Tyler already has a post on the subject, but I'd like to expand a bit on it.
Probably like Tyler, the first thing I did was run off to behindthenet to look up Glencross's numbers. At first blush they're not too bad, although if he's playing against mostly nobodies, then the Oilers are already full of forwards who can only be used against the other team's fourth line.
This also likely puts paid to the idea of a callup for Pouliot or Schremp; Reasoner did well enough with Hemsky and Penner last night that he'll likely get another shot at it, and Gagner in that spot on the PP couldn't have been any worse than MP or Schremp are likely to be.
Does this signal that Lowe's calling it quits for the season? It's hard to say. On the one hand, moving a vet for a prospect is usually a signal of throwing in the towel. Glencross's numbers look pretty nice, but he's a 25 year old rookie. Call him this decade's Pisani.
On the other hand, as Tyler says, Tarnstrom wasn't really relevant to the team this year. He had a stretch where he was one of the best guys on the back end - not that the bar was very high - but ultimately, he's paid too much to be a bottom-pairing second unit PP guy. Getting any sort of return for him is good, and Lowe now has that much more cap room if he needs to take on some salary.
How's the return overall? As a commenter said in Tyler's post, it's unlikely that this deal bites Edmonton in the ass on down the line. Sure, they're sort of competing - it's an intra-conference trade, after all, and CBS is hardly going to be so far ahead of the pack in the next couple of years that they won't be duking it out with the Oilers for one of the bottom four playoff spots. However, Tarnstrom's Swedish and six feet, or thereabouts, not from Dryden and six foot five with a huge mop of blond hair and a gap tooth grin.
It's a case of Edmonton shedding a spare part and getting a prospect back, and Columbus getting somebody to help out on their power play and give them some experience. Even if he was in and out of the lineup, Tarnstrom saw the elephant good in 2006, and that can never hurt.
I have to wonder, do I want Lowe to pull up? I've become a firm believer that the team that won the trade is the one that got the best player. The real winner in the Smyth trade was neither of New York or Edmonton, it was Colorado. Even if Smytty got hurt, he's still going to have scored more this year than both of Nilsson and O'Marra put together, and chances are neither of those guys are going to outscore him in their careers either.
So, I don't think I'd be very happy about seeing somebody like Steve Staios go for picks and prospects. Roloson I'm less attached to after this season, but still. Does Edmonton even have anybody that anybody else would want? (Get real, Hemsky and Horcoff are going nowhere, nor should Pitkanen.)