Spacek to Buffalo - they'll need him - and Friesen to Calgary (insult to injury). There go two of my bright ideas. Howson's comment on Reasoner was "Michael Peca won't be signing here." So I guess at least one of the rooks will be counted on to step up - good news for one of Pouliot or Schremp. I'm running out of ideas.
So the Oilers have basically gone from a team lacking just a #1 goalie in order to make a really strong push to contend for the next several years, to one lacking clearcut #1/3 defencemen, rooks on the bottom pairing, and and a return to the same checking line they had a couple of years ago in Moreau, Reasoner, and Pisani. The fourth line is just a shambles right now. If Torres goes cold again, they're missing a scoring LW too - although he's a great fourth liner even if he isn't scoring - can he keep that up for 82+ games though? History says not.
This is still a good team, but it'll be at least a couple of years before they're as good as last season's, I think - doesn't bode well for the playoffs next season.
The TSN story is a bit disingenuous though: "Like fellow defenceman Chris Pronger, Jaroslav Spacek wanted out of Edmonton." No, he didn't want out "like" Pronger - his contract was up and he signed elsewhere. By all reports, it was a tossup between Buffalo and Edmonton. Chances are it was the travel schedule that decided it for him, or else maybe his buddy Dvorak's going there too.
Calgary signed Tanguay too - so much for the RFA idea there.