from Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun,

For Daryl Katz and his Edmonton Oilers franchise, this is a massively important business year and, suddenly, that’s the developing story behind the story of what’s going on with this once again nose-diving team.

Sunday, the Oilers traded three players and a draft choice and called up leading point-producer and goal-getter Joseph Gambardella from Bakersfield, hoping to get the attention of the team and find a short-term fix for an injury-riddled and offence-lacking secondary scoring in almost total disarray, before they flush a semi-successful start to the season away.

The moves are a reflection of the Oilers’ current crisis in the standings, brought on by a five-game losing streak. But there’s the potential to be a much bigger crisis than existed last year, when the team went from a 103-point season and Game 7 of the Pacific Division final to missing the playoffs for the 11th time in 12 years.

It’s the third year of the team playing in Rogers Place, and what makes it a developing business crisis is that a significant number of suites and premium seating inventory and all the season tickets are up for renewal at the end of the year.

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