Hemsky isn’t going anywhere: MacTavish

Edmonton – When Craig MacTavish was hired as the Edmonton Oilers General Manger in April, he made it clear he would look at trading Ales Hemsky.

However, dealing the veteran winger proved more difficult than MacTavish originally anticipated. With training camp just around the corner, Hemsky is still an Oiler, and it appears it’ll stay that way, at least for now.

On Wednesday morning, the Oilers G.M. and Hemsky stood side-by-side in front of a group of media at Rexall Place, with MacTavish making it clear the long-time Oiler isn’t going anywhere.

“He’s off the market,” said MacTavish. “He’s got the ability to play a very prominent role on our team, and right now I’ve had no discussions about any trade talks.”

MacTavish hopes speaking to the media now will stop the issue from becoming a distraction during training camp and the season.

“My sense is that after this point then we’ll not talk about this any further,” explained MacTavish.

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MacTavish says his main reason for wanting to trade Hemsky when he was hired as the Oilers G.M. was his belief that seven years of missing the playoffs had taken something away from the long-time Oiler.

“The losing and the frustration of losing really has the negative effect of sapping the energy that you need to have to have success at the NHL level,” explained MacTavish.

Hemsky was well aware he was on the trading block during the off-season. But, as the summer moved along and Hemsky still had not been dealt, he and MacTavish had several conversations about the winger returning to Edmonton. On Wednesday, Hemsky said he’s ready to move forward and help Edmonton win.

“It is what it is now, and I’m back, and I’m happy to be back, and I just want to help the team to turn the things around and try to be a leader and help the young guys and be the best for the team I can,” said Hemsky.

For the Oilers to win this season, the Oilers G.M. believes Hemsky will have to be an important piece.

“If this team turns around, Ales will have a main, a very prominent role in that turnaround.”

There has been talk of Hemsky, who’s spent his career as a top-six forward, playing on the Oilers third line this season. But the 29-year-old says he hasn’t had any conversations about his role on the team with head coach Dallas Eakins.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help this team. And whatever role I will play, I’ll do it because we want to turn the things around here and we want to be better and we want to be a playoff team,” explained Hemsky.

MacTavish says he has no regrets in expressing publicly his desire to trade Hemsky.

“There’s no hidden agenda here. The way I’ve always dealt with the media is to be as honest as I can, and those were our objectives going in.”

Hemsky is entering in his 11th season with the Oilers and has one year left on a two-year, $10 million contract he signed last summer.