2022 trade deadline primer: Edmonton Oilers

As the calendar turns to March, the trade deadline is inching closer. Where does each team stand, and what moves should each look to make? We continue our look around the league with the Edmonton Oilers.

There is a lot of pressure on the Edmonton Oilers this season. The team boasts two of the NHL’s premier offensive talents but has been unable to find any sort of consistent play. As a result, the Oilers are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. They sit a point behind the Dallas Stars for the second wild-card spot (with two extra games played) and two points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division. The Oilers got off to a blazing start but then went on a brutal stretch of games that ended up costing coach Dave Tippett his job. The season is now in the hands of interim coach Jay Woodcroft, and as the deadline nears, the heat is on GM Ken Holland to fix the issues with his roster in order to provide Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with the best chance to truly threaten for a Stanley Cup for the first time in their careers.

Record

30-22-4, 4th in the Pacific

Deadline Status

Buyer

Deadline Cap Space

$1.96M today, $1.96M in full-season space, 43/50 contracts used, 1/3 retention slots used per CapFriendly

Upcoming Draft Picks

2022: EDM 1st, EDM 2nd*, EDM 5th, EDM 6th, EDM 7th

2023: EDM 1st, EDM 2nd, EDM 3rd, EDM 4th, EDM 5th, EDM 6th, EDM 7th

* Per the terms of the offseason Duncan Keith trade, if the Oilers make the 2022 Stanley Cup Final and Keith is inside the Oilers’ top-four highest time-on-ice for defenseman during those first three rounds of their playoff run, the Chicago Blackhawks will receive Edmonton’s 2022 2nd instead of the 2022 3rd they are currently owed.

Trade Chips

Much of the conversation surrounding the Oilers this season concerns their goaltending, and it’s not difficult to see why. Their tandem of Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen has been subpar, to say the least. Smith, 39, has an .891 save percentage so far this season. Koskinen, 33, has been slightly better, with a mark of .904 in 31 starts. Koskinen is more important for the deadline, though, because of his cap hit. He is on an expiring contract that has a $4.5M cap hit, a number that the Oilers would likely be eager to ship out in order to facilitate adding additional players to a roster without much wiggle room under the cap. The issue with trading Koskinen, though, is that he has trade protection on his contract. Koskinen is allowed to submit a no-trade list of 15 teams, per CapFriendly, and that reality combined with his play this season could make him a difficult asset to move despite how beneficial it could be for the Oilers.

Pivoting from goaltending, if the Oilers do wish to make upgrades to their team at the deadline they could potentially need to part ways with players on their NHL roster to make a deal work. One of those players who could be moved is winger Kailer Yamamoto. Yamamoto, 23, was the 22nd overall pick from the 2017 draft who has flashed great offensive talent at the NHL level but has yet to put together his game on a more consistent basis. After a brilliant 27-game stretch with the Oilers in 2019-2020 where he had 26 points, Yamamoto struggled to recapture that offensive spark. He has only 20 points in 55 games this season and had 21 points in 52 games last season, marks that are clearly lower than what a 5-foot-8, skilled offensive player is expected to produce at the NHL level. Despite those struggles with consistency, Yamamoto remains a somewhat tantalizing offensive talent who has scored at a high level earlier in his career. Given his age and status as a former top prospect, Yamamoto could be a player other teams target to recieve in return for what they send to the Oilers.

If the Oilers need to create some cap space in order to facilitate bigger additions at the deadline, but moving Koskinen’s contract proves to be impossible given his no-trade protection or $4.5M cap hit, a player who could be shipped out instead (for more modest savings) is center Kyle Turris. Turris is a longtime NHL veteran who was the third overall pick in the 2007 NHL Draft and starred with the Ottawa Senators from the 2011-12 season to the 2017-18 campaign, when he was included in the blockbuster Matt Duchene trade. Since that point, Turris has struggled to maintain his form as an NHL scoring center. He was bought out of a massive extension with the Nashville Predators and signed a two-year contract with the Oilers in the 2020 offseason with the idea that he could be a strong third-line center for the club. Since signing, Turris has continued his struggles and has only nine total points in his 50 games in Edmonton over two seasons. With a cap hit of $1.65M, he would provide some relatively minor (but still potentially crucial) savings for the Oilers if he is shipped away at the deadline.

Others to Watch For: F Tyler Benson, D Tyson Barrie, D Dmitri Samorukov

Team Needs

1) Quality Goaltending

The Oilers are desperate to make noise in the playoffs this season, something that has not really happened in the McDavid-Draisaitl era. In order to make noise in the playoffs, teams typically need exceptional goaltending. What the Oilers have recieved from their Koskinen-Smith tandem this season has been far from exceptional, as mentioned before. If Holland is serious about wanting his team to earnestly compete for a Stanley Cup, the Oilers simply must have a different goalie starting playoff games for them this spring. Barring some unforeseen miracle, a long playoff run will probably not be possible with Koskinen or Smith minding the crease.

2) Defensive Reinforcements

Evan Bouchard has impressed this season, but if the Oilers are to be Stanley Cup contenders they will need to add some help to their defense. Darnell Nurse is a star and Keith has had a great career, but as currently constructed their defense is a flawed unit that rarely does its goaltending many favors. We all know that playoff hockey is a different beast than the regular-season grind, and perhaps adding some muscle and experience to reinforce a defense populated with offensively oriented players like Barrie and Bouchard could make for a more well-rounded unit.

3) Additional Scoring Depth

Looking at the situation from a strictly on-ice perspective, Evander Kane has been an important addition for an Oilers team with some issues getting reliable scoring outside of its two offensive dynamos. Adding more experienced offensive scorers to this roster could help the Oilers down the stretch as they are currently a bit too reliant on their dynamic power play to create goals. Adding some additional scoring depth should not be the first priority for Holland’s deadline — goaltending is far more crucial — but the team’s issues scoring sustainably at five-on-five is something to definitely keep an eye on.