3 players the Oilers could target in a potential Broberg trade
Edmonton Oilers defenceman Philip Broberg has requested a trade, so what happens next?
On Tuesday morning, it was initially reported that the Oilers had given Broberg and his agent permission to seek a trade. However, later that same day, a new report indicated that Oilers GM Ken Holland had denied that was the case.
The situation got messy in less than a full day, indicating that the relationship between the Oilers and their 2019 first-round pick had officially begun to sour. Further, The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman also reported he heard from a source that a move involving Broberg is expected to be made “very soon.”
A trade involving Broberg will be tricky for Edmonton. The 22-year-old is five years removed from being drafted and has not been able to break into the NHL as a regular, appearing in just 79 games. Lately, he hasn’t been playing at all, being a healthy scratch in six of the last eight games.
Edmonton will be dealing with a player who does not have the value he had when he was initially drafted. As such, the potential return for a Broberg trade will probably not represent a huge impact player, and will more likely include a player in a similar situation looking for a change of scenery.
Who are some players the Oilers could target in a Broberg trade? Here are a few that possibly fit the bill:
Vasily Podkolzin
Taken just a few picks after Broberg in the 2019 NHL Draft, Russian forward Vasily Podkolzin has also struggled to become a consistent member of the Vancouver Canucks roster.
His first full NHL season came in 2021-22, when he played in 79 games with the Canucks and scored a respectable 14 goals and 26 points. That wasn’t a bad season by any means for Podkolzin — it was encouraging as it showed that there was some potential to produce at the NHL level.
However, since that season, the 22-year-old has appeared in just 39 NHL games and has just seven points. He has spent the majority of the last two season playing for the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL.
This is a player whose trajectory is very similar to Broberg’s. Both are high 2019 draft picks who have shown brief flashes of potential but can’t quite seem to make it work.
A change of scenery for both players might be in store, so what better way to facilitate that than by trading them for each other? This is perhaps the closest comparable player in value that you could target if you’re Holland.
Oliver Wahlstrom
Drafted 11th overall by the New York Islanders in 2018, Oliver Wahlstrom hasn’t quite blossomed into the offensive threat that the team expected. He has had a few decent years, scoring just over 20 points in consecutive seasons between 2020 and 2022, but it hasn’t been too pretty since.
Injuries plagued the 23-year-old last season and limited him to just 16 points in 35 games. He was re-signed by the Islanders this offseason to a cheap one-year deal but the production has stalled, with just five points in 17 games while playing just a bit over 10 minutes a night.
Wahlstrom was a healthy scratch in New York’s most recent 5-4 loss against the San Jose Sharks as Islanders head coach Lane Lambert opted for players like Hudson Fasching and Julien Gauthier ahead of him. Perhaps the Islanders could decide to move on from Wahlstrom and try to add Broberg into their defensive mix.
The Oilers have less forward depth in their bottom six and could potentially offer more opportunity for a player like Wahlstrom over waning veterans like Sam Gagner and Adam Erne.
Mackenzie Blackwood
The San Jose Sharks are among the worst teams in the league, so potentially grabbing Blackwood in a package including Broberg might be feasible for the Oilers.
Though he isn’t quite as sexy as names like Juuse Saros or Jordan Binnington, Blackwood has had himself a pretty decent bounce-back season all things considered. Despite being on a team that leaks goals against, the 26-year-old has managed a .899 save percentage.
He’s not a terrible buy-low option for the Oilers if they are looking for someone other than Jack Campbell and Calvin Pickard to split the net with Stuart Skinner.
Broberg alone may not be enough to get a deal done, but he may hold more value to a rebuilding team like the Sharks and could get more opportunities to play NHL minutes as compared to Edmonton.
Trading Campbell would be Edmonton’s preference but, if that proves to be too difficult, perhaps a package involving Broberg, Pickard, and a middling draft pick would entice the Sharks to hand over Blackwood with some retention on his $2.35 million cap hit.