Happens every March. The Oilers, despite their annual denials, are traditionally quite busy in the days and hours leading up to the deadline. They gave up on former first-round pick Kim Issel, sending him to Pittsburgh for Brad Aitken. Grant Fuhr, who now takes a back seat to Bill Ranford, leaves his new mask all white because he fully expects to be traded at the deadline. Rucinsky has averaged 20 goals a year over the last five seasons in Montreal.
Oilers win big.
1995 - Days after firing head coach George Burnett, who had just stripped Shayne Corson of his captaincy, Sather shuffles the deck chairs on his sinking Titanic. Scott Pearson goes to Buffalo for Ken Sutton and Roman Oksiuta goes to Vancouver for Jiri Slegr. 1997 - In one of Sather's worst mistakes as a GM, he moves Miroslav Satan to Buffalo for Craig Millar and Barrie Moore. At Bannister's press conference, Sather sends out somebody from the Oilers auditing department to pose as Bannister and none of the media catch on. Luke Richardson, eligible for unrestricted free agency in the summer, is not dealt.