The Edmonton Oilers reportedly made an offer for star winger Timo Meier ahead of NHL trade deadline
By Zach Laing
1 year agoThe Edmonton Oilers reportedly made an offer for star winger Timo Meier while he was playing for the San Jose Sharks.
This is according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, who made the comment on Hockey Night in Canada Saturday night.
“To me, one of the most facinating things is the Edmonton Oilers made a legitimate pitch for Timo Meier. Now obviously, it didn’t happen. He was traded to the New Jersey Devils, but the Oilers did take a long look into it. From what I understand, they made an offer. They were looking at it like ‘we’ll bring him in and figure everything out in the summer after the season.’ But they wanted him for the playoffs. I thought it was a really interesting idea.I think Calgary looked at it too, but they were more interested in it too if they could sign him. But Edmonton, Jeff, was willing to do it and just let this play out down the road.”
It’s fascinating that the Oilers even considered this given the plethora of offensive talent the team already has in the top six. Even with that, Meier would’ve been a tremendous addition to the Oilers’ forward group. He’s a big body who shoots the puck a ton and has three 30-goal seasons, and five 20-goal campaigns in his seven NHL seasons.
Meier was eventually dealt to the Devils in what became one of the biggest trades — at least player and picks-wise — in NHL history.
The Oilers wouldn’t have had any issue in moving the draft capital in this deal, and with Meier playing on a $6-million deal, the team would’ve had to move out some salary back in the deal. Edmonton ended up moving out Jesse Puljujarvi to clear money to bring in Mattias Ekholm, so could’ve the Oilers tried to offer up a young player like Kailer Yamamoto? He’s in the Fabian Zetterlund range of players, and the Oilers have more than enough B-level prospects in their system to the tune of Shakir Mukhamadullin.
If a deal could’ve been consummated, it would’ve been fascinating to see what the Oilers would’ve done in the offseason. Meier is due a monstrous $10-million qualifying offer as an RFA and will likely command money in the $8-million range. A lot of changes would’ve been needed to keep him around.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
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