Times have certainly changed in Edmonton.
One of the NHL’s smallest markets, the Oilers frequently saw star players leave either because the team couldn’t afford them or because they didn’t want to live in the city. But following a run to the Stanley Cup Final, Edmonton is suddenly a destination for players searching for hockey’s top prize.
Elliotte Friedman spoke about the Oilers on this week’s episode of 32 Thoughts and noted that players who used to have Edmonton on their no-trade lists have asked their agents to remove the team.
“I’ll tell you what else has happened this year. I’ve heard from some agents, there were players who took Edmonton off their no-trade list. They had Edmonton there the year before but they said ‘You can take Edmonton off.’
That’s a sign. You can talk about the weather, you can talk about the taxes, you can talk about the attention, but the number one thing is still — where do I think I can win? Any player you want, that’s the number one thing. Players right now, they think they can win in Edmonton.
As they proved with the offer sheets [from the St. Louis Blues], they’re going to sit there this year, they’re going to hold, they’re going to say ‘What are we missing?’, and they’re going to go out and get it.”
When the Oilers opted to let Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway walk, they sacrificed two promising young players in order to have more flexibility. Edmonton can ice a full roster under the salary cap ceiling without placing Evander Kane on the Long-Term Injured Reserve, which allows them to accrue cap space leading up to the trade deadline. They also went from having potentially no picks in the first five rounds of the 2025 draft to having a middling team’s second- and third-round picks to use in trades.
It’s difficult to say which teams will find themselves in seller mode before the season has even started, but a few names jump out as future trade targets when looking at next summer’s unrestricted free agents. David Savard, Brian Dumoulin, and Alec Martinez all play for teams unlikely to make the playoffs and could be options to give the Oilers experienced depth on their blueline. Claude Giroux and Yanni Gourde are veteran forwards who come to mind if the Oilers decide they need to add up front.
Almost all the stars of next summer’s free agent class play for contenders (Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Jamie Benn, Mikko Rantanen) and appear very unlikely to move. One player surely to be front and centre in trade discussions until he signs an extension is Sidney Crosby, as the Pittsburgh Penguins have missed out on the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
Elliotte Friedman talked about the Penguins in the episode of 32 Thoughts mentioned above and said that the future Hall of Famer “doesn’t feel it’s a rush” to get a contract signed and “still wants to win badly.”
Pittsburgh added forwards Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass, Blake Lizotte, Anthony Beauvillier, Rutger McGroarty, and defenceman Matt Grzelcyk to their roster this summer in an attempt to get back into the playoffs. Last season, they were on the outside looking in ahead of the trade deadline and moved Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes.
What if the Penguins find themselves in the same situation this season? Could they move their captain to recoup some assets and then sign him in the summer? Would Crosby, now 37 years old, be interested in going on a playoff run with Connor McDavid?