Rumours began to swirl over the weekend that the Edmonton Oilers would be interested in Ryan Donato. Donato is having a career year with the Chicago Blackhawks, having already scored 19 goals and 37 points, surpassing his previous highs of 16 goals and 31 points. He’s a 28-year-old pending unrestricted free agent with a cap hit of $2 million, which should make him a wanted man ahead of the NHL trade deadline.

Edmonton has struggled to find consistent scoring from their middle six wingers this season. Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, while having their moments, haven’t fitted in Edmonton as well as originally hoped. Vasily Podkolzin is doing a great job retrieving pucks and throwing his body around, but has shown on multiple occasions he doesn’t have the scoring touch to play in the top six every night. They’ve had great contributions from Corey Perry, who went into the break as a top-six player for them, however, it’d be a bold decision to rely on him night in and night out to score come playoff time.

It’s safe to say they need extra help, and Donato, at such a friendly cap hit, could be that guy. Furthermore, Sportnets analyst Louie DeBrusk suggested on Oilersnation Everyday that he could be a great fit for Edmonton due to his competitive nature and ability to shoot the puck.

Donato is 17th on Frank Seravalli’s latest trade targets board, where he was 12th earlier in the season. Seravalli stated that Donato had been a model of consistency in Chicago and that he could be a quality under the radar add.

To Tampa Bay: Anthony Duclair ($3 million) and a seventh-round pick

To San Jose: Jack Thompson and a third-round pick

To Dallas: Max Domi ($3 million) and Dylan Wells

To Chicago: Anton Khudobin ($3,333,333) and a second-round pick

To Winnipeg: Nino Niederreiter ($4 million)

To Nashville: Second-round pick

Scoring wingers are traded consistently at the deadline. While Donato isn’t a Tyler Toffoli or Vladimir Tarasenko, who both got traded last year, his $2,000,000 cap hit is what makes him a desirable player. Along with the fact he’s playing well of course. Looking at the the trade comparisons, Duclair, Domi, and Niederreiter all play middle six roles that contribute to the offence. Additionally, none of them had money retained which kept the retain lower. Tampa Bay had extra money to spend with Mikael Sergavechev on the IR and Dallas was able to save money without retention by moving Khudobin. Winnipeg simply had the cash to splash with their stars on team-friendly deals so they absorbed all of Niederreiter’s $4 million cap hit.

With Evander Kane on LTIR, Edmonton can take on the full $2 million from Donato. That’ll then allow them to spend fewer assets on him and help spend elsewhere. Now, if Stan Bowman did request Chicago retain half of his contract then you’re likely only spending an additional fourth-round pick. If Edmonton were to acquire Donato there should be no conversation about the first-round picking going the other way unless another quality player is involved and Donato is down to 75 percent retained. Even then, how many quality players does Chicago have that Edmonton should be interested in?