Oilers should move for Leafs former 1st round D-man trade candidate

About the only good thing you can say regarding the Oilers' start to the 2024-25 season, is that they've allowed less games every time they've played. Of course, when we're talking about six, five and four goals respectively this is still a disaster, with the team sitting at 0-3-0 as of Monday morning.

We appreciate that a slow start to the season is not a new phenomenon in Edmonton, but this still is quite simply not good enough or even remotely acceptable. The Oilers have allowed the most goals in the NHL thus far, and are tied for second-most allowed per game.

Particularly shocking has been the penalty kill unit, which is worst in the league at 44.4 percent efficiency. (It was actually a horrific 16.7 percent effectiveness prior to Sunday night's 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.) This would be the same penalty kill unit which ranked best during last season's playoffs, at a stunning 94.3 percent efficiency.

Oilers should look outside the organisation

So where the heck do the Oilers go from here, in order to get on track and start winning some games? Well, it's clear that they need to get better defensively, with one option being to bring in reinforcements.

We've already written about one potential option in this respect, with defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk reportedly interested in signing with the Oilers according to The Athletic. However, there is another possible target who we find particularly intriguing.

Giving due credit to NHL Trade Talk, a recent episode of The Hockey Writers Roundtable discussed the trade rumours surrounding Toronto Maple Leafs blue liner Timothy Liljegren. Jim Bay in particular believes that Liljegren will be moved, after falling down the depth chats and seemingly being out of favour full stop with Leafs new head coach Craig Berube.

Is Liljegren a good candidate to aim for?

In respect of where Liljegren could end up, it was Jacob Billington who mentioned the Oilers as a viable landing spot. However, would the 2017 17th overall selection actually be a good pickup for the Oilers?

In respect of pure talent, there is certainly a lot to like about Liljegren, in terms of his overall talent. He skates well, is an excellent puck handler, athletic, and still with untapped upside.

The 25-year-old also happens to be a right-hand shot, which is exactly the position where the Oilers need to upgrade. However, what about his actual productivity on the ice?

Well, despite seemingly falling out of favour with Berube, Liljegren has has done just fine during his three seasons of regular NHL action, while still having the capacity to offer a lot more. Overall in 196 career games, he has produced 65 points, a +38 rating, 297 hits and 281 blocks, while averaging 17:29 of ice time per contest.

The money factor for the Oilers

There is of course also the financial ramifications to consider in all of this. Starting with Liljegren himself, he is in the first season of a two-year deal with an annual cap hit of $3 million. (After which, it is important to note he will become an unrestricted free agent.)

As for the Oilers, PuckPedia has them at just $1,083,981 of cap space at the time of writing. However, there are two factors which still make a move for Liljegren feasible in a financial respect.

First, there is the temporary assistance of an additional $5,124,947, due to Evander Kane and his salary being on LTIR. Further, pending when he returns to action, the Oilers are projected to have $4,800,486 of cap space available at the trade deadline.

There is the question of what the Leafs would ask for in return for the Sweden native, but the thinking is it would only amount to a mid-round draft pick. One thing which could help the Oilers further, is that they would be taking $3 million off the Leafs books, with PuckPedia having them at just $336,667 of cap space at the time of writing.

Overall, we have no way of knowing at this juncture how much -- if any -- interest the Oilers have in Liljegren. However, as far as we're concerned, they should be interested in him and looking make a move for him sooner than later.

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