NHL weekly trade rumours: The Edmonton Oilers are going to take a swing

What do the Oilers really want?

According to Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts the Podcast, it sounds like the Edmonton Oilers are deciding on what will be their biggest move or, in other words, the trade they will go all in for. He believes that they are going to take a huge swing at a trade…a home run trade. Ken Holland has joked around about how he always trades his first-round pick at the deadline and it’s why reporters like Elliotte Friedman, Frank Seravalli, and Bob Stauffer are fully expecting Edmonton to move it. Their primary move is going to be for a top-six forward.

Oilers in heavily on Chris Tanev

Vancouver Canucks reporter, Rick Dhaliwal, said on a Sportsnet segment earlier this week on Chris Tanev and he reported that the Oilers are heavily interested in Tanev and are one of the top contenders for him. It sounds like they have given their offer to the Calgary Flames and they are waiting for an answer. There are lots of teams in on the player (the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs) but they do not have the assets that the Flames are looking for. Edmonton, however, do have the assets. We will see what materializes out of this in the next two weeks but I would be shocked if Tanev is not an Edmonton Oiler by the deadline.

Another reason why I think it’s pretty obvious the Oilers want a top-four defenceman is because of the odd D pair change that Head Coach Kris Knoblauch made a week back. He had taken Cody Ceci apart from Darnell Nurse and had put youngster Vincent Desharnais up there. The pairings did not work so they reverted back to the old ones. From this odd change up and the rumours of Tanev to Edmonton flying around, it seems pretty evident that Edmonton wants another top four.

The Philip Broberg decision

According to Elliotte Friedman on HNIC this weekend, it sounds like Philip Broberg is garnering a lot of interest around the league from other teams. Ever since Broberg got sent down to the AHL, he has been on fire in terms of his play. He’s been the best player on the Bakersfield Condors by a wide margin. Unfortunately, he got injured last week and he hasn’t played since then. Broberg has been going through rehab in Edmonton but, thankfully, his injury is very short term.

Friedman confirms that Holland will not trade Broberg for a rental player and he will only move him for a player with term. This is a very smart move by Ken Holland because, based on how Broberg has been trajecting in the AHL, he is on his way to becoming a top-four defenceman.

Who is the top-six forward and bottom-six forward?

Based on what Seravalli has said, he still believes that Jake Guentzel is the Oilers primary target. The second target, in his opinion, may be former Oiler Jordan Eberle. There’s a chance that he may re-sign with Edmonton for cheap since he played there before so it is an intriguing thought. However, Stauffer and Friedman have heard that the Oilers want to make a home run deal to help the team reach the top. From this, I believe it will be someone considerably better than Eberle. Vladimir Tarasenko is another name that has been thrown around and I believe he may be a good target along with Frank Vatrano.

In terms of the bottom-six forward, Stauffer has brought up the name Connor Carrick quite a bit. He is a fourth line centre for the Anaheim Ducks and he’s had a decent season with seven goals and three assists. He is also a very good penalty killer so Oilers may be interested in him. But, in the bottom-six forward realm, I believe the Oilers will be going hard after Nic Dowd from the Washington Capitals.

We are getting close to the end!

Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire