So, in the spirit of catching everyone up on things involving the Oilers trades…
- Nilsson was traded for a 5th round pick and prospect goalie Niklas Lundstrom. For those wondering, this was more than fair value. The Oilers originally traded a prospect drafted in the 5th round for Nilsson, so they got back a bit more than they dealt.
- Teddy Purcell went for a 3rd round pick to Florida. Now, some people were disappointed after the deals for Hudler and Ladd, however this is fair value. Purcell, although he had 17 points in 18 games one year in the playoffs, had 1 in 4 games his next time up. Ladd has 52 playoff games in his career and Chicago paid more for a proven quantity who knows their lineup. Hudler, he has 77 playoff games and can also play center. You take the cards you’re dealt, Purcell’s trade wasn’t for great value, but it was market price.
- Justin Schultz is moving on, and it’s for the best. Although I still think there’s a player there, he’s one who won’t find his game here, and having a mentor in Kris Letang will work wonders for him. For the Oilers, they got a 3rd round pick and can move on from there. Schultz was essentially a 3rd pairing defenseman getting paid 2nd pairing money to be a first pairing defenseman, the scenario was never good for anyone.
- Apparently Sami Vatanen and Eric Gelinas are now on the market and their teams want scoring for either one before the deadline. Vatanen is a pending RFA rumored to want $6mil a season (but that’s likely just an opening offer, expect a 4-year $4.5 deal or so). This explains why Jordan Eberle’s name is now being brought up again, and I’d say there is a chance we see a deal done.
- Yakupov is also being thrown about as a possible trade candidate, with Montreal having quite a bit of interest to reunite him with Galchenyuk. However, there’s other teams snooping around also, with a variety of rumors about his value.
- What can we expect as Oilers fans? There’s a solid chance we see Yakupov dealt, a smaller chance we see Eberle dealt for a defenseman, and that Korpikoski and/or Hendricks may be moved yet. Chiarelli made it clear he doesn’t expect a big deal to go down, and that he wants to keep Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the roster, so those are the likely candidates.
- The stats on Vatanen say Top-2 offensive defenseman, Top-4 defensively, but he’s been on the third pairing in Anaheim, so it’s unsure if he can do the same in a more prominent role. Gelinas is in a similar situation.
- Tomorrow could get interesting thanks to the arms race in LA, Chicago, Florida and New York. Teams like Nashville, Anaheim, St. Louis, Tampa, Pittsburgh and the like may decide they need to keep pace to have a chance, and we could see a lot more movement (and some higher end pieces) than we’d normally see, makes things interesting;
At the end of the day
We could see a very different team by Tuesday morning, one without Purcell, Schultz, Nilsson, Eberle, Yakupov, Fayne, Hendricks and Korpikoski… We could also see a team that looks essentially the same as the one that played last game with no other additions or subtractions. If I had to bet a beer or two on it, I’d be willing to bet a pint on a Yakupov deal, a can of Original 16 on an Eberle deal, and nothing firm on anyone else;
Check out the latest from Three Points Dave! You’re going to want to catch his intensity in this one… WOW!
