<p>The Edmonton Oilers&#8217; desire to add a defenceman has been crystal clear and talks began to pick up in recent days. Even as early as this morning, I wrote about the Oilers going hard after Jakob Chychrun, Mattias Ekholm and Vladislav Gavrikov before they landed the Nashville Predators defenceman.</p>
<p></p>
<p>According to <em>TSN&#8217;s</em> Darren Dreger, who has had a great finger on the pulse of the Oilers this week, Edmonton and Arizona were &#8220;in deep as of late this morning&#8221; before the Oilers pivoted to Ekholm.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bill Armstrong is back to the drawing board working on landing spots for Chychrun. The Oilers and Coyotes were in deep as late as this morning before Ken Holland cut bait and reset his focus on Ekholm and the deal with the Preds.</p>
<p>&mdash; Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1630742997733081091?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>I&#8217;d be curious to know what the hold up was on a potential Chychrun deal, but if I had to take an educated guess, it seems like the Coyotes may have been against taking on contracts back. The Predators, meanwhile, had no issue with that going so far as taking back <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2023/02/28/the-oilers-have-traded-tyson-barrie-reid-schaefer-and-two-draft-picks-for-mattias-eklhom/">Tyson Barrie in the Ekholm deal</a>.</p>
<p>Edmonton had been linked to Chychrun for some time, and while my preference still would&#8217;ve been acquiring him given his age and better contract status,<a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2023/02/28/edmonton-oilers-solidify-blueline-with-acquisition-of-mattias-ekholm/"> I think the acquisition of Ekholm is a near-perfect fit for the Oilers</a>.</p>
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Our Live Reaction To The Oilers HUGE Trade | Oilersnation Everyday" width="1424" height="801" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OTrTryAaxBc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<h1>A wild day of trades</h1>
<p>If you thought the Oilers had a big day trading Jesse Puljujarvi and picking up Ekholm, boy, do I have news for you. There were six other trades that broke loose! Let&#8217;s take a quick look at each of them.</p>
<h2>Minnesota Wild acquire Marcus Johansson from the Washington Capitals for a 2024 3rd round pick</h2>
<p>Minor deal here all things considered. Johansson will provide the Wild with some forward depth.</p>
<h2>Maple Leafs acquire Erik Gustafsson, 2023 1st (BOS) from Captials for Rasmus Sandin</h2>
<p>This one caught me by surprise and I have <em>no</em> idea what the Leafs are thinking here. Sandin is going to be a very good top-four defenceman for a long time, and Gustafsson is a pending UFA. Did they just want the pick? Will they flip Gustafsson? Who the heck knows.</p>
<h2>Maple Leafs acquire Luke Schenn from Vancouver Canucks for 3rd round pick</h2>
<p>After acquiring Gustafsson and Schenn, the Leafs have nine NHL defencemen on their roster who can all play. Huh?</p>
<h2>Islanders acquire Pierre Engvall from Maple Leafs for 3rd round pick</h2>
<p>Again. Huh? Engvall has been a solid solider for the Leafs being a strong defence first winger who has produced some points. I&#8217;m not sure what Toronto has cooking, but this trio of moves makes me think something else is coming.</p>
<h2>Wild acquire Gustav Nyquist from Columbus Blue Jackets for 5th round pick</h2>
<p>The Wild get Nyquist for free and this is a deal I love for them. The player should be back towards the end of the regular season and will provide some scoring depth.</p>
<h2>Rangers acquire Patrick Kane, prospect, in three team deal</h2>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-129171" src="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Screenshot_20230228_080113.png" alt="" width="779" height="339" srcset="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Screenshot_20230228_080113.png 779w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Screenshot_20230228_080113-300x131.png 300w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Screenshot_20230228_080113-768x334.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px" /></p>
<p>It&#8217;s showtime on Broadway and Patrick Kane is a New York Ranger. It was the hockey worlds worst kept secret over the last few days as the two teams were able to figure out how to make the money work. I&#8217;m not sure how much better Kane actually makes this Rangers team, but they&#8217;re sure going to be fun to watch.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/trade-tracker"><strong>Looking to stay up on all the latest trades? Visit dailyfaceoff.com to see their trade tracker. </strong></a></p>
<hr />
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400">Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at</span></i><a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"> <span style="font-weight: 400">@zjlaing</span></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400">, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.</span></i></p>
<hr />

The Edmonton Oilers' desire to add a defenceman has been crystal clear and talks began to pick up in recent days. Even as early as this morning, I wrote about the Oilers going hard after Jakob Chychrun, Mattias Ekholm and Vladislav Gavrikov before they landed the Nashville Predators defenceman.



According to <em>TSN's</em> Darren Dreger, who has had a great finger on the pulse of the Oilers this week, Edmonton and Arizona were "in deep as of late this morning" before the Oilers pivoted to Ekholm.

https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1630742997733081091

I'd be curious to know what the hold up was on a potential Chychrun deal, but if I had to take an educated guess, it seems like the Coyotes may have been against taking on contracts back. The Predators, meanwhile, had no issue with that going so far as taking back <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2023/02/28/the-oilers-have-traded-tyson-barrie-reid-schaefer-and-two-draft-picks-for-mattias-eklhom/">Tyson Barrie in the Ekholm deal</a>.

Edmonton had been linked to Chychrun for some time, and while my preference still would've been acquiring him given his age and better contract status,<a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2023/02/28/edmonton-oilers-solidify-blueline-with-acquisition-of-mattias-ekholm/"> I think the acquisition of Ekholm is a near-perfect fit for the Oilers</a>.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTrTryAaxBc
<h1>A wild day of trades</h1>
If you thought the Oilers had a big day trading Jesse Puljujarvi and picking up Ekholm, boy, do I have news for you. There were six other trades that broke loose! Let's take a quick look at each of them.
<h2>Minnesota Wild acquire Marcus Johansson from the Washington Capitals for a 2024 3rd round pick</h2>
Minor deal here all things considered. Johansson will provide the Wild with some forward depth.
<h2>Maple Leafs acquire Erik Gustafsson, 2023 1st (BOS) from Captials for Rasmus Sandin</h2>
This one caught me by surprise and I have <em>no</em> idea what the Leafs are thinking here. Sandin is going to be a very good top-four defenceman for a long time, and Gustafsson is a pending UFA. Did they just want the pick? Will they flip Gustafsson? Who the heck knows.
<h2>Maple Leafs acquire Luke Schenn from Vancouver Canucks for 3rd round pick</h2>
After acquiring Gustafsson and Schenn, the Leafs have nine NHL defencemen on their roster who can all play. Huh?
<h2>Islanders acquire Pierre Engvall from Maple Leafs for 3rd round pick</h2>
Again. Huh? Engvall has been a solid solider for the Leafs being a strong defence first winger who has produced some points. I'm not sure what Toronto has cooking, but this trio of moves makes me think something else is coming.
<h2>Wild acquire Gustav Nyquist from Columbus Blue Jackets for 5th round pick</h2>
The Wild get Nyquist for free and this is a deal I love for them. The player should be back towards the end of the regular season and will provide some scoring depth.
<h2>Rangers acquire Patrick Kane, prospect, in three team deal</h2>
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-129171" src="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Screenshot_20230228_080113.png" alt="" width="779" height="339" />

It's showtime on Broadway and Patrick Kane is a New York Ranger. It was the hockey worlds worst kept secret over the last few days as the two teams were able to figure out how to make the money work. I'm not sure how much better Kane actually makes this Rangers team, but they're sure going to be fun to watch.

<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/trade-tracker"><strong>Looking to stay up on all the latest trades? Visit dailyfaceoff.com to see their trade tracker. </strong></a>

<hr />

<i><span style="font-weight: 400">Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at</span></i><a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"> <span style="font-weight: 400">@zjlaing</span></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400">, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.</span></i>

<hr />

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