March 7, 2024 /

Edmonton Oilers Trade Talk: Is Eberle About to Come Home?

King Kenny’s decided to go for depth as opposed to a top-heavy club going into the playoffs and I have to say, I kinda like it. They know they’re going to face 4-line teams and without one of their own they’d be skating uphill both ways.

If you’re a longtime reader, you know that my whole thing with roster construction is the strength of the spine. Meaning how strong is a club right down the middle with its four centers, it’s top-4 defense, and the goalie. Well, with the additions of Henrique and Carrick, two players who will have ZERO questions with regards to their roles on the team, the Oilers’ spine up front has never been stronger in the McDavid era.

After the trade yesterday, I was left wondering which minimum wage no.7 defender they’d go out to grab but Holland sent Dylan Holloway down this morning to open up another 900k and that’ll give them over $2M to play with. I’m not trying to figure out if they’ve got one or even TWO more moves left in them. They could still bring in Jordan Eberle or Alexandre Carrier or BOTH if they got creative!

That said, I’m not sure if anybody in the organization is looking to turn much of this roster over. Even if there are players struggling in certain roles.

I should start prefacing these blogs with the fact that I write them a day in advance and because we’re getting so close to the deadline there’s a good chance I might write about a player or a team and it be old news by the time it gets to your beautiful eyes. If that happens, my apologies!

But before we get to that, give us a follow on the socials!

The Latest Edmonton Oilers Trade Rumors

Reading Between the Lines

“I would think if we do something, we’re bringing in somebody to be number seven. How aggressive are we with draft capital for somebody to come in to be a number seven. We’ll see what the next 48 hours brings.” – Ken Holland

  • After the Henrique/Carrick trade was made yesterday I came to the conclusion that the Oilers weren’t going to bring in an high-profile players and they’d be focusing their efforts on depth as opposed to impact players in vital roles.
  • It also tells me that one or both of the following scenarios could be true,
    • Connor McDavid, who Holland has said in the past he consults on roster construction, and the leadership core of the Oilers made it known to their GM that they want to compete for the championship with the group on hand. They believe it to be strong enough to get by any opponent.
    • They couldn’t find anybody to take the deals they were proposing that would give them the ability to add any high profile players.
  • Now, before I get ahead of myself, there’s still a chance the Oilers could upgrade their top-6 RW or their top-4 RHD, but if I had to guess, I think going from that quote above that they’re looking at Joel Edmundson pretty heavily but they’re not happy with the 3rd round pick demand. Stauffer brought him up with Friedman and Rob Brown a couple of times yesterday on Oilers Now! and he fits the bill for what they’re looking for.
  • Another dman they should definitely be looking at is Chicago’s Jaycob Megna because he’s playing almost 18min a night over there and he’s only making a shade under 800k. BIG dude too.
  • I would imagine they prefer Edmundson’s experience over Megna’s youth though.

Depth on D

“If the Oilers wanted to swing a little bigger, they could look at Joel Edmundson and Alexandre Carrier. Edmundson is a name that the Oilers might be interested in. He has a cap hit of $1.75 million and if the Washington Capitals retained salary in the trade, he could be had for as low as $875K. Meanwhile, Carrier is a $2.5 million cap hit that would come in around $1.25 million. His trade would require another move from the Oilers or a third team getting involved.” – The Hockey Writers

  • I’m not fully against a move for Edmundson. I think he’s the kind of player you want on your team in the post-season. Not a game-breaker by any means but the sort of guy that could make a game-saving shot block or someone who can grind away at the other team’s forwards and make their nights difficult.
  • On top of all of that, the younger players could learn a lot from such a player and all of his experience plus it gives a young coach a calming veteran influence to lean on. Bringing in players like this often pays massive dividends down the road for everyone in the locker room.
  • See as the Oilers sent down Holloway, that added another million in cap space. So, if they did get a third team involved, they might be able to add two more players or add another more expensive one in the event that they send somebody out (Kulak/Ceci/Foegele/Brown).
  • I don’t think Carrier is going to get moved with Nashville in the thick of it for a wild card spot but if Edmonton wanted him and were willing to pay the price, they could bring him in.
  • However, We should keep in mind that they’ll need some cash left over for call-ups.

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CategoriesArmchair GM Beer League Hero Edmonton Oilers NHL Prospects Rumors

TagsEdmonton Oilers Edmonton Oilers News Edmonton Oilers trade rumors NHL NHL News NHL Trade Rumors

Beer League Hero Written by:

I'm the Beer League Hero! I am from Camrose, Alberta but I make my home in Taipei City, Taiwan. I've been through the ups and downs and the highs and the Lowes, the Bonsignores and the McDavids, the Sathers and the Eakins but I'll never leave my Oilers, no matter what! They're with me until the end and then some. GO OILERS GO!