With the start of the 4 Nations Face-Off coming in the next few days, and with all teams on break, most would think that the NHL is simply on pause for the foreseeable future.
That doesn’t appear to be the case according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and 32 Thoughts the Podcast.
In fact, the opposite may be true, as the general sense among the league is that while the games are going on trades are likely to still happen. For the Edmonton Oilers, that could be the case as recent rumours have linked them to two players who could be making the trip up north to Edmonton for a long playoff run.
On Monday’s episode of 32 Thoughts, Friedman linked two players to the Oilers for potential trades: Ryan Donato and John Gibson.
Donato’s impressive season drawing attention
Donato was initially linked to the Oilers on Saturday during the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast and where there is smoke there is fire. Donato is currently having a career season with the Chicago Blackhawks posting 19 goals and 18 assists in 53 games, all career highs. On a Blackhawks team that is simply not good, it’s pretty astounding numbers.
In the final year of a two-year deal that is paying him $2M a season, the team could easily fit him onto their cap using the LTIR pool money left by Evander Kane. That is of course assuming that Kane doesn’t return before the end of the season.
There was no discussion on acquisition cost, but based on the production level and low cap hit the Blackhawks will likely be trying to get as much for the pending UFA as possible. That being said, it’s a player the Oilers should be chasing after.
Is Gibson a goaltending solution?
The same can’t be said for the second player mentioned on the podcast: John Gibson. Friedman was tipped on the weekend to look into Gibson and Edmonton as a possible trade partner. The Oilers have long been debating upgrading their netminders for years now, but Gibson seems like an odd target.
For one, Gibson has two years left on his contract that is paying him $6.4M a season. That is an issue this year and in future years, despite the salary cap going up. Stuart Skinner is going to need a new contract and the Oilers could use that money elsewhere. The Anaheim Ducks have also been firm on the price for Gibson and the Oilers don’t have much in the cupboard to be giving up in addition to salary retention.
Additionally, Friedman mentioned that Gibson has long said he wants to play somewhere that he is the number one option. Right now, Skinner is this team’s number-one goalie and led them to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final last year. Sure his regular seasons have been murky, but he’s gotten the job done when it counts.
It would be hard to imagine the Oilers making this move to supplant Skinner in net, while also giving up a lot in assets and salary cap space. Perhaps there is a deal to be made, but the Donato move looks far more likely.
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