Since it’s the offseason, silly season, if you will, we’ll be breaking down the Edmonton Oilers’ best trade with each team in modern day NHL history. We’ll break this series up into four parts, each part covering one division. Today, we’ll start in the Atlantic. Each team will have two trades mentioned: one of which is the best trade the Oilers have made while the other is an honourable mention.
Boston Bruins
Best Trade: Edmonton trades Bill Guerin and a 2001 first rounder draft pick (Shaone Morrisonn) in exchange for Anson Carter, 2001 second round pick (Doug Lynch) and a 2001 first round pick (Ales Hemsky)
While Guerin continued to be a productive player after his time up in Northern Alberta, this trade saw Edmonton bring in a solid top six player in Anson Carter who averaged ~55 points a season for the Oilers before being shipped off to New York. Carter saw one playoff series during his time here in Edmonton and scored three goals and four points in a six game sample size.
The biggest piece that Edmonton acquired though was the draft pick that turned out to become Ales Hemsky. Alex is currently 11th all time in Oilers points history and had 17 points in 24 games during their 2006 Stanley Cup Final run. He was beloved by all fans during the Decade of Darkness here and I’m sure his name is being considered for the Oilers Hall of Fame this upcoming season.
Honourable Mention: Edmonton trades Martin Reasoner, Yan Stastny and a 2006 second round pick (Milan Lucic) in exchange for Sergei Samsonov
Reason: Samsonov was a major contributor in the 2006 Final Run.
Buffalo Sabres
Best Trade: Edmonton trades Jochen Hecht in exchange for two 2002 second round picks (Jarett Stoll and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers)
Hecht played one season with Edmonton where he had 40 points in an 82-game season. He was traded for two second round picks, one of which became Jarret Stoll. Stoll’s career year came with the Oilers in the legendary 2005-06 campaign. The centre scored 68 points and provided the Oilers with an incredible two-way play. In the playoffs, he had 10 points in 24 games. After a season where he had 39 points in 51 games and another ~37 point year, he was dealt with Matt Greene for Lubomir Visnovsky. Stoll played an integral part in both of the Los Angeles Kings’ cup runs.
Honourable Mention: Edmonton trades a 2009 second round pick in exchange for Ales Kotalik
Reason: The Oilers and Sabres have barely traded with each other. This is the only other major trade I could really find. Kotalik played 19 games with the Oilers scoring 11 points.
Detroit Red Wings
Best Trade: Edmonton trades Jimmy Carson, Kevin McClelland and a 1991 fifth round pick (Brad Layzell) in exchange for Petr Klima, Joe Murphy, Adam Graves and Jeff Sharples
This is the trade that basically got Edmonton it’s fifth Stanley Cup in 1990. After his only season in Edmonton where he put up 100 points, Carson requested a trade to his hometown Red Wings. The deal saw Edmonton bring in Adam Graves, a hardnosed power forward who put up 11 points in 22 games in the playoffs, the underrated Joe Murphy who put up 14 points in his first ever playoff run, who also led the Oilers in scoring in the 1991-92 season.
Finally, they got Klima (may he rest in peace). Klima spent four seasons here in Edmonton, scoring 25, 40, 21, and 32 goals in those years. He was a bright spot in a bit of a rough-patch era for the Oilers. Super underrated player. Carson never came close to being the player he was in Edmonton or LA, with his best year coming in 1992 with 69 points.
Honourable Mention: Edmonton trades Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin in exchange for future considerations
Reason: Edmonton sheds Yamamoto’s contract and doesn’t buy into Kostin’s hefty contract demands. Edmonton saved basically up to $5.2M on this transaction and the Wings ended up buying out Yamamoto and trading Kostin later on.
Florida Panthers
Best Trade: Edmonton trades Teddy Purcell in exchange for a 2016 3rd round pick (Matthew Cairns)
Honestly, nothing major came out of this deal. Purcell had a few productive seasons while in Edmonton and as an upcoming UFA on a rebuilder, he was an obvious target to be traded. The value for him was fine but the pick became absolutely nothing.
Honourable Mention: Edmonton trades a 2013 4th round pick in exchange for Jarred Smithson
Reason: Similar to the Sabres, while EDM/FLA have made quite a few trades with one another, not a lot of them were really impactful. The Oilers got Smithson as their lone deadline add while in the playoff hunt in 2013. Such an embarrassment from Steve Tambellini. Remember that scene from “Oil Change”…. where the entire front office screamed “We got him!!!”. Bad memories.
Montreal Canadiens
Best Trade: Edmonton trades a 2022 second round pick (Lane Hutson) and Will Lagesson in exchange for Brett Kulak
Even though the pick became a pretty darn good player in Hutson, Kulak has been so good for the Oilers that I still like this trade. Kulak has been an incredible third pair defenceman for this team and can be counted upon to play a second pair role when required. He’s been consistently one of the Oilers’ best players in the playoffs, he makes under market value and is such a good fit for this team.
Kulak played a major role locking down a lot of the star talent the Oilers saw this past Spring and fans’ eyes in other markets and they saw just how good Kulak was. I hope he retires as an Oiler. Love him so much. Lagesson hasn’t really amounted to anything as he’s currently on his fifth NHL team in Detroit.
Honourable Mention: Edmonton trades Ben Scrivens in exchange for Zack Kassian
Reason: Kassian spent seven seasons in Edmonton becoming a fan favourite during the 2017 playoffs and rode McDavid’s shotgun for about a year. Scrivens lasted one year in Montreal.
Ottawa Senators
Best Trade: Edmonton trades a 2021 fifth round pick (Gage Alexander) in exchange for Tyler Ennis
During the 2019-20 season just before the covid pandemic, Ennis was having a nice season with the Senators where he had 33 points in 61 games. As a UFA on a cheap contract making close to league minimum, Ennis was expected to be moved at the deadline. People speculated he’d be worth a second round pick.
Ken Holland somehow ended up trading a fifth round pick a year later for the forward, an absolute heist at the time. Ennis fit in well before the season ended where he had four points in nine games and extended his contract later that summer.
Honourable Mention: Edmonton trades a 2015 fifth round pick (Christian Wolanin) and Travis Ewanyk in exchange for Eric Gryba
Reason: Edmonton gave up very little for a guy who was on the team for three years. Couldn’t find any other impactful trade to put here as well.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Best Trade: Edmonton trades Bryan Marchment, Steve Kelly and Jason Bonsignore in exchange for Roman Hamrlik and Paul Comrie
Hamrlik scored 103 points in 196 games as defenceman during his time in Edmonton and manned the blueline for three postseasons. He was an absolute rock back there and it cost the Oilers very little.
Steve Kelly was a draft pick bust, Jason Bonsignore only played 58 games before going overseas, and Bryant Marchment (rest in peace) was traded by Tampa that same season. The Oilers lost nothing to acquire a solid top-pair defenceman who was drafted first overall back in 1992.
Honourable Mention: Edmonton trades Alex Daigle to Tampa in exchange for Alex Selivanov
Reason: Daigle did absolutely nothing in Tampa while Selivanov sored 61 points in 96 games as an Oiler.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Best Trade: Edmonton trades a 1999 4th round pick (Jonathan Zion) and a 2000 2nd round pick (Kris Vernarsky) in exchange for Jason Smith
Jason “Gator” Smith was apart of the Oilers organization for eight seasons and captained them from 2001-2007. A beloved figure in Edmonton, Jason was warrior on the ice and was and had everything you could ask for in a captain.
Fans till this day can still be seen rocking the navy copper and blue #21 and like Hemsky, should be recognized this October in the Oilers Hall of Fame Class. To get Smith for two guys who never had a NHL career was a pure robbery by Oilers management.
Honourable Mention: N/A
Reason: There was literally nothing else I could find. All the other trades were basically a swap of fourth liners or AHL/draft pick moves. Nothing makes the cut.
See you next week for the Central division!
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