On Wednesday afternoon, the Oilers traded Mitch Moroz, a former Oil King, for Henrik Samuelsson, a former Oil King.
Moroz and Samulesson were both selected in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, with the Coyotes selecting Samuelsson at #27 and the Oilers taking Moroz at #32. Rumour has it that the Oilers were more interested in Samuelsson, but were beaten to the punch by the Coyotes. If that wasn’t enough for similarity, both players won the Memorial Cup with the Oil Kings in 2014, as well.
Mitch Moroz scored 9 points in 66 AHL games in 2014-15, and 10 points in 40 games in 2015-16. He’s struggling of late, and has only tallied 3 points in 17 games so far this season.
Samuelsson, on the other hand, had a much better AHL debut, with 40 points in 68 games. On the back of some injury trouble, he only managed 12 points in 43 games last season, and has only mustered 3 points in 20 games this year. Samuelson has also played 3 NHL games, but didn’t hit the score sheet.
Today’s trade, while not an NHL-level deal in that neither player seems poised to make a move for the big league, should give the Oilers a little more organizational depth down the middle, a position in which they are sorely lacking.
Henrik Samuelsson is 23 years old, 6’3, 209 lbs and shoots right.
In the WHL, he scored 1.22 ppg (198 pts/162 games) in the regular season, and 0.93 ppg (56pts/60games) in the playoffs. He was the highest scoring player in the 2014 Memorial Cup tournament, with 13 points in 9 games.
It’s been clear for a while that Mitch Moroz isn’t going to make it to the NHL, and while Samuelsson isn’t quite at the same level, he’s not necessarily going to be an impact player with the parent club. Over his AHL career, though, Samuelsson has been the better player, so maybe the Oilers won this trade.
This is the last year of Samuelsson’s ELC, and he is a Restricted Free Agent at the end of this season. It would be nice if he could get a look or two with the Oil at some point this season, but that would probably mean someone’s hurt, and that’s not something we can afford.
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