"The Edmonton Oilers made the hard call — and the right call — last June when they didn't send Marc Pouliot a qualifying offer to keep his negotiating rights after years of waiting for their 2003 first-round draft pick to become a productive NHL player.

A year later, they're doing the same thing with J.F. Jacques, another forward they took in the '03 draft.

Jacques, who has had two back surgeries, is finally healthy, but he hasn't been the physical force the Oilers hoped he'd be after taking him in Round 2 of the entry draft eight years ago.

They may also set Zack Stortini free on July 1, which is a lot of muscle out the door. But the Oilers haven't released the list of players they qualified, unlike other clubs like the Philadelphia Flyers who are letting tough guy Daniel Carcillo go to the Florida Panthers, which is saying goodbye to former first-round winger Steve Bernier, who has played for four teams.

Jacques, 26, thought he was on the bubble.

"After 2- years of waiting (because of back and wrist injuries) I'm finally going to come to camp healthy, but obviously not with the Oilers," he said. "I've been with the Oilers my whole hockey life and this is going to be different.

"It's a little bit weird, but I thought two years ago when Pat Quinn was coaching I started to grow as a player and, if I can stay healthy, I can help teams. It's not like I'm 35 and on the verge of retiring."

Jacques, who played 51 games last season and 160 in his Oilers career, has been a bit of an enigma. He's a hard-skating, 230-pound guy who hits and can fight. But he hasn't put it all together, his injuries certainly cramping his style, although the Oilers wanted him to be harder on the puck-carrier.

Now, he'll find out if another team wants him.

At first blush, the Montreal Canadiens, who have a small army of small forwards, would seem a natural. Jacques was born in Montreal and lives there."