The blame game has been played a lot in Edmonton so far this season, with the latest victim being now-deposed head coach, Dallas Eakins.
Another player in the game who has thus far escaped scrutiny despite the major hand he had in the team's failings this season, general manager Craig MacTavish, may finally come under fire in the coming days, though less for deals he made and the team he helped construct, and more for the deals he chose not to make.
These deals would have greatly improved the team's play at the sport's most important position and, potentially, their outlook for this season.
The first deal MacTavish turned down, according to TSN Insider Darren Dreger as transcribed by NicholsOnHockey.com? A trade for New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider.
"The Cory Schneider trade on the draft floor. It obviously was for the pick that ended up being Darnell Nurse and maybe something else," Dreger said. "What was that something else? We'll find out eventually. That was a deal that I'm sure MacTavish wishes he could have made over."
Nurse still very much has the potential to become a franchise defender. He is being saved from the train wreck that is the current Oilers' season by being kept at the AHL level.
Still, Nurse is more potential than proven commodity. Schneider is a franchise goaltender of the future already producing at high level in the here and now.
The other deal MacTavish turned his nose up at? A trade that would have landed the Oilers Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop.
"Ben Bishop, when he was with the Ottawa Senators. The Senators were willing to deal Ben Bishop to the Edmonton Oilers. MacTavish would not come up a level on whatever the draft pick was to make that deal. I mean, those are the deals that haunt general managers because of the primary area of concern. And right now it remains goal."
As the Oilers play out the string, doing the best they can with the miserable goalie pairing of Viktor Fasth and Ben Scrivens, Edmonton fans are left to simply rub their temples and wonder at what could have been.
