Oilers lack quick trade options to upgrade their defence corps
Right player at the right price won’t be easy for Chiarelli to find
If Peter Chiarelli had any hair to pull out, he might be yanking it out in clumps the last few days with Anaheim signing right-shooting defencemen Sami Vatanen to a huge deal and Colorado saying their best puck-mover Tyson Barrie, who also wants big bucks, isn’t on the block.
We’ll reserve judgment for now on Barrie. The Avs last June said they weren’t moving centre Ryan O’Reilly, who also wanted big dough, and he wound up dealt to Buffalo. And, they do have the same agent in Pat Morris. But for now, that’s the Avs’ story.
So who does the Edmonton Oilers’ GM pursue, then?
Is there anybody else out there who is a top pairing right-shooter?
Yeah, Justin Faulk in Carolina, but there is no crying need for the Hurricanes to move him because he’s 25, makes a very affordable $4.83 million a year for four more seasons and they don’t have anybody, right now to take his spot as their top PP guy.
We’ve tossed out the Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Andrej Sekera possibility in exchange for Faulk and centre/right-winger Elias Lindholm, which would give the ’Canes another centre to go with Jordan Staal and a 20-minute left-shot D in Sekera who used to play for them until traded because he was an unrestricted free-agent, in exchange for Faulk and Lindholm who would fill two holes (on the right side or as a third-line centre) but it doesn’t appear to have great legs.
People have mentioned a Zach Bogosian-for-Jordan Eberle-toBuffalo possibility, but that’s likely a non-starter because the Oilers are weak on the right side. Bogosian shoots right and is the right age (25) but makes too much money ($5.14 million) for too long (four more years) as a second-pairing D. He doesn’t give Oilers much bang for the buck offensively. The Sabres might want to move him, though, because they have to come up with big dough for their best D, Rasmus Ristolainen, on a new deal, plus Jack Eichel eventually and they’re paying O’Reilly $7.5 million.
The Oilers and Sabres are logical trade partners for the No. 4 and No. 8 picks though in some sort of package, because Buffalo covets winger Matthew Tkachuk in the Oilers’ No. 4 slot, but that would only make sense if Russian D Mikhail Sergachev would still be guaranteed to be there as No. 8. Arizona favours another D, Olli Juolevi, at No. 7 and Vancouver could take Quebec winger/centre Pierre-Luc Dubois at No. 5, but Calgary at six is the wild card.
In a swap of 4 and 8, right-winger Tyler Ennis (three more years at $4.6 million), centre Zemgus Girgensons (restricted free-agent) and ex-Oil Kings’ captain/D, right-shooter Mark Pysyk, could be in play.
Vatanen got a whopping $19.5 million for four years even though he’s probably a second-pairing defenceman there but very valuable as a righty on the power play and the PK. “We wanted to keep Sami in the fold because he’s a very competitive young guy,” GM Bob Murray told season ticket holders Saturday.
The Oilers need a righty D but if they could get Ducks’ Hampus Lindholm, their left-shooting blueliner, they’d do handstands.
Trouble is, they’re not. Anaheim isn’t letting him go even for a top left-winger in a trade, which they’ve made no secret they want. They might not be able to sign the younger Lindholm for the same $19.5 mil as Vatanen right now but they can sign him to a twoyear bridge deal in the $3.5-million range.
If Lindholm is probably out of the picture, then, Cam Fowler could be in play. But he shoots left. Fowler is a very solid, 20-minute plus blueliner, though, and only makes $4 million for two more years. He still plays big minutes on a team considerably better than the Oilers.
The Ducks have made no secret they want to acquire a high-end left-winger as a complement to Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry and undoubtedly asked about Taylor Hall but Fowler for his old junior teammate (Windsor) isn’t enough for one of the league’s top five LWs unless the Oilers also got somebody like Rickard Rakell or Jakob Silfverberg or big former firstround draft winger Nick Ritchie in a package.
“With the budget I have, I might have to move some parts around,” Murray told the ticket holders.