In Edmonton, one of the key spots they were likely going to look to improve on was in defense and a deal with the Kings has seemingly done that. The Oilers acquired Lubomir Visnovsky from Los Angeles for forward Jarret Stoll and defenseman Matt Greene.
Visnovsky, 31, signed a huge extension last summer, which will kick in this season, becoming a salary cap hit of $5.6 million a year for the next five seasons. His 41 points (8G, 33A) in all 82 games can atest to those numbers, which makes him a pretty good pick-up for the Oilers.
In return, the Kings receive Stoll, 26, a restricted free agent who wasn't coming to terms with the Oilers and Greene, 25, a good defenseman with still some upside to produce. The Kings did manage to get younger and shade a little money back into the cap space, as they will likely try and be a big player on the market, starting tomorrow.
| To Edmonton | Age | Games | Points | Contract on July 1st |
| Lubomir Visnovsky, D | 31 | 82 | 41 | 5 years, $5.6 million |
| --- | ||||
| To Los Angeles | ||||
| Jarret Stoll, F | 26 | 81 | 36 | RFA |
| Matt Greene, D | 25 | 46 | 1 | 1 year, $1.25 million |
Well, this is a deal that Oilers fans can certainly be excited about. After failures with Joni Pitkanen and Marc-Andre Bergeron, the team now has a bonafide puck-moving defenseman to spark theif offense from their own end and on the power play. Stock will rise for all the young forwards on the team that have full-time power play ice and quite possibly an extra few wins for the goaltending department, because of it. As for the Kings, Stoll could be a centre worth raving about, as his numbers suggest he'll come in fairly high on the depth chart. If there would be a summer wager put forth, I would see it likely that he and Dustin Brown may have some good chemistry, which would certainly boost Stoll's numbers from last season. That would be something to watch out for.
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