During the Headlines portion of Hockey Night in Canada this weekend, Nick Kypreos offered up the idea that the Toronto Maple Leafs could be interested in St. Louis Blues defender Alex Pietrangelo.
“I don’t think that Armstrong is shopping Pietrangelo, but that doesn’t keep teams from calling … and asking about him,” said Kypreos. “I believe one of those teams is the Toronto Maple Leafs. I think where that would have to start is if Toronto and (GM) Kyle Dubas get St. Louis to possibly bite on (Nikita) Zaitsev’s contract – which is owed another five years at $4.5 million.
“If they can exchange right-handed defencemen, then there’s a chance you could put a package together maybe with a draft pick, a prospect, and then the likes of a young, fast player for St. Louis in the likes of (Kasperi) Kapanen or (Andreas) Johnsson.” (source)
If we couple this with the following quote from Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong, there’s a bit there to suggest that Blues management could be looking at a shocking the foundations of the hockey club with a massive trade.
“We’ve stayed patient with our core group of players and now that patience is at its thinnest.” (source)
Who is part of the Blues’ core group of players? Would it be farfetched if I suggested Alex Steen, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jay Bouwmeester, Jaden Schwartz, Carl Gunnarsson, Jake Allen, and Pietrangelo were part of it?
You’d have to say that before the Blues would think of moving Pietrangelo they’d move Bouwmeester or Gunnarsson, right? Then again, what kind of return would those players get compared to what Pietrangelo would? To further the hearsay, we’ve already heard Elliotte Friedman bring up Tarasenko’s name and now the Blues’ captain is coming up in the rumor mill too.
The stage is being set, a dismantling of the current Blues leadership core might be on its way.
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Could the Oilers Get In on the Pietrangelo Sweepstakes?
The 28-year-old is contracted for one more year after this one at $6.5M and he does have a no-trade clause in his deal. Any deal that St. Louis would want to make would have to get the OK from Pietrangelo.
I think the Oilers have to really decide what they’re going to do here in the next couple of months. What I mean by that is, are they going to go after a scoring winger or are they going to pursue that puck-moving right-shot defender that’s escaped them for all of these years?
Previously, I suggested the Oilers go after Tarasenko and finally fill that hole on their right-side with a proven scorer. The one thing I forgot to mention is that even though the Oilers had Jordan Eberle at one point, Tarasenko actually produces in the post-season.
That said, I find that it’s a lot harder to trade for players of Pietrangelo’s ilk. Teams simply do not trade them because once you have them, you do not get rid of them. Whereas with wingers, every year a good one is moving I feel.
If St. Louis is looking to trade their captain, as daft as that sounds, the Oilers HAVE to be in on this. I do believe they have the pieces to get it done but it’d take a great amount of creativity to consummate such a trade and real willingness for Doug Armstrong to work with his old Hockey Canada buddies that are employed by Edmonton.
Who Would the Oilers Be Willing to Move?
Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli is now at a crossroads, does he trade out of the prospect cupboard he’s worked so hard to rebuild for Edmonton or does he move the more established players on the team?
The Oilers have some fine prospects coming through the pipeline at the moment.
- Kirill Maksimov – LW – Niagara (OHL)
- Cameron Hebig – C – Bakersfield (AHL)
- Tyler Benson – LW – Bakersfield (AHL)
- Kailer Yamamoto – RW – Bakersfield (AHL)
- Joseph Gambardella – C/LW – Bakersfield (AHL)
- Jesse Puljujarvi – RW – Edmonton (NHL)
- Ryan McLeod – C – Mississauga (OHL)
- Evan Bouchard – RHD – London (OHL)
- Ethan Bear – RHD – Bakersfield (AHL)
- William Lagesson – LHD – Bakersfield (AHL)
- Caleb Jones – LHD – Bakersfield (AHL)
- Joel Persson – RHD – Vaxjo (SHL)
- Filip Berglund – RHD – Skelleftea (SHL)
- Stuart Skinner – G – Wichita (ECHL)
Out of this group, you’d have to say that Bouchard, McLeod, Benson, and maybe Maksimov are the safest. Persson was just awarded SHL player of the month and Bob Stauffer has hinted at the Oilers possibly bringing him in near the end of the season for a look-see, so he might be safe too. The rest of the players could be used as trade fodder in my opinion.
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But if you look at that group, there are a plethora of right-shot defenders coming through the pipeline for the Oilers. St. Louis would want one that I assume is close to being NHL ready than not IF they were planning to rebuild on the fly.
Regarding the rest of the roster, I would think the following players would be available in the right trade,
- Darnell Nurse(23 yrs old) – LHD – $3.2M/yr until 2019/20
- Matt Benning (24 yrs old) – RHD – $1.9M/yr until 2019/20
- Kris Russell (31 yrs old) – LHD – $4M/yr until 2020/21
- Cam Talbot (31 yrs old) – G – $4.166M/yr (UFA at season’s end)
- Milan Lucic (30 yrs old) – LW – $6M/yr until 2022/23
- Jujhar Khaira (24 yrs old) – C/LW – $675k (RFA at season’s end)
- Ryan Spooner (26 yrs old) – C – $3.1M/yr until 2019/2020
- Zack Kassian (27 yrs old) – RW – $1.95M/yr until 2019/2020
If we’re being completely honest, there aren’t a lot of appealing options there for other teams to pick from. On paper, I’d say Nurse and Talbot have the most value out of that group but as I often say on Twitter, you never know what another GM values. Doug Armstrong might feel like his roster is in dire need of a player like Milan Lucic, who knows?!
There is one last player that could be moved but I would say is the unlikeliest of all mentioned so far, Leon Draisaitl. I’ve learned that the Oilers looked into Pietrangelo three years ago and the price then was Nuge or Draisaitl. Obviously that price was too rich for Chia’s blood then.
He’s not my candidate to be moved, that’s for sure but I’m sure there’s an appetite from some of the fanbase to see him moved. Then again, that portion of the fanbase would probably prefer the Oilers not to have ANY Europeans on the team.
Will anything apart from a deep playoff run save Chiarelli’s job? If the answer to that question is no, he has no choice but to swing for the fences in this scenario. With that in mind, does the Oilers fanbase trust this management team to make another blockbuster trade when, in the mind of some (not me), they’ve failed miserably at making such deals in the past (their sentiment, not mine).
I said this on Twitter yesterday, I would think that the conversations in a Pietrangelo to the Oilers deal would start at Darnell Nurse, Jesse Puljujarvi, and a high draft pick but after thinking about it a bit more, I’m thinking that either Oscar Klefbom or Adam Larsson would be the ask instead of Darnell Nurse.
Now, I’m 100% against any trade that involves Puljujarvi. I’d rather they move Yamamoto or Benson instead. Jesse’s potential is still way higher than any other prospect on the team plus Hitchcock really loves the kid.
I’m not sure if that fictitious Kypreos offer would better than this Oilers one but mine definitely has players who own a much higher ceiling and offer more cap flexibility too.
What would the Blues be after exactly? They’ve got some really good forwards getting started right now in Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. They’ve also got Ville Husso, Klim Kostin, Sammy Blais, and Jake Walman percolating on their AHL team. Dominik Bokk is their only notable prospect not playing in North America.
Would it be fair to suggest that they might be after some players who are playing junior or are on the verge of starting their pro careers?
What would you offer for Alex Pietrangelo? Let me know in the comments below!
