Brutal situation. Bad coach, a 4 year rebuild that has stalled, and young players who either already have massive contracts or are going to get massive contracts. Just wait until Schultz and RNH and Yakupov start asking for contracts...sheesh.
The Oilers are almost in a situation where they have no next move. They can't rebuild any further because they already have the skill players in place, and they can't afford to waste some of their young players' "cheap" years. They can't go for it either because of all those holes they have in their current roster. I was reading HFboards the other day and saw someone make a post on the Oilers board that really goes into depth on their situation. They have: RNH, Yakupov, Gagner, Hemskey, and Eberle who are ALL finesse players. Hall is their only skilled player who can actually grind and play semi-physical. They need to do a better job of finding power forwards that can play off of these skilled players. I think at least two of Yakupov, Eberle, Gagner, and Hemskey have to be traded for someone like Milan Lucic or Nathan Horton (not that they're available) or someone of that ilk. Because when you roll a top line of Hall-RNH-Eberle and a second line of Yakupov-Gagner-Hemskey...your asking to be bullied. Just not enough support players to help these young finesse guys