The best trade the Oilers never made

Let’s go back to the Edmonton Oilers summer of 2014 for a few minutes. At this point, Nurse had just been drafted in 2013 and Leon Draisaitl had just been drafted in the first round.

The Oilers had the makings of a great team but were a very young team and in particular, were a bit hurting at right defence. The Montreal Canadiens had grown a little malcontent with PK Subban, and were looking to trade him, but at the time he was one of the best puck-moving blueliners in the game so they weren’t going to give him away.

It was then that Canadiens GM of the day Marc Bergevin proposed a trade to the then Oilers GM of the day Peter Chiarelli, and it went a little something like this:

However, this trade never materialized because Chiarelli wisely balked at the idea of trading away two players that he saw as essential to the Oilers future – and rightly so. It was also reported that Chiarelli didn’t want two big ticket items on the payroll – seeing as how at the time the Oilers were shoo-ins to draft Connor Mcdavid first overall in 2015 (which of course they went on to do) and he knew he’d have to pay the max or at least close to it to Mcdavid, and he didn’t want Subban and his $9 million cap hit to impede that.

Good thing he didn’t make that trade, because look at where both teams would be at this point in time. Montreal would look like a significantly different team today, whereas the Oilers would be significantly worse as Subban is now retired today. Oh sure, Subban would’ve given them another three years of quality elite play but his contract would’ve been a boat anchor on us after that.

This would’ve turned into one of the worst trades in Oilers history, as it would’ve resulted in a superstar forward and a top pairing right D who can munch minutes – a rarity in today’s NHL – dealt to Montreal while the Oilers would’ve essentially received nothing from that trade today.

The Oilers D would be significantly worse today and the forward corps lacking a lot of firepower had that trade had actually been done.

Meanwhile, Subban probably would’ve been unhappy as an Oiler seeing as how the team was another three years away from making the playoffs, and then wouldn’t make the playoffs again for another two years after that.

Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make. Chiarelli made a lot of bad moves as a GM but fortunately, this wasn’t one of them.

Subban, of course, would go on to be traded to Nashville for Shea Weber straight up. Weber would go on to be permanently injured and is now nothing but a contract that’s been traded to Arizona (which I’m actually hoping the Oilers trade for this summer to help them become cap compliant). Subban, meanwhile, had three solid years in Nashville where he largely picked up where he left off in Montreal. Nashville, though, in need of cap space, would go on to trade Subban to New Jersey where he finished up his career and would go on to have…..let’s say, much less success.

Subban’s hypothetical spot on the Oilers would go on to be taken up by Adam Larsson, who would be traded here in exchange for Taylor Hall straight up.