Trade of Mike Brown could mean another Edmonton Oilers deal is on the way
Brown had seven fights as an Oiler, if you’re keeping count, two with Jordin Tootoo, which brings up Tootoo.
There’s been some discussion that the Oilers should now take a run at Tootoo as a fourth-liner because he has some ability with the puck (he has 133 points and 49 career goals).
The Wings really have no room for Tootoo on their salary cap, and he’s been in and out of their lineup this season, since they signed him to a three-year free-agent deal in the summer of 2012 to give them some fourth-line energy and a willingness to drop the mitts.
They’ve certainly been making phone calls on Tootoo, a healthy scratch for almost all of the playoffs last spring and with only five games this season to see if anybody’s interested.
Tootoo’s cap hit of $1.9 million for this year and next would seem a problem, however, if he is going to play on the fourth line and get fewer than seven or eight minutes a night.
You can get somebody in the $1-million range for that job. Then again, he is an emotional guy — 31 in February — who likes to hit like Cal Clutterbuck likes to hit. He can stir a dead building or team to life.
Tootoo, to me, seems a longshot pickup, though. The Oilers will give Ben Eager one last shot at a fourth-line spot with Brown gone — more offence, bigger body, doesn’t fight as much because of several concussions — before they go out and get another protector to tag-team heavy Luke Gazdic.
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/10/22/could-trade-of-mike-brown-mean-another-trade-on-the-way/