When there isn't a game for five days and the Oilers are dwelling near the bottom of the cellar in terms of overall production, it can leave little to talk about in Edmonton. The result tends to be a plethora of misdirected, unsubstantiated and just plain ridiculous trade rumors that one might be able to dot-connect to the Oilers.

Lately, the internet has been kicking it into overdrive and a who's-who of names have popped up. Over the next five days, we're going to take a look at the five most incredibly strange rumours to hit the scene.

#5 - Eric Staal

When two teams sit as low as these two do, it only makes sense to connect the dots doesn't it?

Why on earth, would two of the worst teams in the NHL want to do a big time trade with each other knowing that there are little to no players on either roster that could turn the fortunes for the other team. For Edmonton, Eric Staal is good and might have been considered that game changer last season, but with three goals and six assists in 17 games and a whopping $8.25 million cap hit over the next seven seasons, Staal isn't changing the fortunes for anyone these days and definitely not the Edmonton Oilers.

Realistically, when someone comes up with this rumor, do they stop to even take into consideration the salary cap?

The initiator of this squabble even went so far as to suggest that the Hurricanes would be interested in Denis Grebeshkov and Andrew Cogliano to get it done. While I'm impressed to see the change in approach to a site that tends to suggest rumors, but only give one side of the equation, never actually mentioning pieces involved from either side; perhaps it was a better solution to keep it a secret knowing this combination of players makes no sense.

The Hurricanes, who are home to two very skilled puck-moving defensemen in Joni Pitkanen and Joe Corvo would have little to no need for Denis Grebeshkov, who by the way is injured and an RFA at the end of the season. The same could be said for Cogliano who would be considered an all but expired contract. He's young sure, but hardly a replacement for even a struggling Eric Staal.

This trade can only be looked at as one thing -- a salary dump by the Hurricanes. Funny though, the Hurricane's are hardly leading the pack in terms of cap struggles and the Oilers have no room to take on that kind of salary, especially since Grebeshkov and Cogliano combined make up only one half of Staal's giant salary.

Staal isn't going anywhere anytime soon. He's the face of a franchise that while doing well now, would be one player away from empty seats. Eric Staal is to Carolina what Kovalchuk is to Atlanta.

It should be interesting to see how many other teams get named in the Eric Staal sweepstakes since Carolina is just simply that poor a team. Staal who's on pace for 43 points, makes moving Scott Gomez easy.

Comments (5)

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written by RyanB, December 01, 2009

Realistically, when someone comes up with this rumor, do they stop to even take into consideration the salary cap?

No they don't. This trade makes no sense from a cap standpoint for the Oilers or a value standpoint for the Canes. This one almost made me laugh out loud when I first read it.

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written by Jay-, December 01, 2009

Ryan, my first thought was that the Eklund rumor generator was broken when I saw this trade rumor.

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written by Jim P, December 01, 2009

The best part is that Eric Staal will be rumoured as trade bait all season with a bunch of teams until Carolina starts winning some games.

Last I heard now, he was on his way to L.A.... ya because L.A. is interesting in disturbing a good thing with an $8 million cap hit.

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written by RyanB, December 01, 2009

Jim your logic is ruining an otherwise exciting story

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written by Jim P, December 01, 2009

My apologies... I know there isn't much to chat about these days and grasping at the possibilities of a player like Eric Staal helps a lot fans cope.

You'll probably really hate my top 4 picks.

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