Could the Edmonton Oilers trade a defenseman in the near future?
Could Nikita Nikitin become an early-season trade candidate?
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Among the positives of the Oilers having depth on defense, Jonathan Willis notes it also provides GM Peter Chiarelli with an opportunity to use one of them as trade bait to address other roster needs. He speculates Nikita Nikitin could be tradeable if the Oilers retain part of his $4.5 million salary.
While the Boston Bruins are in need of blueline help, Willis doubts they’ll be keen to deal with their former GM. One club he believes could use third-pairing defensive help is the San Jose Sharks. “Any of Nikita Nikitin, Andrew Ference, Eric Gryba or even Brandon Davidson (who will need to clear waivers to be demoted) would probably fit the bill from San Jose’s perspective,” writes Willis, adding that “in at least two of those cases the Oilers wouldn’t be asking for anything too dear in return.” However, the Sharks have limited salary-cap space, meaning someone like Davidson would be a more likely trade candidate than Nikitin.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: As the regular season has yet to begin, I doubt there’s much of a trade market right now for third-pairing blueliners. Indeed, any club seeking that commodity will likely go the waiver wire route before shopping around for a trade. As Willis notes, if the Oilers do move one of those defenders, it’ll likely be a month or so into the regular season, when teams have had sufficient team to evaluate their potential roster needs over the remainder of the season.
Using terms like blue line and depth in the same sentence as the Oilers is kind of an oxymoron isn’t it?
first thing i thought when i read that
Perhaps opinions will start to change of this club. I took Hall, Talbot and Sekera in my fantasy pool so hopefully for my pools sake they do well.
I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April 1st…the oilers have defensive depth??? Last year they didn’t have any defence! No one is going to take Nikitin, the guy is flat out bad even at 2 mil he’d be terrible. Ferrence is their captain, or at least was, and he wasn’t great either but could be tradable if they retain some salary. They just got Gryba, trading him right after he signed with the oilers would look really bad especially to a team that has troubles finding free agents. Davidson hasn’t done anything to prove he’s worth something to another team and would likely clear waivers (especially now as every team has too many players and is putting a lot of players on waivers).
So the oilers don’t really have defensive depth, they have a lot of bottom pairings guys. The oilers biggest issue over the last few years is the lack of defensive depth, they need good quality guys, not a lot of bottom pairing guys. I just love how a lot of the media hype up the oilers every year because they got another high draft pick. They have unproven goalies, a bunch of 4-6 defensemen and 2 lines of soft scoring forwards. The one thing this team is lacking is actual depth, suggesting they have extra depth is mind bottling.
Same thoughts flashed through my mind before I read your post Paul. Suddenly the Oilers have a wealth of tradable D?? In what universe? They’d be lucky to get a 7th rounder for most of what they have.
If this shows up 3 times it’s because there seems to be a problem with the site using Firefox. Paul, the same thoughts flashed through my mind and I agree with your post 100%. Suddenly the Oilers have such a wealth of NHL-ready D that they could wind up dealing one of them?? In what universe? They’d be lucky to get a 7th rounder for most of them.
“Among the positives of the Oilers having depth on defense, …”
Wait what? I’m clearly not following the Oilers enough, last year’s chatter (and I thought into the summer) included how lousy (strike that) Terrrrible their defense was.
Yes, the Oilers have lots of bottom-pairing blueliners, but their defense wasn’t terrible last season. They were 19th in shots-against. Not great, but not horrible. With an improving Klefbom, the addition of Sekera and Nurse knocking on the door, the Oilers are in decent shape this season on their blueline It was their goaltending that was terrible last season, ranking 30th overall in GAA. That remains their biggest question mark and potential problem area entering this season.
Their goaltending was terrible because of a few reasons, they were other team’s back up goalies and they had no real defensemen. This year they have…another team’s back up goalie and they added Sekera who’s an offensive defenseman and Gryba who’s a bottom pair guy that Ottawa fans couldn’t wait to get rid of. They’re likely going to rush Nurse and ruin him too and Sekera will be in over his head on their top pairing. They really haven’t done much to improve anything on the team except for getting another top draft pick. Next year they’ll have Matthews and most of the media will be gushing at how amazing the oilers are going to be again and how much depth they have.
19th in a 30 team league and teams like Buffalo and Toronto is not terrible?
Remember all those #herecometheoilers gifs?
Sabres had the worst d last year, Leafs were 22nd. Sabres were 29th in goals-against, Leafs were 26th.
Thats exactly what Im talking about…when youre 19th in a 30 team league and a few of those 30 teams are almost historically bad defensively it doesnt mean youre not terrible…not saying they wont be better but…
I agree lyle the goaltending was terrible the d wasn’t great but the main problem was goaltending! klefbom is gonna be a good dman sekera will help
If you look at their shots against last year it was pretty close to what it has been for 4 or 5 years…you know all those years that you were saying the Oilers have terrible D…they have had 30 or more against per game since 2012 I believe
Boston has enough number 5 and 6 defenseman on their team don’t need anyone else’s.
took the words right out of my mouth..
I think as far as the oilers d is concerned, the biggest knock against them is ironically Devon Dubnyk. This guys was garbage, a complete tire fire, that couldn’t get starts or decent production with the oilers, they deal him to phoenix/Arizona and he really starts to improve, then goes to the Wild and becomes a finalist for the Vezina and carries Minny to the playoffs. The biggest difference between Arizona Minny and Edmonton is the defensive quality. Sekera is not a top pairing dman a solid top four but not top two, another back up goalie who played for a very good defensive team the year before. Seems to me that edmontons problems are on the back end, not necessarily just the goaltending. I don’t see the big improvement a lot of people are predicting for this team, just seems like every other year
Exactly. If a goalie played there and was terrible then went to another team and became a vezina candidate, would you still think goaltending is the issue and bring in another team’s backup? I guess since the oil won’t use one of their first overall picks to get a goalie, they’ll pretend backups are lottery tickets and keep trying to get a franchise winner that way.
And people keep thinking that D and goaltending are their only issues… especially for a team with that much fire power. How did they rank for goals for? That whole team is a tire fire and yet most of the media say that “this is their year”. They’re going to end up with another top 5 pick.
what about the goalie coaches? numerous cases where simply changing the goalie coach vastly improves the goalie
You conveniently forget to mention that Dubnyk went to Nashville and Montreal after leaving Edmonton and didn’t set the world on fire. He completely changed his approach to goaltending after that season and it paid off last year.
Your comment earlier that the Oilers are likely going to “rush Nurse and ruin him too” is typical of how you make stupid comments about the Oilers. Nurse is in his third training camp so obviously has not been rushed and what other prospect have they rushed and ruined? Are your Flames rushing Bennett and going to ruin him like Baertschi? I get it that you are a Flames fan but that’s not enough of an excuse for your attitude. Dino is a regular on here and is a Flames fan with class.
I agree mawman dubynk made changes in his game the phoenix goalie coach really improved his game with dubynk wanting to change his game
Dubnyk went to the preds and played 2 games then went to habs and didn’t play. He changed his game because he had to and he was able to on teams that actually played D in front of him.
As for the comment about the oil rushing Nurse…you don’t think they rushed other prospects? Drysaitle was no where near NHL ready but because they didn’t have any other options, they played him and he was terrible. He was even pushed around and no one even came to help the kid. Hall was rushed because he clearly hasn’t been taught how to play defence. You know MdDavid is going to be either their first or second line centre. Yakapov was another YouTube sensation that went straight to the NHL instead of being taught any kind of defence. I guess they figured he’d learn that aspect of the game from Hall and the other leaders on the team. Its just how it is with the oil, draft them then play them right away. They’ve taken their time with Nurse but I think they’re desperate enough to put him on the top pairing and he clearly isn’t ready. Don’t get me wrong, the kid is going to be good (if developed properly) but you have to realize that defensemen take a lot longer to develop. 3 years may seem like a long time but that’s only because the oil don’t usually take time to develop players. Bennett was brought up after his surgery last year and it was the same as giving a prospect the 9 games at the beginning of the year but not only did Bennett show he was good enough, he showed he was better than most. I remember reading that Ekblad and Bennett were the 2 most NHL ready prospects, seems they were right. Baertschi was rushed but not nearly as bad as any oil prospects. The team needed youth and brought him in, he didn’t learn d so they sent him down. They called up other prospects ahead of him because he didn’t want to play d. He said he wouldn’t change his game and that he didn’t want to be there so the Flames turned him into a second round pick. I’m sorry if you don’t like my attitude, I really am but maybe it just seems harsh because oiler fans are used to off season of the media hyping them as the next great team and reality hurts. I’m not going to sit here and say something good about one of the worst franchises in professional sports. They’re run by the “old boys” club and it just isn’t working. I’m going to not only point out the Flaws of the oilers but I’ll do it emphatically just to try and balance out the hype around the oilers and their “young guns”. There are some in the media saying the oil are a top 10 team. The oilers. The team that has yet another backup goalie, no real defense corps and no depth up front yet people are talking about the oilers “depth” in any position? Talk to any unbiased fan and see what they say about the oilers. I’m pretty sure you’re going to think anyone who’s realistic is classless too.
Hoo boy. Filing that under “wish I said that.” Not one flaw in your assessment.
Draisaitl wasn’t ruined. He just won WHL play-off MVP and then Memorial Cup MVP. He isn’t a lock to make the team this year. He was projected by many analysts to be the most NHL ready prior to the draft and the Hockey News had him tied with Bennett as the 2/3 most NHL ready prospect in their Future Watch. So he played 37 games instead of 9. The Oilers did the right thing and all you focus on is the negative.
Hall is one of the best LW in the NHL. Could he play better D? Sure, so could a lot of offensive NHL players. Will McDavid be a top two line player on the Oilers this year? Absolutely, just like he would be on the Flames and virtually every other team in the NHL. The Flames didn’t send Monohan down and appear not to be sending Bennett down. How do you know they would not have been better by serving more time developing into men?
Why do you assume that all Oilers think the same way as whatever media you listen to? You find one writer who thinks the Oilers will be top 10 and you lash out at every Oiler fan. You ignore the vast majority of media who don’t see the Oilers making the playoffs this year and you assume that ALL Oiler fans are overly optimistic. Do you really think that I couldn’t find an overly optimistic Flames supporter (media or fan) that I could make fun of? Unlike you, I’m mature enough to not assume that everybody thinks alike.
My opinion of your attitude is based on your body of work on this site – not just yesterday. You not only make negative comments every time the Oilers are mentioned but you also make comments even about the city itself. I’ve been to every major city in Canada and they all have their warts – Calgary included. What would be the point of bringing them up on a hockey website? Why don’t you grow up and stop trolling from behind a keyboard.
Boston has better defensemen in Providence.
If they made a move for one of these guys I would see it as a bigger trade.
Edmonton could use some two way players like Kelly or Eriksson.
Chiarelli traded for them so he must like them.
Maybe Yakopov going back as rumors were flying last year.
really?? are you a boston fan? no way Kelly and/or Eriksson is landing yakupov!!
In someone’s dream perhaps.
I believe if they send Nurse to Boston with picks the Oilers would have had Hamilton
To me a defencemen play defense. I’d argue 80% of all teams are hard pressed to find one dman on their team that is actually any good at it
Smallish fast non checking forwards that start plays with the puck in their own end that usually end the same play scooping the puck out of their own nets…unless of course it’s a PP are not defencemen
They are useless against big players, 5 on 5, and playoffs…unless of course you implement a NEW NHL where you draft small players, play 3 on 3, and call penalties in the playoffs unfairly for “parity”
What a farce.
de·fense·man
diˈfensmən/Submit
noun
noun: defenceman
(in ice hockey and lacrosse) a player, other than the goaltender, in a defensive position.
Guys it was the oilers D, forward structure and their playing style, not the goaltending that was the reason why the oilers were so bad.
MacTavish traded away their 2nd line centre and had no replacement leaving a massive hole in the forward ranks hat could not be filled.
Schultz was brought in to be a top 4 D and he couldn’t do it. Often times due to the oilers poor forward structure he was caught pushing the offense and getting himself out of position far to often,
It combined to equate to a poor defensive team. dubnyk goes to a better structured team and excels. I wasn’t surprised that he did well I believe you will find a post back when it happened that I believed it was a good move by minni, I was surprised he did so well though.
Now with the additions of MacDavid and Letetsu down the middle that problem is hopefully solved, the improvements of Klefbom, additions of Sekera and further production of nurse combined win a more well constructed forward unit would hopefully allow Schultz to concentrate more on the defensive end of the game and not take so many risky chances in the hopes to score a goal.
I believe the oilers are now a playoff team bubble team. Vancouver may fall out, Calgary may as well. lA may not improve, San Jose doesn’t look threatening. Anaheim is a top dog of coarse, I missing a team her I think, but the oilers have a chance to make it.
I imagine last season was a wake up call for LA, and with the addition of Lucic, they just became a helluva lot harder to play against. They’ll be in the playoffs this season. San Jose isn’t threatening? Last I checked, they still had Thorton and Marleau and Hertl and Burns on their roster (though they have obvious question marks in net)
Not saying this to be rude, but it would take a lot of things to go wrong for other teams, and a lot of things to go right for Edmonton, for them to make the playoffs.
I agree.