Edmonton Oilers Should Make Huge Trade For Defenseman

By Nick Villano
Edmonton Oilers Trade Rumors
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The Edmonton Oilers came into this season like they were finally going to turn it around. After years of being the laughing stock of the NHL, this was the year everything would change.

It didn’t. They got one of the best prospects to every come out in the draft and lost Connor McDavid less than a month into his career. A brand new coach and GM were supposed to bring a new philosophy of winning to Edmonton, but it hasn’t worked so far.

The Oilers have lost six of their last seven games. It was just announced that Nail Yakupov, one of the many no. 1 overall picks on the team, is out two to four weeks. They had a flu virus circulate through the locker room that took out multiple players, including no. 1 overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. It just isn’t working out for the Oilers.

It is time for Edmonton to make a major trade. They desperately need a no. 1 defenseman. Rumors have tied the Nashville Predators to the Oilers, and these two teams can really help each other.

The Predators have by far the deepest defensive core in the league. They have Shea Weber, Roman Josi and Seth Jones who could all be no. 1 defensemen on a myriad of teams. The Oilers have plenty of great young talent that could go in return for one of those players.

The likely scenario is the Oilers asking for Jones, the Predators asking for Nugent-Hopkins and the two settling on Weber for Taylor Hall in some capacity. Weber has a ton of money left on his deal, which the Oilers can afford. Hall needs to see what a winning franchise looks like.

Other teams that could be in the mix include the St. Louis Blues and the Winnipeg Jets. The Blues have Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk and Jay Bouwmeester. They are also stacked on the offensive side, but adding someone with the talent of Hall or even a Jordan Eberle will only help. The Jets are staring down the end of a contract for Dustin Byfuglien, and they say they haven’t even started contract talks. He could go to Edmonton and be the centerpiece of a team on the rise.

Only one team in the NHL allows more goals than the Oilers. If they are going to be a better team, they need someone to lead this defense.

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