We’re still months away from true conversations about who could and could be rentals in the trade market, and with each passing week, those names will become clearer.
And now, entering month two of the season, some of those names are starting to be seen through the fog.
The Athletic’s Chris Johnston detailed some of them in a recent mailbag, highlighting an ex-Edmonton Oilers blue liner, and a few others, as being potential names that could be moved.
Ivan Provorov topped my list of 10 early trade candidates published last month. The Columbus Blue Jackets will almost certainly move the left-shot defenseman ahead of the trade deadline. Some other names to consider are Cam Fowler of the Anaheim Ducks and Rasmus Ristolainen of the Philadelphia Flyers, both of whom are signed beyond this season. While the rental market is still taking shape and will hinge heavily on where the playoff races stand come late February, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the San Jose Sharks move veteran right-shot defenseman Cody Ceci before the end of the season.
The Oilers will undoubtedly be players in the defenceman market as it continues to take shape, and to talk about the elephant in the room, no, they won’t be re-acquiring Cody Ceci at or ahead the deadline. For one, the San Jose Sharks have used all three of their salary retention slots for this season, having eaten money on Brent Burns, Tomas Hertl and Erik Karlsson in their respective trades. Whomever the Oilers bring in will almost certainly need to be with money retained, and Ceci was, quite simply not good enough in the final two years of his tenure here. His time in San Jose hasn’t been great, either, with the Sharks getting outscored 15-10 with him on the ice at five-on-five, though his 40 percent goal share is 2.16 percent better than team average.
Provorov might have the highest ceiling of the four Johnston mentioned. The 27-year-old, acquired by the Blue Jackets in a blockbuster last year, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, playing out the final year of a six-year, $6.75-million deal. A two-way defenceman, he’s put up 71 goals and 253 points across 628 games with the Philadelphia Flyers and Blue Jackets. His best offensive season came in his sophomore season, racking up 17 goals and 41 points in 2017-18, and has never scored fewer than 26 points in a single season.
At the time of writing, he’s put up a goal and four points in 14 games this year, seeing a slight dip in his per-game averages from his career numbers. While he is a left-shot defenceman, he’s been playing the right side on the Blue Jackets second pairing this season.
Cam Fowler is a player that could be of interest. The 32-year-old, however, has one year left after this on his contract with the Ducks, paying him $6.5-million. Anaheim has all three of their retention spots left, so they, in theory, could eat some of this money in a trade. Fowler is another solid two-way defenceman, but he’s a left-shot who doesn’t play his offhand. That might leave the Oilers out on him.
For as much as he’s been mired over the years, Ristolainen could be an interesting option for the Oilers. He’s a right-shot defenceman, 30-years-old and has all The Big the team could want, standing at 6’4, 200 lbs. He has two years remaining on a deal paying him $5.1-million per year, so navigating the salary implications could be complicated. A bigger price tag didn’t stop the Oilers from picking up Mattias Ekholm, so there’s recent precedent for the team making the money work.
Ristolainen can munch minutes at five-on-five and on the penalty kill, and Oilersnation’s Sunil Angtori recently detailed how he could be an interesting option, saying “from his recent numbers, there appears to be value as he can hold his own on a second pairing at even strength and can play on the penalty kill.” He’ll be a name to watch this winter.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
