To trade or not to trade defenseman Jake Muzzin
Lisa Dillman and Josh Cooper of The Athletic: Cases for trading Jake Muzzin.
Cooper – If the Los Angeles Kings decided to move Muzzin, he’d be one player that the Kings could get a good return for – possibly a first-round pick or a top prospect.
Dillman – The Kings best trade chip. He has a reasonable contract and has won a Cup. Someone could overpay at the deadline.
Cases for not trading Muzzin.
Cooper – Do the Kings think they can get back into contention with a high draft pick this year and some offseason moves? He has another year left on his deal and he is a legit top-three defenseman.
Dillman – Kings may do a soft rebuild and not a full rebuild. He’s their second best defenseman behind Drew Doughty. Could keep this year and trade as a rental next year.
The Oilers could use a defenseman like Muzzin. The Toronto Maple Leafs could be looking for a dman and the Minnesota Wild may be looking for a Matt Dumba replacement.
An ideal world would see the Oilers moving out a bunch of forwards and adding a top-four defenseman
Chris Nichols of Nichols on Hockey: Darren Dreger was on TSN 1050 talking about the Edmonton Oilers. In an ideal world, Dreger notes that GM Peter Chiarelli may want to move two or three, maybe four or five forwards. They will be fighting to survive until their blue line gets healthy or they add some help.
“And it’s almost impossible to make significant, impactful trades this time of year or in the regular season prior to the trade deadline. So they’re just going to have to continue to muck it out.”
Pierre LeBrun was on TSN 1050 talking about the Oilers and their top priority.
“Yeah, I think they need help up front Dregs, but I also think probably their No. 1 need would be a Top-4 defenseman, which has been the case for awhile,” noted LeBrun. “But it’s just that it’s so hard to fill that hole that you almost stop talking about it after awhile.”