Buy Low Candidates
6 years ago
With names like Mark Letestu, Patrick Maroon, and even Mike Cammalleri, it’s expected that the Oilers will be sellers at this year’s trade deadline.
While most assume that the team will just sell off their pending free-agents for draft picks, I think there may be a chance to possibly flip them for some young, fringe NHLers who could help fill holes on this team in 2018-19.
While Peter Chiarelli has been carved for his inability to win big trades, he has a solid track record of winning smaller deals. I think it would be smart for Chiarelli to not go into this deadline as a strict seller, instead seek out players who may be undervalued by a team that’s looking for more immediate success
Frank Seravalli’s Trade Bait Board over at TSN is great and got me thinking about some possible candidates for the Oilers to scoop up before February 26th.
NIC PETAN
It’s now been five years since the Winnipeg Jets took Nic Petan in the second round of the NHL Draft and he struggled to become a consistent NHLer.
He played in 54 games last season, only scoring one goal. This year, he’s been in the AHL for most of the year, only appearing in six NHL games. During his time with the Manitoba Moose, he’s produced very well, scoring 41 points in 39 games.
I think there’s some untapped offence in Petans’ game. He’s been a relatively solid possession player and when he’s on the ice, he gets his chances but has a shooting percentage of just 5.08%. I think if he’s given a fresh start, and get some better puck luck, Petan might be a serviceable forward.
There have also been reports that the Jets are considering adding a top-six forward at the deadline, could Patrick Maroon be a fit?
THE BLUES
St. Louis could be looking to add a top-six forward and there’s no doubt that Missouri native Patrick Maroon would be a decent fit.
There are a few names that interest me on the Blues, one is Jordan Kyrou, who Frank Seravalli has at #15 on his annual Trade Bait Board over at TSN. The second round pick is described as a two-way playmaker who has strong hockey sense at both ends of the rink. So far this year with Sarnia (OHL), he’s producing exactly two points a game.
If the Blues are seriously into Maroon, I would prefer to see the Oilers try to bring in a player like Kyrou, who could jump right into the NHL next season.
OTHER OPTIONS
On Saturday we heard that Josh Leivo has requested a trade from Toronto, he could be a player that could benefit from a fresh start. Nikita Soshnikov is another Leaf who I like, but I don’t think he’d be as easy to pry away as Leivo would.
Lowetide did a great piece a few weeks ago on his site and mentioned names like Zach Senyshyn and Michael Dal Colle among others.
This organization needs to add more depth, especially at forward, to their prospect pool and I think acquiring young, fringe players is a good way to speed up that process. The other side of that is, now that Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are both getting into their big money deals, finding cheap players who can contribute up front is crucial.
There are some candidates out there for the Oilers to possibly buy low on and hopefully, Chiarelli takes advantage of this and continues improving his track record of winning the smaller deals.
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