October 9, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers announced that they have acquired Klim Kostin from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Dmitri Samorukov.

Kostin is a left-handed right winger that was taken with the 31st overall pick in the 2017 draft. Kostin has eleven points in 46 career NHL games. 40 of those games came last season. The 23-year old has one year left on his contract that carries a league minimum value of $750,000. He’s touted as a power forward that has top six potential down the road.

Samorukov turned out to be the odd man out in the Oilers defence prospect group. He’s a smooth skating defenceman that has some size and pedigree. The 2017 third rounder got two shifts before being benched in his first NHL game against the Blues (in an ironic twist of fate). It’s a shame that it didn’t work out for Samorukov in Edmonton; but his reality in Edmonton was that he had Darnell Nurse, Brett Kulak, and Philip Broberg ahead of him in the long-term plans, and Markus Niemelainen passed him on the organizational depth chart.

This trade is about taking a prospect from a position of wealth for the Oilers and replacing him with a prospect in a position where they’re a little bit thin. Kostin is a right winger. The Oilers currently have Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi as natural right wingers on the roster. They have others that can slide over to that position, but they are the only natural right wingers.

They have Xavier Bourgault and Raphael Lavoie developing in Bakersfield. Kostin has been added to that group. This is interesting because Puljujarvi is a man of interest in Edmonton. The speculation about his being moved out has been rampant for two years now. Bourgault appears to be the incumbent to Puljujarvi, but Kostin might have something to say about that. 

The Oilers turned a 2017 third rounder into a 2017 first rounder with more NHL games under his belt, so I would call this trade a win for the Oilers. Kostin will start in Bakersfield, so this trade won’t impact the immediate cap situation for the Oilers. However, he could play in games for the Oilers this season.