likely stay. That is, of course after they are finished their RFA contracts. These guys are from the praries, so should hate it less. They are young and are relatively closed to family and friends. I wouldn't be surprised to see Burke put in an offer sheet on one of them, when they become RFA though. LOL.
I think that once the Oilers tank this year, they should try to secure some better vets. The vets that they have to mentor the young guns are not good enough.
This team needs a #1 and #3 defenseman. Whitney is a #2 and Gilbert is an overpaid #4. Peckam may become a #3, but defensemen take time to develope. At centre, they are very weak. Horcoff is way overpaid, and really, this team has no centreman that can carry the play. Hemsky fills that role nicely, but you need to get more than 40 games a year out of him.
Flames analysis is not so easy. They are a fringe team with some upside, but very little depth in the farm. Iggy is my favorite player in the league, and the Flames need to keep him. They do need to quit losing trades though. I believe that Tanguay was the best deal made this off season. He was the best player on the Habs 09 team, and the only reason he wasnt resigned was because Gainey saw something in his core that he did not like and let every FA go for nothing. His poor season in Tampa made him a great reclamation project. Buy low and sell high. If they are not close at the trade deadline, I would either try to get him extended early, and if that doesn't work, trade him for a 2nd rounder and a prospect.
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