Here's some surprising news from the Edmonton Journal's Jim Matheson:

If you were holding out any last-ditch hope for a new deal for free-agent Edmonton Oilers defenceman Jeff Petry — arguably their best blue-liner this season — before the National Hockey League trade deadline on March 2, forget it.

“We have had no contract negotiations with the Oilers and we’ve expressed that to Jeff,” said his agent Wade Arnott, who also represents Oilers defenceman Justin Schultz. “We expect Jeff will be dealt by the deadline.”

So, Petry has six or fewer games left in the orange and blue before the deadline. In Winnipeg Monday, at home to Boston, Minnesota and Anaheim this upcoming week, in Minnesota Feb. 24, then at Rexall against St. Louis Feb. 28.

He has played 292 games but he won’t get to 300 as an Oiler.

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Sources say teams have already started calling Arnott to see if Petry might want to sign with them before he goes the free-agent route July 1. If so, the Oilers could conceivably get something more than, say, a second-round draft pick or a younger defenceman in a trade.

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