Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

With plans to buy out his captain, Steve Tambellini is sending a clear message to Oiler fans.

So, it’s not all Sparky Kulchisky’s fault after all.

When the Edmonton Oilers cut loose — sorry, reassigned — their training staff, including 30-some-year equipment man Lyle (Sparky) Kulchisky, GM Steve Tambellini couched the move as part of a total refit in Edmonton.

Whether or not you like the fact that he has informed agents he will buy out three core players at noon eastern time today, you have to admit, Tambellini wasn’t just blowing smoke. So far he has gunned out former head scout Kevin Prendergast, a couple of scouts, the trainers, first-rounders from ’03 (Marc Pouliot) and ’07 (Riley Nash), and now Oilers captain Ethan Moreau, and under-achieving wingers Patrick O’Sullivan and Robert Nilsson.

Moreau, who can still be a useful third-line winger on a team like Los Angeles — where GM Dean Lombardi is wrestling with the decision of surrendering Wayne Simmonds for Tomas Kaberle — was no small decision. The fact the Oilers bought out their captain is confirmation of the bad dressing room we had been hearing about for so long.

On a small, young team, Tambellini bought out a big, veteran captain, rather than have him back for one final season with a cap hit of just $2 million. This was a proactive move that screams to Oilers fans, “We’ve got all these new kids coming in, and we’re going to make damned sure they walk into a healthy dressing room. Not one as polluted as this one has been.”

Sheldon Souray? If you don’t get your wish for a trade out of Edmonton, it won’t be because Tambellini wasn’t trying.

(For the record, Souray has heard nothing regarding a new location. His modified no-trade runs out on Thursday.)

As for O’Sullivan and Nilsson, they are the poster boys for how a team goes from a Cup final in ’06 to dead last four seasons later.

O’Sullivan was, pure and simple, the worst player on the team last season. He finished the season an NHL-worst minus-35, seldom competed, was too small and played soft even for a guy of his stature.

Nilsson is a skilled player whose foot speed is only bettered by the rate at which he gets comfortable in the lineup after having a couple of strong games. Players like Nilsson and O’Sullivan — not Moreau — are the reason this Edmonton team became one of the easiest teams in the NHL to play against.

Honestly, visiting trainers will have to reacquaint themselves with the ice machine at Rexall Place as this rebuild goes on, because there was scarcely an ice bag that accompanied the easy two points as visiting teams rolled out of Edmonton victorious over the past two seasons.

Bold moves in Edmonton. When you’re dead last, that is exactly what is required.

•••

Lone Star State

Speaking of tough decisions, how about Dallas GM Joe Nieuwendyk confirming Tuesday that lifelong Star and former teammate Mike Modano will not be asked back for next season. If Modano wishes to continue a career that began as a first overall selection by the Minnesota North Stars in 1988, he’ll have to join a second organization — after 23 years in his first one.

“I’ve had to face some very tough decisions because I’ve played with some of these guys. They are my friends,” Nieuwendyk said. “The strength is with our young players. We have to find the next Mike Modano. We won't find the same Mike Modano, but we have some young players that want to push it to the next level.”

Also, with the sale of the Texas Rangers still being contested, owner Tom Hicks has little financial flexibility. Nieuwendyk may as well develop now, because he can’t afford to do much else.

Also looking at tight budgets out West this season, St. Louis and Anaheim.

•••

Looking Out For No. 1

Under the category, Smartest Thing A Reader Has Said This Week, or, Things I should Have Thought of Myself, comes this nugget:

As we all talked about the Toronto Maple Leafs chances of landing a first-line centre bin Marc Savard from Boston, a reader wondered, “Why would Boston want to help out Toronto next season? Don’t they have the Leafs first-round draft pick in 2011?”

Yes, they do. And no, I cannot for the life of me figure out why the Bruins would trade any player as talented as Savard to Toronto, where he would work with Kessel to quite possibly get the Maple Leafs into the playoffs.

And you thought us sports writers knew everything...