Dreger: "Level of urgency" elevated for MacTavish, Oilers

Darren Dreger was on Toronto’s TSN 1050 on Monday evening.

On his sense of how long aggressive roster changes may take for the Oilers, and who may be in play:

“Well, if you’d asked me this question last week obviously, I would have answered it in a similar fashion. Because I know that Craig MacTavish has been looking for centres. He’s been looking for help on the blueline. He’s been kicking tires on trying to improve the quality of goaltending in Edmonton.

“But it was now expedited by how bad they were versus the Chicago Blackhawks. And so that’s the black mark on the organization and on this team, and that has elevated MacTavish’s level of urgency. So he’s, cliché making his calls and taking calls, but when I tweeted out this morning - and I was openly criticized, no big deal - by Oilers’ faithful when I said, ‘Look, he’s willing to listen to just about anything. And almost everyone is available.’ Well, I’m talking about just about everyone.

“Ryan Nugent-Hopkins isn’t going to get traded. They need their centres. They need more of them and he’s Edmonton’s No. 1 centre. He’s not going anywhere. It’s hard to imagine the type of deal that would be required to include Taylor Hall in an Oilers trade. But it’s not impossible. And then you go from that level to the next level with Jordan Eberle. I think that there’s a possibility that Jordan Eberle could get traded. I think there’s a possibility that Justin Schultz could be included in something. David Perron is obvious. But what are you getting, with all due respect to David Perron, in return? You’re getting something, but you’re probably not getting a No. 2 centre, which they desperately need.

“So there’s a higher level of urgency in Edmonton right now. MacTavish is working hard trying to find upgrades. But it’s not going to be easy and he’s going to have to give up, finally, good players to get good players in return.”

If you're going to trade these guys - if you're going to move everyone but Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - what are you trying to accomplish? Because it feels like rebuilding this team into a team that's good on the fly. You've got assets you can move, but I can't see how the Oilers all of the sudden surround these guys with enough talent to turn around what's been a losing program for this long. 

"Yeah, it's a problem. And you've got good players - or supposedly good players - coming up from the American Hockey League as well. But they haven't been able to crack the NHL lineup full-time. 

"I think it's really risky going after that core of Hall, Jordan Eberle. Schultz to a lesser degree. He's a younger guy with a shorter contract. But sometimes those names just start conversations, don't they. And you end up somewhere else other than with Jordan Eberle as your primary target. I think that's probably what MacTavish is hoping for."

Source: TSN 1050/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey