February 26, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

It’s been a busy last few days heading into the final business week before the NHL trade deadline. We’ve already seen Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Rielly change teams. Nino Niederreiter, Evgeni Dadonov were moved on the weekend. The biggest name moved this weekend was Timo Meier. The Erik Karlsson deal is highly unlikely and Patrick Kane appears to be headed to Broadway. Things are happening everywhere but Edmonton, and Edmonton Oilers fans aren’t happy about it.

While the options are getting picked over, there are still some useful pieces out there. Ken Holland has said that he wants to do something to improve the team. We’re all aware that the Oilers are dollar in, dollar out at this point; so it isn’t as easy as just saying “go and get that guy”.  Having said that, here are some of the names that Oilers fans should keep an eye on this week.

The Much Reported Options

Erik Karlsson: I recently wrote about the complexity of a Karlsson deal. If the San Jose Sharks aren’t willing to retain more than 20% of his salary ($2.3 million), then the Oilers would have to give them at least $9.2 million in contracts back. Darnell Nurse’s $9.25 million would be just about exact. If not Nurse, then it would have to be a combination of three of these players:

Tyson Barrie

Cody Ceci

Kailer Yamamoto or Jesse Puljujarvi

Warren Foegele or Brett Kulak

The Sharks will also want remuneration in the form of picks and prospects as fair value for Karlsson, and they will want more for retaining salary for four and a quarter seasons. It’s still a possibility, but the odds of a deal of this magnitude happening before the deadline are slim, unless the return in the Meier trade has any effect on it.

Related: The Complications of a Karlsson Trade to the Oilers

Jakob Chychrun: Ryan Rishaug seems to be the only member of the media that still thinks the Oilers are in on Chychrun. The price seems to be coming down for him as well. There’s speculation that Chychrun is being held out of the Arizona lineup for an injury rather than “trade-related reasons”. Time will tell on that one.

Vladislav Gavrikov: Reportedly, the Columbus Blue Jackets had a deal in place with the Boston Bruins for Gavrikov, but then the Bruins went ahead and traded for Dmitri Orlov instead. That has put Columbus back at square one. Gavrikov has made it known that he won’t re-sign in a Canadian market, so he would be a pure rental that clearly wouldn’t want to be in Edmonton.

The Rumoured Options

Sam Lafferty: Lafferty is a speedster and an effective penalty killer. He’s got another year left at a modest cap hit. He’s an intriguing player, but he hardly moves the needle. Lafferty would be a bottom six player and penalty killer, no more, no less.

Nick Bjugstad: Bjugstad has size, but he’s not known as an overly physical player. He’s having a decent year in Arizona with 23 points in 58 games on a bad team. He’s a centre, and the Oilers need help on the wing more than at centre. He’s only won 47.6% of his draws this season, so he’s not a noted faceoff specialist. This move wouldn’t excite me in the least.

Shayne Gostisbehere: Gostisbehere is the fall back option should the Oilers strike out on Karlsson and Chychrun. The issue with him is that he’s all offence. He’s not a great defender, which is really what the Oilers would want if adding anything on the back end aside from Karlsson.

Mattias Ekholm: I love Ekholm as a defenceman, but he comes with a high cap hit and he will be 36 at the end of his current contract. The necessary salary retention could make those later years more palatable though. I’m also not in favour of blocking Philip Broberg long term, which is a big reason why I wouldn’t want to add Chychrun right now either.

Luke Schenn: He hits, and he’s cheap. That’s all. Next!

Tanner Jeannot: Jeannot hits, fights, and puts up points. However, he’s not doing the latter thing nearly as often this season as he did last year. Nashville could sell him while he still has some value if they’re worried about him having hit his peak already. He’s being held out of Sunday’s game in San Jose and Tampa Bay is rumoured to be the destination, but Oilers fans will hold their breaths.

The Purely Speculative Options

Gustav Nyquist: Nyquist is on LTIR and is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season. That could be perfect for the Oilers. Adding Nyquist’s LTIR cap hit would have absolutely zero impact on cap space, but they could have him on the playoff roster since there is no cap in the playoffs. Holland has a history with Nyquist in Detroit as well, so he knows the player well. This would be a creative move, so long as Nyquist can be productive in the playoffs.

Lars Eller: The Washington Capitals announced themselves as sellers by trading Orlov. Eller is a solid two way centre whose production has fallen this season, but that could partly be a result of Washington not being as strong of a team as they have been.

Marcus Johansson: Johansson isn’t the player he used to be, but he consistently produces approximately half a point per game. He’s got plenty of playoff experience, including a trip to the Stanley Cup final with the Boston Bruins in 2019. He’s also a cheap impending UFA, which is perfect for the Oilers.

Jonathan Drouin: Drouin’s time in Montreal fell far short of the expectations. He’s missed a ton of time due to injury and mental health issues over the course of his tenure in Montreal. Drouin has become much more of a playmaker than a goal scorer. He has 18 assists and zero goals this season, and he has eight goals in the last three seasons combined. Perhaps he could be the distributor on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane.

Max Domi: Domi has been lights out playing with Patrick Kane this season. He’s got 47 points in 58 games in Chicago, which is a pace that would surpass his previous career high of 72 points in 82 games. He’s shown that he can play with elite players. One has to wonder what he could do with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.

Marc Staal: Staal is 36 years old, but he averages the fourth most minutes per game of all Panthers defenders, and he’s hovering around 50% in all of the major fancy stats against mostly low level competition. He would either slot in as the third pairing left defenceman over Broberg or the seventh defenceman on the Oilers. If you don’t trust Broberg in an important role this spring, then a veteran like Staal might be just the guy to insulate him and teach him a thing or two along the way. He could even assume a similar role to Duncan Keith’s alongside Evan Bouchard last year, potentially elevating Bouchard’s game. I know most Oilers fans would hate this move, but it’s one that I could totally see Holland making.