Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins Could Become Trade Partners

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William
May 26, 2023 (7:57)

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Here's two teams with different needs who could help each other with this proposed trade.

The Oilers are still searching on how to improve their defence even after acquiring Mattias Ekholm. They were eliminated in the second round of the postseason by the Vegas Golden Knights in six games.

They could really use the services of Matt Grzelcyk. He had four goals, 22 assists in 75 games last season.

The Boston Bruins are looking for a centre who can help if they lose either (or both) Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. They perhaps had their sights set on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, but that won't happen since he recently signed a long-term contract extension with the Oilers and holds a full no-movement clause.

A better solution may be a young centre named Ryan McLeod. He's just 23 years old and collected 11 goals, 12 assists in 57 games last season. He is an accurate shooter who had a 14.1 percent shooting statistic.

He is a restricted free agent due for a new contract. McLeod had a cap hit of $925,000. Grzelcyk is in the last year of his $3.69 million contract. The Oilers have about $5.97 million in cap space, so it could be enough to land Grzelcyk.

Another cap factor to consider is will Mike Smith retire? At the ripe old age of 41, he may just do that. His $2.2 million cap hit (even though he's been on injured-reserve) would certainly help.

While the Oilers may be hesitant to give up McLeod, they were definitely disappointed that they didn't advance further than they did in the playoffs.

Since the Edmonton club has offence to spare, trading McLeod may hurt but time is running out for Connor McDavid and his teammates to win a Cup.

Would you make this trade?