The deadine is a little more than 36 hours away and as of right now the Oilers haven’t made any trades. They have made one roster move though by placing young rearguard Philip Larsen on waivers for assignment to the OKC Barons. They also signed goalie Ben Scrivens to a 2 year 4.6 million dollar contract extension.
But that’s not what I want to talk about tonight, I want to talk about something I noticed on the waiver wire today. The Pittsburgh Penguins placed right winger Chuck Kobasew on waivers today, and I think that the Oilers may should have interest.
First of all, Kobasew is a guy I had targeted in the offseason for the Oilers to take a look at for their bottom six. Yes I know he’s a bottom six guy and we talk about the bottom six all the time, but I think that he’s an upgrade over Jesse Joensuu and Ryan Jones for the fourth line.
Kobasew is a free agent at the end of this season so what’s the harm in having him audition for a possible roll with the Oilers next year? Nothing, in fact I think having a guy like Kobasew who can kill penalties and play a solid game defensively. He can add a veteran responsible presence and won’t bleed the budget.
The Oilers are set to lose Ales Hemsky, Ryan Smyth and Ryan Jones this offseason, I don’t see any of them re-signing with the team in fact all three may be gone by Wednesday’s deadline. They will need to be replaced and with the exception of maybe Tyler Pitlick there isn’t anyone on the farm who appears close enough to assume a roll with the NHL.
There may be other options in the offseason during free agent period, but if you have a chance to get a free look at a guy for a few months then why wouldn’t MacT make that move. Kobasew doesn’t bring the Oilers anything new but he definitely would be an improvement on some of the bottom six talent they already have.
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