Gene Principe

It's going to be an interesting couple of days to see what Oilers GM Steve Tambellini is in fact able to do.

It wasn't long after the Olympic Trade freeze was over that on Monday Edmonton started warming up for the trade deadline. Denis Grebeshkov went from Team Russia back to Edmonton's team and now he's part of Nashville's team all in a matter of a few days.

The Oilers got a second-round pick for Grebeshkov. A good deal for a player whose upside wasn't going up as fast as it did last year. With so much money committed to the rest of the defence shipping out the Russian makes sense. Getting a pick frees up salary and further shows the Oilers intention of going the way of the draft to rebuild.

Steve Tambellini, the Edmonton GM, has his work cut out for him. With the Oilers last in the league other GMs will try and poach his valuables thinking his desperation will get the best of him. It's only one move but that wasn't the case in the Nashville trade.

Getting rid of veterans might be plan A. Give up players who might have more worth elsewhere. Players with experience whose savvy and smarts might make little difference in Edmonton's last quarter of the season but could change another team's outlook.

Wouldn't you want a shot blocking, penalty killing, heart-first guy in Steve Staios? Or how about a healthy Fernando Pisani who can check, has a great wrist shot and if healthy who knows if he could do a partial replay of the 2006 playoffs? Don't forget Ethan Moreau, who's played his best in the last two weeks. I think there's still enough gas left in his engine to help a post-season team. There's also the hand-healing Sheldon Souray and fresh off the Olympics Lubomir Visnovsky.

To suggest any of the above are gone for sure would be premature. To suggest they have been shopped or other teams have interest wouldn't be. If the vets don't go then the tables are turned to the 20 somethings. Andrew Cogliano and Tom Gilbert being the most sought after.

Gilbert might be a victim because of a down year and a long-term contract. Cogliano simply because, as was already proven last summer, he is a wanted man. At least one team wanted him and the guess is there's more where that came from.

It's going to be an interesting couple of days to see what Tambellini is in fact able to do. He's not necessarily in a rush but the GM wants a better team as soon as possible and by Wednesday night we'll have an idea if the trade deadline helped him accomplish that. The good news is this: because they sit 30th the only direction the Oilers can go is up.