Report card grades for all 31 NHL teams at the trade deadline

Edmonton Oilers: C

Edmonton had a quiet deadline as it shuffles through a disappointing season. Through multiple trades, Peter Chiarelli put the Oilers in a position where they struggled to generate offense. At the end of the deadline, the Oilers were able to move out three players: Mark Letestu, Brandon Davidson and Patrick Maroon. Letestu went to Nashville, where he was flipped to Columbus. Maroon was sent to the New Jersey Devils. Brandon Davidson was sent to the New York Islanders to help them in their playoff chase. After a taste of the playoffs last season, Edmonton wants to be building its current team, not necessarily acquire draft picks for the future.

Chiarelli did not have a lot of pieces he could move that wouldn’t negatively affect the team. Both Letestu and Maroon are set to be unrestricted free agents at the end of the season. They may not have fit into Chiarelli’s long-term picture of the team, so it was best to get some value for them before they walked as free agents this summer. He was able to get Pontus Aberg from Nashville for Letestu. Aberg struggled to break into Nashville’s strong lineup. Given the opportunity on a weaker Edmonton team, Aberg can grow into an NHL regular. Davidson got a 2018 third-round pick from the Islanders and Maroon brought back forward J.D. Dudek and a 2019 third-round pick.

Chiarelli did well to get some draft capital back, but he didn’t make any moves that would immediately better the team, which should be your plan when you already have Connor McDavid on your team.