If I’m being honest, this year’s trade market isn’t very strong.

I would love to see the Oilers go out and make a really big splash and after watching the team get stomped by the Anaheim Ducks in their return to Rogers Place on Tuesday night, I would hope that GM Stan Bowman is feeling some amount of pressure to go out and shake this team up.

The problem, however, is that there really isn’t a perfect fit out there for the Edmonton Oilers.

They would benefit from adding a goalie that has a higher ceiling than Calvin Pickard and they also need to upgrade on John Klingberg, who just hasn’t shown enough through ten games to comfortably say that he can handle being a top-four defenceman come playoff time.

The team is not going to go get one of the high-end goalies that is reportedly on the market. John Gibson or Jordan Binnington are not going to happen, at least that’s the belief right now.

Could they make a smaller case move? Potentially.

I do wonder if the Detroit Red Wings could be convinced to move Alex Lyon but considering the fact that they are squarely in the playoff mix and are facing pressure to end their drought, the Oilers would likely have to overplay by quite a bit.

Could it be worth it? Sure, but I doubt the Red Wings would be willing to move him.

Honestly, this deadline is really shaping up to be a seller’s market. If you have a good player, especially one with term, you will probably get a great price for them because there are so many teams in the league that don’t want to punt on this season.

In the East, I count 11 teams that are either bonafide contenders or teams looking to push for a playoff spot. In the West, there are another 11, and honestly, Anaheim might not be willing to sell.

Two-thirds of the league want to take a run at things and that’s going to drive prices up.

One team that may be entering the conversation as a potential seller is the New Jersey Devils. They just learned that Jack Hughes is going to miss the remainder of the season, including the playoffs, and on top of that, they’ve been trending downward since the calendar flipped to 2025.

I don’t think they’re going to fully punt on the season and trade away pieces like Jacob Markstrom or one of their big-name forwards. That seems like a bridge too far and honestly, I could still see them looking to add a forward with term like Dylan Cozens or Casey Mittlestadt.

At the same time, if they’re going to trade away significant futures to help this team, which now basically has no shot of going on a Stanley Cup run, then they might also be willing to trade off some lower-end pieces in order to not totally deplete their system.

Enter Johnathan Kovacevic. The 27-year-old defenceman is having a really strong season and excels in some areas that the Oilers could really use some help in. He is a quality penalty killer and he can move the puck pretty well.

He would fit in really nice on the Oilers’ right side and with a cap hit of just $766k, they could easily fit him into their cap structure.

Why would the Devils trade him? Well, they have both Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce already signed long-term on the right side of their blueline and they have two really promising young defensemen in Seamus Casey and Simon Nemec coming up through their system.

They really don’t have room for Kovacevic. The idea that he could be made available in the next 48 hours is not far-fetched.

What about goaltender Jake Allen? I doubt it, but maybe New Jersey will surprise us.

We are less than 48 hours away from the deadline and if the Oilers are going to make a really big splash, they might need a team to become a seller that we weren’t counting on.

The Oilers appear to be destined to once again take on the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and considering that they’ve beaten the Kings three years in a row and have done it in fewer games as the years have gone on, there really aren’t a lot of reasons to be concerned about how they matchup with them this season.

At the moment, the Kings have better goaltending but I think the blue lines are actually pretty close and the Oilers obviously hold a big edge when it comes to star power.

That could change at this deadline though.

Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli said yesterday that if the Carolina Hurricanes were to move on from Mikko Rantanen before Friday afternoon, the Kings would be a team that would push very hard to bring in the superstar forward.

If the Kings were to get Rantanen, it would absolutely change how I’d view them as a potential first-round opponent.

From the Kings’ perspective, they’re obviously sick of losing to the Oilers and they are still yet to have win a round in the playoffs since Rob Blake became GM. Jobs are on the line in Hollywood and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they acted accordingly in the next day or so.

The Oilers should be on notice.

The Canadian premiere screening of the documentary “UKE: The Untold Story of Hockey Legends” takes place at Ford Hall in Edmonton’s Rogers Place on

Monday, March 10, 2025. The film screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the film’s director Volodymyr Mula and broadcaster Kelly Hrudey.

The film highlights the enduring legacy of over 50 NHL champions of Ukrainian descent—more than any other nationality outside North America. Through rare footage, personal interviews, and gripping storytelling, “UKE” sheds light on the lives of legendary players such as Johnny Bucyk, Ken Daneyko, and Ruslan Fedotenko, revealing their connection to Ukraine and their lasting influence on the world of hockey.

Tickets and event information at www.ukrfolk.ca,  Tickets include delicious Ukrainian food!