Every morning before I even get out of bed, I grab my iPad and open up my Feedly app to see what has happened in the world of hockey while I was asleep. Usually not a whole lot goes down but every now and then there’s something notable like a contract signing, a player getting in trouble with the law, or a trade rumour.

We’re going to talk about the trade rumour that surfaced on one blog called The Hockey Press but another blog called Puck Gone Wild (I dig the name) dedicated an entire post on it, to which I am going to talk about today.

So if you don’t want to head over to the blog, I’ll be quoting different parts of it below and commenting on it, otherwise head over and read it for yourself. The comments section is pretty funny coming from an Oilers fan perspective.

Let’s get started.

THE RUMOR

The rumor is that the deal would see the Wild send Matt Dumba and Jason Zucker, for Nugent-Hopkins and “more”.  The Hockey Press believes that the “more” piece was Benoit Pouliot.  The Oilers have not responded to the Wild, and it’s furthered rumored by the Hockey Press that the Oilers are holding out for a high draft pick or prospect to add to the pile due to Nugent-Hopkins’ value to the current Oiler lineup.

Gonna just shake my head at this one right off the bat. Are you facking kidding me? I’ll tell you this, IF the Oilers made this deal, it would be far worse than the Taylor Hall trade in my opinion. The Oilers have actual centre depth right now. Other things to consider include:

• Is Leon Draisaitl ready to shoulder the load that comes with being a no.2 centre in the NHL right now. We don’t know that because apparently he was riding Taylor Hall’s coattails last season…
• Nuge had one down year due to injury and now his value is that of a Jason Zucker? No offense to Zucker but come on now, let’s get real.
• Would the Wild want to re-acquire Benoit Pouliot? Really?

The trade offer as reported is actually very fair and would be beneficial for the Wild.  With the idea of moving Dumba is not an issue, as the Wild have been preparing the team for life without one of their current defensive lineup.

How is this deal fair? The writer makes it seem like Dumba is unneeded by the Wild. Cannon fodder for a trade if you will. I imagine this is similar to how Oilers fans view Yakupov or Griffin Reinhart. So why would the Oiler deal TWO mainstays within their forward corps. for the Wild’s cast-offs?

But the combination of two of the Wild’s best young players might be too much value for Nugent-Hopkins.

But I thought the Wild were preparing to lose one or two of these players? If they’re two of the best, surely they’d want to hold on to them, no?

Furthermore, it just seems that from the start the Oilers have valued Dumba much less than Wild did.

Well duh! As they should be. I heard on Bob Stauffer’s show Oilers Now! that Chuck Fletcher and Peter Chiarelli were talking trade at the draft and the conversation was about RNH but Fletcher was only willing to part with Dumba because of the pickle Chiarelli was in.

So it’s not the Oilers that are so enamoured with Matt Dumba, it’s that the Wild are trying to give it to Chiarelli hard and dry and at this point there’s no reason for the Oilers to take it like that. They’re not as desperate as they were before that Hall trade and they could go into next season without that the right-handed shooter to run the powerplay and be okay.

So enter the “more” or in this case Pouliot.  By asking for a player like Pouliot the Wild are trying to fill a need which is another 3rd/4th line wing.  Right now the organization had options to fill that open spot in the lineup, but most of them are unexperienced.  By using Zucker to sweeten the pot the Wild open up that lineup spot in the forward corps while at the same time compelling the Oilers to offer something more than just Nugent-Hopkins.

So let me get this straight. The Oilers would trade their a centre who as of recent has been one of the most played centres in the entire NHL and no.2 left-wing who made huge contributions playing with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid for a no.6 dman and a winger who went -8 and only put up 23pts in 71 games last year… NO THANKS!

THE FINANCIALS

There’s only really about two ways they can close this salary cap deficit.  The Wild can offer another player with a $3.3 million or more annual hit, or they can get the Oilers to retain $3.3 million or more of Nugent-Hopkins or Pouliot’s salary.

So in this scenario the Oilers would gain cap space and could certainly eat $3.3 million or more to make this deal work.  The only issue is, do the Oilers want to give up that money badly enough to acquire Dumba and Zucker?

Oh boy… The Oilers could eat $3.3 million for how many years of Nuge’s deal? The Wild would have better luck seeing if the Oilers would take some of Pouliot’s deal given the term is shorter IF they were so desperate to make it happen.

I’m really shocked that this article didn’t mention the Wild trying to pilfer Jason Pominville and his mega contract. That’s the route I would’ve went.

I mean in my mind the only way that Nuge leaves the Oilers is if that true no.3/4 right-handed PP dman comes back. We’re talking the Tyson Barries, the Jacob Troubas, the Rasmus Ristolainens, or the Hampus Lindholms (I know he’s a lefty).

I would consider Charlie Coyle though. A big (6’3 218lb) right-handed centre (something the Oilers covet) who just came off a 40+ point season.

So let’s flip the script, how about the Oilers give the Wild Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Benoit Pouliot, and Griffin Reinhart for Charlie Coyle, Matt Dumba, Jason Zucker and a 2nd round pick?

Am I missing something here? Maybe I am overvaluing the Oilers players. Let me know what you think in the comments!

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