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Weekly Rumours: New year brings new names on the trade block
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Tyler Yaremchuk
Jan 3, 2020, 12:30 ESTUpdated: Jan 3, 2020, 12:08 EST
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January is going to be a massive month for the Oilers. If they can go on a run over the next 30 days, then we can legitimately start talking about this team being buyers at the trade deadline, which is on February 24th this year.
The team has some assets they can dangle, although Elliotte Friedman reported that Ken Hollands’ unwillingness to trade this year’s first-round pick or defensive prospects like @Evan Bouchard, Philip Broberg, or Dmitri Samorukov why the organization did not acquire @Taylor Hall.
Still, I could see Holland moving out future assets for immediate help if the piece being acquired was under team control for next season as well. Either a player with a little bit of term or a player who is a pending RFA.
You also can’t ignore the fact that the team does have a lot of young defensemen in their system and they could probably afford to move one for some scoring help.
Here are some rumours I’m keeping an eye on:

OILERS & BRANDON SAAD

Oct 14, 2019; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks left wing Brandon Saad (20) shoots the puck against Edmonton Oilers goaltender Mike Smith (41) during the second period at United Center.
The Oilers have recently been connected to Chicago Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad, who has 11 goals in 36 games so far this season, by Sportsnet Insider Elliotte Friedman. He said that there was interested from the Oilers side but as of right now, there’s just no way to make the money work. Saad has a cap hit of $6 million for the next two seasons.
I wonder if the Oilers circle back to Saad closer to the deadline. Yes, the money doesn’t work right now, but it gets easier to make moves like that closer to the trade deadline and perhaps the Oilers could send Sam Gagner and Brandon Manning back to Chicago to make the money work. Of course, they would also have to add in some future assets as well, but I think a deal could be made, especially if the Hawks were willing to retain money.
Saad is a strong 5v5 scorer and can kill penalties. Out of his 11 goals this season, 9 came at even strength and two came shorthanded. Last season, he scored 23 goals with 15 of them coming at ES, five on the PP, and 3 SHG. He has experience playing with high-end skill in Chicago as well.

PLAYERS WANTING OUT OF BUFFALO

Over the past week, there have been two reports out of Buffalo suggesting that both defenseman Zach Bogosian and forward Evan Rodrigues have requested trades out of the organization.
Bogosian is a 29-year-old right-shot defenseman and also a pending UFA at the end of the season should have plenty of teams interested in his services but Buffalo will likely have to retain money to make that work.
I can’t imagine the Oilers having any interest in acquiring a defenseman right now, but I think they should be checking in on Evan Rodrigues. The 26-year-old right-shot centre can skate very well and has some interesting underlying numbers. He could probably be acquired for fairly cheap and he might help the Oilers centre situation.
Of course, he’s far from a household name so I wouldn’t blame Holland if he passed on this player and had his sights aimed at a more impactful player.

QUICK NOTES

  • With the news that @Jake Guentzal will be out for a long period of time, I wouldn’t be stunned if the Penguins were in the market to get a scoring winger. Jim Rutherford isn’t afraid to make a big splash and his team is somehow still in the playoff hunt despite being decimated by injuries this season. They could use the help. @Chris Kreider has been named as a potential target and Rob Rossi of The Athletic says the Pens would part with a first-round pick to get him.
  • Speaking of having bad luck with injuries, the @Montreal Canadiens announced that @Brendan Gallagher is out with a concussion. They are also without @Joel Armia and @Jonathan Drouin right now. They’re outside of a playoff spot right now and considering how strong the Metropolitan division is, it seems like the only way for the Habs to get into the playoffs would be to catch either Tampa Bay or Toronto. I doubt Marc Bergevin will spend future assets to try to improve this year’s club. That’s why the Kovalchuk signing made a little bit of sense. He could spark them and he didn’t cost any assets.
  • @Justin Williams is going to be back with the @Carolina Hurricanes soon. Just a matter of the contract being worked out. I wonder if they’re still in the market for scoring help though.

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