Silver Nuggets: Which is More Likely Series: Islanders vs Oilers

Yesterday we had ourselves some fun talking about the NHL trade deadline and the stance GM Bryan Murray would be likely to take. The question was buyers or sellers, and even though buyers had more comment support and was winning most of the day, at the time of writing sellers wins with only 54% of the vote. DonnyT tells us why:

Voted sellers

I believe this is most likely.
The competition to get a play-off spot is tough.
If the Sens are further out of the race, than this year, I dont think they´re going to buy, or more pointedly: I dont think they´re willing to give up prospects for pieces to complete a championship team.
I find it more likely, that they´re willing to part with a player like Gonchar, if someone has an interesting offer.

Seems sensible enough, why build up a prospect pool just to overspend on a player when the team is more than one player away?

Today we are back to the league at large and look at two teams who have languished in awful-ness for the last several seasons: The New York Islanders and the Edmonton Oilers. Both teams have had the luxury (misfortune?) of drafting highly sought after players in recently entry drafts and both have a stable of young talent. The question today is this:

Which is more likely to happen FIRST? The Islanders make the playoffs in the East OR the Oilers make the playoffs in the West?

Islanders: The Islanders are that team that you just want to shake. They never spend any money, and they seem to always rush their prospects, but looking at their team, they aught to be quite good... at some point. John Tavares is the next superstar in this league, the kid is getting better each year and making guys like P.A Parenteau rich. With Mark Streit and Lubomir Vishnovsky with him on the powerplay and perhaps Evgeni Nabokov providing stable goaltending, is the turn around near for NYI? Then again, they do play in the Atlantic. So, there is that.

Oilers: Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov. Three years in a row drafting the best the world has to offer. Jordan Eberle with his immense skill, Ales Hemsky with his underrated offensive ability. These guys should score goals at an alarming pace. Keeping goals out of their net is another question. Is Devan Dubnyk a #1 goalie? What about that blue line? Can the Oilers score their way to the playoffs?

What say you? Neither may happen next season, but one has to happen eventually, which one happens first?

Links.

Sens News: (crickets)

• Patrick Wiercioch is looking to establish himself this season. I always had hope for the lanky blueliner, but he has never reached his potential. Here's hoping for a big year from him. [Sens]
• Nichols with some news about how the Sens have left themselves in a good position in event of a lockout. [6thSens]
• Update: The Senators announced they have signed center Kyle Turris to a five-year deal worth $17.5M total. The cap hit for the deal is $3.5M per year. [Sens]
  

League News:

Which happens first?