Lets Make A Trade

It’s been written about before, but there are teams out there looking for defensemen. The Oilers, because of a few decent years of draft picks and some smart depth signings have actually added some depth to a position in which this team has been notoriously thin. Is now the time to make a trade?

On the Block

How about Nikita Nikitan? YES PLEASE. I’m sure that Oilers Management as well as 99.9% of fans would like to see his contract gone. Oilers blogger extraordinaire Jonathan Willis wrote a great piece yesterday about this possibility (here). The thing about everyone wanting to give Nikitan the axe; every GM in the league knows at least the same if not more, which means he’s going to be next to impossible to trade without having to retain some of his salary.

And then there is Andrew Ference. Another aging veteran that has seen his best days come and go, but the Boston Bruins are arguably the team that is the most hard up for defensemen right now. They’ve lost Seidenburg and Chara in the last week, I bet they regret trading Hamilton now hey! Ference never played better then when he was a Bruin, winning a Stanley Cup with the team back in 2011. Ference is just a beloved in Boston as he is in Edmonton, if not more so. The Oilers captain does have a no movement clause, and term left on his contract. If Boston could get over the extra year I’m sure that he’d waive the no-trade in order to return to the Bruins.

Brandon Davidson is another name that I’d consider, if only for the fact that he’s waiver eligible. Davidson is a fringe player this season, but if he performs well in his next few pre-season games there is a small chance the the Oilers will risk losing him for nothing if (and when) they try and send him to Bakersfield. Better to get a mid to late round pick then lose him for nothing is what my grandpappy always said.

Status Quo?

There is also nothing wrong with staying the course with this new found depth. As I mentioned near the beginning of this article, this is a luxury the Oilers have long been without. If there is a guarantee in NHL hockey, defensemen are going to get injured. There really isn’t an issue if the team goes into this season with a veteran as their 7th d-man watching most nights from the press box.

It’s been said time and time again, depth is a big key to winning in the NHL these days, as is proper player development. The Oilers have a rare opportunity to do both right now, I think they should take it.

Thanks for Reading.