At first glance, it’s a trade that makes no sense. The Edmonton Oilers—a famously weak defensive team—traded one of their few bona fide NHL rearguards in a deal that brought no immediate help to the team. Worse still, the beneficiary of the deal was hated rival Calgary.
So, what were they thinking? Was this just an example of a bad team making another bad decision?
One possibility would be that Ladislav Smid simply wasn’t a very good player.
There is little sign of that, however, the revolving door of Edmonton coaches the last five years all found time for Smid on the blue line, and while the player’s ice-time was down a little this year (he averaged just under 18:00 per game, split between even-strength and the penalty kill), he was still getting regular minutes. Smid was also heavily leaned on in the defensive zone, with behindthenet.ca showing he had the toughest shift starts of any defender on the team.
It’s also extremely difficult to believe that general manager Craig MacTavish was so wowed by the possible return that he simply had to pull the trigger on a trade.
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
Ladislav Smid Trade: Are the Edmonton Oilers Clueless or Clever?
November 9th, 2013 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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