Future Promising in Edmonton

As the cliche goes this Spring, 'for a team that didn't make the playoffs, the Oilers are sure happy with their finish.' Who wouldn't be, really... especially with all that young talent they had been forced to use due to injuries to veterans coming through with flying colours.

The Oilers management, which has been questioned and has been the butt of plenty of jokes, has taken notice and has already done it's best to sew some of that talent up for the coming years. On Friday (April 11), the Oilers locked up Tom Gilbert to a 6-year deal, worth $24 million. Gilbert was arguably their best offensive defenseman all year, since he played all 82 games for the Oil. He notched 33 points (13G, 20A) this season and will now be paid for more seasons like that one. On Saturday (April 12), they announced that they had signed Kid Line winger, Robert Nilsson to a 3-year deal, with the dollar figure not reported. Nilsson finished the season with 41 points (10G, 31A) in 71 games, most of which came after the formation of the Kid Line with Andrew Cogliano and Sam Gagner. Finally, the Oilers re-signed Denis Grebeshkov to another 1-year deal after a mildly successful campaign with the Oilers. Grebeshkov spent a year away from the NHL before returning with Edmonton.

Dustin Penner	Shawn Horcoff	Ales Hemsky
Andrew Cogliano	Sam Gagner	Robert Nilsson
Curtis Glencross	Jarret Stoll	Kyle Brodziak
Geoff Sanderson	Marty Reasoner	Fernando Pisani
	Marc-Antoine Pouliot	Zach Stortini

Sheldon Souray	Tom Gilbert
Joni Pitkanen	Denis Grebeshkov
Steve Staios	Ladislav Smid
Matt Greene	Mathieu Roy

Mathieu Garon

Dwayne Roloson

This is how the Oilers season sort of ended in the roster department. Of course, there were their fair share of injuries to this list, so it's really more a matter of visualization than fact. The losses of Shawn Horcoff, Sheldon Souray and Ethan Moreau for the better parts of the season were huge and could very well be contributed to their drop out of the playoff picture. The Oilers do have the benefit of having all three of these players signed on for at least one more season, so a full compliment of these three with the young kids should mean some big things.

On the Free Agency side, they will have to deal with Jarret Stoll and Joni Pitkanen as restricted free agents, while guys like Marty Reasoner and Fernando Pisani will be an unrestricted free agents. A name on the list that will unlikely see much consideration is Geoff Sanderson. He'll be unrestricted and since he was only used for half of the season, it seems unlikely that he'll return for his $1.5 milllion salary next season. Curtis Glencross, another potential unrestricted free agent, should see some good negotiations from Oiler management after being a spark plug in the line-up after joining them in a trade with Columbus.

Without the figures for both Grebeshkov and Nilsson, the Oilers have their current active roster valued at roughly $35.1 million. 15 of an active 23 are signed up for next season and the key names were listed above to who they are missing on that list. Depth players will be easier to find within their system, but the team does have some number crunching to do, to make sure everyone fits into the new budget that new ownership has given them. The Oilers could be big-time buyers this summer, which could add interest to the marketplace as an outsider looking in.

Draft Day will be a telling day in the Oilers' future, especially since they don't have their pick in the Top 14. They had it go to Anaheim in the Dustin Penner fiasco. Could there be a move or two be made for a quality pick?