Game 62 Preview - Edmonton Oilers vs Nashville Predators - 6pm MT - Sportsnet - March 2nd, 2010

Well, just like watching the Olympics, we'll get to watch Denis Grebeshkov playing against us.  The Oilers are back from the Olympic break with a few roster changes.  In addition to the recent Grebeshkov trade, the Oilers have also traded Cody Wild for Matt Marquardt from the Boston Bruins.

It seems that Matt Marquardt is a 22-year-old left winger with some size. He's listed at 6'3" and 222 lbs.  He's never played in the NHL and has bounced between the AHL and ECHL this season with a combined total of 35 points in 51 games between the two leagues.  Marquardt is a 7th round draft pick from the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, so this move appears insignificant unless I'm missing something.

(Jimmy Jeong/Canadian Press)

I made a comment on the site this morning that as the People's GM, I was none too happy with the Oilers trade of Grebeshkov to the Nashville Predators for a 2^nd round pick in next year's draft.  I thought I would take a deeper look to see if my gut feeling was correct.

My gut tells me that we traded a future RFA for a 2^nd round pick when we could have received at least as much if we had held onto to him until he hit the open market.   After doing my research I am not sure things are so simple.

To start off, a quick recap of how the RFA world works.  Prior to the start of free agency, the Oilers have a decision to make with their RFAs.  They can make a qualifying offer, request arbitration or let the player walk and become an unrestricted free agent. For a guy like Grebs who makes over $1 million a year, the qualifying offer has to at least match his $3.15 million salary for this year.  Should Grebs decline, either party could ask for arbitration (Oilers can only ask for arbitration once for each player) or Grebs could test the market and look for an offer sheet.

If Grebs signed an offer sheet and the Oilers declined to match it, the Oilers would receive compensation draft picks depending on Grebs annual salary.  A salary less than $2.6 million would garner a 2^nd round pick, a salary less than $3.9 million would yield a 1^st and 3^rd round pick.

Denis Grebeshkov traded to the Nashville Predators for a 2nd round pick in 2010.

As per TSN earlier today, Denis Grebeshkov's been traded to the Predators for a 2nd round draft pick in this year's NHL entry draft.  Prior to the Olympic trade deadline, it was clear that Steve Tambellini was going to trade one of the Oilers' higher priced defensemen to clear cap space for next season.  Few would have guessed Denis Grebeshkov with their first guess.

Unless I'm mistaken, the TSN article incorrectly suggests that Grebeshkov will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season:

Grebeshkov, who is earning $3.15 million this season, will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

As an restricted free agent (RFA), I believe that the Oilers would have had to provide Grebeshkov with a qualifying offer of at least 100% of his previous years salary--if not 10% more as some suggest.

In other related Oilers news, Nikolai Khabibulin's DUI troubles escalate as he may have to spend up to 30 days in jail for an extreme DUI charge.

As well, the Oilers have recalled Devank Dubnyk, Taylor Chorney, and Theo Peckham from their AHL affiliate.

Back to Grebeshkov, many Oilers fans feel that a 2nd round pick for an RFA is a relatively poor return.  Thoughts?

Game Preview:  Team Canada vs. Team USA - Gold-Medal Game - February 28, 2010

One week ago, also on a Sunday, Team Canada lost to Team USA by a score of 5-3 in large part due to the goaltending performance of Ryan Miller.  Despite few pundits predicting Team USA to be playing in the gold-medal game before these Olympics, many are now predicting them to win.

Team Canada has the opportunity to be the first team since the 1980 Miracle on Ice USA team to win on home ice.  Speaking of the miracle on ice, Robin Regehr recently tweeted, "“if the United States wins, they’ll probably make another movie about it. And we don’t want to see that happen.”  I don't want to see that happen either.

However, on the proverbial any given Sunday, either team has a chance to win Olympic hockey gold. Team USA is trying to become the first team since Russia in 1988 to win every hockey game in this tournament.

Team USA is lead by Ryan Miller who's numbers for this tournament are nothing short of outstanding (5-0-0, 1.04 GAA, .953 save percentage).  After a shaky performance during the last game between these two teams, Martin Brodeur has been replaced by Roberto Luongo as Team Canada's starting goaltender.  Like Miller, Luongo is also unbeaten in this tournament (3-0-0, 1.75 GAA, .919 save percentage.)