But, Edmonton isn't about to trade a 1st for AA. Any team on the cusp of the playoffs trading their 1st would make sure it was protected anyhow.

Not kh who's stead fast on making playoffs THIS YEAR ...you Oilers fans will see how kh operates soon

He refused to trade the 1st for Taylor f*cking Hall and you think he'll trade it for one of the worst players in the league??

The genius will have the Oilers saddled with multiple bad contracts in just a few short years, you'll see.

Drafting at 2 and 4 is still better than taking Lafreniere. I'd rather have Byfield+ Raymond/Stutzle than Lafreniere.

In another year I would definitely be interested in this 2 for 1 swap, but not this year. LaF is proving to be well worth the #1 pick and Byfield does not impress. Stutzle looks really good too but not at the expense of LaF

lol....so you don't watch hockey. Got it.

Worst player in the league??? Just because his +/- is bad doesn't mean he's a bad player. That stat is one of the most overrated stats in the game! A lot of the time you are on the ice and it's not even your fault it went in.

Who said anything about +/-?

Then please explain how he's the worst player in the league because I can't see it. You think he's worse than Ladd, Backes, Abdelkader,

Goal differential. It's similar to, but different from plus-minus. If he's not THE worst in the league he's pretty close.

Games are not won with scoring or defense, they are won by goal differential. 2-1 or 5-4, same result: two points. If a player is constantly giving up more than he gets, he's a negative towards the end goal every team has: winning the games.

I don't think Red Wings end goal this year is to win games lol Tank for Laffy!

That's great, but that isn't Edmonton's goal, nor most other teams. So AA has little value around the league.

I don't want him to be traded, but I think you are going to be in for a shock what Yzerman gets for him at the TDL if he gets traded.

He's not getting Edmonton's 1st, I know that much.

He's not going to Edmonton at all I know that much so you don't have to worry.

Well I guess I was wrong you guys did actually trade for him. I didn't think Ken Holland would want him. So CD282 how do you like giving up 2 2nds for "the worst player in the league"?

You went back to this just to give me the opportunity to say "I told you so"?

Still got two seconds for the worst player in the world lol

Holland didn't give up a 1st though, which was my point. Two 2nds is more than I would have given up, but then they will be late 2nds and he did get a prospect back too. Also, 2nd round picks have less tehn 25% chance of playing 200+ NHL games, something that Athanasiou has done already.

Anyhow, it's too early to make the call on the trade, it isn't a clear win either way. The key for Edmonton is twofold: (1) chemistry with one of Edmonton's superstar centers, and (2) the ability of Tippett to teach Athanasiou to play a more responsible 2-way game. Early returns look good: Athanasiou scored a goal and an assist while posting +2 last night. It wasn't a cheap bet, but it'll be interesting to see whether this pays off for Holland.