Edmonton Oilers have a perfect trade deadline target in Alex Tuch
If the last two weeks have taught us anything, it’s that the Edmonton Oilers require some reinforcements.
Barring last night’s 3-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Oilers have come out of the 4 Nations break looking as flat as ever. The five-game losing streak that they incurred before Saturday’s win was the longest for the franchise since they lost six straight in December 2021.
Outside of the lacklustre goaltending, the most glaring thing about the Oilers during the streak was their lack of both toughness and scoring at the top of the roster. The only player contributing was Leon Draisaitl while the rest of the top six (including Connor McDavid) struggled to generate much at all.
The result was the team getting pushed around the ice and routinely pinned in their zone. That is something that will need to change if the Oilers want to get back to the Stanley Cup Final.
Right now, the Oilers lack a true power-forward option at the top of the lineup outside of Draisaitl and that is starting to pose a problem. Viktor Arvidsson has struggled to produce, Vasily Podkolzin is playing too high in the lineup, and while Jeff Skinner has had good looks, he is too easily pushed off the puck.
Luckily, there is a perfect player who could be on the trade market to remedy this problem: Alex Tuch.
Alex Tuch has goals in three-straight games š¤#LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/agT5URBpiT
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) March 2, 2025
Tuch is the exact type of player that Oilers GM Stan Bowman should be moving mountains to acquire. The 29-year-old would be Edmonton’s tallest forward at six foot four and is currently enjoying an amazing year with the Buffalo Sabres with 22 goals and 46 points in 58 games. That would rank him second on the Oilers in goals and third in points.
He is also a great forechecker and possesses a work ethic that should easily get him into the good graces of head coach Kris Knoblauch. At first glance, he looks like an obvious fit with Draisaitl on the second line, giving the Oilers a hulking second line that can fill the opponent’s net, but his great shot and ability to get open would also make him ideal on a line with McDavid as well.
This would allow Knoblauch to move a struggling player like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Arvidsson down to the third line to help bolster the forward depth.
On the salary cap end of things, Tuch makes a very reasonable $4.75 million which could easily handled if Edmonton can convince the Sabres to take Arvidsson (who has no trade protection) for the remainder of the season.
The price to acquire Tuch is bound to be high, but the Oilers shouldn’t be afraid to pay it. Tuch would automatically become the team’s third-best forward and would rank similarly to the Mattias Ekholm trade from a few seasons ago. Tuch also fits the timeline of this Oilers team as a player in their prime and is signed through to next season.
Edmonton’s cabinet of picks and prospects is not impressive and the Sabres probably wouldn’t want to take back Matthew Savoie, so Bowman would have to get creative. The 2026 first-rounder would be a given and another high-end pick would probably have to be added as well. A prospect like Sam O’Reilly or Beau Akey would also need to be involved as well.
The Oilers are aiming for the Stanley Cup this season and they need to lay it all out on the line if they want to get there again. Adding a few depth forwards at the deadline won’t be enough. It’s time for Bowman to take a true swing at things, no matter how difficult a trade may seem.