When Ken Holland arrived in Edmonton in May 2019, it didn’t take long for him to preach patience. He couldn’t fix everything in one summer, he said, but he had conversations about one trade that would’ve shaken up the entire National Hockey League.
After the 2018-19 season, the Tampa Bay Lightning had been eliminated by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the playoffs after one of the best regular seasons in NHL history. On Tuesday, The Nation Network’s Jeff Marek talked about it on his show The Sheet, in reference to how some teams nowadays are looking to fire coaches too soon.
But the Lightning had other considerations after falling in that season: a massive trade that could’ve seen them trade Nikita Kucherov to the Edmonton Oilers for Leon Draisaitl.
“That year, there were conversations — and I’ve had this confirmed — there were conversations between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Edmonton Oilers and the two primaries changing were Nikita Kucherov for Leon Draisatil. That was the conversation… I’m not sure how close they got. I think Edmonton may have also wanted Anthony Cirelli and that’s when things kinda ‘Mehhh well that’s not going to happen.’ It’s not as if they didn’t consider massive change, because that was the conversation between those two teams.”“As a hockey fan, forget being an Oilers fan… Just imagine Kucherov playing with McDavid for a second. Draisaitl is an incredible player. I think Tampa was thinking ‘We go up the gut with Stamkos and Draisaitl, yeah that looks pretty nice thank you very much.’ But the thought of about Kucherov playing beside Connor McDavid, that’s juicy.”
The implications of such a deal would’ve been massive, to say the least, potentially forever changing the course of NHL history. For one, the Lightning would go on to win the Stanley Cup in that 2019-20 season, as Kucherov racked up 33 goals and 85 points in 68 games, adding seven goals, 27 assists and 35 points in 25 bubble playoff games. They repeated the following season where Kucherov was also tremendous, coming off the Long-Term Injured Reserve just in time for a 23-game playoff run where he scored eight goals, 24 assists and 32 points.
Draisaitl was no slouch in those seasons, either. He won the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy, and Ted Lindsay Award in 2010-20, scoring 43 goals and 110 points in 71 games. 2020-21 would see him rack up another 31 goals and 84 points in 56 games.
It all begs the question about how both franchises would’ve been impacted by such a deal. Would Tampa Bay have gone back-to-back in those two seasons with Draisaitl instead of Kucherov? If they didn’t, who would’ve won? Would Draisaitl have won the three trophies and have the continued offensive success he has?
And what about what would’ve been of the Oilers? Kucherov is undoubtedly one of the top talents in the NHL, and surely would’ve found success alongside Connor McDavid on the top line, but what would’ve the rest of the roster looked like? Draisaitl’s a huge piece up the middle of the ice, and the team would’ve missed him, for sure, but if Cirelli had been included in the deal, that would’ve been a nice piece to bring back.
If the deal was made before the draft, the Oilers could’ve done something to address the centre ice position for the future, selecting a centre like Trevor Zegras instead of Philip Broberg in the first round, for example. Given that Kucherov’s cap hit was $1-million more than Edmonton’s at the time, Holland wouldn’t have the cap space to try and pick up any of the top free-agent centres like Joe Pavelski or Matt Duchene on July 1st.
The “What if’s” from what this trade could’ve been are significant, and it’s worth noting that it’s not the first time an Oilers general manager, Peter Chiarelli, had at least a conversation about trading Drasiaitl.
On June 29th, 2016 — one of the wildest days in league history — the Oilers traded Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson, the Montreal Canadiens traded PK Subban for Shea Weber, and Steven Stamkos chose to return to the Lightning. Montreal had expressed to the Oilers their preference for Draisaitl over someone like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and in addition, would like a defenceman coming back the other way.
You can see the full episode of The Sheet below.
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.
