The Edmonton Oilers have started the season a lot slower than they would have liked, and most expected them to. The loss of Philip Broberg has stung more than they anticipated, too, with Broberg playing top-pairing minutes in St. Louis and logging almost 20 minutes of ice time each night.
The most glaring hole in the Oilers’ lineup right now is on the blueline. Many insiders are reporting that the Oilers are actively looking for help in their top-four, and making calls to acquire a player who could slot in and play right away.
It looks like things are in the preliminary stages right now and no individual player names have been floated by any reputable sources, but a couple of teams have been mentioned. Here’s who the Oilers might be looking at.
1. Ivan Provorov – Columbus Blue Jackets
| GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | SOG | HIT | BLK | ATOI | xGF% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 5 | 15 | 23:42 | 47.6 |
| Career | 625 | 70 | 182 | 252 | -36 | 220 | 1190 | 764 | 1205 | 23:49 | 48.1 |
Ivan Provorov was drafted in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft, seventh overall by the Philadelphia Flyers. At 27-years-old, he’s still a young player, especially for a defenceman, but he has logged an impressive 625 games and put up a respectable 0.40 points per game.
Provorov has a poor reputation league-wide due to his refusal to wear the Flyers’ pride warmup jersey back in 2023, and was later traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
He has a history of playing big minutes and could easily play in the top-four in Edmonton. With the Blue Jackets not being a cup-contending team, shipping out this type of player would make sense for them, and they’d be looking to receive futures back.
Provorov is in the final year of a deal with a $6,750,000 AAV.
2. Rasmus Ristolainen – Philadelphia Flyers
| GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | SOG | HIT | BLK | ATOI | xGF% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -4 | 0 | 12 | 25 | 18 | 19:08 | 50.0 |
| Career | 725 | 53 | 234 | 287 | -186 | 369 | 1367 | 1828 | 1178 | 22:47 | 45.6 |
Rasmus Ristolainen was drafted in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft, eighth overall by the Buffalo Sabres. He’s 30-years-old now, but still plays a ton of minutes and the same punishing style he always has.
Ristolainen is best known for being the poster child of poor analytics. There are numerous articles and reports talking about how Ristolainen is one of the worst defensive players in the NHL, bleeds chances against, and is a downright liability in his own zone.
He was a trade target for Brian Burke when he was heading the Calgary Flames a number of years ago, but the Flames’ analytics director, Chris Snow, apparently vetoed the whole thought process because of how bad Ristolainen’s underlying numbers were at the time.
That being said, Ristolainen’s numbers have improved since then, and he’s turned into a fairly reliable middle-six option. This season, he’s at a nice 50% in expected goal share at 5v5.
For a team that is clearly rebuilding, shipping out a 30-year-old defenceman makes a lot of sense and the acquisition cost wouldn’t be too high.
Ristolainen is in the third year of a five-year deal with a $5,100,000 AAV.
Can the Oilers make a deal?
Both these teams are near the bottom of the standings and will be looking for futures in a deal with the Oilers. While the Oilers don’t really have a ton of blue-chip prospects to offer outside of Sam O’Reilly, they have some intriguing prospects in Beau Akey, Dylan Wakely, and even Maxim Beryozkin.
The Oilers also own all their draft picks in the top three rounds in all of the next three years, except for their 2025 first-rounder.
The one thing that could make things complicated is the salary cap. The Oilers are essentially at the cap ceiling right now, and won’t be able to add any players without the other team retaining salary.
This isn’t a deal that has to happen right away, but the sooner the better so the new player can have as much time as possible to adjust to the Oilers’ systems and players.
One Comment