NHL Reporter Reveals Oilers' Top Trading Target By March Trade Deadline
During an episode of the power play plenty on Sirius XM, The Fourth Period Dave Pagnotta that general manager Stan Bowman is combing the NHL trade market for a defenseman.
This need has become a priority as the Oilers are looking to be in Stanley Cup contention again after going to the Stanley Cup finals in Game 7. The team has turned their season around and currently sits third overall in the Pacific division.
But it's clear that Bowman along with his management team would like to bolster his defence as they feel it is not good enough to go the distance and will need to perform some cap gymnastics in order to make it all work.
One major issue is the fact that Evander Kane is slated to come back onto the Oilers lineup early in the new year after undergoing abdominal surgery in September.
This date however, seems to be uncertain at the moment as many felt he would be ready sooner than later but may not be ready till the playoffs which would give the Oilers $5.25 million in long term injury reserve cap space.
If that's the case, this will change the landscape dramatically for the trade market for the Oilers. This could give them better chances at certain defensemen including Ivan Provorov, David Savard and Brian Dumoulin.
With all, it's expected that Bowman will wait as long as he can till the trade deadline in order to make his deal transpire. The Oilers are scouring for a top 4 defenseman who can help fill the minutes they need especially when they have to go against tough opponents.
It remains to be seen on how Bowman will handle these next few months but it's safe to say that they will gather what they need especially with draft capital and salary cap opening could help the Oilers land the player they're looking for.
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