Oilers Reporter Predicts Trade For Sabres Prominent Right Hand Shot Defenseman

PUBLICATION

Ryan Hall
November 7, 2024 (8:36 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

During a recent episode of OilersNation Every day, host Tyler Yaremchuk predicts Oilers general manager Stan Bowman may take a swing at pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Henri Jokiharju to help shore up his defence corps.

The Buffalo Sabres season has continued its misery as the team has yet to snap out of its horrible seasons. Yaremchuk feels that adding a defenseman like Jokiharju the Oilers defence is certainly possible as he will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and only holds a salary of $3.1 million.

Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff had scratched Jokiharju In an effort to send a message. It's likely he is looking for a change of scenery and the Oilers certainly would be a far better team than the Sabres.

For the past several years, teams have requested other teams to retain salary to make trades work and at $1.55 million for the remainder of the season, the trade is certainly plausible. This is not the first time the Oilers would make a trade with the Sabres as last year they traded Ryan McLeod along with Tyler Tullio to Buffalo in exchange for top prospect Matthew Savoie.

So the dialogue is possible in the Oilers would certainly be interested as the team feels the defence has become a major concern after several pundits in the NHL felt it was not. The team had changed the defence core rather dramatically after removing former Oilers defenseman Cody Ceci and has not received the return in play with Ty Emberson and Troy Stecher.

Yaremchuk also feels that it would only cost either a second or third round pick to make this deal happen which the Oilers do possess their own picks for the next three years. It's safe to say that Bowman will continued to be actively looking through the league to find a deal that makes sense but adding this player certainly would help their blue line.