Edmonton Journal

TRADE RNH FOR SOME D?

Jim Matheson looks at pros and cons

- JIM MATHESON Hockey World jmatheson@edmontonjo­urnal.com Twitter.com/nhlbymatty

Should the Edmonton Oilers consider trading centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for a top defenceman? Not today. Not even after rookie Connor McDavid returns from his busted collarbone, probably in January. But Nugent-Hopkins is the Oilers’ best trading chip to try to get the No. 1 defenceman the team sorely needs.

Do they want to move him? Most assuredly not.

Should they be listening next summer if teams call on Nugent-Hopkins? Yes.

Should they be careful about dealing such a good player? For sure. But if it’s the Nashville Predators, who have the deepest defence in the NHL, that are calling they would have to think about it.

The Oilers have an embarrassm­ent of riches in the middle: an 18-year-old McDavid, a 20-yearold Leon Draisaitl and the 22-year-old Nugent-Hopkins. Nobody else has that. Draisaitl can play wing, but is better at centre and you really only need two pure offensive centres on a team. This situation is much like when the Pittsburgh Penguins had Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal a few years back. They moved Staal, who was only 23, because they couldn’t afford his ask of $6 million a year. Staal also chafed at playing on the wing rather than third line centre.

Nugent-Hopkins is a heck of a player, albeit one who is struggling, especially on faceoffs where he is six-for-26 in the last two games. In the NHL, you only get a shot at a defenceman who can be a true No. 1 guy if you have lots of centres in your arsenal. The Oilers do. And the Predators could have room to manoeuvre on defence.

They do not have a No. 1 centre with Nugent-Hopkins’ talent.

They have three defencemen, one in the No. 1 category already and two who certainly can be: 30-year-old Shea Weber, 25-yearold Roman Josi and 21-year-old Seth Jones. They also have one of the NHL’s most underrated defencemen in Mattias Ekholm, a reasonable facsimile of the Chicago Blackhawks’ Niklas Hjalmarsso­n, so they can probably afford trading a D -man.

Nugent-Hopkins has played 277 games and if you polled NHL coaches, he is highly respected for his profession­alism, along with his skill. There is no rush to consider any trade today.

That said, the Oilers need someone like the L.A. Kings’ Drew Doughty or the Blackhawks’ Duncan Keith on defence to eat up half a game. As good as Darnell Nurse looks, most NHL pro scouts feel he will be a solid No. 2, not a No. 1 guy like Doughty and Keith.

Nobody knows the lay of the land in Nashville better than the team’s former coach, Barry Trotz, now with the Washington Capitals. He also has a good feel for top centres versus extremely good defencemen. Would he rather be deep at centre or on defence?

“Can we have both?” Trotz asked. “I think if you’re deep on defence you can always be in a game, but you may not be able to chase the game as much. When you are deep at centre, you can push the play with more pace, you get more offence.

“Now in this day and age, part of your offence has to come from your defencemen, though. If it doesn’t, you aren’t scoring many goals.”

Have the Predators ever had a true No. 1 centre?

“(Peter) Forsberg for a bit, but he was at the end (of his career),” Trotz said, referring to when the Predators traded with the Philadelph­ia Flyers for the frequently injured Forsberg.

“Jason Arnott? Not really. You got me with that question. Some great players, but an elite centre?”

Trotz said he would stack centre Mike Fisher against just about anybody, but he’s a No. 2 or a No. 3, not a No. 1.

The Predators will not trade Josi. He might be as good as Weber right now.

And though the Predators have said they won’t trade Weber because he’s the face of their franchise, most scouts think that’s not the case now. He’s 30. He has a $7.852-million cap hit for this year and 10 more, although the salaries of $12 million in 2016-17 and 2017-18 are big gulps. Then it’s $6 million for four years after that when he’s in his early 30s. He does not have a no-trade clause, so he can’t veto a move anywhere else.

Weber would fetch the most. He would also be a mentor for whatever team he might go to, as Chris Pronger was for the Oilers in 2005-06. The Oilers would have to come up with a package to acquire Weber that goes beyond Nugent-Hopkins.

Which brings us to Jones, who fell into the Predators’ lap as the No. 4 overall pick in 2013. Some believe he is better than Nurse.

SHORT SHIFTS

Carolina Hurricanes assistant coach Steve Smith couldn’t believe the words tumbling out of the normally quiet Rod Brind’Amour when honoured by the Philadelph­ia Flyers this week. “No notes. He stood up and it all came out. I thought, ‘Who is this guy?’ He sounded like Tony Robbins,” Smith said.

Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos bought the team for $48 million and reportedly values it at $450 million, which is a reach. Forbes magazine values them at half that, 28th in the league. He’s lost a ton of money with the franchise in Carolina where they are averaging attendance of about 10,500 right now. If he wants $450 million for it, the folks buying it will want to move it.

The Capitals are a deep team, but are looking for a third-line centre with some offence. Jay Beagle is there, but he’s better on the fourth line. The Calgary Flames’ Mikael Backlund would look good there, so might the St. Louis Blues’ Patrik Berglund, although Berglund might be a better winger.

The more Dallas Stars’ John Klingberg plays, the more he seems like a No. 1 NHL defenceman. He’s smooth and has a hesitation move with the puck that makes checkers miss him.

The Flyers are desperate for wingers. Their best two guys — Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek — have four goals between them in 123 shots. The Flyers are deep in defence prospects such as Travis Sanheim, Ivan Provorov, Samuel Morin and Robert Hagg, but with a weak defence they would rather not move a young player with potential.

 ??  ??
 ?? PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES ?? Edmonton Oilers centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins could be used as trade bait to help the young club on its blue-line, Jim Matheson writes. What the Oilers really need is a Drew Doughty or Duncan Keith on defence to eat up half a game.
PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES Edmonton Oilers centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins could be used as trade bait to help the young club on its blue-line, Jim Matheson writes. What the Oilers really need is a Drew Doughty or Duncan Keith on defence to eat up half a game.
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada