Here’s one to keep in the back of your mind. The Edmonton Oilers have some cap space and are leaving it open for flexibility when it comes to adding a forward. Their GM cited an abundance of goaltending and defense.
Any team
with that setup is an interesting one for the Penguins who (waves hands) have a lot to figure out with seemingly too many forwards and not enough quality defense.
However, any possible trade might be more periphery than major. Most of the top defensemen on the Oilers – Jake Walman, Connor Murphy, Mattias Ekholm – all have no movement clauses. The recently signed Ryan Shea possesses a full no trade clause through 2028. Evan Bouchard has a full no movement kicking in next season, he is too young to get one now but figures to be completely off the table for a trade anyways.
That leaves limited candidates to pick from, but there still are some players in their mid-20’s that fit the mold of what the Penguins have been interested in acquiring. Shakir Mukhamadullin (acquired in the EDM-SJ Darnell Nurse trade) is 24 years old and inching towards becoming a full-time NHL player. Spencer Stastney, 26, is another player who’s worked mostly at the bottom of the lineup but been a coveted player by management types. Both of those players are left shots, Ty Emberson is a right shot that the Pens wouldn’t have much need for.
Pittsburgh has some players in that range to offer up that wouldn’t cause too much chaos to drop like Justin Brazeau, Hendrix Lapierre or even Elmer Soderblom as potential lineup-worthy forwards that might not have a spot in the opening night game barring injury. All of those players carry cap hits that wouldn’t be prohibitive for Edmonton, though players like Tommy Novak ($4.6m extension starting next season) and Ville Koivunen ($4.0 million cap hit) would be attainable but more of a stretch for the Oilers to acquire.
Just some loose dots that might connect at some point, possibly early in the year as teams wait to see what they have from the pieces in place and then look to swap to better their roster. The Pens and Oilers have a history of working together in trades in the past and they just might be lining up to be decent partners to make another move in the near future given how their positional splits compliment one another.
