Tom Gilbert for Drew Stafford?
Written by Jay   
Monday, 12 October 2009 23:46
Oilers interested in Drew Stafford?

Oilers Trade Rumors - Drew Stafford to Edmonton?

Okay, it's been pretty quiet as of late on the Edmonton Oilers / NHL trade rumor front.  For those esurient NHL trade rumor chasers, it's been tough times...  Fortunately, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal, Cult of Hockey blog, has come across an interesting gem of a rumor involving the Edmonton Oilers and the Buffalo Sabres. The original article was written in the Buffalo News by Bucky Gleason.  It came to my attention by way of David Staples' recent article: Tom Gilbert for Drew Stafford.  Here's is the original quote from Gleason:

"A source in Edmonton says the Oilers would trade puck-moving defenseman Tom Gilbert in a heartbeat for Drew Stafford , if the Sabres were interested. The Oilers, who have longed for Stafford since he entered the league, need a bigger winger. Fat chance. Gilbert would help the PP, but he’ll make $3 million more than Stafford in 2010-11."

***According to NHL numbers, Gilbert's cap hit is actually $4.0 million dollars vs. Stafford at $1.9 million which is actually only a difference of $2.1 million dollars relative to the salary cap. At this point, it doesn't sound like this rumor has an awful lot of legs--yet...

Who is Drew Stafford?

Drew Stafford is a right winger who's listed at 6'2" and 216 lbs while being 23 years of age.  He was drafted in the 1st round of the 2004 entry draft by the Buffalo Sabres. Over the past three seasons in the NHL he's posted the following numbers:
  • 2006/'07 - 41 GP/ G13/ A14/ P27 +/-  +5 [.66 pts/game]
  • 2007/'08 - 64 GP/ G16/ A22/ P38 +/-  +3 [.59 pts/game]
  • 2008/'09 - 79 GP/ G20/ A25/ P45 +/- +3 [.57 pts/game]
During last year's season, here's some number to note:
  • GF-GA= 44-38= 6
  • Shots 183 (SPCT =10.9%)
  • Corsi/60= -2.5
  • Qualcomp (0.05) / Qualteam (0.01)
  • 5v5/60= 1.57, 5v4/60 5.23
Stafford played the third toughest opposition of all players on his team with  relatively average linemates.  Despite this, he had both a positive goals for - goals against differential as well as a postive plus/- number.  However, his Corsi number was negative which means that he was on the ice for more shots against than generated.  His 5v4/60 was quite high which suggests that he plays well on the powerplay; in fact, his points/60 on the powerplay were slightly higher than Hemsky last year (5.0) while receiving a reasonable amount of powerplay time 2.61 (TOI/60). Overall, I would have mixed feelings on this trade given that I would rather have the Oilers trade one of their older/injury prone defencemen like Souray or Visnovsky.  I have to admit, that I haven't paid much attention to watching Stafford play in the past, so I can't count myself among the 'seen him good.'  Of course, there would also be salary cap issues that would complicate this speculated trade.  All things considered, the idea of moving one of our offensive defenseman for a winger with some size and skill certainly has some appeal--not to mention that it's been speculated for months already.  As for Buffalo, it's certainly possible that they're looking for a puck moving defenseman, so who knows if some trade like this might transpire... Share


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