Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Trade Options For The Edmonton Oilers

11/24/2014 at 8:10am EST

from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

MacTavish knows he has to make a trade, but what is his No. 1 priority? It’s tough to finger Ben Scrivens or Vitkor Fasth completely for their .887 and .890 save percentages because the team defence gives up so many chances. Against the Hawks, there were so many 3-on-2 breaks it looked like a normal morning line-rush practice. Is that the goalie’s fault? Do they need a 26 to 30-year-old centre with a 500 to 700-game pedigree and 500 or so NHL points to help No. 1 centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins? They aren’t getting a Giordano or a Doughty or a Weber or a PK Subban. Normally you have to draft them. They thought Justin Schultz could be that guy, but he’s struggling mightily.

Here’s what the Oilers could be looking at:

Goal: Antti Niemi, 31, (San Jose). He’s played 293 games and is an unrestricted free-agent July 1, and his halcyon days in Chicago when he won the Cup in 2010 seem light years away. He does have good numbers since then in regular-season (2.38, 2.42, 2.17 and 2.39) but he is 20-20 in the playoffs in those four yeas. This year he’s 7-6-3 with a 2.58 average and .915 save percentage and the Sharks feel Alex Stalock can be as good, and they have young Troy Grosenick, who got a shutout in his first NHL game, coming. Would they take back, say, Fasth, also UFA and a young forward or D-man? Niemi’s cap hit is $3.8 mil, Fasth’s is $2.9 mil.

Centre: Patrik Berglund (St. Louis). He’s the third centre there behind Paul Stastny and Jori Lehtera, the first-year Finn. His cap hit for this year and next is $3.9 million. He’s having a poor year (four points) and he’s only a 47.2 face-off guy, but he’s only 26 and he’s 6’3″, 217 pounds. Scouts say he may be more comfortable on the wing; he’s got a very good shot. The Blues are short of depth D-men after their top six, especially trading Jordan Leopold to Columbus, although they do have Chris Butler, who played in Calgary last year. If the Oilers wanted Berglund, they’d have to give up more than one piece.

more with other options at the positions mentioned...

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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