WWYDW: Dealing a player with term?

Bob Stauffer put out an interesting and somewhat ambiguous tweet today about how he envisions Edmonton’s off-season playing out. Stauffer said he doesn’t expect the Oilers to deal their No. 10 overall pick or be in on pricey unrestricted free agents but they might look to deal one of their players locked into a long-term contract to shake up the roster.

To me, this screams Oscar Klefbom. When Stauffer talks about the Oilers trying to move a big contract you’d hope he’s talking about Milan Lucic or Kris Russell, but both of those contracts would be incredibly difficult to move. Klefbom is currently inked to a very team-friendly contract worth $4,167,000 annually for five more seasons. He certainly fits the bill of a “player with term” like Stauffer mentioned. We’ve also heard Klefbom’s name brought up in trade rumours multiple times in the past. Given the abudance of lefty defencemen the Oilers have, the reality of Darnell Nurse being a favourite within the organization and Andrej Sekera and Kris Russell owning no movement clauses, and Klefbom’s very good contract, all signs point to him being the one used in this kind of trade.

That brings us to this week’s What Would You Do Wednesday question. If the Oilers are dealing Klefbom to bring back a player that brings a different “ingredient” to the lineup, who should they be looking for?

Stauffer is well connected within the organization so when he tweets something like this it’s almost inevitable that it’s going to happen. Last year Stauffer discussed an Eberle for Strome swap before it happened. He talked about dealing Taylor Hall for a defenceman before it happened too. One would assume that Peter Chiarelli is going to be gunning for a defenceman who can quarterback the power play. He said it was one of the team’s biggest needs heading into the off-season.

Finding a power play quarterback isn’t the easiest thing to do. When teams find good defenders who can move the puck and produce offence they tend to hang onto them. I talked about John Carlson being a great fit on the Oilers, but, given how good he is and how many teams are in need of this kind of player, there’s no way it would work out.

Some names that make sense (a righty defenceman who produces offence) would be Justin Faulk (who has two years left on his deal at $4,833,333) and Tyson Barrie (who has two more years left at $5,500,000). A couple other names I feel are less likely but still fit the profile are Rasmus Ristolainen (who’s signed in Buffalo for four more years at $5,400,000) and Torey Krug (who’s signed for two more years at $5,250,000 but shoots left).

Like I said, it isn’t easy to find this kind of player. Looking at the league’s top defencemen by power play points last season, many are mainstays within their organization. Guys like Victor Hedman and Brent Burns aren’t going anywhere because the ability to bring offence to the table from the blueline is so valuable. Oscar Klefbom is a good player on a great deal so he should be able to net a very good return, but given the lack of fits out there, it’s worrying that Chiarelli might be getting himself into an overpay situation again as we’ve seen in the past.

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