The Hemsky trade rumor that keeps on giving
The Edmonton Oilers were busy on Friday night, dealing defenseman Ladislav Smid to the Calgary Flames, and then picking up goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov soon after. It was all pretty straightforward, but then everything started to get a little complicated
First, there was a cryptic tweet from the Calgary Sun about the future of Oilers forward Ales Hemsky. Could he be on the move next?
Got it on good authority. #Hemsky's locker being cleared out in Philly. Looks like he's been traded. #Oilers
— Calgary Sun Sports (@SUNSports) November 9, 2013
TSN's Gord Miller later confirmed what everyone was dying to hear.
BREAKING: EDM trade RW Ales Hemsky + 2014 2nd Rounder for PHI RW Wayne Simmonds
— Gord MiIler (@GMilIerTSN) November 9, 2013
Oh wow, what a trade. This is going to be an exc-- ... wait. Why do you have less than 200 followers? It turns out this was a very well-executed hoax account that tweeted the fake news. The real Gord Miller was not pleased.
There is a fake account out there, I am not reporting a Hemsky trade.
— Gord Miller (@GMillerTSN) November 9, 2013
The imposter makes one of the L's a capital "I".
— Gord Miller (@GMillerTSN) November 9, 2013
Unrelated to the hoax (or at least, we hope), Sportsnet's Mark Spector hinted that Wayne Simmonds might actually end up with the Oilers because they could use the size.
Spector also said his sources believe Luke Schenn, who has been a healthy scratch in recent games, is garnering some interest in Edmonton. But nothing concrete, it seems. These are just early discussions.
To put the matter to bed after all the rumors, at least for this Friday night, general manager Craig MacTavish made it clear that the Oilers are not rushing into anything.
MacTavish on @630CHED re: the churning rumour mill: "Certainly no moves imminent and hopefully none for quite some time."
— Dan Tencer (@dantencer) November 9, 2013
Hemsky was apparently out to dinner with Smid when he heard the news. So this was probably a strange night for him.