Will the team trade away Tavares this season?
Aug 22, 2008 - 04:00 AM
By Brian McNair
Not in recent memory have there been so many question marks surrounding the Oshawa Generals and how they might fare on the ice.
With a new ownership team in place and Chris DePiero now in the dual role of general manager and head coach, it's anybody's guess what direction the team might take as training camp looms on Monday.
Over the past four years, with Brad Selwood in charge of the hockey operations, it was pretty plain to see. The first two years were brutal, as expected, before the team turned a corner the next and made a decent championship run last season.
But in going for the gusto, Selwood, likely with a sense that would be his last kick at the can, gave away plenty of potential assets for this season.
Enter DePiero, who now must determine how quickly the team can make that ascent once more.
It's hard to imagine any team with John Tavares and Michael Del Zotto as its core would do anything less than make the playoffs.
But, aside from Brett Parnham, there's not much star power after that and it certainly doesn't appear a playoff run of any significance is on the horizon.
Daryl Borden's curious decision to leave the Ontario Hockey League has left two unproven commodities guarding the net, including their most recent first rounder, Kevin Bailie, who signed with the team this week.
Along with the departure of Brett MacLean, Dale Mitchell, Kevin Baker, Patrick Asselin, Ryan McGinnis, James DeLory and Michal Neuvirth, you might say this team has been gutted.
So what is DePiero to do?
Trade Tavares, perhaps?
It would certainly take a bold stroke to do so. There's no telling how many points he'll put up in his draft year, and there's no question he puts bums in the seats.
But he would also fetch a king's ransom at the trading deadline and allow the DePiero to shape the club in his own image.
Only time will tell if he's got the nerve, the thumbs-up from Tavares and the approval from above, to pull off a trade of this nature.
It might well be the only way to start anew.
Brian McNair's column appears every third Friday. E-mail him at bmcnair@durhamregion.com
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