Ales Hemsky News

It has been exactly one week since Ralph Krueger was relieved of his duties as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

June 7, 2013 - In the world of professional sports, losing should never be viewed as an acceptable outcome.

Armed with a new GM in Craig MacTavish and new head coach in Dallas Eakins, the Edmonton Oilers are in yet another period of transition heading into the NHL entry draft and free-agency period beginning in July.

When the Edmonton Oilers brought Craig MacTavish back to the organization in mid-April, the newly anointed general manager was quick to promise bold moves were coming.

It has been an eventful 72 hours here in Oil Country, starting this past Saturday where at around 1pm MST Twitter blew up with the news that the Oilers had a press conference set-up for 4pm.

This summer with the cap crunch, we have the added complication of amnesty buyouts.

MLive.com Rookie suffered a broken right thumb on May 2, in Game 2 of the first round against Anaheim.

Craig MacTavish promised to make changes to the Edmonton Oilers over the offseason and it may start with two of the team's long-standing veterans.

The Edmonton Oilers have very few roster players that could become restricted free agents this summer.

Unless the Edmonton Oilers are utterly convinced that there are seven truly remarkable players in the 2013 draft, and a massive drop off in ability after that, then the team should likely trade down a few slots in the draft.

According to Newsday's Arthur Staple, New York Islanders defenseman and captain Mark Streit will test the free-agent waters this summer.

There is much speculation that the New York Rangers will use one of their two compliance buyouts this summer on forward Brad Richards , temporarily leaving him without a home to play next season.

This just in from Craig Simpson of Hockey Night in Canada, who spoke to Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now , the notion that the Edmonton Oilers need to move both Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky this summer.

General manager Craig MacTavish has vowed to make bold moves in order to rebuild a roster more capable of competing in the tough Western Conference.

It only seems like Ales Hemsky has been around forever. He was a fresh-faced kid of 19 when he broke in back in 2002, one year after being the first, and perhaps best, pick of the Kevin Prendergast era.