Nail Yakupov’s name has been a fixture in the rumour mill for a long time now, possibly for longer than his NHL career, even; in the months before the Oilers selected him consensus wisdom held that Edmonton would love to have traded the first overall pick in a move down to add a defenceman. The latest entry in this long-running story comes from TVA’s Renaud Lavoie, a reporter based out of Montreal who is a pretty decent source for this sort of thing.

The timing of this particular report shouldn’t be surprising.

The Oilers have gotten off to a bad start. Most NHL teams come out of the offseason with their rosters more or less set, and so there typically isn’t much of a fall trade market. The exceptions are when a) injuries hit or b) the team on the ice fails to match the expectations the general manager had when he looked at the team on paper. Whatever the causes of the struggles, teams with a bad record attract trade rumours like carrion attracts vultures.

Edmonton has depth on the wings and problems elsewhere. Between Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, David Perron, Benoit Pouliot, Nail Yakupov and Teddy Purcell on the wings (along with the shockingly effective defensive zone line) they have an NHL-calibre lineup throughout; I’d even go so far as to say they have a Western Conference playoff lineup at this one position. It’s only natural that the depth would lend itself to speculation.

There’s also undoubtedly a perception out there that the Oilers are desperate to turn things around. They’ve bought themselves some time locally with the win over Tampa Bay – and a good homestand would go a lot further – but a loss or two and the knives will be out again. In that case, the kind of talent that generally isn’t available in-season might shake loose. It isn’t just Yakupov, either; the internet is rife with suggestions of Eberle or Perron plying their trade elsewhere. Anyone who isn’t newly acquired (Pouliot, Purcell) or seen as untouchable (Hall) is fair game for the rumour mill.

Probably not very much.

An NHL team that isn’t sniffing around for opportunity (and I’d suggest any team at the Winnipeg level or below in the league standings qualifies as that, at least potentially) isn’t doing its job.

If I’m a rival G.M. looking at Edmonton, I’m looking at the pieces that might come loose – wingers, thanks to the team’s depth, and good players who are either undervalued (Martin Marincin’s demotion to the minors suggest he’s one of them) or heading toward free agency (hello, Jeff Petry). Yakupov tends to get undersold because he’s coming off a bad year, but he was a consensus No. 1 pick for a reason and if it all comes together he’s going to be a scary good player. If he’s available for a useful piece with a lower ceiling, that’s a very interesting deal to me.

Nothing in Lavoie’s report suggests the Oilers are itching to dump Yakupov; he flat out asks if Edmonton is willing to make such a move. All he says is something that we could have inferred without a report – that there are always predatory general managers out there ready to pounce on the sick and the weak and the inexperienced.