Oilers Acquire Nick Bjugstad From Coyotes

Is there anyone left in Arizona who can play hockey? 

The Arizona Coyotes made another move in their epic pre-deadline selling spree on Thursday, trading forward Nick Bjugstad and defenseman Cam Dineen to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for defenseman Michael Kesselring and a third-round pick in the 2023 NHL draft. 

The 30-year-old Bjugstad is currently in the final year of his contract which carries a cap hit of $900,000. As per the terms of the deal, the Coyotes will retain half of Bjugstad's salary for the remainder of the season. 

Oilers GM Ken Holland spoke about his desire to make one final move to upgrade his club's forward corps following the trade for Mattias Ekholm, and it appears he found his guy. 

Bjugstad projects as precisely the player the Oilers need to supplement the bottom of their lineup, a defensive-minded center who can win faceoffs and produce very positive results in difficult usage. 

In 59 games with the Coyotes this season, Bjugstad has racked up 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points while logging roughly 17 minutes in average ice time and shouldering massive responsibility on the defensive side of the puck by starting just 38.6 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone. 

No one will be counting on Bjugstad to contribute much in the way of scoring on an Oilers roster headlined by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. But as a responsible two-way center and effective penalty killer, his addition seems to round out Edmonton's forward group immensely. 

As for the Coyotes, they continue to gather assets for a deep NHL draft and to hopefully develop their prospect pipeline as they build for the future, all while taking on contracts and retaining salary to stay above the salary-cap floor. 

Earlier today, the Coyotes acquired injured forward Jakub Voracek and a 2023 sixth-round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets for goalie Jon Gillies.

Arizona now has 12 picks in the 2023 NHL draft, including seven in the first three rounds.