Pre-Expansion Draft Trade Options for the Edmonton Oilers

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!

From The Athletic

Ten teams the Oilers Should be Targeting for Trades Ahead of the Kraken Expansion Draft by Daniel Nugent-Bowman

The Oilers could be in position to pounce via trade ahead of the expansion draft if the prices are right.

There are several teams that will have to expose some good players, and the Oilers should try to capitalize on their predicaments — even if it might not be easy for a few reasons.

Anaheim Ducks – “The Ducks could make winger Jakob Silfverberg available, colleague Eric Stephens reports… Perhaps a better fit is Rickard Rakell.”
Arizona Coyotes – “What if the Coyotes wanted to collect an asset or two from another team rather than risk losing Kuemper or Hill for nothing? Could the Oilers take advantage?”
Boston Bruins – “The Bruins appear set to expose some pretty good players. Colleague Fluto Shinzawa reports Nick Ritchie, Curtis Lazar, Connor Clifton and Jeremy Lauzon are slated to be exposed. These are players at least worth checking in on.”
Colorado Avalanche – “Some combination of the following players might have to be exposed: Toews, Ryan Graves, Nazem Kadri, Joonas Donskoi, J.T. Compher and Tyson Jost.”
Columbus Blue Jackets – “There might be an avenue where the Blue Jackets accept a goaltender as part of a package for Korpisalo or Merzlikins, but it seems less apparent than with the Coyotes. Again, Koskinen’s cap hit and partial NTC are impediments from Edmonton’s point of view.”
Minnesota Wild – “Guerin has said he doesn’t want to lose Dumba in the expansion draft. For now, Russo has Dumba and Soucy being available, along with forwards Ryan Hartman and Victor Rask. There might be an opportunity for a team like the Oilers to acquire one of those players for futures.”
Nashville Predators – “There’s a good chance Viktor Arvidsson and Calle Jarnkrok are exposed by the Predators, according to colleague Adam Vingan.”
Pittsburgh Penguins – “Colleague Rob Rossi has Zach Aston-Reese, Jason Zucker and Marcus Pettersson on the exposed list in his latest mock.”
Tampa Bay Lightning – “Colleague Joe Smith believes they’ll go the eight-skater route, which would leave Yanni Gourde, Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn exposed to the Kraken.”
Washington Capitals – “Our Tarik El-Bashir believes the Capitals could protect Justin Schultz over Brenden Dillon as their third defenceman. If that’s the case, would they rather get something for him than potentially give him up for free?”

BLH’s Thoughts: I was wondering what teams the Oilers could be looking at ever since Bob Stauffer dropped that bomb on his radio show last week. So let’s go team by team using Nugent-Bowman’s list here,

Anaheim: The Oilers were looking at Rakell around the trade deadline but didn’t have the assets to get a deal done, plus the Ducks wanted to move the Swede and Josh Manson together. Anaheim will be moving Rakell because they’ve got Trevor Zegras, Jacob Perreault, and Brayden Tracey coming and I don’t see why the Oilers couldn’t be one of the main teams in the running for him.

Arizona: Goaltender Darcy Kuemper might be back on Edmonton’s radar but if I were Ken Holland, I’d be checking in on Conor Garland too. He’s an RFA that’ll need a new contract but I’m skeptical that he could make more than $5M on it. Now, if his demands are closer to $3.5M or $4M, that’d be right in the Oilers’ wheelhouse. Would Dave Tippett be comfortable playing a right-shot winger on his off-wing though?

Boston: Nick Ritchie is a sleepy tough guy in that he doesn’t actively seek out trouble. I don’t find he’s the kind of bruiser who pulls others into the game, he’s more of a finisher. I’d prefer someone a bit more proactive. I was really impressed with Jeremy Lauzon in the series vs. Washington though. The way he went after Ovechkin, I don’t recall anybody doing that before. As for Curtis Lazar, you know he’d be welcomed with open arms in Edmonton.

Colorado: Nazem Kadri. I have zero qualms with this player coming to Edmonton. He is the kind of center that everybody else on the ice needs to know where he is at all times because he plays on the edge. The Oilers could use his compete and scoring in their bottom-six.

Columbus: It would seem logical to move Mikko Koskinen to Columbus in a trade for a goalie, but that’s really only from Edmonton’s angle I think. Why would the Blue Jackets need him if they’ve got 24yr old Matiss Kivlenieks or Cam Johnson right there? Besides if Jarmo Kekalainen is in on Eichel and one of their netminders needs to be part of that package, isn’t that a bit more appealing than taking Koskinen’s deal back in a trade with futures from Edmonton? Boone Jenner is the fella I’d prefer Edmonton target from CBJ if possible and we can’t forget Gus Nyqvist’s history with Ken Holland…

Minnesota: Forget Dumba and Soucy, give me Ryan Hartman, STAT! If the Oilers are going to make playing against their bottom-six more difficult, it has to start with acquiring players who make the opposition’s night a living hell. Hartman does this.

Nashville: You’re telling me that Viktor Arvidsson might be available? Hop on that Kenny! His production has fallen off from a couple of seasons ago, but you never know what a change of scenery could do for a 28yr old playing with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. There were murmurs that the Oilers liked Calle Jarnkrok at the trade deadline, plus he’s another player with connections to Ken Holland, right?

Pittsburgh: I think there’s possibly a deal to be had here with the Pens. They want toughness and Edmonton MIGHT be looking to move Zack Kassian’s $3.2M/yr deal. Jason Zucker is a right proper goal-scoring winger but I’m a big fan of how Zach Aston-Reese plays too. However, I’m still a massive fan of 2-time champion Brian Dumoulin as a replacement for Oscar Klefbom.

Tampa Bay: Is Yanni Gourde the new JG Pageau?… If so, he might be the perfect 3C for Edmonton. That $5M/yr might scare you off but one has to pay for quality. You can’t keep gambling on cheap free agents or prospects. Plus he’s another one of these types that yank others into the muck with him.

Washington: Brendan Dillon would be rad, the question I have is, can he handle second pair minutes? He’d definitely give the Oilers the Joel Edmundson-type alongside Adam Larsson and make opposing forwards nights’ horrid to complete. I wonder about that $3.9M deal for another three years too… As Edmonton’s younger players move up the ranks, he’d move down the depth chart and at some point he’d be making too much money for his place on the roster and then we’d be back to talking about buyouts or trades involving retained salary… I might prefer Garnet Hathaway or Carl Hagelin.

The feeling I’m getting from reports around Edmonton is that the Oilers are in the process of making their roster more competitive from a work rate perspective. I’m not saying the roster on hand is lazy, what I believe is the club needs more individuals who can make life difficult for the team opposite to them.

I think that Holland is going to give the top-six the left-wingers it needs and he’s going to try add some snarl and speciality to the rest of the roster.

Expect the unexpected, even if that means the augmentations come from within the organization.