GM ready to move picks for “more game ready players.”

Newly appointed general manager for the Edmonton Oilers Peter Chiarelli plans to do whatever it takes to put a winning product on the ice in Edmonton. That includes trading away some of the Oilers many draft picks this year in order to get the kind of players that could have an immediate impact on the team. Chiarelli spoke at length with 630 CHED's Oilers Now this afternoon and here's a look at what he had to say as per the Edmonton Journal.

“I certainly would look at moving any of those picks for… something that would help us right now, but also that could grow with our organization, so relatively speaking a younger player. It’s good to have a lot of picks and develop players, but we also want to hit the ground running with some more game-ready players. Discussions are picking up, they’ll continue to be ongoing until the draft, they might subside a little bit, and then pick up again around the free agency date.”

The Oilers could also be one of the teams to make a big splash in free agency and their wealth of draft picks also puts them in a prime position to potentially go after star players on opposing team with cap issues. For example the New York Ranger's Derek Stepan or Boston Bruin Dougie Hamilton.

"There’s always some good players in free agency, maybe the depth isn’t as great this year. You have to be prepared to over-spend and ‘over-term’, so to speak, these guys.  It’s a market that we’ll look at, it’s a pool of players, and we want to improve our team. There may be players that will be available from other teams because of cap constraints so we’ll look at that market. There’ll be players to look at, in distress trades, in normal trades, and in the free agency market. We’ll look at all of them."

We will be looking for a big move from Chiarelli at or near the draft.