You wanted bold right? Well you got a borderline bold move from Edmonton today my friends. The Oilers have traded forward Magnus Paajarvi and a 2014 2nd round draft pick to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for fan-favorite and top-six forward David Perron.
For Edmonton and St. Louis, this is a very good trade. A win-win if you will, and one that allows both teams to move closer to the goals they set for themselves this off-season.
For St. Louis, the Blues had limited cap space to re-sign two of their best players in forward Chris Stewart and defender Alex Pietroangelo. They get some cap space by moving Perron out. In return, they get a young player with potential in Paajarvi, and a 2nd round pick in the upcoming entry draft. Not a bad haul considering everything.
For Edmonton, well the Oilers got exactly what they wanted, a second line left winger. Perron shoots right, but mainly played the left side with the Blues. He’s a good offensive player, with a career point per game average of .58, which is pretty solid for a second line player in this league.
He’s not big, but also isn’t small standing at six feet 205 pounds, and he does play with an edge. He is only 25 years old, and odds are has the prime of his career ahead of him. Outside of a concussion that took him out of a chunk of games in 2010-11 and 11-12 (96 to be exact) he has stayed relatively healthy.
His contract has three years left on it, and will pay $3.8 M per season, which should be a very manageable number for this Oilers team. Perron is a legit top six NHL forward that plays with some edge and has legit offensive ability. Not to mention, he’s young but experienced and has played in the playoffs before. The kind of player this team needed.
This past season, Perron scored 25 points, with 10 of those points being goals. On top of everything mentioned, Perron is a good fit from an analytic stand point. He had pretty good Corsi numbers, and his line more often than not out-performed the opponents.
He faced tough minute match-ups with the Blues, and should bring a responsible style to the Oilers top six. Adding that to his edge and scoring ability makes David Perron a very solid add to Edmonton’s top six.
Some argue that Edmonton overpaid here, and that is certainly possible. Fact is, Paajarvi is a third liner at the NHL level while Perron is more experienced and a second line forward. He’s the best player in the deal as well, so I’m okay with giving up Paajarvi and a second round pick for him.
Overall, I’m very happy with MacTavish’s work on this trade, and it appears he has once again made the Oilers a little bit better than they were this morning. We can also cross item two off of the ‘to-do’ list with this trade. Good work Mac!
Sam Gagner: Gagner filed for salary arbitration today, which should come as a shock to no one. It sounds like both sides want to get a deal done, and I expect one done before Gagner goes to arbitration, whenever that may be. I still think something along the lines of four/five years for $4.75 M is the likely out come here with Sam.
Third Line: After dealing Paajarvi, who will be the wingers for Boyd Gordon on the 3rd line this season? As it stands, Ryan Smyth gets the left side and Ales Hemsky the right side. I still expect Hemsky to be traded and a 3rd line winger returning to fill that spot. As for the left side, I’m not sure what could happen there. Think that comes internally, most likely one of Joensuu, Smyth and Jones.
Defense: I don’t think MacT is quite done yet, and I think the next domino to fall will be on defense. MacT clearly wants to add to this unit, and I expect him to try and do so in the coming weeks. I’m thinking ideally he wants that top pairing guy, but most likely he ends up with another Ference type guy. Either way, they need more help back there.
Wouldn’t be shocked if Nick Schultz gets moved either. Keep that in mind..
Well today I was going to write up my potential candidates for the LW spot, but MacT went out and traded for Perron, so tomorrow I’ll be back with some defensive targets for the Oilers. Follow me on twitter @Alex_Thomas14 until then!
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