Edmonton Oilers GM Craig MacTavish gets into shouting match with fan, insists success is coming
He has to resist the temptation to make a deal, any deal, simply for the sake of doing a deal and trading future for the present to appease the fan base.
That does not mean he’s going to do nothing.
“The next deal is going to be an important deal for us,” said the rookie GM who returned from the World Junior to watch a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning and a 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues.
“It’s going to be important we make the right move.
“There have only been 12 deals made this year and we’ve made four of them. You can argue the pluses and minus of the four deals we made.
“We’re trying to do something. We’d be crazy not to. We just have to keep grinding away, having conversations until there’s something that makes sense.”
There’s 14 games and 29 days until the Olympic break, and the NHL trade deadline is March 5, three games after the Oilers return to action.
There are rumours out there that MacTavish is now actively shopping Sam Gagner.
MacTavish won’t comment. But it makes sense.
Gagner has a no-trade clause in his contract which kicks in at the end of this season. The Oilers clearly need to find a big centre who can handle the big bodies in the Western Conference and particularly the Pacific Division. Gagner isn’t succeeding as a second-line centre. And obviously Czech Olympian Ales Hemsky has a clock ticking on him, too. He’s a free agent at the end of the season.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/01/09/edmonton-oilers-gm-craig-mactavish-gets-into-shouting-match-with-fan-insists-success-is-coming