If you had asked me heading into the 2015-16 NHL season if there was any shot of Tampa Bay Lightening forward Steven Stamkos becoming a member of the Edmonton Oilers prior to the start of the 2016-17 campaign, my answer would have been a resounding no. While the chance of the one-time 60-goal man hitting the open market via free agency has looked like a real possibility for some time now, Edmonton just didn’t seem like a realistic landing spot.
So we are finally here. It has been nearly six full years since the Edmonton Oilers selected Taylor Hall first overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft and after years of doing nothing more than chasing their tail, it appears as though this organization has reached its boiling point. With yet another bottom five finish in the standings a near certainty, you can bet Peter Chiarelli will be moving one or perhaps even two of the “original” core pieces in the off-season.
Yesterday was just another run-of-the-mill day for the Edmonton Oilers in 2015-16. Things got started early in the day when Peter Chiarelli felt it was necessary to come out and “officially” declare his club as sellers heading into next Monday’s NHL Trade Deadline and came to an end with another uninspiring effort in falling 4-1 to the Ottawa Senators over at Rexall Place. Sandwiched in between were more rumours surrounding the potential trading of Nail Yakupov courtesy of TSN’s Darren Dreger and Bob McKenzie.
These are certainly interesting days in the world of the Edmonton Oilers. With the NHL Trade Deadline a week away and Todd McLellan’s crew buried in the Western Conference basement, the organization has decided to start the yearly routine of shifting players back and forth between the big club and their AHL affiliate. While the decision to recall Nikita Nikitin prior to Saturday’s tilt with the Colorado Avalanche was nothing more than a last-ditch effort to convince teams across the league there was some gas left in the veteran rearguard’s tank, the call-up of defenceman Jordan Oesterle is the move that should interest fans across Oilers Nation.
