Appease the Fans!

So Tambellini decided to keep us waiting with baited breath until the very last possible moment today before making two trades. It was a relatively slow deadline day even though 22 trades were made. It was all the expected players and the only 'big name' guy to go was Jokinen. Calgary got pumped all day as the 'big players' even though they made only two trades. The Brian Burke love-in at TSN almost made me vomit. They cut off Eric Cole to go to Burke's presser, then five minutes after it was over they do a one on one interview with him and ask the same questions. All the while trades are starting to come in. Worst statement of the day? Pierre 'Monster' McGuire stating that basically the Oilers traded Pitkanen and Cole for O'sullivan. WHERE IS THE LOGIC IN THAT? On national television no less. I'll keep the rest short as we've all seen the trades.

• Very good value for Cole. The way I'm seeing it is Cole and a 5th for O'Sullivan and Kotalik. Kotalik is a UFA and O'sullivan has 2 years left at about 2.9. Cole was not resigning here so again, great value.
• I think the only team you could have traded Cole to is Carolina, its the one team that probably wouldn't treat him like a UFA as he surely signs there this summer. This is why Tambellini was able to get value for him.
• Frolov must not have been available as you HAVE to assume he was the Oilers first choice.
• Word out of Ryan Rishaug's mouth is that Kotalik is the guy to play #1 LW which goes against most fans initial thoughts. I don't understand why we gave up the 2nd for 20 games of this guy (who is a natural RW), but we shall see.

What I've briefly seen/heard on each player:

• O'sullivan: good AHL scorer with average NHL stats, 24 years old, shoots a lot (200 shots) but scores a little (14 goals). Rob Daum coached him with the Aeros in the AHL so he must have put word in on it. I take that as a good sign. He's a smallish offensive first forward, which we obviously have no shortage of on this team.
• Kotalik: Great shot, probably the second best shot on this team right now. Average player who is about a 45 point guy that can at least hold his own in both ends. I question whether he re-signs with us.

So an interesting day. They were able to protect all the young core players of this team and flip 2o games of Cole for a couple of assets, one of which likely has a long term future with this team. The one thing that scares me is this team just got smaller and softer by trading one of their most physical forwards.

All in all, well played Tambellini, well played. You'll survive at least until draft day.