Owen Nolan

So I had an interesting conversation today and Dangerman brought up a great idea (not my idea at all but I like it).
Owen Nolan was cut from Vancouver this morning, and I am wondering if Tambellini makes a call to his agent. This is a guy that can easily play on the 3rd line with MPS and Belanger, he would bring much needed grit, experience and an ability to score. (He had a beauty against the Oilers the other day)

At the moment it looks like the Oil are trying to get three scoring lines but right now the option they are looking at is Omark and I am not convinced that he can be defensive enough to make that an honest shutdown option. No matter how anyone looks at it there has to be a line on your team that can go head to head against the skill in the league and keep them from doing what they do best... scoring! As it stands in my books a line of Belanger, Omark and MPS isn't enough. Jones makes a great replacement for Omark on that line but the idea of sliding him down to the fourth line with Lander and Eager/Hortichuck would only strengthen the depth of the team and having a nightly fourth line with Lander, Jones, Eager would mean that the Oilers finally have a bottom line that can chip in goals on a semi regular basis. And they can slide Hortichuck in on any night that they feel they will need more toughness and can live with less scoring.

Now most fans wont like the idea of moving on Omark because the kid really CAN play. But if I am the GM and I am looking to build a team with a proper blend of skill and toughness, I cannot see how Omark fits in the lineup. I don't see them sending him down to the AHL because someone WILL grab him off the waiver wire AND even if he makes it down there he would the most disgruntled player they would have had to deal with. (Think Souray X 10)

It is time to assess what the Oilers have and then understand what they need. Then Tambi can make some deals to solidify the team long term. AKA: Top pairing defender!

I will be putting up a post shortly about tradable assets and I will explain what I think the Oilers are safe to move on and what they should keep but I had to say something about Nolan as I think he could be a great stop gap in the interim before a guy like Hartikainen is ready to play full time and it would be just another pile of experience to add to the team.