On the Edmonton Oilers …
David Staples: Oilers fans keep bringing up trade proposals for forward Milan Lucic and defenseman Andrej Sekera. They aren’t going anywhere.
“A) Both have No Movement Clauses.
B) Both have massive negative value due to poor performance, pay & term.”
David Staples of the Edmonton Journal: Ryan Rishaug was on TSN 1260 and said that he believes the Oilers will be “big game hunting for their blueline.”
Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli has said that their 10th overall pick in the 2018 draft is available. Improving their blueline is their number one need this offseason.
“I do believe they feel it is a massive need. Just figuring out what level to get it done at. So what do you do? Do you get yourself somehow into the Ekman-Larsson fray? Do you go the Erik Karlsson direction? Probably not necessarily in that direction. Do the Minnesota Wild make a move on Matt Dumba? With the draft the Buffalo Sabres are about to have is Rasmus Ristolainen all of a sudden potentially up for grabs? Do you see the Buffalo Sabres saying, ‘OK, well, considering the pick they’re going to make with No. 1, can they maybe move Ristolainen out? And do they maybe look to bring a veteran Swede in to help work the blueine with their new young Swede? Is their potential for a Klefbom swap out to Buffalo, maybe along with that pick?
“I’m spitballing a lot of stuff here, but my over-riding sentiment is I believe the Oilers will be aggressive in hunting some of the big game to see if they can fill that need on the back-end.”
Staples adds that the Oilers can’t afford to overpay for any defenseman. Trading for Erik Karlsson would cost too much against their salary cap, and the same would go for pending UFA defenseman John Carlsson. Would the Oilers be able to trade for someone like Oliver Ekman-Larsson or Jacob Trouba? What about Justin Faulk or Ryan Ellis?