Oilers Lateral Trade: Who’s Heading Out in the Rumored Swap?

Elliotte Friedman of Saturday Headlines is reporting that the Edmonton Oilers are exploring the trade market. They’re looking to add a forward, hoping to trade a depth defenseman for a piece to fill some of the holes left by several injuries that popped up at the start of the season.

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Friedman called it a “lateral move,” or at least that’s how it was described to him. So, which defenseman are the Oilers thinking about trading?

Friedman isn’t the only one reporting the Oilers might be open to exploring a few options. The Fourth Period identified Ty Emberson, Spencer Stastney, and Shakir Mukhamadullin as possible trade candidates, each earning under $2 million against the cap.

Ty Emberson

Emberson saw his first taste of NHL action in this regular season on Saturday and he was steady in a much better defensive effort. The Oilers had allowed 13 goals in two games, but shut the Seattle Kraken down to one goal. This is not to say that Emberson was the reason, but he was a much better fit in a full 200-foot game than Mukhamadullin, who struggled a bit in the first two games.

Emberson is the kind of player you don’t really notice. That’s a good thing. He can contribute on offense and physicality and doesn’t mind playing physical. He’s a more calming presence for his defense partners because he’s predictable, which could be a good thing for a player like Jake Walman.

It might say something that Emberson was a healthy scratch in the first two games, and perhaps his ceiling isn’t as high as Mukhamadullin’s, but the Oilers might be realizing Emberson is better in the lineup than out.

Shakir Mukhamadullin

The piece that came over in the Darnell Nurse trade, the coaching staff likes the bigger d-man. He’s young, and he’s got skill, but his decision-making is questionable at times. The Oilers seem invested in the player, so it’s hard to imagine they bail on him already, but there’s an argument he doesn’t really have a spot on this roster with the left-shot and right-shot mix.

If moved, it would be a little like a flip. Mukhamadullin has struggled early with a minus-6 rating.

Spencer Stastney

Stastney has yet to debut in 2026-27 and given Edmonton’s crowded defense corps, he could be moved if the Oilers see him exclusively as a non-regular who fills in on an emergency basis. The counterargument to moving him is that he’s semi-reliable and there likely isn’t going to be real value in trading him. Few teams are going to look at Statsney and give the Oilers back a useful forward.

That is, unless there’s salary attached to the forward coming back, which isn’t ideal for Edmonton given their salary concerns. In that case, Edmonton is better off signing a UFA that remains on the market for cheap.

Any of these three could be moved and the Oilers wouldn’t feel the weight of moving them. There’s a need at forward, but the Oilers aren’t in a rush. They sit atop the NHL standings with five points in three games and some of their guys aren’t far from returning. Both Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are considered day to day and should be in the lineup when the Oilers return home from their current road trip.

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