I didn’t expect the Oilers to be busy on trade deadline day, but I certainly was not expecting total silence. The Oilers stood pat… It made for a boring day for Oilers fans.
The Oilers were 8 points out of a playoff spot going into their game versus the Predators, and they sit 7 points out after scrounging a point out of Nashville. The good thing about them not making any moves is that they didn’t sacrifice any of the future for immediate help. The team was far from a position where they needed to take part in the annual trade deadline day arms race. Most people within the Oilers organization still believe that the team can make the playoffs. It’s good that they weren’t tempted to spend assets on a rental player that might have helped the team in their March push for the playoffs that will more than likely fall well short of success.
Thankfully, the team held on to Jesse Puljujarvi. Reports over the last week or so have suggested that Puljujarvi is unhappy in Edmonton. His value is at an all-time low right now. It would’ve been impossible to get anything close to fair value for him at this point in time. If the team really feels that they have to trade him, then it makes the most sense to do it this summer. This will not be the last that we hear of this story, I can promise you that. It is my hope that the Oilers keep Puljujarvi because he is bound to break out at some point soon, and we will want him on the Oilers roster when he does.
The bad thing about the Oilers not making any moves on the deadline is that…
CLICK HERE if you want to find out why the Oilers not making any moves on the deadline was possibly the worst potential outcome.
