Edmonton Oilers believed to be discussing a brutal trade

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Liam McCormick
February 1, 2024 (5:35 PM)

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Heading into the trade deadline this season, the Edmonton Oilers may have an extremely fluid approach. Now after adding Corey Perry for free, the team is in a great position to trade for multiple assets at the deadline, and they'll even be able to add up to $9M in salary using retention.

One of the players the Oilers have been linked to is Ducks' centreman Adam Henrique. He would fit the team's need of a bottom six centreman, similar to the role Nick Bjustad played last year. At 33 years old and on an expiring contract, he'd likely be a short term rental - and yet Philip Broberg is popping up in potential trade packages for Henrique.

According to David Pagnotta, the Oilers are interested in Henrique and the Ducks like Broberg - and a trade could be Center Ed around those players.

While Henrique would be a solid acquisition for the Oilers, any return involving Broberg would simply be too much unless the Ducks sent significant assets back. Trading a 22 year old recent first round pick for a depth centre would be an awful trade by Holland, but it is similar to the Bjustad for Kesselring trade last year.

In 49 games with the Ducks this season, Henrique has actually had a successful year scoring 15 goals and 33 points. However, he also comes with a massive $5.8M salary cap hit, which would be difficult for the Oilers to fit even including retention. If the Oilers are seriously entertaining the idea of a Henrique trade, they may as well look at Guentzel instead - who could be had for a similar price both in trade assets and salary.