- The Oilers are shopping their extra blue-line depth for help up front
- Five Edmonton forwards are on the injured list three games into the season
- Read below for the video of Elliotte Friedman’s Saturday Headlines report
The Oilers want to turn a spare defenseman into a forward.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday Headlines that Edmonton has explored what he called a “lateral trade” to fix a banged-up forward group. He laid out the situation during the second intermission of Saturday’s broadcast, with the Oilers hosting Seattle that night.
“Edmonton, there’s a lot of D and some forward injuries,” Friedman said. “They have explored a lateral trade is the phrase I’ve heard, maybe a defenseman for a forward. Their forwards are not out long term, so it’s not like they’re panicked to do it.”
Watch Friedman’s full segment (the Oilers item starts at 1:23):
He added that if a depth-for-depth swap shows up, Edmonton will look at it.
Injuries explain the hunt. Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jason Dickinson, Mattias Janmark and Matthew Savoie were all listed as injured for Saturday’s game against the Kraken. Hyman alone is expected to miss two weeks.
Meanwhile, the blue line is crowded. Edmonton carried eight defensemen into the season, and Ty Emberson, Spencer Stastney and Shakir Mukhamadullin have been rotating through the last spot behind Mattias Ekholm, Evan Bouchard, Ryan Shea, Connor Murphy and Jake Walman. Friedman didn’t name names, but those three look like the obvious candidates to go.
Results haven’t forced anyone’s hand. The Oilers beat Seattle 3-1 Saturday to move to 2-0-1, and Connor McDavid has nine points through three games. Leon Draisaitl broke a 1-1 tie with 2:27 left in regulation, and it took a lucky bounce to get there.
Check out the go-ahead goal:
Edmonton has gone shopping for forwards before. The Oilers showed interest in Kirill Marchenko before Columbus sent him to Toronto, and they’ve been linked to Montreal’s Kirby Dach too.
A depth swap is a much smaller move than either of those. It would still give Mike Babcock another body up front until Hyman and Nugent-Hopkins get back.
