Tag Archives: NHL Trade Rumours

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors, Trades

Trader Pete

May 3, 2016 Beer League Hero 6 Comments

Could one of these fellas be on the move to shore up the blue line this summer?

Yesterday was a busy day for Bob Stauffer and the listeners of Oilers Now. The talk was all about who the Oilers should pick at 4th overall at this summer’s NHL Entry Draft, which one of the $6M men could get traded, and a multitude of trade scenarios to which I am going to discuss below.

There are a few points of view when talking about the Oilers’ first rounder this year.

Keep it and draft one of Matthew Tkachuk or Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Trade down and draft one of Logan Brown or Olli Juolevi.
Trade it outright or package it with a roster player for an upgrade on the blueline.

Stauffer said he’d talked to two coaches in the OHL and one described Matthew Tkachuk as a better prospect than Dylan Strome right now, whilst the other said Tkachuk is comparable to a 6’2″ version of Brendan Gallagher or Brad Marchand. Kosmic did a little profile of him here.

I think Bob mentioned this like 5 or 6 times over the entire show which sort of leads me to believe that either he was told to sell those two players to the listeners or there wasn’t anything else to talk about regarding Tkachuk or Dubois…

Now, I’ve definitely got time for a player like that. To me, that sort of player screams Corey Perry and boy do the Oilers need someone in that mold. It’s been a long time since the team had a goal-scoring agitator who could think the game on an NHL level.

But there are two things that should be discussed when it comes to the left-winger.

He’s a left shot and the Oilers are pretty stocked with those.
He’s putting up big numbers this season playing alongside Mitch Marner who himself is racking up McDavid-like stats… You don’t want to get caught in the Sam Gagner trap again.

The other player discussed at no.4 was Pierre-Luc Dubois and the comparable for him was Jamie Benn. Kosmic also did a write-up on PLD here.

The Oilers could also trade down. The Vancouver Canucks are supposedly high on the Dubois kid and they hold the #5 pick. Personally I don’t see a lot on the Canucks roster or in their system that might be available. Chris Tanev and Brock Boeser are probably the only two guys there.

Bob and Brenden Ullrich discussed a scenario near the end of Oilers Now that went like this:

Tyler Bozak, Jake Gardiner, and the Penguins 1st round pick
for
Mark Fayne and the Oilers 1st round pick

This would allow the Leafs to pick their homeboy, Matthew Tkachuk, the Oilers an upgrade on defense, and give Edmonton a good face-off man in the 3C hole. Chiarelli could then take one of their left-handed shooters and move him to the Islanders for Travis Hamonic.

In the end the proposed deal might look like this:

Tyler Bozak, Travis Hamonic, and the Pens 1st rounder
for
Mark Fayne, Jake Gardiner, and the Oilers 1st rounder.

Sounds okay to me as it would fill some holes on the roster with veteran players. Bozak has a no-trade clause and who knows if he’d waive it to go to Edmonton. But I’m of the opinion that the team is still too young and lacks effective impact veterans to take this team to where it needs to go.

What about trading the 4th overall pick outright for a veteran dman?

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Well the pick on its own has a lot of value. Not as much as the first three but it’s certainly more valuable than Hamonic, Vatanen, or Barrie. But maybe the Oilers would go for it if say they were dealing with Anaheim and the Ducks included their first rounder and a prospect like Jacob Larsson or Brandon Montour with Vatanen or if Colorado included their first rounder (10th overall) with Barrie… Ya never know what teams are thinking right? Isles could very well offer their first and Hamonic for the 4th overall and Brandon Davidson.

Anyways, those were some draft day ideas floating around on Oilers Now yesterday. Someone did call in and ask about Justin Faulk out of Carolina for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Which I think sounds pretty decent but Stauffer thought the Hurricanes would have to add to that. How much I wonder? Could left-winger Sebastian Aho be added to that deal to make it fair?

My Concluding Thoughts…

If the Oilers are in dire need of character players, could they see what’s available in the 2nd or 3rd rounds and use their 4th overall pick to take Olli Juolevi and not Logan Brown.
Logan Brown to me sounds a bit too much like Joe Colborne and in my opinion if you’re going to be a big guy that isn’t physical, you’d better be a damned good goal scorer or playmaker.
Maybe some guys like Will Bitten, Carl Grundstrom, or Nathan Bastien could be the character players Edmonton could find use for in 3-4 years.
I’d prefer the team trade down myself and find a way to get a dman like Charlie McAvoy or Dante Fabbro plus add more assets like 2nd round picks or 3rd round picks. The prospect cupboard is dusty and the more bullets the Oilers have, the better the odds at finding players. Developed correctly, these two right-handed dmen could have wonderful careers for the Oilers.
The lack of right-handed shooting wingers concerns me. Eberle has a muffin of a one-timer. They need to address this issue in the summer. With McDavid running the PP it was over 20% successful and imagine how much more success they’d have on it if they had a right-handed shooter on the left wall AND a dman who could fire the pill.
A caller named Brad called in and made his case for not trading any of the $6M dollar men because there’s no way the Oilers could replace their production and the team has enough trouble scoring as it is. He may have a point.
Yakupov’s trade return is going to be so bad right now that the best course of action is to keep him and play him with 97 then trade him when his value has increased. If Drouin can come back and perform the way he is then I believe Yak can do it too.

What are your thoughts on the topic du jour? Let me know in the comments below! Three Points Dave has a new vlog out talking about the draft lottery! Check it out and please subscribe to our Youtube channel!

Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, Lindsay Ryall, NHL, Rumors, Trades

How a Drouin Trade Could Affect the Oilers Upgrades

April 27, 2016 Lindsay Ryall

It seems most play-off years a rookie or newish player will be thrust into the spotlight at the right time and this year that player looks to be, Jonathan Drouin. The Tampa Bay lighting made relatively short work of a team they lost to last year when they had superstar forward Steven Stamkos in the line-up. What’s the difference? Obviously the team is playing better together and Drouin is proving to be a driver for that success. A very interesting situation considering the player asked for a trade this past season, and GM Steve Yzerman was apparently interested in accommodating him.

Back in Edmonton there is a similar theme with at least one high-profile forward likely leaving town. Edmonton Oiler’s General manager Peter Chiarelli will need to move at least one (likely 2) high-profile top six assets to shore up his defence next season. If Yzerman decides to move Drouin in the off-season, a situation of competing assets, (not unlike when the Oilers were rumoured to have offered RNH for Seth Jones) could arise and it wouldn’t help the Oiler’s bargaining position.

At the present time, there are three players that are likely to be marketed for defensive upgrades in the off-season: Nail Yakupov, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle. Of course Taylor Hall could potentially be added to that list but I personally can’t see Chiarelli trading both first and second overall 2010 picks in his GM employment history. So how do our current crop of tradeable assets compare to Drouin? Like most situations, there is a range.

Nail Yakupov: Although Yak is only a couple of years older than Drouin and has better point totals as well as very comparable ppg numbers (.46 to .44 for Drouin), you have to give the edge to Drouin. His hockey sense is better, he skates better, his junior numbers were better, and he can play both wing and centre.

Head to head edge: It should be closer than it is, but if we were in a competing trade and offering, Yak, the other GM would take Drouin unless it was a plus plus on our end.

Ryan Nugent Hopkins: The Nuge is an established top six center who is dedicated to his craft and has focussed on playing both ends with equal prowess. The problem is, at this point he is coming off a bad year and is being pegged by most as a 50 – 60 point player, which puts him in the second-line center spot. Drouin however has not played enough pro to establish what his potential is, and in the games he’s seen at the NHL level, Drouin still carries first line center potential, maybe even than the Nuge.

Head to head edge: If Drouin has a strong second series, he could be considered the more favourable asset, in a trade due to his low salary and upside.

Jordan Eberle: Eberle does one thing but he does it very well: score goals. So Eberle is currently the best on the team (being pushed by McDavid) at putting the puck in the net. Unfortunately that’s really all he does and when franchises are building playoff teams they need their top six players to contribute at both ends of the ice, as well as check effectively. nonetheless, scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in the NHL and Ebs is among the best.

Head to head edge: I would think that Eberle has the edge in offensive upside but Drouin has greater flexibility because he can play centre as well as wing. In Drouin’s favour, his contract is much lighter, and that will make a difference in today’s cap world.

What makes Drouin so attractive as a prospect is his potential. The NHL already knows (or feels they do) the top end of the Oilers core group, while Drouin has considerable more upside at a lower price. In the NHL, potential is the alluring opiate that drives every scout into a frenzy and every GM’s toe to tapping. And to be sure, every member of the organization is looking for that sweet cherry high that happens when they land that player who changes the team, especially if the price is right.

What will Stevie Y do?

It’s difficult to say what Drouin and the Lightning will do in the off-season. When asked about his long-term future with the club, Drouin’s answer was somewhat cryptic: In a story that appeared in CBC Sports Drouin commented on returning the lighting organization:

“We’ve talked about the decision to come back here. I think that we’re going to fix this in the summer and see how it goes from there.”

Soooo, does “fix it in the summer” mean he’s going to be moved in the summer? Or something else?

If Drouin was on the open market he would make for tough competition for what Chiarelli needs to accomplish, especially if both teams were making a pitch making a pitch for a comparable asset.

But despite the rhetoric between both sides I’m hoping Yzerman has the situation well-managed. He’s done all the right things. Been patient, avoided a war of words in the media, and put Drouin in position to succeed and feel part of the team again. I’m guessing he would rather keep Drouin than trade him. And lets hope so, one the trade rumours had Drouin heading to Anaheim for a young D-man . . . now that wouldn’t be good for the oil.

Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, Micah Kowalchuk, NHL, Rumors, Trades

Plans B, C, and D

April 20, 2016 Micah Kowalchuk

Well, it’s that time of year again that the Oilers begin searching for right-handed defensemen. Now, we all know about the high-value targets like Hamonic, or the RFAs like Vatanen and Trouba, or the guys with one year left on their deal with high value like Shattenkirk or Burns. However, even if the Oilers obtain someone who might be considered elite, there’s still a missing hole to address on the second pairing. It might be that the Oilers manage to land two of this list, but if they don’t, the Oilers need a backup plan.

Assuming the best odds are landing a player like Hamonic, it means the Oilers need a second pairing defenseman with high powerplay skills who’s naturally a right side defenseman. Now, for this spot, we’re not necessarily looking for a long-term player, but an older (and still effective) defenseman. Likely, to get a good deal, they’ll have high dollars on their contract but short term.

The targets who fit this are:

Dennis Wideman, 33 years old, natural RHD, with one year left at $5.25mil
Cody Franson, 28 years old, natural RHD, with one year left at $3.325mil
Dan Girardi, 31 years old, natural RHD, with far too many years left at $5.7mil
Mark Streit, 38 years old, left handed defenseman who can play right side, one year left at $5.25mil
Matthew Carle, 31 years old, left handed defenseman who can play right side, two years left at $5.5mil
James Wisniewski, 32 years old, natural RHD with one year left at $5.5mil

First off, let’s eliminate the ones with too many years left. That means you, Dan Girardi.

The rest have either one or two years left, and with the exception of Franson, are all in the $5.25-$5.5mil range, which the Oilers can afford under the cap.

Now, as a comparator, we’ll use the Oilers existing top right-hand defenseman, the much maligned Mark Fayne. Let’s see how they stack up…

I won’t go into detailed analysis of each option, we’ll use a simple warrior chart (courtesy of ownthepuck.blogspot.ca) to narrow the list.

First, Dennis Wideman:

So, what do we see here? Wideman is a very good point producer, especially relative to Fayne, but he’s a black hole defensively who doesn’t even have 3^rd pairing defensive skills. Ok, this isn’t a great solution, he goes in the no pile.

Next up, Cody Franson:

Well, although his offense (surprisingly since he was considered an offensive defenseman) isn’t all that good, his defensive numbers are all very good, and he still provides far more offense than Mark Fayne. He’s on the 3^rd pairing in Buffalo due to Bogosian’s place on the 2nd pair, and Ristolainen’s hard charge up to be the top pairing guy, but he’d be a defensive upgrade on Fayne and his assists at least are second pairing level. Sure, his overall goals and points per 60 isn’t really at a 2nd pairing level, but this is compensated by his top-two defensive play.This player would be an upgrade, and his contract price is agreeable. We’ll put him in the yes pile.

Next, Mark Streit:

Ok, so he’s older, and he is valuable to Philly, but from the sounds of it they may need the cap space, and they need to upgrade their Top-6 scoring desperately. As we can see, other than shot suppression, he’s a very good overall defenseman and would be an elite second pairing option, even at his age. He also goes into the yes pile, he’d be a good mentor and he can still run a powerplay.

After that, Matthew Carle:

Well.. Decent offense.. Brutal defense.. Shows how good Victor Hedman is that he’s basically carrying Carle this playoffs on the top pairing.. This is a clear pass..

Lastly, we have James Wisniewski:

Well, he’s not much of a goal suppressor, but past that, his stats are either second pairing level (for goal generation and shot supression) or first pairing level. This is a player who can be considered a very quality second-pairing option, and one who can slide into a top pairing and probably perform well with a solid partner. He’d be a serious upgrade on the second pairing, and if worst came to worse, we could call him a top pairing option next to Klefbom for next season.

So, we have Cody Franson, Mark Streit, and James Wisniewski left.

Of those three, any of them would be upgrades on the second pairing, with Franson or Streit fitting in well here. Wisniewski, however, might be an intriguing option for the top pairing if the other options fall through, and he’d definitely be worth going after for our second pairing.

Now, when it comes to Streit or Wisniewski, both teams would want scoring. It’s a weakness for Philly and Carolina right now. In the case of Streit, Philly could use a winger with size, and they need some cap savings. Here, the option might be to dangle Benoit Pouliot. Although he’s a frequent whipping boy for the Oilers, he’s aggressive, skilled, and at a $4mil cap hit would be a $1.5mil savings for the Flyers. He’s familiar with the East, and he’s the type of player who might fit in well for their system. Right now, he’s slotting in as the 3^rd line LW for the Oilers, so he’s a good player to deal here.

Looking at Carolina, this is a team wanting scoring, and they’d ideally like a scoring center. However, Nugent-Hopkins is an overpay here, but we do have a scoring forward and a replacement veteran right side defenseman that may pique their interest. If we were to send them Mark Fayne, along with Nail Yakupov, their combined salaries are roughly equivalent to the Wiz himself. Carolina would get some possible Top-6 scoring to add to their mix, as well as a replacement defenseman with low term and a low hit who has thrived in the East before. This, again, may interest them, although it’s hard to say what they’d want for a player who essentially has never played a game for him. When he was dealt from Columbus to Anaheim, he brought back an overpriced Top-9 forward, a forward prospect and a 2nd round pick. When he was sent to Carolina, Anaheim took a backup goaltender in trade, since he turned out to be a bad fit in Anaheim he was “sold low”. I’d guess that a Yakupov + Fayne for Wisniewski and someone who could step in for the Oilers at 3C would be a workable deal here for both teams.

Lastly, when it comes to Franson, Buffalo’s ok on forward, but they could use some potential on the left side of their defense. We have some potential on our left side in Jordan Oesterle, Joey LaLeggia, Dillon Simpson, and the like who could probably convince Buffalo to make a deal here.

Now, I’ll admit, these aren’t the sexy names we’re looking for. Having said that, what if the Oilers did all 3 deals? We deal Benoit Pouliot, Mark Fayne, Nail Yakupov, and Jordan Oesterle, and we obtain the Wiz, Streit and Franson and some form of 3rd line center.

Our defense is now:

Klefbom-Wisniewski
Sekera-Streit
Davidson-Franson

And we let Nurse go down and dominate in the AHL for a season.

Total cost on the back-end.. Well, Franson and Fayne are a salary wash, so we’re adding about $11 million in salary there. Subtract Gryba and Nikitin from that, we’re adding about $5 million to the back-end.

At forward, we’re subtracting about $6.5 million also, and functionally we lose our 3rd line LW and our 3rd line RW, although both could be considered Top-6 players for their new clubs, it’s a price the Oilers can afford to pay.

So, we end up with a bit of cap room, and the forward core doesn’t take much of a hit. Optimally, we’d land that true “1st pairing” guy in a big deal, and then land Wisniewski, Franson or Streit (in that order) for the second pairing, and the 3rd can have a few options.

I’ll ask you sport fans. Although that D doesn’t have the star we want, they’d likely be a damn sight better on the powerplay, penalty kill and 5 on 5, and we wouldn’t be giving up anything high dollar to get them. Let me know your thoughts!

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Prospects, Trades

Five Edmonton Oilers Most Likely to be Moved

April 17, 2016 Beer League Hero 6 Comments

So after doing up my year-end report card for the Edmonton Oilers, which can be found here, it’s time to look at some of the pieces that will possibly be heading out of town before the 2016/17 NHL season starts.

NAIL YAKUPOV

I don’t want to move him because we know he performs when he’s beside McDavid. The other thing we know is if he is moved, it’s not going to bring the Oilers back something impactful. He’s got one year left at $2.5M and IF the Edmonton Oilers want to move him, wouldn’t it be in their best interest to try to jack his stats up as high has they can to get the most value for him?

Let’s say he stays and puts up 20 goals and 20 assists before the trade deadline. Well that’s just the same as what Eberle is putting up and you know that Yakupov is effective on the forecheck, an excellent stick checker, and his one-timer if tamed is elite.

But the reality is he hasn’t performed and it’ll be sad to see him and his infectious smile play for another team.

Can the Oilers get a 3rd rounder for him? What about an effective bottom six winger like Ryan Garbutt, Antoine Roussel, or Tanner Pearson?

MARK FAYNE

I can’t really go to bat for this guy but the fact of the matter is he’s an NHL defenceman on a team that is in desperate need of NHL defencemen… Didn’t have a great start to the year but improved slightly and he’s a right shot… Even with all of that I don’t see a fit for him. In my opinion he was passed over by Brandon Davidson on the depth chart.

His contract is $3.625M for the next two seasons and I honestly don’t know who’d take that salary on at this point. He might get buried in the minors ala Nikitin which is fine by me because that team could use a mentor. It’s just not a good price point for a non-impact defender who is no.6 on the depth chart.

There were rumors earlier in the year of him going to Columbus in a deal for Scott Hartnell. I wonder if that deal or a deal similar to that gets consummated this summer.

JORDAN EBERLE

Ebs is the man in the trade rumor spotlight these days and if the Oilers are “lucky” enough to land a top three draft pick in this year’s draft lottery, then he could be moved for help on D. It’s not even contingent on that draft pick either. What if Peter Chiarelli can bring in Loui Eriksson via FA? Free agency will play a big factor this summer as Oilers management pushes hard to get this team to the playoffs in the first year of the Oilers being in Rogers Place.

The thing with Eberle isn’t so much about his non-existent two-way game. It’s his size (or lack thereof), skating, and lack of a one-timer that irks me. He only brings one thing to the table at this point and it’s not enough. Great goals aside, what else does he offer?

We’ve heard him going to the Islanders for Travis Hamonic but I think the Islanders would want more than Eberle. I don’t mind paying more depending on the price. Fringe prospects, fine. Anything past the 3rd round in terms of draft picks, ok.

The fact of the matter is, the team needs a right-handed blue liner in return for Jordan Eberle. A veteran if possible. Would you trade him for Ryan Ellis? Straight up for Sami Vatanen or Jared Spurgeon?

RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS

Right off the bat, I hate the idea of moving Nuge. The more talented centres the Oilers have, the more versatile their top 6 is. But there’s one way I would move him and that’s for a centre of equal value that is right-handed. Nick Bjugstad comes to mind right away and Derek Stepan is another. At this point Mark Letestu plays big PP minutes because he’s right-handed and after watching Patrik Laine’s team and the way they deploy they’re forwards on the PP, it just makes sense to have two or more right-handers available.

Teams that might like to have the Nuge could be the aforementioned Islanders. If Frans Nielsen moves on they’ll have a hole at 2C. The Hurricanes need centers but the only guy I’d want out of Carolina is Justin Faulk and he’s not going anywhere. Columbus needs a no.1 center but there’s not a lot I like on that roster. Brandon Dubinsky maybe but he’s a winger. Detroit could be in line to add a pivot with Datsyuk leaving for Russia this off-season but who’d you want from the Red Wings?

Would you make a deal for Noah Hanifin that included Nuge?

TAYLOR HALL

Apart from Nugent-Hopkins on our list, Taylor Hall is the man who will get you the most for your buck. Now I’ve read the stats that he’s one of the best 5×5 wingers in the league but if he’s that good, why isn’t he scoring? Every player goes through slumps but why do his come after the team is effectively eliminated from the playoffs?…

This isn’t a shit-on-Hall piece but fancy stats aside or traditional stats for that matter, I am of the opinion the team might be better off improving the roster as a whole than relying on Hall’s production on the wing. The Edmonton Oilers NEED better defencemen, it’s that simple. Hall will bring you that without question.

Anyways, Lowetide had an interesting suggestion on his show last

friday. What if Hall could bring you back a right-handed dman, right-handed center, and a back-up goalie? I love that idea. Another thing is, and I’m not sure if the stats can work this way but, could the team replace his (Hall’s) stats in the aggregate? Meaning could a three for one trade work if those three players equaled Taylor Hall’s output on the stat sheet?

For example, let’s say Minnesota were the trade partner. Could Hall for Charlie Coyle, Jared Spurgeon, and former Red Deer Rebel Darcy Kuemper work? Don’t think the Wild would do that because they’d have a glut of very expensive LWers on their hands. I suppose it’d depend on how long Parise is out for, right?

The Senators are looking to shake things up, would they be interested in a swap for Taylor Hall? Only problem with Ottawa is they have ZERO defenseman you’d want unless they’d be willing to move Karlsson. I do Iike Mika Zibanejad and Mark Stone though.

IN THE END

Everyone will say that the Oilers can’t move a Hall or a Nugent-Hopkins but I wouldn’t be so sure. These are foggy times and there’s a ton of pressure on Peter Chiarelli to shake this team up and get it into the playoffs. Another thing fans of this team have to understand is that the team might make a trade that looks like a loss at first. A Hall trade that doesn’t bring back a top pairing defenseman will look like a loss on paper but we don’t know how such a deal will set up the team to make future trades.

Don’t get caught up in the way a player shoots though, it’s nice and the stats guys will object but the way a player shoots isn’t necessarily the most imperative thing here, it’s having defensemen in the top four who are bonafide NHL dmen. If they shoot right, even better. So say the team picks up Cam Fowler or Hampus Lindholm from the Ducks instead of Sami Vatanen, be very happy with that. Those two players are stellar and a HUGE upgrade on what the team has now.

I really do believe if the Oilers have a real NHL defense with two top four right-handed shooters they’d be that much better but the onus is on getting four REAL NHL blue liners. If Hall, Nuge, and/or Eberle have to go to give us that, fine. I’m okay with that because I’m less concerned with having scoring superstars on the wing than a D corps. that makes the Oilers a competitive team in the NHL.

The Edmonton Oilers are, I believe at least, in a position where they should be looking for the right organizational fit with regards to their trade targets. They need to identify the weaknesses on the team and address them accordingly. The team has a glut of skilled wingers. Move them along for help on defense THEN fill the gaps left on the flanks with centres or cheaper (possibly older) wingers who can skate and play a solid two-way game. No more lazy back checkers.

What do you think about my list. Let me know in the comments below! And don’t forget to check out G Money’s latest on the importance of Todd McLellan’s “Place and Chase” game plan here.

Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, Eric Friesen, NHL, Rumors

Could the Oilers Trade For PK Subban?

April 14, 2016 Eric Friesen 8 Comments

It seems hard to fathom that any team would be actively looking to trade a Norris Trophy winner who also donated $10 million to a children’s hospital, but that’s where the Montreal Canadiens appear to be at. This couldn’t come at a better time for the Edmonton Oilers who have been looking for a true No. 1 defenceman since Sheldon Souray’s only good season in Edmonton in 2008-09.

Is Subban a little flashier than most players in the NHL? Sure. Does he like to celebrate goals? Of course! But if that’s the worst thing about him than it doesn’t make much sense why these trade talks are even happening. This is a story that will not go away until July 1 when Subban’s no movement clause kicks in. Odds are that the Canadiens will end up patching things up with their franchise defenceman and all of this will be forgotten in a year. But for the sake of argument, I will look at what it would take for the Oilers to pry Subban out of Montreal in this post.

First off, it would be nearly impossible for the Canadiens to get fair market value for Subban. But if they seriously want to move him, then maybe the Oilers could put together a package. We all know that the first player Habs’ GM Marc Bergevin would be asking Oilers’ GM Peter Chiarelli about is Taylor Hall. I’m as big of a Taylor Hall fan as anyone and it would hurt to see him leave the organization that he has given everything to for the past six years without ever playing a playoff game in Edmonton, but it will likely take Hall plus others to pull off this deal.

Perhaps the Canadiens would have some interest in bringing in Nail Yakupov? Ironically, there were rumours prior to the 2012 NHL Entry Draft that the Canadiens had offered Subban, who was coming off a sophomore campiagn that saw him produce 36 points in 81 games, to the Oilers for the first overall pick. This would have given the Canadiens the chance to select Yakupov as well as his best friend and former Sarnia Sting teammate Alex Galchenyuk. In retrospect, 2012 would have been the year for the Oilers to make such a trade. I had no interest in them trading the first overall pick in 2010 or 2011 when they drafted Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. A Yakupov trade, would reunite him with his former teammate and possibly get his NHL career back on track.

The Canadiens would likely want a defenceman back as well and the names they would be most interested in would be Darnell Nurse and Oscar Klefbom. I can’t see the Oilers trading away Nurse after one season, despite hiss struggles as a rookie or a guy that they locked up to a seven-year extension last fall. This could be where Chiarelli draws the line in the sand in negotiations with Bergevin.

In reality, the Oilers will probably spend more time pursuing trade targets like Travis Hamonic or Sami Vatanen this off-season, but neither of those players comes close to holing the value that a player of Subban’s ilk would bring to the struggling Oilers. Also, with Connor McDavid expected to be the highest paid player in the game by 2018-19, adding a $9 million defenceman might not make sense for the Oilers.

Assuming the Oilers don’t end up winning any of the three lotteries this year, my best trade offer would be Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov and the first round pick in 2016 for Subban. Maybe they throw in a prospect, too? Either way, Subban is who Oilers fans really care about. It would be a little premature to put his nameplate on a stall in the Oilers new dressing room at Rogers Place, but they should have a few No. 76 jerseys ready to go for fans just in case.

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