Here is the biggest problem facing Edmonton. Almost no matter what you do, you end up with a decent enough top 6 and then garbage on the bottom lines. Well not garbage but Strome's line compared to Kadri as a 3rd line centre?

You look at Toronto's lineup compared to Edmonton and Toronto's 4th line could be better than Edmonton's 3rd line and Toronto's 3rd line is as good as Edmonton's 2nd line.

McDavid can't do it all himself.

this makes the oilers so much worse now, and in the future.

Both of these trades are lopsided for the oilers

do you know who leon draisaitl is?

Yes...do you know who Milan Lucic is? A terrible hockey player who is getting paid 6 million dollars a year for many more years. Petry had an amazing season last year and played like a good top pairing defenseman. Drouin was the guy they gave up for sergachev and they have extremely high expectations on him, even though he had an underwhelming season last year. Scherback was a 1st round pick and was ripping it up in the AHL last year and should develop nicely into a 2nd line winger. So no, this trade is still lopsided for the Oilers.

Toronto’s defence is still awful.

an AHL player, an underachieving overpaid forward, and a second or third pairing guy who is also overpaid....for an elite player and a bad contract?? cmon. throw a 2nd rounder in with lucic and get rid of him without giving up one of the best centers in the NHL....absurd.

Way better than Edmonton's and was better than over half the league last year when their 3rd line centred by Bozak was utterly horrible defensively. Now with Tavares, they'll have much better team D. And I'm not chirping Edmonton, I want them to be good, unfortunately years of poor management has them in a really bad position.

Not only is it not “way better” than Edmonton’s, it’s actuslly fairly worse. Who is there after Morgan Reilly? Besides, Reilly isn’t going to keep pucks out of the net. Who does Toronto have that’s better than Larsson, Klefbom, Nurse, And even a healthy Sekera? Many forget Klefbom was playing with a mangled shoulder (which he had since gotten surgery on), and Sekera just came off ACL rehab. I wouldn’t swap any of those for any of the Leafs defencmen, save Reilly.

This. I'd include Bouchard in that list too.

Sekera is old and overpaid, he's basically Ron Hainsey +1. Gardiner is a better puck mover than all of your defenceman. Nurse is a bottom pairing guy, good but not great. Klefbom is your best and he's less than Reilly. Zaitsev is comparable to Larsson, Larson is better defensively and Zaitsev is a better puck mover. Dermott is a better skater than all of your defence and our best prospect Liljegren is better than Bear.

Toronto allowed far less goals last year than Edmonton as well.

But arguing about which average defence is slightly better than the other is a waste of time. Edmonton has a tonne of problems that can't get fixed likely for 3 seasons.

In that time TO will be a contender for the cup, Edmonton will struggle to make the playoffs.

Wow, you really need to get out more. These statements are ludicrous.

Where did Edmonton finish last year?

I'm a fan of them, I really am, but you need to take a long hard look at this roster. Its not good enough and it won't be good enough without turning over close to 50% of the roster for younger faster players.

I don't disagree with this. I disagreed with the following statements:

Sekera is old and overpaid,
Nurse is a bottom pairing guy, good but not great.
Zaitsev is comparable to Larsson,
our best prospect Liljegren is better than Bear.

I would explain why, but I feel I'd be wasting my time because you aren't being rational.

I disagree with all your statements. And you forgot Bouchard who is better than Liljegren. I’m actually sick of the Toronto ignorance. From the media and the fans. Congrats you made 2 consecutive playoff appearances. Even sick of Oiler fan negativity sometimes too. How different is the roster from the 2017 playoffs ? Subtract Eberle (0 playoff goals), Maroon, Letestu? It’s basically the same team. Everyone underachieved and lots of impact guys had injuries. The Oilers will be in the playoffs in 2019.

Or you had several guys overachieve and last year was closer to how this team really will perform. The defence isn't good and the bottom 6 is AHL worthy.