It was supposed to be a relatively quiet couple of weeks. The Edmonton Oilers had their GM in place. Craig MacTavish was giving the interviews, he was talking about the draft, Craig was on it. The Oilers had their spot in the draft lottery, and with about an eleven percent chance of winning the lottery, that wasn’t happening again, no way right?

The WHL season is over for most players, and this means tremendous opportunity for some including Jackson Houck. His Vancouver Giants team came in dead last in the WHL but now Houck’s season is not over. Instead of getting an early summer, Houck is being given the opportunity to play with a playoff team in the Oklahoma City Barons. Even if Houck doesn’t see ice team, the opportunity of practising with the Edmonton Oilers’ AHL affiliate and getting more attention, and working closer to the NHL team that drafted him will be a tremendous boost to his development.

It came as a shock to everyone this year the extent of and sheer success of goaltender Devan Dubnyk. Having bounced around from team to team, most hockey fans would have expected Dubnyk’s on ice performance to have suffered, this would have been an extreme blow to his confidence. Instead, Dubnyk has taken the moves and changes and flourished into one of the hottest stories of the NHL this season. This must of course mean that the Oilers are looking at their roster and picking up the phone right? Well… not exactly.

Edmonton Oilers GM Craig MacTavish was relatively quiet trade deadline day. Trading only the expected player, Jeff Petry to the Montreal Canadiens for a couple of picks in this year’s draft, MacT started the day off doing what was expected. What wasn’t expected came at his press conference Monday afternoon.