Should The Edmonton Oilers Pursue Chris Tanev?

Trade with the rivals? What sort of blasphemy is this? Yes, I am absolutely contemplating the Edmonton Oilers making a deal with the Calgary Flames. Vancouver Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal reported that Edmonton was making a push for Tanev’s services. It wouldn’t be the first time the two Alberta teams decided to be friends in this instance. There have previously been three trades between them. 

Related Post: Could the Oilers Switch Kulak For Broberg?

  • March 3, 2010: Calgary trades Aaron Johnson and a 2011 third-round pick to Edmonton for Steve Staios
  • November 8, 2013: Calgary trades Roman Horak and Laurent Brossoit to Edmonton for Ladislav Smid and Olivier Roy
  • July 19, 2019: Calgary trades James Neal to Edmonton for Milan Lucic and a conditional 2020 third-round pick

Chris Tanev could potentially be added to the Battle Of Alberta trade tree. Playing in his 14th NHL season, the 34-year-old defenseman has 1 goal and 11 assists for 12 points through 52 games. But his style of play has never been about offense, although 28 points a couple of seasons ago is pretty good for this type of blueliner. He has blocked 159 shots this season and just reached a 1600 blocked shot milestone in Calgary’s game yesterday. This is his bread and butter, this is the value that other teams see in him. He’s an absolute warrior, as they say. He even dove to block a shot with his face, for crying out loud. I will never get how players have it in them to stand up after that. Assuming you have a social media account, it’s no secret that every Oilers fan wants an upgrade on Cody Ceci for the second pairing. Tanev is pretty much a better version of Ceci. 

Elliotte Friedman stated a few days ago that the Flames want a first-round pick in return for Tanev. But I think since the Oilers are a rival team, a provincial rival at that, they may have to fork over more assets than other teams would. When Vancouver traded for Elias Lindholm, they gave Calgary five total pieces, not just Andrei Kuzmenko. It’s why some teams don’t normally like trading within their own division. Imagine what Edmonton’s trade offer might have to be when using the Canucks as a recent example. Tanev is making $4.5M, can Ken Holland convince Craig Conroy to take Jack Campbell’s $5M cap hit? We would have one too many defensemen if we added Tanev. Would the Flames be open to accepting Ceci if the Oilers threw in a first-round pick?

Stephen Vani

Oilers fan in Toronto. Staying up past my bedtime for Western games since the mid 2000s.

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