4 Oilers players who could get traded for a new goalie
The NHL’s worst-kept secret is that the Edmonton Oilers are desperately trying to upgrade their goaltending.
At the start of the year, the team was banking on a bounce-back season from veteran goalie Jack Campbell and for sophomore Stuart Skinner to repeat his excellent rookie year.
Just over a month into the season, Campbell is now floundering in the AHL, Skinner has struggled to be consistent, and the team is 30th in the league with their playoff hopes fading with every passing day.
The team is running out of internal options and, unless AHL call-up Calvin Pickard can save the season, it is looking more and more likely that GM Ken Holland will have to push through a trade for a new goalie.
It won’t be an easy trade to pull off. The Oilers don’t have much leverage and teams will be trying to squeeze Edmonton for all they’ve got. Holland will most likely have to part with some pretty valuable assets if they want to stabilize the play between the pipes.
So, who are some of the players that the Oilers could part with in a trade for a new goaltender? Let’s go through four potential candidates…
Ryan McLeod
If a team is looking for a young NHL-ready forward who can jump into the lineup and be a decent defensive forward, Ryan McLeod would fit that bill.
Drafted by Edmonton 40th overall in the 2018 NHL Draft, McLeod has soared through the Oilers organization and has become a fixture on the team’s third line for the past few seasons. Though he has missed some time due to injury, he is still among their most reliable defensive forwards.
The problem that many have with the 24-year-old’s game is his production. Since turning pro with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors in 2019/20, McLeod has topped out at 28 points, which he recorded with the Condors in 2020/21.
In the NHL, that number drops down to 18, which was what he was able to record over 57 games last season. Through the first 16 games of this season, he has just three assists, which is not ideal for an Oilers team that lacks secondary scoring at times.
Despite this lack of scoring, there is still plenty of value to be had for what McLeod does without the puck. He is the third-most used forward on the penalty kill and has the lowest expected goals-against (2.5) among forwards who have spent 20 or more minutes on the kill.
Dylan Holloway
When it comes to prospects who are quickly turning into NHL regulars, Dylan Holloway is your guy.
The 2020 first-round pick has finally earned a full-time spot with the Oilers after recording nine points in 51 contests last season. Though production has been slim, with just a single goal in the first 14 games of the season, he has been very noticeable around the opposition’s net. If he had a tad more luck finishing on his chances, those numbers would look better.
Though he has looked okay, he has not always gotten the benefit of the doubt from his coaches. He struggled to get consistent minutes under former head coach Jay Woodcroft and found himself benched on a few occasions.
We don’t yet know how head coach Kris Knoblauch views the 22-year-old, as Holloway was injured in his first game behind the bench and is now listed week-to-week.
The potential is there for Holloway to be a productive player and that might be appealing to a team in the midst of a rebuild or retool.
Philip Broberg
Out of all the Oilers players who might need a change of scenery, it’s probably Philip Broberg.
There is a lot of angst among the Oilers faithful when it comes to Broberg. The Swedish defenceman was drafted 8th overall back in 2019 but has not been able to be a consistent NHL player four years later.
There have been times when he has looked impressive, showing off his skating ability, but that usually comes when he is playing sheltered minutes and has limited time against elite players. There have also been times when he has looked lost in his own zone and has made mistakes that have led to goals against.
There seemed to be a concerted effort at the beginning of the year to give Broberg a chance at a top-four role alongside Mattias Ekholm. However, after Ekholm missed all of training camp with an injury, those plans were seemingly shelved.
Broberg did start the season with the team but was sent back down in early November before being called back up again later in the month.
His value might not be what it was a few years ago, but he remains a defenceman with a high draft pedigree and does have a few high-end tools to offer. It’s just a matter of putting them together.
Warren Foegele
Warren Foegele is an interesting player, to say the least. He first came to Edmonton in the summer of 2021 in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes. The expectation was that he could jump into the lineup and provide some offence from the Oilers’ third line.
That has more or less been the case two and a bit seasons into his Oilers tenure. Though he isn’t going to blow the socks off anybody, he has been a consistent depth scorer for the team recording 26 and 28 points in his first two seasons in Edmonton.
He is off to a decent start once again, recording three goals and seven points through the first 17 games of the season. That has him on pace for a career-high 34 points. Out of all the players on this list, Foegele is the most well-known commodity. At 27 years old, there isn’t a whole lot more development to expect.
A team looking to boost their depth scoring and inject some energy into their bottom six should have interest in Foegele. The only sticking point may be his $2.75 million cap hit but, even then, he is a pending UFA after this season so it would be a short-term commitment.
Foegele is Edmonton’s best trade chip for a team that isn’t looking to trade for potential or hoping for a sharp spike in production.
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