Oilers' offseason trade strategy requires full measures

There's a chance the communication lines at Rexall Place are compromised on Saturday. The rough estimate on that is 13.5 percent.

Staffers will be busy sifting through hate mail, conspiracy takes, and all kinds of venom over at headquarters if the Oilers' lottery ball is plucked from the NHL's air machine again, and they're awarded the first selection at the draft for the fifth time in seven seasons.

But regardless of whether Kevin Lowe or Craig MacTavish has to call hydro, or Peter Chiarelli slides behind the hysteria, accepting the fifth overall pick at a TV studio in Toronto, the working transmission must be fortified. And swiftly sprung into use.

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It's the next most important summer in the history of the Edmonton Oilers, who after wasting another season - their last at Rexall Place - have indicated they may be finally prepared to make the leap.

Chiarelli's now had a season to appraise a franchise whose commitment to the rebuilding process is only rivaled by its staunch devotion to its first-round lottery selections spent. In their failures to do the audacious, the Oilers have cemented their place as the NHL's punchline and the average fan's fall-back to cope with insecurities borne from their own frustrations. Rightly so. It's something the club must, and will continue wearing until it finally does something different - something lasting.

In his short time with Edmonton, Chiarelli's only success has come working the margins. In an effort to be "Bruin-ized," he acquired Zack Kassian and Patrick Maroon - two big bodies who quickly carved out roles - in-season and at virtually no risk. Where Chiarelli's failures lie is his sharing of the same reluctance to shake the roster at its very core. It's only been a season, but he's fallen into the same pattern as those who have previously failed to satiate the team's agonizing and glaring need since Chris Pronger requested a trade.

After Dougie Hamilton landed with the rival Flames, Chiarelli almost seemed to panic in his pursuit of help on defense, impatiently trading a mid-first round pick for a slow-footed project before signing a veteran with a second-pairing ceiling to a lucrative long-term contract in free agency.

But while the $33 million and Matt Barzal isn't coming back, and as much as it might feel this way, this situation is not beyond repair.

Edmonton has retained every capability to deal from a position of saturated strength to fill their holes this summer, an opportunity only helped along by the valuable - and perhaps importantly faceless - top-five draft ticket they will toss into their asset pool Saturday night.

It's absolutely imperative that this team starts to win, so when the lottery balls finally settle, and regardless of where they stand, it behooves the Oilers to use that leverage and unearth every option under the sun to aid a starving defensive corps.

The last thing this team should do is wait on Olli Juolevi.

Edmonton will have a competitive advantage with Travis Hamonic, and - only spit-balling here - might be able to broker a deal for a restricted free agent like Erik Gudbranson from the Panthers, or perhaps even pry Sami Vatanen or Hampus Lindholm from the Ducks.

But to find that stallion on the back end, that elite defender who'll not just take 25 minutes a night but slot everyone down into their proper functions, it's going to take more than a draft pick.

The Oilers must be willing to dig deep, to pillage their superfluous collection of top-six skill, and completely transform the environment around Connor McDavid to finally stop spinning their wheels.

Full measures, this time. It's the only way out.