The NHL trade deadline is still just over two and a half months away, but this doesn't mean teams can't or won't look to make moves earlier. (Although nothing can now be done until the league's annual holiday roster freeze concludes at 12:01 a.m. local time on Dec. 28.) With this in mind, The Athletic (subscription required) has unveiled their second trade board of the 2024-25 campaign.
NHL Insider Chris Johnston has expanded his list of players from 25 to 30 players, in what is being called 'NHL trade board 2.0'. The top three in descending order include Chris Kreider (New York Rangers), Brandon Saad (St. Louis Blues) and Ivan Provorov (Columbus Blue Jackets).
However, what will really catch the attention of Edmonton Oilers fans, are two players who played a part in helping their team go all the way to Game 7 in last season's Stanley Cup Final. More specifically, Johnston has Cody Ceci (San Jose Sharks) listed at number 20 and Vincent Desharnais (Vancouver Canucks) ranked at number 28.
Always angling to improve the blue line
Now it should be noted that after a poor start to 2024-25, the Oilers' defensive game is headed in the right direction; essentially the same as what happened last season following an even worse beginning to the campaign. However, despite ranking 12th-best in average goals allowed per game ahead of Friday's slate of action, this doesn't mean the team couldn't stand to improve their defensive standing.
The question is, would the Oilers be prepared to entertain a reunion with either Ceci or Desharnais? Johnston is convinced that Ceci won't finish this season with the Sharks, while we know the Canucks are already prepared to move on from Desharnais just over two months into the regular season.
One area where either could conceivably help the Oilers specifically is on the penalty kill, where both played in 2023-24. The team ranked 15th-best in penalty-kill efficiency during the regular season and then ranked number one in this area during the playoffs.
Certainly the Oilers do need to improve in this area, with them ranking just 26th in power play efficiency at the time of writing. However, is this really reason enough on its own, to entertain the idea of bringing either Ceci or Desharnais back into the fold?
Ceci over Desharnais
Of the two, we would consider Ceci to be the better option, with him renowned for his leadership and popularity in the locker room during his time in Edmonton. While his offensive game isn't brilliant per se, it's also not necessary with the Oilers; in any event, his value is as an excellent defenceman, who works hard and can log big minutes.
The main issue though, is the one which resulted in the Oilers trading away Ceci in the first place -- his salary. He has a cap hit of $3.25 million for this season before becoming an unrestricted free agent, and as per PuckPedia, the Oilers have just over $1.234 million of cap space.
Now it is worth noting the Oilers are projected to have just under $3.497 million of cap space at the trade deadline, combined with it depending what the Sharks could get in exchange. Ultimately though, as much as we would have no issue with Ceci returning to Edmonton, it seems unlikely to come to fruition.
As for Desharnais, he does have a lower cap hit at $2 million for this season and next, but he just hasn't played well at all so far this season in Vancouver. And don't forget he fell out of favour as the Oilers progressed through the playoffs last season, culminating in only seeing one game of action during the Stanley Cup Final versus the Florida Panthers.
Ultimately, we can appreciate the intrigue and even a certain amount of nostalgia which surrounds what Ceci and Desharnais contributed to a magical and almost historic 2023-24 season in Edmonton. However, if either does get traded as Johnston is leaning towards, we don't expect either of them to end up back in Edmonton.