This past week Frank Seravalli of TSN kicked off the busy
month of June with his list of top 20 players potentially on the move. It’s
essentially the Trade Bait board, and Edmonton factors highly on the list with
four entries.

First and foremost, it makes sense that Oiler players and
assets are on a list like this. The team has been too bad for too long despite
collecting a variety of good players along the way. Edmonton’s problem is no
longer that they lack any elite talent at all (as it was at the outset of the
official rebuild). The problem is that the defense is completely dependent on
Oscar Klefbom and Darnell Nurse’s continued development. There’s nobody there
who has established themselves fully as NHL star defenders.

You could say the “mix” of players is wrong, but really it’s
more that the team is incomplete because the right side of the defense has been
neglected for the better part of a decade. We know what the Oilers need. They
know what the Oilers need. And, every other team in the league knows what the
Oilers need too. Peter Chiarelli is playing poker at a table where everyone has
seen his cards. This takes us back to that list by Seravalli.

The Oilers are featured on Frank’s list as follows:

1) Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

12) Jordan Eberle

18) Nail Yakupov

Those are the most tradable assets on the Oilers, but they
are not the only tradable assets. We must also include:

Lauri Korpikoski (I can dream)

As Oiler fans will tell you ad nauseum, you have to give
something to get something. In the same way I’ve been conditioned by past
experience to believe that the Oilers are incapable of making a major trade
without losing, many other Oilers fans have been told their team is so bad that
now the value of their players has been driven into the ground.

The truth is, there are good players on Seravalli’s list and
others who didn’t even make his cut who are even better.

I’ve personally never found the (Eastern-based) arguments
that Edmonton should trade RNH because Draisaitl had a great 40 game stretch
very compelling. He might be at the top of Seravalli’s list, but I would be
loathe to trade the man who ought to be the 2C of the Oilers next year. This
very season should have been more than enough example to show depth is needed
because injuries will occur mercilessly. Still, RNH has value around the
league.

The fourth pick in the 2016 Draft seems to grow in value by
the day, and frankly it probably is. The closer we get to the big day, the more
power that pick has. And, as luck would have it, the performance by Matt
Tkachuk in the Memorial Cup pushed him in the conversation of breaking into the
top three. I’m not here to debate whether he should be in the top three, I just
want to acknowledge that the Oilers are in the position to pick the best draft eligible
player in the CHL with their pick and he’s gaining momentum.

Jordan Eberle is a goal scorer/point producer. He’s a 1st
line RW and as many have pointed out he’s Edmonton’s only top 6 player who
shoots right. That factoid makes him the prime candidate to be placed in
premier shooting positions on the power play, among other things. While he’s
the most consistent scorer in Edmonton’s highly paid trio of forwards, he’s not
the most dynamic and he’s not the best defensively. He’s almost certainly
undervalued across the league while at the same time a high degree of success
with McDavid might make him over-valued at home. It’s an interesting case
study.

Beautiful, innocent Yakupov. Stay green, Nail.

Where Seravalli’s list ends, mine begins and includes at
least one name I wouldn’t trade unless the return was incredible. The last name
I included was Taylor Hall and I did it because of things like this:

There is nothing that can keep me from believing that the
Oilers will lose any trade involving Taylor Hall. Unless Montreal is doing
something really silly this summer, I doubt that there is a defender on the
market that it makes sense to trade Hall for. He’s a dynamic offensive player
who can drive a line by himself. For me, Hall is the key to having at least two
lines that can score. Hall and McDavid split up creates serious matchup
problems for teams moving forward. Hall gone from the Oilers means Edmonton is
depending on Draisaitl a lot.

Taylor Hall is worth the most of all the names on Edmonton’s
potential trade list. He’s a marquee player with a history of high performance
on a quality deal and in the prime of his career. I wouldn’t opt to trade him
unless it unequivocally fixes a major problem on Edmonton’s roster. And if
Peter Chiarelli hadn’t already traded Tyler Seguin for a mule, a new hammer,
and some baling twine then I would have a harder time believing he could trade
Hall for anything less than the 1D he’s searching for.

Ultimately, Edmonton’s window to take advantage of McDavid’s
entry level contract is in danger of slamming shut without change and the GM is
not without the assets to make deals. Change is coming to Edmonton sometime
this month and my guess is two or three items from the expanded list are out
the door at least.