The Edmonton Oilers have self destructed ever since drafting Connor McDavid, and only now are they realizing they need fix what they themselves broke.
They Edmonton Oilers, to put it simply, are desperate. They have no decent wingers, and are wasting the youth years of Connor McDavid as well as wasting a fantastic center depth of McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Needless to say, they are in a “full court press” to find help at forward.
This news should absolutely terrify any and all Oilers fans out there, given general manager Peter Chiarelli’s … questionable track record with trades in the past. The Oilers would not be in this embarrassing mess if he pretty much just left the team alone ever since being hired back in 2015. Imagine how good they would be if they kept the likes of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, the pick that was used to draft Mat Barzal and Justin Schultz, instead of the peanuts they got back in return for them. Not only that, but they traded away Drake Caggiula, one of their better wingers this season, not even two weeks ago, and now they shockingly need wingers.
If that wasn’t enough, they have tied themselves in salary cap purgatory. They have third least amount of cap space in the NHL and need some massive cleaning to get themselves out from under the mess they’ve made, namely the Lucic contract. There are so many more things wrong with this roster that they can’t be discussed in a reasonable amount of time.
If you’re an NHL GM and you’re not actively seeking out a trade with the Oilers while they’re desperate, you should be fired on the spot. Especially with what they’re willing to part with right now.
The Oilers are right to be seeking out forwards, even if it is entirely their own fault. They’re best winger currently is Alex Chiasson, who is having an outstanding season with 17 goals, but was a healthy scratch in Washington last season. Without hitting the jackpot with him signing a league minimum contract, the Oilers would be in serious trouble. They need somebody they can rely on to simply bang in the pucks that McDavid sends their way, because they don’t have even a semblance of that.
Last week against the San Jose Sharks, the Oilers iced a first line that should be considered an offense to professional sports as a whole. On the wings of Connor McDavid, the best hockey player on earth, were fourth liners Jujhar Kharia and Zack Kassian. That was the Oilers’ strategy to win that game, by placing shackles on Connor McDavid. Needless to say, the Oilers were demolished 7-2.
Lots of fans are freaking out about the idea of the Oilers shipping out their first round pick, but there are good reasons for it. They NEED a top six winger NOW — not in three years. If they do go out and get that high end winger to permanently stick on McDavid’s wing, that draft pick will likely turn out to be 16th overall or higher because it might be the final piece to push them into a wide open playoff spot in the Western conference. With a win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night, the Oilers are tied for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference. With a lack of real solid teams pushing for that final spot, the Oilers might just have the best chance out of all of them, regardless of their embarrassing depth issues.
There are plenty of teams that have exactly what the Oilers need. The Washington Capitals have had Andre Burakovsky on the trading block for weeks now, and bringing in one of McDavid’s former line mates from the OHL is almost too perfect of a fit. All Burakovsky needs is a change of scenery, and reuniting with an old friend might just do the trick for him to get him going. Outside of that, the Rangers would absolutely trade Chris Kreider for the right price, or the Senators with Mark Stone for the right price. Wingers are the most abundant resource in the league. The point is: The solution is out there and really not hard to find, but the Oilers just have to not actually lose a trade for once to move this team forward.
However, in the Oilers desperation for a forward, they are reportedly willing to trade their most promising forward, Jesse Puljujarvi. Because they haven’t made this mistake about three times already before have they? Do they EVER learn? If you need wingers, STOP TRADING YOUR BEST WINGERS! Yes, Puljujarvi’s development is slower than expected, but would it kill you to have patience with a prospect with elite level potential? He’s 20, give the kid some time. You have him. Don’t waste him like you wasted everybody else.
The Oilers have made a lot of mistakes over the years, but these six weeks before the NHL Trade Deadline could be the most important time to fix those mistakes. They’re tied for the final wildcard spot at the moment, and need just one last piece to all but secure themselves as the front runners for that final spit. Just for once, DON’T get it wrong. Make a trade that will actually help the team, and not make the Oilers more of a laughing stock than they already are. Stop wasting McDavid.