After the Edmonton Oilers made it all the way to the Conference Finals last season they are expected to do the same or better this season. In order to do that the Edmonton Oilers will need to make some changes at the deadline. The real question is how big are the changes going to need to be?
What Is Going All In For The Edmonton Oilers?
At the deadline, if the Edmonton Oilers want to make the biggest splash they will need to go all in to acquire the players that they think will put them over the edge and make them a Stanley Cup favourite.
What does all in look like for the Edmonton Oilers though? It would be trading away multiple first-round picks as well as top prospects. In an all-in scenario, no one becomes untouchable. This includes all the top prospects. This would include Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg.
These two players have already proven they can play in the NHL. With the experience of playing against NHL players, they are the Edmonton Oilers top prospects. If the Edmonton Oilers are going all in this season I would expect one of them to be moved.
In my opinion, Broberg or Holloway would be worth more than their first-round pick. If the Edmonton Oilers are pushing all their chips in it is likely their first-round pick would land in the final 4 of that round. Holloway and Broberg will likely be better than whoever ends up being picked in that spot.
If you see the Edmonton Oilers moving one of them you can expect it to be a big piece coming back the other way. This for me would be the all-in move Ken Holland has to make if he so chooses to.
Is This The Year To Do It?
People who make way more money than me will end up making this call in real life. For me, I would not commit to emptying the cupboards quite yet. With the Edmonton Oilers cap situation, the Oil are going to need young players to fill in roles to make up for the higher-paid players.
There isn’t just one move that can instantly turn the Edmonton Oilers to cup favourites. It is going to take multiple moves. With the cap crunch, the Oilers are in, it is going to be almost impossible to do. Would I like to see the Oilers bring in Gudas and Toews, of course? The salary cap won’t allow it.
In order to make it work the Oilers would have to mix up their lineup too much. When you start doing too many changes you start messing with the chemistry of a team. Right now I think the Edmonton Oilers are a tight group, so I worry that too many changes may do more bad than good.
Only Time Will Tell
We won’t truly know what the Edmonton Oilers are actually going to do till the trade deadline on March 3rd. Till then there are going to be a lot of rumours around this team. I would also expect the Edmonton Oilers to be connected to all the big targets. That’s because they are in their winning window.
It should make for an interesting next few weeks thought that I can say.