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Weekly Rumours – Money In, Money Out
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Tyler Yaremchuk
Mar 25, 2021, 13:00 EDTUpdated: Mar 25, 2021, 12:05 EDT
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The closer we creep to the April 12th trade deadline, the more I’m expecting the team to stay relatively quiet. There have been some slight rumblings around the Oilers but nothing sounds serious enough to give me hope that GM Ken Holland will make a significant splash before the deadline. Would this team greatly benefit from adding a scoring winger to their top six? Absolutely. Is it realistic to expect Holland to go out and give up what it takes to bring in a player like @Rickard Rakkell, @Jake Debrusk, or Victor Arvidsson? I don’t think so.
The Oilers are in a “dollars in, dollars out” situation. You can expect to hear that phrase a lot in the next week or so. Because the Oilers are using LTIR space, they basically don’t have any wiggle room at the deadline. If they want to bring in a player making $4 million, they pretty much need to shed $4 million as well. That obviously makes things very difficult. Rebuilding teams likely won’t want to take on dead money.
On top of that, the Oilers don’t have a second or third-round pick in this year’s draft. That leads me to believe they will want to hold onto their first-round pick this year, so they don’t have to wait four rounds to make their first pick of the draft this June. That will also hurt their ability to acquire an impact player before April 12th.
In his media availability a few weeks ago, Ken Holland made it clear that he likes this team’s depth. So if he isn’t interested in bringing in fringe players and doesn’t have the ability to make a big splash, I think the most likely scenario is that he stays quiet at the deadline.
One key date to keep in mind is April 1st. If the Oilers want to acquire a player and have them finish their quarantine in time for the final ten games of the regular season, they’ll need to have the deal done by the first day of April. Of course, the fact that they’ll have to add three games against the Habs at some point does change that, but you get the general idea.

COYOTES OPEN FOR BUSINESS

It’s starting to sound like the Arizona Coyotes are ready to start selling. Heading into action on Wednesday night, the team has just four wins in their last ten games and currently sit four points back of the St. Louis Blues for the final playoff spot despite having a game in hand. So who could be available? There’s a pretty solid list forming.
TSN’s Darren Dreger said that Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong is open to anything if it improves the team’s long-term outlook. Apparently, all seven of their pending UFA’s could be available. That would include defensemen Alex Goligoski and Jason Demers.
Goaltender @Darcy Kuemper is also reportedly available and that’s a name I’m sure Ken Holland would be interested in, I’m just not sure if it’s something that could happen at the deadline. If you’re an Oilers fan, it’s best to hope that the Coyotes don’t move Kuemper before the deadline so the Oilers could potentially have a shot at him in the summer.
Up front, the most surprising name that has been talked about is @Connor Garland. The 25-year-old scored 22 goals last season and has nine goals in 32 games so far this season. He will be an RFA after this season but right now, he makes under $1 million. A contending team with not a lot of cap space would probably give up a lot for a guy like Garland. The Boston Bruins are apparently interested in the Massachusetts native. He shoots right, but if the Oilers were comfortable in his ability to play left-wing, I wonder if they’d be interested.

THE COST OF EKHOLM

Pierre LeBrun is reporting that the apparent asking price for Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm is three assets: a first-round pick, an elite prospect, and another asset. That’s a lot but Ekholm is the best player on the market, so it makes sense why the price is so high.
The price is also so high because Ekholm has another year on his deal, so he’s more than just a rental. The asking price for Ekholm leads me to believe that the cost of a guy like David Savard won’t be more than just a first-round pick, if that.
I also think the Ekholm ask is a good template for what a guy like Rickard Rakkell could cost. These are players in their primes who have another year left on their deals, which both carry very reasonable cap hits. It will be interesting to see who blinks first. Are teams like the Ducks and Predators really eager to move these players? Or do they maybe think that prices for these players will go up after the expansion draft, when teams are no longer worried about their protection lists. 

QUICK NOTES

  • Islanders Reporter Andrew Gross believes that Kyle Palmieri would be a perfect fit for the Islanders at the deadline. GM Lou Lamoriello says that he wants to improve his club but will be careful not to disrupt his group’s chemistry.
  • I still think Taylor Hall would be a good fit with the Islanders. Frank Seravalli agreed with me on that last week on Oilersnation Radio.
  • Ducks GM Bob Murray told Pierre LeBrun that the trade market is quiet right now but he is open to acquiring prospects. It’s clear that his most valuable trade chip is Rickard Rakell, who is under contract for one more year with a cap hit of $3.79 million.
  • We are starting to hear some Ryan Ellis trade talk. The price would likely be around what the Predators are asking for Ekholm, if not more. The Bruins and Flyers are apparently interested.
  • On last week’s edition of ‘Saturday Headlines’ on Sportsnet, @Marcus Sorenson’s name came up and Chris Johnston said that there would be some Canadian teams interested in him, specifically the Calgary Flames. Something to watch from an Oilers perspective.
  • The next seven to ten days will apparently determine how Jarmo Kekalainen handles the trade deadline for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who still believe they could push for a playoff spot.
  • Teams acquiring cap space will likely be talked about a lot in the weeks leading up to the deadline. It happened last year when the Leafs took some of @Robin Lehner’s contract before he was flipped to the Vegas Golden Knights. With so many teams right up against the cap, the value of $1 million in cap space could be too good to pass up for a rebuilding team. Will owners sign off on their GM basically buying a draft pick? That’s the big question.

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