Edmonton Oilers: P.K. Subban Rumor Truly Makes Sense

Edmonton Oilers are in search defense this offseason especially right handed defensemen and Peter Chiarelli’s first phone call on May 1 after the lottery draft should be to Montréal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin. At the Habs’ post-season press conference, Bergevin gave a pretty unclear answer regarding defenseman P.K. Subban, who is rumored to be on the trade block.

“Am I trying to move P.K. Subban? No. … Is my job trying to make this team better? Yes,” Bergevin said. “To move any of these guys, it would have to be something special. As a hockey man, I would have to look at my options, but is that reality? Probably not. But I have to look at everything.”

Does this mean the Oilers could potentially get P.K. away from the Canadiens? In my opinion yes. Would it cost a lot of assets? Yes.

“There isn’t a team that’s going to tell you they have too much scoring… scoring is at a premium in this league,” Bergevin said.

So with that in mind the Edmonton Oilers have an abundance of young offensive forwards. The Oilers can try to have all of them in the lineup at one time but there just isn’t enough ice time and only one puck to go around.

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Trade

Who would it take to make the trade happen? Well so far Chiarelli has said the only untouchable on the roster was Connor McDavid so that really opens up everyone. It’s also said Taylor Hall is close to untouchable, but for a Norris defenseman, maybe that changes things. What could a trade look like?

Well it would probably take one of the old core players in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Jordan Eberle, plus Nail Yakupov. Or it could be the Oilers first-round pick, but only if it was the first-overall. Or maybe Hall straight across. Either way, throwing in Yakupov makes the package more interesting, due to the fact that he and Alex Galchenyuk could wreak havoc and reunite.

Norris Trophy Trade History

These are all guesses but let’s look at players that were traded after winning the Norris Trophy since 1980.

Randy Carlyle won the Norris in 1980-81 while playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins and was traded twice in his career. He was traded before his Norris in 1978 when the Toronto Maple Leafs traded him and George Ferguson for Dave Burrows and a sixth-round pick in 1978 (Mell Hewitt).

His second trade was in 1984 when we went to the Winnipeg Jets for 1984 first-round pick (Doug Bodger) and future considerations (Moe Mantha).

Doug Wilson won the Norris in 1981-82 while playing for the Chicago Blackhawks and was traded in 1991 to the San Jose Sharks. The trade involved Kerry Toporowski and a second-round pick (Boris Mironov).

Chris Chelios won three Norris’s 1988-89, 1992-93, and 1995-96. He was traded twice first from Montreal to Chicago in 1990 for Denis Savard. The second was in 1999 when he was traded from Chicago to the Detroit Red Wings for Anders Eriksson, first-round pick in 1999 (Steve McCarthy) and first-round pick in 2001 (Adam Munro).

Paul Coffey won three Norris’s in 1984-85, 1985-86, and 1994-95. He was traded multiple times but the most notable returns were Craig Simpson in 1987 in a seven player trade between Edmonton and Pittsburgh. In 1996 when Coffey, Keith Primeau, and a first-round pick in 1997 (Nikos Tselios) were traded from Detroit to the Hartford Whalers for Brian Glynn and Brendan Shanahan. Most of the players in the other trades never amounted to more than depth or role players.

Ray Bourque won five Norris trophies all when playing for the Boston Bruins in 1986-87, 1987-88, 1989-90, 1990-91, and 1993-94. Bourque was traded along with Dave Andreychuk in 2000 to the Colorado Avalanche for Martin Grenier, Samuel Pahlsson, Brian Rolston, and 2000 first-round pick (Martin Samuelsson).

Rob Blake won the Norris in 1997-98 while playing for the Los Angeles Kings and was traded along with Steven Reinprecht to the Avalanche for Adam Deadmarsh, Aaron Miller, two first-round picks in 2003 (David Steckel and Brian Boyle) and a player to be named later (Jared Aulin).

Chris Pronger won his Norris in 1999-00 while playing for the St. Louis Blues. He was traded multiple times after his Norris. Most Oiler fans should remember his to trade to Edmonton in 2005 for Eric Brewer, Doug Lynch, and Jeff Woywitka. Then in 2006 when Pronger asked for trade out of Edmonton he went to the Anaheim Ducks for Joffrey Lupul, Ladislav Smid, first-round pick in 2007 (Nick Ross), second-round pick in 2008 (Travis Hamonic) and a conditional first-round pick in 2008 (Jordan Eberle). Pronger was traded again in 2009 with Ryan Dingle from Anaheim to the Philadelphia Flyers for Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, 2009 first-round pick (John Moore), 2010 first-round pick (Emerson Etem).

Findings

In most of these trades the team that acquired the Norris winning defenseman won the trade. The only team that lost was the Hartford Whalers when they traded Brendan Shanahan for Coffey and Keith Primeau.

Except for Randy Carlyle and Doug Wilson most of these defensemen were traded to a team that went on to help their new team win the Stanley Cup. So when it comes to P.K. Subban Montreal would be crazy to trade him but if there is an opportunity I would have to think Peter Chiarelli would do what he could to make the trade happen.

Final Thoughts

This would be a big Bold trade but if any GM would pull the trigger it would be Peter Chiarelli. I’m sure Chiarelli will make a couple of calls to Bergevin to see if something could be worked done. P.K. Subban is a six-foot tall, 210 pound defenseman who had a down year in goal-scoring with six goals this years but still had 51 points in only 68 games.

Next: Edmonton Oilers: Bakersfield Condors Season in Review

Montréal had a down year so Subban’s numbers show that but he is an elite defenseman in this league and he’s only 26. The only thing that would be difficult to take is his salary as his cap hit is 9 million which ends 2021-22. If Montreal was looking to move him, it would have to early in the offseason. Subban has an NTC that goes into effect July 1.

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