Are The Anaheim Ducks And Edmonton Oilers Trade Partners?

Edmonton Interested In Sami Vatanen

The Anaheim Ducks have certainly started to build up some of that expected momentum, albeit that the season is half over. Their strong combination of goaltending and defense has without a doubt saved them from what would otherwise be a lost season, with potential coaching casualties. The much maligned, once impressive offense still has Duck’s nay-sayers wagging their finger, but that’s not to say that Anaheim GM Bob Murray hasn’t taken stock of this as well.

Following some breadcrumbs, it would appear that NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman has confirmed that the Edmonton Oilers may be interested in Duck’s defenseman Sami Vatanen. Perhaps it’s time that Edmonton finally pulls the trigger and moves one of their young forwards to acquire something that they desperately need. Of all the interesting forwards the Oilers have, their are two names that really jump out at me, and one dark horse contender. Winger Jordan Eberle and center Leon Draisaitl both have the slick skills and scoring ability that this Ducks team really lacks.

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I think it’s rather obvious that Draisaitl will be the tougher get here, and there’s no way that Sami Vatanen could land a player with the potential of Draisaitl, but Eberle could be a different story. It seems that Eberle is the consensus ‘most expendable’ Oiler forward, which doesn’t really make a lot of sense. Sure, he’s locked into a 6 million dollar cap hit for the next 4 seasons, but he’s been a fairly consistent scorer on a more than consistently bad team for his entire career. In fact, in Eberle’s last 4 full seasons, his lowest point-per-game total was .77. Neither Ryan Nugent-Hopkins nor Nail Yakupov have been able to even crack .77 points-per-game.

Swapping Jordan Eberle for Sami Vatanen makes sense on the ice but does it make sense for a traditionally budget team to go out and acquire a winger with a 6 million dollar cap-hit? The Ducks are already at ends on top quality defenseman that are going to need new contracts in the next season or two, which does make someone expendable. Also keep in mind that John Gibson is more than likely the Duck’s number one goaltender moving forward, who’s still playing on his rookie contract.

In terms of Draisaitl though, it’s in a sense all about Ryan Kesler. Kesler was brought to Anaheim to make them as strong as any team down the middle, with size and scoring in Getzlaf and Kesler, your proverbial ‘Saving Private Ryans’. Well much like Private Ryan in the movie, Ryan Kesler has been pretty invisible throughout the first half of this season. In fact, Kesler has been pretty mediocre as the second line center, or at least not what the Ducks were hoping for when they signed him. Leon Draisaitl could be the answer at #2 center for the Ducks moving forward.

This kid may have the highest ceiling of potential aside from Connor McDavid, and he’s put on a show his first 40 games this season. He’s been an even strength menace, scoring more than 70% of his points while in 5-on-5 situations. The only problem is that it’s almost impossible for the Ducks to manufacture a sensible trade for Draisaitl. To many NHL GM’s, Draisaitl is still considered more of a prospect, as the 20 year old has only appeared in 77 NHL games and still has plenty of room to grow. Edmonton would most likely ask for defenseman Hampus Lindholm in a deal involving Draisaitl.

Unlike Draisaitl, Lindholm is considered to be a proven NHL commodity, playing in just over 200 games in his 2 and a half years of service. There’s no general manager that would be willing to part with a young and proven NHL commodity for a player who’s still unproven at the NHL level, albeit very good in his very short sample size.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins may be the dark horse in all of this Anaheim-Edmonton trade chatter. Much like Jordan Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins seems to be on the outside looking in on the Oilers plans going forward. His injury issues do make him somewhat of a risk but he could potentially be a fight in the Ducks offense. Nugent-Hopkins has registered 218 points in 304 career games and like every other Edmonton forward, still has the potential to grow. We can talk all we want about Draisaitl only being 20 but Nugent-Hopkins is only 22 so there’s not that much real difference.

It will be interesting to follow moving forward, as Edmonton could be a potential trade partner for the Ducks moving forward. That is unless, of course, Jim Rutherford was ready to trade Evgeni Malkin for Ryan Kesler straight up? Your move, Jimmy!