Edmonton Oilers: 2018 NHL Trade Deadline Recap

Only three trades were made by the Edmonton Oilers in the past few days. It’s hard to say if they will help or hurt the team in the long run.

The Edmonton Oilers made a few moves this past weekend and on Monday to try to reposition themselves moving forward for the offseason. These trades signal the end of the season for these young Oilers who suffered one turbulent year of ups and downs that nobody ever really imagined.

A lot of experts expected this team to be Stanley Cup contender at the beginning of this season and right now are bound to be a lottery pick team. The only positive to say about this team is that they have Connor McDavid and are in the midst of a 3-game winning streak.

So it was somewhat surprising to see the Edmonton Oilers only making three trades by the time the deadline passed. Watching the Peter Chiarelli press conference yesterday and how he was explaining to the media how tight the market was for these trades didn’t cut it.

A lot of these moves that he made the past few days could have been made the last few weeks. Same could be said for a lot of these teams who procrastinated till the last-minute on these late deals.

Trades

The first move of the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday was trading defenseman Brandon Davidson to the New York Islanders for a 2019 third round draft pick. You would have to grade this deal as an A+ for Peter Chiarelli because Davidson wasn’t amounting to much in the long-term plans for the Oilers.

In 23 games played with the Oilers after being picked up from waivers by the Montreal Canadiens only had three goals and one assist. He’s a player you would classify as a guy a replacement reserve if one of your third pair defencemen got injured. Capturing a third-round pick for a reserve player is an excellent deal for the Oilers.

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The second move that the Edmonton Oilers made was trading Mark Letestu to the Nashville Predators who was then shipped to the Columbus Blue Jackets for left winger Pontus Aberg. It was a decent deal for the Oilers as Letestu was an unrestricted free agent this summer and it was highly unlikely that he would be back with the Oilers.

Not a lot is known about Pontus Aberg as he hasn’t gone enough playing time in the NHL, but if you look at his minor league and international performances in the past, he might be a steal in the long run. The main issue moving forward will be if he gets adequate playing time on the ice and which line he’ll be playing on.

Controversy

The last move that the Edmonton Oilers made was trading Patrick Maroon to the New Jersey Devils for a 2019 third-round pick and prospect Joey “J.D.” Dudek. It was by far the most controversial trade made by Peter Chiarelli, and it has to be graded as a C.

The reason why is because he only managed to get a third-round pick for a top-six forward, which is ludicrous. Even though Patrick Maroon has had a bad year, he has almost as many points as Evander Kane who was traded from Buffalo to San Jose for a couple of draft picks.

To the people who say that Maroon did well last season because of McDavid and that’s why teams weren’t going to move an inch for him is a dangerous thought process to have for a player of that caliber.

The Oilers could have gotten more for Maroon and waiting until the last minute for that deal will hurt Chiarelli in the long run. As for the prospect that the Oilers got Joey Dudek, his minor league stats aren’t that impressive, and it’s something we all need to judge on how he performs when he gets called up.

The Edmonton Oilers only made three trades but could have made more and better ones. Time will tell if these deals will benefit the franchise in the long run or not.

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