Edmonton Oilers Talk: Bear/Foegele Trade, Anton Khudobin, and the Latest NHL Rumors

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with excerpts from the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!

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Oilersnation (Zach Laing)

Who will regret the Foegele-Bear trade more? Carolina or Edmonton?

On the 31 Thoughts podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman had some interesting comments on the (Bear/Foegele) trade:

“Foegele is an interesting one because there was a ton of interest in Foegele. I heard Carolina was a little surprised by how much interest there was to the point where they said “are we kind of making a mistake here? Should we keep him?” but they couldn’t get a deal done and now Foegele has got one done in Edmonton.”
“The Bear thing surprised me because I really like Bear. I like him as a player, I think he’s still got room to get better. I realize you have to give quality to get quality, but Bear is the one more I wonder if Edmonton looks back on and says “I wished we coulda had that one over.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Laing goes on to say that he feels the Oilers will regret the trade because Bear will go on to have a long career as a top-4 defenseman and the Hurricanes will regret it because “it isn’t out of the question to see Foegele be able to grow into a top-six role”.

I’m still hearing some pro-Bear sentiment in those two predictions. Bear “will” go on to have a lengthy career as a top-four blueliner whereas “it isn’t out of the question” that Foegele will “be able” to “grow” into a top-six role… Why is Bear the one that doesn’t require growth but the older, more established Foegele is?

Here’s the thing though, we don’t really know what Ethan Bear is. He might not be a top-four defender. He’s had one real season where he proved he can handle the regular season rigors of playing against the NHL’s elite and this past season where he might have had excellent “chance” metrics, his real goal metrics tell us that the other team scored more when Bear was on the ice than when he wasn’t.

So, maybe it’s the young defenseman that will be that one that needs to “grow” into his role because I don’t think there are any expectations that Foegele becomes a top-six winger from the Oilers. They’ve got Dylan Holloway, Rafa Lavoie, Carter Savoie, etc. who are currently being weighed down by that prognostication.

I think what sealed the deal from an on-ice perspective was that Bear had such a bad playoff performance vs. an extremely aggressive checking team in the Winnipeg Jets, the coaching staff and the team’s leadership core decided that it was Evan Bouchard’s time and even if Adam Larsson hadn’t have left, Barrie was coming back and that left no room for Bear.

At the end of the day, instead of regretting the deal, quite a negative take to have by the way, what if both teams ended up being satisfied with the deal and no regret was to be had?

Cult of Hockey (David Staples)

Could Edmonton Oilers get even older (but better) in goal?

The Khudobin-to-Edmonton rumour mill is heating up, as Bruce McCurdy and I discussed on our Friday podcast.
Khudobin, 35, has two years left on a deal that pays him $3.3 million per year.
In the last two seasons, for NHL goalies who have played more than 2000 minutes, Khudobin has the 12th best save percentage, .918… It’s almost exactly the same as Connor Hellebuyck, Philipp Grubauer and Darcy Kuemper.
Dallas won’t be taking on Mikko Koskinen in any Khubodin trade. Edmonton would have to find a landing spot for the final year of the Koskinen contract at $4.5 million. Obviously Edmonton will have to add a sweetener to any team looking to take on that contract. Options for Koskinen might well include Buffalo, Ottawa and Arizona.
Maybe the general plan is to have Oettinger in the AHL for another year, Bishop on LTIR, and Khubodin and Holtby in the NHL, which would mitigate any need to force a Khubodin trade.

BLH’s Thoughts: If the deal makes sense to the Oilers, then maybe we could see something go down, but will have to be a lot of moving parts required. Holland has to find a team that is willing to take Koskinen’s ticket in full and that’ll probably require him sending some extra assets to get that done. Then he’ll need to use more assets to bring in Khudobin? Where are all these trade pieces coming from?

The Daily Goal Horn

NHL Rumors: Top 10 candidates likely to be traded this summer

Jack Eichel (BUF) – At this point, it is believed only the Rangers are still interested but will not overpay. There’s also reports indicating the Golden Knights may still try to figure out how to move out salary to acquire him. The Ducks are the only other team that has the assets and cap space to make a trade but they are not in on Eichel at the moment.
Vladimir Tarasenko (STL) – In a report from Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic, he listed nine of the teams that the unhappy Tarasenko will accept a trade to go play. They included the Lightning, Capitals, Islanders, Rangers, Flyers, Golden Knights, Panthers, and Bruins. At this time, the tenth team is unknown.
Evgeny Kuznetsov (WAS) – The 29 year-old pivot has three years remaining at $7.8 million AAV with a 15 team no move clause. He scored 29 points in 41 games this past season.
Alexandr Georgiev (NYR) – It sounds like Georgiev is interested in a change of scenery as a starter. The 25 year-old goalie could be part of a package that heads to the Sabres in an Eichel deal.
Ryan Strome (NYR) – As for Ryan Strome, the Rangers will not trade him unless they land Eichel or Kuznetsov. The Ottawa Senators are really interested and also the Seattle Kraken.
Vince Dunn (SEA) – The Seattle Kraken are overloaded on defense. What they need is a center, or a scoring forward. Vince Dunn did file for salary arbitration, and he’s a likely trade chip for Ron Francis.
Johnny Gaudreau (CGY) – Trade rumors have died down around Johnny Gaudreau, but there is still some speculation he could be moved.
Joonas Korpisalo (CBJ) – The Blue Jackets appear ready to give the #1 goalie role to Elvis Merzlikins. There was some rumors regarding Korpisalo and the Edmonton Oilers. Expect the Jackets to continue to shop him.
Phil Kessel (ARI) – Kessel, 33, can still produce and would give any offensively challenged team a boost. Last season, he scored 20 goals and 43 points in 56 games for the Yotes.
Christian Dvorak (ARI) – The 25 year-old center has a current cap hit of $4.45M and scored 31 points in 56 games last season. The Bruins have been rumored to be interested.