The Edmonton Oilers would be wise to call the Pittsburgh Penguins for a trade over the next two months.
Oilers GM Stan Bowman will be busy working the phones as the NHL trade deadline approaches. The team sits third in the Western Conference and is once again expected to make a healthy run at the Stanley Cup.
Teams in this league don’t get a lot of shots at winning a championship, meaning that Bowman will have to do everything he can to maximize the Oilers’ chances. If he opts to do that through trade, the Penguins should be at the top of the list of teams that he should be calling.
The Athletic’s Josh Yohe recently reported that Penguins GM Kyle Dubas is open for business and is expected to be a seller at the upcoming deadline. Names like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are unlikely to move, but others could be traded.
That leaves a lot of interesting trade candidates for the Oilers. Let’s take a look at a few of them…
Marcus Pettersson
Position: LD/RD
2024/25 stats: 2 G, 15 A, 17 PTS, 43 GP
Cap hit: $4.025 million (UFA-2025)
If the Oilers want a “Mattias Ekholm-type addition” this season, their best bet will be 28-year-old Marcus Pettersson.
The Swedish rear-guard has been a stalwart on the Penguins’ blueline this season and may be the best defenceman up for grabs at the deadline. Contract talks have reportedly stalled with Pittsburgh, leaving a trade as the most likely scenario.
Pettersson is left-handed but has experience playing on his offside. In the short term, he could easily slide in on the Oilers’ second pair beside Darnell Nurse. If he signs with Edmonton, he may also be a long-term solution if we start to see Ekholm regress into his mid-to-late 30s.
Drew O’Connor
Position: LW
2024/25 stats: 6 G, 10 A, 16 PTS, 49 GP
Cap hit: $925,000 (UFA-2025)
The Oilers seem to love energy guys down the lineup and 26-year-old Drew O’Connor certainly fits that bill.
It’s been another decent year for the young winger, who is coming off a 16-goal, 33-point campaign last season. He would inject some youth into an aging bottom six and give the team another option down the stretch and into the playoffs.
O’Connor is by far the cheapest option on this list, making a potential trade much easier to envision. One has to wonder if Bowman wants to add to an already crowded bottom-six group or if he wants to set his aim a bit higher.
Erik Karlsson
Position: RD
2024/25 stats: 4 G, 28 A, 32 PTS, 49 GP
Cap hit: $10 million (UFA-2027)
If a bigger fish is what the Oilers want, then Erik Karlsson would be their guy.
This would mark the second time that the Oilers could be interested in the high-scoring blueliner after rumours swirled around him in the leadup to the 2023 deadline when he was with the San Jose Sharks.
Karlsson is one of the best puck-moving defenders in the entire NHL and would be a major boon to the team’s top four. The only issue is his sky-high cap hit, which the Oilers certainly do not have enough room for with both Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard due for new deals in the coming seasons.
Some sort of retention would have to be included in such a deal. Since the Sharks have already retained Karlsson’s deal, only one more team can retain. If Pittsburgh, or another team, retains 50% of the remaining cap hit, it could get him all the way down to $5 million.
Not an easy deal to make by any means, but an intriguing one if Bowman can figure it out.
Rickard Rakell
Position: RW
2024/25 stats: 23 G, 17 A, 40 PTS, 48 GP
Cap hit: $5 million (UFA-2028)
The Penguins also boast an intriguing scoring option for the Oilers, if they’re interested.
Rickard Rakell has been having an excellent season with the Penguins and is currently second on the team in scoring behind Crosby. Yohe also reported that the Penguins are fine with keeping him, but wouldn’t be against shipping him off if a team presented a good offer.
Adding a player like Rakell would supercharge the Oilers’ top six and allow head coach Kris Knoblauch to move players down the lineup, strengthening the forward depth. It could also help the team flesh out a menacing second PP unit as well.
The only issue would be whether or not Edmonton has the pieces to pull off this kind of trade.
Michael Bunting
Position: LW
2024/25 stats: 13 G, 13 A, 26 PTS, 47 GP
Cap hit: $4.5 million (UFA-2026)
If the Oilers balk at the price for Rakell, then Michael Bunting could be a decent plan B.
The 29-year-old may not have as attractive offensive numbers as Rakell, but he is scoring at a 44-point pace so far this season. He would bring some speed to the Oilers’ middle six and, once again, allow Knoblauch to have some extra options going into the postseason.
Bunting also adds a pest element that is lacking from the forward group outside of Corey Perry and, sometimes, Viktor Arvidsson. He would make this Edmonton team more annoying to play against and could possibly be had for a reasonable price.