While enjoying six wins in eight games, some interesting trade rumors surround the Edmonton Oilers. The first one is Joel Edmundson, from Montreal. The “playoff defenseman” would be a decent addition for the Oil and their third pairing. But I’m not keen on trading a first round pick for him. Nor would I want to give up Xavier Bourgault, the prospect that the Canadiens might want back, given the Quebec roots. The other is Erik Karlsson. Yes, THAT Erik Karlsson. The early front runner for the Norris trophy, who has aged ten years younger with 37 points in 30 games this season, will surely not finish the season on a team that looks to not make the playoffs this year. Of course, out of the two, you would choose Karlsson over Edmundson if it were that easy. But it would also be a matter of making the money work. Karlsson makes $11.5M a season and will be for another four after this one. You’d have to give back one or two decently sized contracts while having San Jose retain part of his salary. The window to win a Cup with McDavid and Draisaitl opened after last year’s playoffs, and the defensive play has not been all that impressive. So it makes sense why Edmonton may be in on one of these players. Should it be Edmundson, he’d be the third LHD behind Nurse and Kulak, sending Broberg either to the AHL or having him as the 7th defenseman in an 11-7 system. For Karlsson? Barrie would have to go the other way for cap reasons and to keep the number of RHD at three. Edmundson looks more like the type of player that Ken Holland would prefer. As mentioned, I don’t think he’s worth the rumored asking price. I understand a lot of Oilers fans are tired of hearing about first round picks and no disrespect at all to Edmundson, but could he repeat his play in the 2021 Stanley Cup run? And as solid as the offseason acquisition Klim Kostin has been for the bottom six, I think the Oil may also want to target another 3rd or 4th line forward. This week’s opponents are…
Monday, December 12th at 6 pm VS Minnesota Wild
This past Friday saw the Oilers record their first win against this team since 2019. Even long before that, no other team has given Edmonton more fits. The silver lining in playing the Wild three times in one week is that we got it out of the way early. We won’t have to worry about this franchise-long curse again for the rest of the season.
Tuesday, December 13th at 6 pm VS Nashville Predators
The second meeting between these teams and the end of a minor two-game road trip. The first meeting was a 7-4 decision favoring Edmonton, with Draisaitl having a five point night. He always plays his best hockey statistically against this team. They also have the 28th ranked PP, which should put the 27th ranked PK at ease if they take a fair amount of penalties. This will be the second half of a back-to-back, so I would imagine Jack Campbell getting this start instead of the Minnesota game. Plus, he’s beaten them once already this season.
Thursday, December 15th at 7 pm VS St. Louis Blues
The first two meetings against St. Louis were very low scoring. They weren’t the roller coasters that Oilers fans have become accustomed to. We should expect the same in this third and final meeting. Not that they were doing well before, but injuries to Torey Krug and Pavel Buchnevich hurt them a tad
Saturday, December 17th at 2 pm VS Anaheim Ducks
Ah, yes. This an extra day to be reminded that Edmonton passed on Trevor Zegras four drafts ago. An exciting forward lined up with Mason McTavish and Troy Terry, two other young studs. You know how people talk about covering the front of the net? Against this team, you need to cover the back of the net, or else Zegras will score another one of his lacrosse goals. Much like the game against Arizona, you must take advantage of a bottom dweller match up. It’s also a game that Campbell should start after the back-to-back. Many fans figured he’d have played against the aforementioned Coyotes.
