Edmonton Oilers poking around trade for Canadiens defenceman: report
The Edmonton Oilers are reportedly searching Eastern Canada to help bolster their blue line this summer.
Following a rather uneventful draft, the rumour mill in the Alberta capital has been running at full speed. Edmonton has already been linked to Brock Boeser in free agency, and now a new report from RG Media’s Marco D’Amico has the Oilers talking trade with the Montreal Canadiens.
The player of interest for Oilers GM Stan Bowman is defenceman Mike Matheson.
“The Edmonton Oilers have made it known they want to upgrade their defence,” D’Amico wrote. “Sources confirmed they’ve expressed interest in Canadiens defenceman Mike Matheson.
“The Oilers are said to value Matheson’s mobility and ability to carry the puck out of the defensive zone.”
The 2025 NHL Draft is in the books
From trade rumors to re-centralization of the draft, here's everything I heard while on the ground in Los Angeles. https://t.co/C4fPAvEmfU
— Marco D'Amico (@mndamico) June 29, 2025
D’Amico also included a tidbit about teams having trade interest in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, but later clarified that this was not necessarily connected to Matheson trade talks. That does not seem like the type of move that Edmonton would consider at this point in the summer, as they still need to upgrade the forward group.
This isn’t the first time that the Oilers have been linked to Matheson, with this same rumour popping up around the 2025 trade deadline as well. It’s interesting, considering that Bowman seemed fairly confident in his defensive group at his year-end press conference. Instead, he highlighted the goaltending and forward group as his main areas of concern going into the summer.
Matheson has had an up-and-down tenure with the Canadiens over the past three seasons. His value skyrocketed after the 2023-24 season after posting an impressive 62-point campaign, but he regressed back down to 31 points this past season.
The 31-year-old is a very mobile defender and has a knack for moving the puck up the ice, which the Oilers valued quite a bit on their run to the Stanley Cup Final. The issue is that Matheson is left-handed, which could cause problems for the Oilers.
Edmonton already has four proven left-handed NHL defencemen on their team in Mattias Ekholm, Jake Walman, Darnell Nurse, and Brett Kulak. The only right-handed defenders are Evan Bouchard, Ty Emberson, and Troy Stecher. Adding another lefty in the mix seems to be redundant, unless Matheson is comfortable enough to play the majority of his minutes on the right.
Matheson also carries an expensive $4.8-million cap hit on the final year of his current contract, which may be challenging for the Oilers to fit if they want to make significant upgrades up front and between the pipes.
There is merit in Edmonton having an interest in a player like Matheson, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense in the context of the team’s current situation.