With Elias Lindholm off the board the Edmonton Oilers can turn their attention to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
With Elias Lindholm off the board the Edmonton Oilers can turn their attention to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers lost out on one of the top trade targets this season last night. Elias Lindholm was traded from the Calgary Flames to the Vancouver Canucks - and it cost the Canucks an arm and a leg to acquire him.
The Oilers can still make an aquistion to bolster their top-six forward group. But now their attention turns elsewhere - to the Eastern Conference. Where a team that has been in and out of the mix for the playoffs may finally sell off a couple assets for a soft "re-tool".
Penguins and Oilers Set to Be Trade Partners?
The Pittsburgh Penguins have had a rollercoaster season to say the least. They have gone through spurts of great play and astronomical flubs - in particular an "own-goal" scored with the net empty.
Jake Guentzel has long been in the rumor mill, and his skills would certainly make him a welcomed addition to the Oilers. But does it make sense for both teams? Josh Yohe of The Athletic recently said that Kyle Dubas is not afraid to trade away Guentzel - that bodes well for the Oilers.
Cody Ceci for Jake Guentzel Makes Sense
Adding Guentzel to the top six would push one of Warren Foegele or Evander Kane down to the third line. That kind of shuffling would only help the depth of the team.
On the flip side, Cody Ceci makes a lot of sense for the Penguins. He has connections to both the team and the general manager - Kyle Dubas. Dubas was the GM for the Toronto Maple Leafs when Ceci played there.
Mike Sullivan was the head coach for the Penguins in 2020-21. Many cited his time there as a reason for optimism when he was signed by the Oilers the following summer.
Perhaps he performed well there because too much wasn't asked of him. He finished the year averaging 18:31 in time on ice. The last time he had played less than 19 minutes a night was back in his rookie season with the Ottawa Senators.
He spent most of his even strength ice time with either Mike Matheson or Marcus Pettersson. In total he spent 541:22 with either of those two defenders, resulting in about a 50% Corsi For percentage.
What's the deal?
Any trade between these two teams would require some combination of retained salary, another player heading to the Penguins, or a third team to make the money all work out.
Dubas is no stranger to those types of transactions, as that is exactly how he acquired Erik Karlsson during the summer. My sense is that the Oilers would need to cough up a first round pick and a top prospect (Xavier Bourgault or Philip Broberg) to make a deal like this happen.
That cost could be higher, considering the Lindholm deal. But with the Penguins and Oilers not being divisional rivals, perhaps that won't be the case.
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Report: Penguins Open to Trading Jake Guentzel