The Oilers are apparently interested in Eric Staal
By Cam Lewis
3 years agoWe’re just over one month from the NHL’s trade deadline and rumour season is starting to get revved up.
On Tuesday’s edition of Insider Trading on TSN, Pierre LeBrun spoke about how the Buffalo Sabres are looking to sell off their impending free agents, and he mentioned the Oilers specifically has a team who has shown interest in veteran pivot @Eric Staal…
“Obviously the pending UFAs are the most likely to move, they’re the easiest to move at this time of year. Eric Staal would be among those players.In the past several years, Eric Staal, through his camp, has told the Minnesota Wild ‘I’d rather not move, I’ve got a no-trade clause, my family is happy in Minnesota.’ Of course, he’s not in Minnesota anymore against his will to the Buffalo Sabres in the off-season. I was told that he would be open to a deal to a contender.He has a partial no-trade with 10 teams on it but for the right team he would certainly go. He’s living alone in Buffalo, his family isn’t with him, so what’s the difference from one hotel to another. You might as well go try and win somewhere else.Keep an eye on Edmonton. The Oilers would have to be dollar in, dollar out since they’re right at the cap right now. But they’re looking at their third line, I’m told that Eric Staal is a name that has been mentioned internally by the Oilers’ brass.”
Staal is having a poor season so far in Buffalo, but, to be fair to him, everybody on the team is too. He has just three goals and five points through 23 games but he scored 19 goals as a member of the Wild in 2019-20 and he scored 22 the year before that. If he’s put into a new situation on a better team, it’s reasonable to assume he can still contribute.
As of right now, one of Edmonton’s biggest needs is the third-line centre spot. Kyle Turris was brought in over the off-season to help drive an offensively-oriented third line but, outside of a few good games, he hasn’t been able to get the job done. Both Jujhar Khaira and Gaetan Haas have played well this season but they aren’t the veteran, shutdown pivots you’d like to have flanking a third line come playoff time.
Staal has a cap hit of $3,250,000 and he’s a free agent at the end of the season, so if the Sabres were to retain salary on a deal, Edmonton would be able to squeeze him into their tight cap situation.
The question for Ken Holland is how much he would be willing to give up for a rental and how much Staal has left in the tank. Another thing to consider is that Staal would require a two-week quarantine to join the Oilers, so Holland would likely have to pull the trigger well before the trade deadline in order to give him adequate time to acclimatize himself with his new team.
What say you, Nation? Would Staal be a good fit? How much would you be willing to give up to bring him in? Is he an upgrade over what the team already has?
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