Oilers Trade Targets: A Goalie, A Defenseman, and a Winger

Dreger: "Chiarelli could be busy, certainly between now and the start of next season. He wants to acquire a winger who can skate w/ Connor McDavid, a defenseman who can help their transition game, and a goalie who's going to push Cam Talbot." #Oilers

— Chris Nichols (@NicholsOnHockey) February 15, 2018

First things first, Dreger didn’t get all of that from Chiarelli. Either someone within the Oilers organization above Chiarelli leaked it, Dreger is making it up, or one of the other GMs is trying to throw a wrench into Trader Pete’s deadline/summer plans.

Secondly, why would the Oilers want a winger who can skate WITH Connor? It’s not like you see tandems breaking out of the d-zone into the neutral zone and then into the other team’s end together.

I feel the type of player the Oilers are looking for is a trigger man, not a speedster because if that was the case, why wouldn’t they have gone out and traded for Carl Hagelin when he was struggling like mad earlier in the year? Why wouldn’t they have picked up Nikita Soshnikov before TO traded him to the Blues.

They need a guy who knows where to go on the ice while Connor has the puck in order to get himself open for a one-timer.

If not this kind of winger then a winger who is quick. Personally, I don’t think they need to go out and get one. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is right there and alternatively, Anton Slepyshev is here too and if he didn’t feel slighted by how he’s been treated by the Oilers this year, he might be a cheap re-signing too.

But if we’re going outside the organization, I feel like Mike Hoffman is the perfect winger for the Oilers here. TSN’s Travis Yost feels like Swapping RNH for Hoffman would be beneficial for both teams.

I could see it but I always thought you never trade a centre for a winger…

But what if the Oilers send Kris Russell w/salary retained (remember contrary to what Capfriendly says, the first two years of his deal lack any clauses, only the final two seasons or at least that’s what I’m lead to believe from the MSM reporting on his contract and Spotrac’s website) and say Jesse Puljujarvi to Ottawa for Hoffman.

The Sens are looking to rebuild, the Oilers are looking to upgrade whilst opening cap space and even if I am wrong about Russell’s first two years having no clauses, a simple request is all it takes. If Ottawa truly wants to tear it down, would having Russell on defense help or hinder that goal?

Don’t get me wrong here, I do NOT want Jesse Puljujarvi traded. I love that kid more than Oilersnation loves anti-Chiarelli rallies. I’m just thinking out loud here and trying to work around trading Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Oscar Klefbom to Ottawa. I do feel like, despite Pulju’s young age, he shouldn’t be fading as the season goes on but this is his first real pro season. Plus I’m thinking the coaches are higher on Yamamoto than Pulju.

Again, I’m not advocating for the trading of Puljujarvi. Having him and Yamamoto on the RW for the next 5 years would please me to no end but how else do you satisfy Ottawa’s needs w/o moving RNH, Klefbom, or this year’s 1st rounder.

Another name on my list is David Perron. Not the fastest but draws penalties, is irritating as well and had his best pro season as an Edmonton Oiler in his previous stint with the club.

Thirdly, the defenseman that Oilers are looking for will have to have some puck skills. I think they one they’ve got the best shot at is Rasmus Dahlin at the moment. Not even joking.

But if we were to look at the pro roster, the Oilers have to send someone out before bringing in another because the D corps. is simply too crowded and I’d prefer to see them bring back Davidson and Auvitu too.

At the moment the D looks like this:

Klefbom/Larsson
Nurse/Benning
Russell/Sekera
Davidson, Auvitu, Lowe

Which defender might that be? I mentioned Kris Russell before but the word I’m getting is that it’s Oscar Klefbom. Management/Coaching aren’t happy with his progression or lack thereof, this year. They’re pissed that he can’t stay healthy. So, they’re listening to offers on him which is a far cry from offering him out. Let’s make that distinction clear right now.

I’d love for the Oilers to bring in Mike Green because I value his veteran experience as well as his RH’d shot, and his offensive eye for the game.

A player few might consider is Chris Wideman out of Ottawa. He’s a UFA this summer, he’s 28 years old and he’s also RH’d. Not a big guy but he can skate well and move the puck well. Before going down with an injury this year he had 8pts in 16 games. So he was definitely on pace (#OnPace) for a career year. He’s making 800k this year.

Tyson Barrie will be the name on the market connected to the Oilers from now until he’s moved and his cost is pretty high. Meaning RNH is probably the ask and I really want to avoid breaking up the 3-headed menace down the middle for Edmonton.

So how would you feel if the D looked like this:

Nurse/Larsson
Sekera/Barrie
Russell/Davidson
Auvitu or Wideman (I’d prefer both)

That means Benning and Klefbom would be moved on.

Fourthly, we’re looking for a goalie to compete with Talbot aka we’re afraid that Talbot might shit the bed again next year and we want to go with a 1A and 1B in the nets.

David Staples and Bruce McCurdy have brought up a good point in that perhaps the Oilers WILL need another goalie in addition to Talbot and Montoya and that Montoya should go to the minors in case of emergency next season.

The problem I have with that is, do you simply let the goalies you’ve paid to develop all these years walk away? Not that I think that Brossoit and Ellis are ready but the question still remains.

Here are a handful of UFA goalies who are putting up acceptable numbers this season:

• Carter Hutton – STL – (15-5-3, 1.81 GAA, .940%) – Does STL move him or Allen?
• Jonathan Bernier – COL –  (17-10-2, 2.74 GAA, 916%) – $2.75M per… Pricey!
• Aaron Dell – SJ – (14-4-2, 2.51 GAA, 917%) – The New Cam Talbot?
• Antti Raanta – ARI – (11-14-0, 2.53 GAA, 920%) – Maybe should’ve acquired him last year…
• Anton Khudobin – BOS – (12-3-1, 2.32 GAA, 925%) – Chiarelli would be familiar with the little Russian.
• Michael Hutchinson – WPG – (1-0-0, 1.00 GAA, 958%) – Rumors earlier in the year had connected the Oilers and Hutchinson.

I fancy either Carter Hutton or Anton Khudobin for the 1B position because they’re a bit older and I value experience. But would Antti Raanta be the guy who’d push Talbot a bit more for that no.1 spot? Hutchinson is a beauty too though.

Tough call! Hutchinson and Khudobin have history with Chiarelli though, so there’s that.

A couple of wild cards might be Curtis McElhinney (TOR) and Kari Lehtonen (DAL) if you’re like me and prefer experienced goalies. These two tenders’ contracts expire after next season. The Leafs have Garrett Sparks and Calvin Pickard on their AHL team right now and I’d like to think that one of them will be the back-up next season. I don’t see Lehtonen getting paid $5M per season ever again nor do I see him being a starting goalie again.

Is it even possible for the Oilers to start the 2018/19 season with the following roster?

Hoffman/McDavid/Slepyshev
Lucic/Draisaitl/Yamamoto
Caggiula/Khaira/Strome
Pakarinen/Beagle/Kassian

Nurse/Larsson
Klefbom/Barrie
Sekera/Wideman
Davidson

Talbot
Raanta

It seems like we’ve just moved the chairs around on the deck a bit, no?

I’ll leave you with one last thought here. Look at that lineup above, now add one of Rasmus Dahlin, Andrei Svechnikov, Filip Zadina, Brady Tkachuk, or Adam Boqvist.

How does it look now?

Let us know in the comments below! But first buy a shirt for a loved one because there’s a sale going on at the Beer League Heroes Teepublic shop!