- John MacKinnon of the Edmonton Journal: Oilers GM Craig MacTavish speaking with the media today.
“My assessment of our team is right now is that we’ve got and have developed a foundation over the last few years that I’m comfortable with, going into next year,” MacTavish said. “There’s been tumultuous change from a personnel standpoint, and I think now we’re at the stage where I’m comfortable with the foundation going forward.
“Obviously, we need to add pieces and important pieces.
“So, key support pieces like fourth-liners Boyd Gordon and Matt Hendricks aren’t going anywhere in any deadline deal, for example. Next year, going into training camp, there’s every expectation on my part that we’ll have 80 per cent of the people back which hasn’t been the case over the last couple of years.”
- Mark Spector: Seems clear that MacTavish made contract overtures with Jeff Petry, but Petry wants to test free agency. He’ll be traded.
- Jack Michaels: MacTavish saying that Derek Roy is unlikely to be traded as he’s meshed well with Nail Yakupov and that there is interest in doing something long-term with him.
- Mark Spector: MacTavish on his willingness to trade Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: “You can’t trade your way out of this.”