Edmonton Oilers Insider Links Team To Acquiring Two Divisive Defenceman in Trade

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Liam McCormick
November 29, 2024 (9:20)

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The Edmonton Oilers are combing the market to add a defenceman in trade this season, and David Staples of the Edmonton Journal recently named three potential options: Rasmus Ristolainen, Ben Chiarot, and Nick Jensen.

Staples identified these targets based off Bob Stauffer's recent report that the Oilers could acquire an off the radar defenceman from a team in the playoff mix.

»I envision the Edmonton Oilersadding a Top 4 defensemen. Preferably, a guy that can play the right side and can be a left shot, and probably a guy that can move the puck. And maybe, since they're going to move a couple picks, some draft capital, we're likely looking at a guy with a little bit of term left. That's the scenario. I'm not going to name the name.»
- Bob Stauffer

These three defenceman may become available for trade as the season progresses, but at least two are quite divisive players - and they may just not be that good.

Edmonton Oilers Connected to Rasmus Ristolainen, Ben Chiarot as Trade Targets

30 year old Finnish defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen has played 736 career games with the Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers, and for much of his career, has struggled to produce positive results at all.

Some believe that Ristolainen could produce better results on a playoff quality team, but it's significant risk to take given his salary of $5.1M for the next two seasons.

According to scouting reports this season, Ristolainen has actually brought an improved level of play. Still, the Oilers would be committing to him for two years at $5M, and he doesn't have much of a history of success. In 23 games this year, he has 1 goal, 6 points, and a -1 rating.

Ben Chiarot is a very similar player, a 33 year old left shot defenceman from the Detroit Red Wings.

Chiarot was famously traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Florida Panthers for a first round draft pick, which caused a significant stir among fans.

Chiarot is a one dimensional physical defenceman that comes at a high price tag too of $4.75M, and potentially a high trade price too. Chiarot's results are still brutal too, this year with only 2 assists and a -9 rating in 22 games.

Hopefully the Edmonton Oilers set their sights higher than these two players. Potentially the Oilers scouting staff believes they can get more out of them than anyone else, but it's far less of a risk to just acquire a player that's actually played well in recent years.