Oilers trade LD Dmitri Samorukov to St. Louis Blues in exchange for LC Klim Kostin
Seeing as how Samorukov was buried here behind Philip Broberg and Markus Niemelainen and looked like he might break through within the next couple of years they decided to flip him for a forward that was a first round draft pick with St. Louis but hasn’t panned out. What probably tipped the scales for the trade, however, is that Samorukov was on an NHL-only contract this year, having just completed last year on a two way contract. This meant that he had to clear waivers to come up to the Oilers from the minors, and there’s a good chance we would’ve lost him for nothing. Might as well get something for him while you can.
As for Kostin, there isn’t much to say. He was drafted with much hype but hasn’t lived up to it so far. Maybe a change of scenery and organizations will do some good for his career, it’s happened before.
We’ll see which player amounts to something first.