Get to Know The Two New Faces of The Edmonton Oilers Franchise

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William
March 5, 2023 (11:38)

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They acquired defenceman Mattias Ekholm and a 2024 6th round pick from the Nashville Predators in exchange for defenceman Tyson Barrie, forward Reid Schaefer and a 2023 1st rounder, plus a 2024 fourth round selection.

Ekholm is 32 years old and played his entire NHL career in Nashville. He played 719 games with the Predators where he tallied 62 goals, and 206 assists. He averaged 21:48 of ice time and most importantly he has participated in 75 playoffs games gathering six goals, and 29 assists.

Ekholm is going to fortify the Oilers defence and that is a huge factor. He blocks shots (916) and had 583 career hits. He has a $6.25 million cap hit through the 2025-26 season. To make the trade work financially, the Predators retained four percent of Ekholm's contract.

Losing Tyson Barrie was a definite difficult task for GM Ken Holland, but you must always give up something to receive something back. Barrie is more of an offensive D-man whereas Ekholm will tighten up the Oilers blueline issues.

Another weakness that Holland addressed was to add an bottom-six forward. And boy, did he ever excel here! Adding Nick Bjugstad who stands 6-6", 209 pounds will certainly help the Edmonton net front attack.

Bjugstad has really picked up his offensive abilities even though he was playing on a weak offensive team in Arizona. The deal to obtain Bjugstad included sending Arizona a 2023 third-round pick and prospect defenceman Michael Kesselring. The Oilers also obtained defenceman Cam Dineen from the Coyotes.

Bjugstad collected 13 goals, 10 assists while with the Yotes. His physicality showed with 119 hits. His size and ability to crash the net will certainly go well in the Oilers offensive scheme. He also has effective numbers in the shootout, gathering three goals out of six attempts.

All in all, the Oilers can't be too disappointed in their trade deadline results. Ekholm has already added one assist in three games, while Bjugstad had his first goal in his first Oiler game.

Another important point in this NHL trade deadline was how teams had to retain salary to consummate a deal. On the Bjugstad trade, the Coyotes retained half ($450,000) of his salary. That was due to the fact that the Oilers spent every penny of their available cap space after the deal was completed.

Now, we will wait to see how effective both of these new acquisitions are going to be and if they will be helpful in carrying the Oilers in the postseason.