Oilers boost offense, ready for the push

March 4th, the official deadline for any transactions in the NHL, started with a deal that saw Ottawa and Columbus dealt away their respective underachievers. After that, it wasnt that exciting at all. Calgary was the only team that made a significant move in acquiring center Olli Jokinen (who i wanted the Oilers to get), and defenseman Jordan Leopold. The trades made Calgary just that much better in my humble opinion. Then it was the Anaheim Ducks, who sold 2 of their top 3 shutdown forwards to San Jose (Travis Moen) and Chicago (Sami Pahlsson). Perhaps the Phoenix Coyotes was the most busy team on the deadline day, making a number of trades that most people agreed to be great moves by Maloney. It was obvious that the Oilers were one of the least involved teams out there, and with the expectations from the fans (mostly me) going in as buyers, they certainly didnt entertain anyone. Really? Think again. The last time the Oilers made a deadline deal was when the city saw one of their most beloved athletes Ryan Smyth (Smytty) got dealt to the New York Islanders at the 11th hour. This time, it certainly wasnt a worse timing. The Team 1260 first broke out the news that the Oilers have made a deal. A lateral deal, according to hockey analyst Robin Brownlee. He also hypothesized the fact that Erik Cole would be involved in a deal to send him back to Carolina for center Tuomo Ruutu. Well, Robin had a part of that right. TSN later reported that the Hurricanes had acquired forward Patrick O'sullivan from the LA Kings, and seconds after, the Hurricanes dealt O'sullivan to the Oilers along with a 2nd rounder in exchange for long-time Cane Erik Cole, who just became an Oiler July 1st last summer in a deal that sent Joni Pitkanen to Carolina. Cole, who struggled all season with the Oilers, was speculated to be a trade bait on deadline day. Cole will be rejoining his old teammates, including Eric Staal, who had a lot of success with Cole a few years ago. As for O'sullivan, who himself is a young forward at the age of 24, will be joining a young team that ideally would be an easy transition for him. O'Sullivan was fifth on the Kings with 37 points, and was fourth among the club's forwards in ice time per game at 19:25 per game. In 188 NHL games, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound native of Winston, NC, has 41 goals and 109 points. He is a player who likes to shoot, and shoot from anywhere he can. He has a great amount of skills, and a pretty quick player as well. Moreover, O'sullivan is also a very reliable penalty killer according to LA Kings forward Jarret Stoll, who was a PK partner of O'sullivan's this season. It is still a mystery as to why Dean Lombardy was willing to part ways with this talented forward. O'sullivan was supposed to be in the future plans of the Kings along with rising star Anze Kopitar, hard hitter Dustin Brown, Russian sniper Alexander Frolov, and high potential defenseman Drew Doughty. By no means O'sullivan is not in that category, but it is also a great opportunity for him to join an Oilers squad that also has a few young guns who will be very good in the future. The details of this trade: - Hurricanes acquire F Patrick O'sullivan and LA 2nd round pick from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for F Justin Williams. - Oilers acquire F Patrick O'sullivan and CAR 2nd round pick from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Erik Cole and EDM 5th round pick. Are the Oilers done? You would guess so if you were watching the deadline show for the last 6 hours. They were not finished. 30 minutes later, TSN reported that the Oilers had acquired forward Ales Kotalik from the Buffalo Sabres. Kotalik, 30, a native of the Czech Republic, is indeed a countryman of Oilers star forward Ales Hemsky. When asked about Hemsky, Kotalik replied, "We're friends for a long time," "We've always talked about the possibility about if I get the chance to play in Edmonton. He was the first guy who let me know that I got traded. I didn't hear about it from any officials from any team. I got a message from him, 'Welcome to the organization.' I didn't know if he was kidding. Then I got a call from (Sabres GM) Darcy Regier and the coaches and then it became official." Kotalik was a big part of Buffalo's playoff run in 2005-06 season in which saw the Sabres lost the the Hurricanes in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, by recording 4 goals, 11 points, in 18 games played. Then the Sabres repeated again in the 06-07 season, in which Kotalik also contributed to the Sabres clutch offense. This season, Kotalik has 13 goals, 32 points, in 56 games played. With in those 13 goals, 8 of them were scored on the power play. He is a strong player down low and can cycle the puck fairly well. At 6'1'', 230ibs, it certainly wouldnt be easy for the opposing defensemen to move him. The 2nd Ales for this team isnt known for his passes like the 1st one. He is comparable to former Oiler Jarret Stoll, who played a big role at the point on the Oilers PP for many seasons. Kotalik also has a very heavy and accurate shot, and can be used as an interim replacement of Lubomir Visnovsky on the Oilers' mediocre power play. The details of this trade: - Oilers acquire F Ales Kotalik from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for CAR 2nd round pick. Ideally, the team's offense would see an improvement, especially in the power play department. By adding these two offensive forwards, and subtracting Erik Cole, the Oilers hope that it will be enough to push for the playoff run late in the season and hopefully make an impact in the post-season. Although it is still too early to judge on whether or not with the additions the Oilers are going to make an impact, these moves certainly improved the team for this season, and should be, again, "should be" able to get the mighty Oil back into the Stanley Cup playoffs that they missed for 2 straight seasons.