You’ve got a good young defender in your pipeline and he’s a c-hair away from claiming a spot on your roster. His contract is perfect because you need someone making pennies so that you can re-sign your star forwards. You just need to move some bodies around to clear space for him.
So, do you trade him in an effort to make your club stronger on the short-term repeating a mistake your club has made time and time again in seasons passed? Or do you keep him, work with him, and mold him into the defender you envisioned when you drafted him?
Also on today’s menu, during the 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman drops two very tasty nuggets of info. One ties directly into the Edmonton Oilers’ trade deadline plans immediately and the other potentially ties into them in future campaigns.
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!
- Youtube: Beer League Heroes Channel
- Twitter: @beerleagueheroe
- Instagram: @beerleagueheroes
- Facebook: Beer League Heroes
The Latest Edmonton Oilers Trade Rumors
This Again…
“The possibility of the Edmonton Oilers trading Philip Broberg is not off the table, but certain conditions must be met, making such a deal less likely than before the deadline. General Manager Ken Holland is open to discussions about parting with the young defenseman, but the deal cannot be centered around a trade deadline rental.” – The Hockey Writers
- I get that Friedman said that he wouldn’t move Broberg for a rental on Saturday Headlines, but Ken Holland told The Athletic directly when asked about trading the young dman, “No. I don’t see it… It’s hard to find 6-foot-4 young defencemen.”
- So, unless he’s getting a 6’4″ NHL-ready dman in return, I don’t see him going anywhere. I posted it here way back in mid-January and Bob Stauffer’s reiterated it very recently.
- Is it a guarantee that Broberg stays? Of course not. You never know who’s going to become available on deadline day. I just personally don’t believe they’re going to move him because there’s a lot of value in this player beyond this season to the club and not only on the ice either.
Shocking Revelation!
“One of the things that is pretty clear about Edmonton is, I don’t think they’re going to add a goalie… I think they’re looking at forwards, I think they’re looking at some D, I think Holland’s going to take a swing, but it doesn’t sounds like they’re doing a lot on goaltending.” – 32 Thoughts Podcast
- As long as Skinner and Pickard are healthy and providing sound goaltending, the Oilers were never going to panic and waste assets on a goalie.
- This summer might be a different story, but for now it seems to me that they’re happy with the four internal options on staff (Skinner, Pickard, Campbell, and Rodrigue).
Ex-Flame to Become Next Oilers GM?
“I do think Ken Holland’s future in Edmonton could tie into Mark Hunter’s future.” – 32 Thoughts Podcast
- Mark Hunter was interviewed twice back in 2019 before the team settled on Ken Holland.
- If the Oilers are serious about focusing their efforts development-wise on the OHL, then there’s probably no better option that Hunter considering he owns one of that league’s premier clubs.
- His NHL draft record with the Leafs is not too shabby:
- 2017 – Tim Liljegren (177gp)
- 2016 – Auston Matthews (533gp), Egor Korshkov (1gp), Carl Grundstrom (236gp), Joseph Woll (23gp), Adam Brooks (43gp), Keaton Middleton (3gp)
- 2015 – Mitch Marner (559gp), Travis Dermott (316gp), Dmytro Timashov (45gp)
- Apparently, there’s word that Jeff Jackson fancies Hunter a bit as well.
The King of the North is here! Click the pic and grab a shirt!
