Oilers Linked to 6 Foot 4 Bully Defensemen
With the trade deadline inching closer we are going to take a look at how Niko Mikkola could possibly help out a contender. The Daily Faceoff has him ranked No. 17 in their trade target list.
A little breakdown of Mikkola, he's 26 coming in at 6-foot-4 and weighting 185 pounds. He's on a cap friendly deal of $1.9 million and becomes a Unrestricted Free Agent at the end of the year. He's played 50 games has 0 goals, 3 assists and averages 16:39 of ice time per contest and is a +/- 2.
He currently plays a depth defensive role with the St. Louis Blues on their third pair and is a second unit penalty killer for them. Wherever he goes he most likely will play this same roll.
Mikkola is a great acquisition for contenders as he plays the perfect depth roll a lot of teams are looking for in defenceman, he's big, isn't fancy, makes simple play's, can move the puck up ice well, and is a hard competitor.
One of the teams who could benefit from acquiring Mikkola is Edmonton, as they have been trying to move on from Jesse Puljujarvi and this would be the perfect time to, while also adding a solid depth defender before they head into the playoffs.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 3 | 49 ANSWERS Oilers Linked to 6 Foot 4 Bully Defensemen Would the Oilers benefit from adding Mikkola to their defensive core? | ||
| Yes | 30 | 61.2 % |
| No | 8 | 16.3 % |
| Not sure | 11 | 22.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
