Edmonton Oilers Trade Talk: Ullmark, Kessel, Greiss, and the Latest NHL Rumors

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

Lowetide.ca

FIVE-YEAR SOLUTIONS

You can see the potential for five-year solutions bubbling up from Bakersfield and perhaps filling holes across the roster.

Goaltenders Stuart Skinner and Ilya Konovalov (since December 1) both offer the organization inexpensive options and possibly major year over year savings.
Left defensemen Markus Niemelainen, Philip Broberg and Dmitri Samorukov could all have NHL careers, but not all of them will be playing five-plus years in Edmonton.
Center Ryan McLeod is the only obvious solution I see who is playing currently and coming down the pipe. Dylan Holloway is a highly rated prospect who may land as a center in the NHL, but the uncertainty over his status following two surgeries casts a pall over his possible future. If healthy, there’s a very good chance he is the top prospect in the system.
Left Wingers Carter Savoie and Matvey Petrov are depth picks who appear to be tracking as bona fide top-six NHL forwards in the future. A strong reminder that mirages do occur in these situations, but in both the Savoie and Petrov cases it appears the Oilers scouts have stolen players…
Right Wingers Xavier Bourgault and Tyler Tullio offer the biggest hope at this position. Both should be pro ready next fall and we’re likely to see some movement at the position across the Oilers-Condors roster for 2022-23. Raphael Lavoie remains a player worth following, his five-point game just before Christmas was a positive sign.

BLH’s Thoughts: LT was talking about the players who are in Edmonton’s system and end up Oilers in five years time and his point was that around one or two will turn out for every five or so.

That said, it’s been a while since the team had a crop of prospects like this. Would it shock you if all the names above played a handful of games in the NHL at minimum? And I’m not talking about pity call-ups like what Cooper Marody’s received in his time with the club, I’m saying at least 50 games. Maybe not in the case of Konovalov as goaltenders are really hit and miss, but for the players Lowetide has singled out, I can’t see a single one that probably won’t get a good chunk of NHL hockey at some point in their careers if things go well.

The Hockey Writers

Oilers Should Trade for Ullmark if Rask Signs With Bruins

The head coach of the Boston Bruins, Bruce Cassidy, said that Tuukka Rask could be ready to play in three weeks. He has been skating and practicing with the team, so at this point, it is all but confirmed that Rask is going to sign with the Bruins.
Do they trade Swayman? The more likely solution is to move on from Ullmark if Rask is brought back for multiple seasons at a cheap price. Sure, they could have an experienced one-two punch in net, but allowing Swayman to learn under Rask could do wonders for his career.
Swayman started off very hot and cooled a bit before playing some good hockey again, while Ullmark struggled at the start of his tenure with his new team but has settled down nicely for them.
Ullmark has proven on the Buffalo Sabres in past years that he can keep the team in games despite being outshot and dominated, so with a little goal support in Edmonton, why can’t that continue?
He was 50-47-13 while having a .563 quality start percentage, above the league average of .53 percent. This was all done on a team that consistently finished at the bottom of the standings in points, goals for, and goals against.
…28 is the perfect age to be able to give his team quality starts on a nightly basis for a number of years. He is old enough and has been around long enough to be experienced and have reached his prime.
Ullmark makes just $500k per year more than Mikko Koskinen right now, so there wouldn’t be an issue with paying him or needing to find a solution in goal for at least another three years.

BLH’s Thoughts: If I’m not mistaken, I do believe the Jim Matheson reported on multiple occasions that the Oilers were pursuing Ullmark last year and even into the off-season, but they were aiming a bit higher (Kuemper) and got beat to the punch by the Bruins.

I like that this guy’s only been pulled 5 times in his career (129gp) and he’s having a really decent year in Boston so far (7-5-0 .922 SV% 2.52 GAA).

However, is it really that far fetched that Don Sweeney wouldn’t move Swayman? Rask and Ullmark seem like a more “sure thing” and he might get a slightly better return for Swayman.

Don’t know how this sort of trade works without Kassian going to Boston because they’re not taking Koskinen if Rask is coming back. Maybe Edmonton tries to send Kassian and Turris plus a sweetener for Ullmark?

Spector’s Hockey

BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: Jimmy Murphy recently looked at some possible trade targets for the Bruins. He suggested Arizona Coyotes winger (and former Bruin) Phil Kessel as an option to replace Jake DeBrusk if they can trade the latter.
THE ATHLETIC: In a recent mailbag segment, Max Bultman was asked about possible moves by the Detroit Red Wings before this year’s trade deadline…
- He doesn’t see the Wings parting with Tyler Bertuzzi even though he’s a year away from UFA status and missed several games because of his vaccination status.
- Bultman suggested seeing what they could get for pending UFAs like Nick Leddy, Vladislav Namestnikov or Thomas Greiss if the Wings become sellers.

BLH’s Thoughts: Do you think there’s a chance the Oilers would move on from both Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith? If so, would Thomas Greiss make sense as a trade target for Ken Holland?