from Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal,

When he looks at his roster, as it sits today, there are still deficiencies as far as Edmonton Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish is concerned.

But with the current state of the NHL trade market, and little in the way of answers on the free-agent market, he said on Tuesday that he may just to have to accept the fact that he can’t accomplish all that he had wanted to this summer.

In the last week, the rookie GM traded captain Shawn Horcoff to the Dallas Stars, acquired defenceman Andrew Ference, third-line centre Boyd Gordon and backup goaltender Jason LaBarbera from the free agent market, then re-signed third-line winger Ryan Jones.

What he doesn’t have is a big top-six winger, having lost out on free agent David Clarkson, who left a seven-year offer from the Oilers on the table to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Clarkson would have made more money playing in Edmonton, but he wore a Leafs jersey as a kid. He had a tie to the team before he signed his seven-year, $36.75-million contract to play in Toronto.

Another top four defenceman was also on MacTavish’s list, and there’s still the lingering question about Ales Hemsky. He’s put his house up for sale, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a market for his game. Otherwise, he would have been moved by now.

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