Oilers Already Looking at Trade Market Following Poor Starts?

Following a 1-1 record to open the season, but two poor starts where the team got badly outplayed 5-on-5 and their starting goaltender Jack Campbell pulled after four first-period goals, the Edmonton Oilers might already be looking at making changes. The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman writes, “In the short term, the Oilers plan to call up Markus Niemelainen next week and have an active roster with 12 forwards and seven defensemen. In the long term, they’ll need more than that.”

Nugent-Bowman argues that the team should already be looking to improve their blue line following starts against the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames where the Oilers were not good in front of their own netminder. The team fought back in one game and won, and almost crept back in another, but the defense has been atrocious and that was a question mark for the team coming into the 2022-23 season. The scribe writes that it might be time for the Oilers to look closer at a player like Jakob Chychrun of the Arizona Coyotes.

Related: Oilers Still Talking Chychrun Trade, But Price Needs to Come Down

Nugent-Bowman notes:

The Arizona Coyotes have been shopping Chychrun, their top player, for months. He wants out. The Oilers have checked in on the price, which they consider too steep. So, maybe he won’t be the target in the end…

He adds that it’s going to cost a small fortune to acquire the player, but says, “the Coyotes’ asking price has come down since it was astronomical in March…” But, Chychrun isn’t going to be given away, especially because he is still just 24 and in the third-last year of his reasonable $4.6 million AAV contract.

Something Might Have To Give

For now, the Oilers will focus on their starts and bring in a big body to potentially help provide more shutdown defense. Niemelainen is a big body that likes to hit. He can close down a cycle and that’s something the Oilers could really use. Head coach Jay Woodcroft may elect to run 11 forwards and seven defensemen to keep his blueliners fresh.

Kurt Leavins of The Edmonton Journal believes something might be off with Philip Broberg. In his latest 9 Things Post, he writes, “The shuttling of him back and forth between Edmonton and Bakersfield the last little while has been perplexing.” He wonders if the extra weight added in the off-season had him a bit off-kilter and because Broberg was also not in the Bakersfield lineup Saturday night, he’s got his Spidey Sense tingling.

Next: Maple Leafs’ Quick Hits: Vejmelka, Samsonov & Robertson