After 11 long seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, the last two and a half as Team Captain, Ethan Moreau is leaving the team to join the Columbus Blue Jackets.
In a season that was particularly tough on the Alberta franchise, Moreau had a mere nine goals and nine assists with a minus 4 rating in 76 games in 2009-10.
He joins Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson, formerly an Edmonton Oilers assistant general manager who has lured several former Oilers such as Raffi Torres, Jason Chimera, Michael Peca, Jan Hejda and Mathieu Roy.
Moreau is on the tail end of his 4-year, $8,000,000 contract, 2 million per season. He has had a lengthy career, starting out with the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1995-96 season before being traded to Edmonton after 4 seasons in Chicago.
Will some veteran leadership help Columbus climb back into the playoff race. That's the big question. The Blue Jackets have missed the Stanley Cup playoffs in 4 of the last 5 years. In the 2008-09 season, the franchise made the playoffs and had an incredible run to the Conference Quarterfinal before losing to the Detroit Red Wings.
The Oilers have a similar story, having missed the playoffs for the 4th straight year and ending the 2009-10 in dead last position in the league. Edmonton lost the 2005-06 Stanley Cup Finals to the Carolina Hurricanes and failed to reach the post season ever since. The 62 points the Oilers earned last season were unacceptable and changes had to be made. An aging player (Moreau is 34) is not scoring goals on one of the most woeful NHL franchises, and he's the captain to boot? Edmonton needed to drop Moreau's $2,000,000 salary hit this coming year. Edmonton will be using younger, less well known players in the coming season, perhaps 2-3 new players will be added to the team over the coming months, but no names of who the Oilers might be looking for. You can expect some more turnover on the edmonton Oilers before the season starts in a mere three months or so.
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