The Florida Panthers have stated publicly that they're looking to make a big splash in the off-season. This is the ninth-part of a league-wide search for great potential trading partners for the Panthers. Today we will look at the Edmonton Oilers.
If you missed some of the previous teams you can find them here...
New York Rangers
Chicago Blackhawks
Vancouver Canucks
Detroit Red Wings
Montreal Canadiens
Edmonton Oilers: (36-40-6 78 points)
Draft picks owned: 1st round (#10), 2nd round (#40), 3rd round (#71), 5th round (#133), 6th round (#164), 7th round (#195)
UFA's: Mike Cammalleri (LW), Yohann Auvitu (D)
RFA's:Ryan Strome (C/RW), Anton Slepyshev (W), Iiro Pakarinen (RW), Drake Caggiula (F), Darnell Nurse (D), Matthew Benning (D)
No team in the National Hockey League fell more short of their expectations than the Edmonton Oilers. In 2016-17, they rose to prominence as star forward Connor McDavid took home the Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, and the Art Ross Trophy for most points in the regular season. All this coupled with falling just one game short of a Western Conference Final bid left everyone with high hopes for 2017-18.
After winning game one of the regular season, Edmonton dropped their next five in regulation and never recovered. The Oilers two greatest weaknesses are their lack of depth and speed in their forward lines. After shipping out winger Jordan Eberle to the New York Islanders for Ryan Strome, the 24-year-old had only 13 goals and 34 points in 82 games.
Meanwhile, Eberle scored 25 goals and had 59 points. This trade more than any other move wiped out any ancillary scoring the Oilers had been getting outside McDavid and Leon Draisitl.
The first aspect we need to examine is Edmonton's salary cap position. With the salary cap increasing to
$78-$82 million for 2018-19 (according to TSN), the Oilers will have about $15M to re-sign their six restricted free agents. That leaves the Oilers with minimal space to add anyone significant without shedding salary from their roster.
The Panthers sit in a better spot with the same amount of cap space, but none of their RFA's will receive any significant contracts. Center and former first overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins carries a $6M cap hit with three years left on his deal. In 62 games, Nugent-Hopkins had 48 points, his best points-per-game average since his rookie season in 2011-12.
However, his shooting percentage was 15.9%, the highest of his career. He also took 54.3% of his faceoffs in the offensive zone, his highest since 2014-15. These combined with the highest PDO of his seven-year career (101.0) show that Nugent-Hopkins slots as a really good third-line center on a Stanley Cup contending team.
This makes him a perfect fit for Florida who rotated in a number of players to fill the role this season. Obviously, the Oilers won't just give up Nugent-Hopkins because even at his price point, he's still a useful player.
A great starting place for trade talks should be around Florida's first round pick in 2016, Henrik Borgström. If the Oilers put McDavid and Draisitl on their own lines, the 20-year-old Borgström can develop as the Oilers third pivot. This also frees up over $5M in cap space since Borgström still has three years left on his entry-level contract.
The freeing up of money should allow the Oilers to attract free agents since many players throughout the league would love to play alongside Connor McDavid. Since Edmonton would probably need something else coming their way along with Borgström, MacKenzie Weegar could be an option as the Oilers are in need of younger, more mobile defensemen.
Most likely Edmtonon isn't looking to stock up on any draft picks since they're want to get back to winning as soon as possible. However, every trade needs the obligatory "throw-in" pick, right?
To Florida Panthers
Ryan Nugent-Hopklns
To Edmonton Oilers
Henrik Borgström
MacKenzie Weegar
Florida's Third Round Pick 2019
Let me know what your thoughts on this potential trade in the comments or you can chat with me on
Twitter!
The next team in our search for Florida Panthers trade partners will be the New York Islanders.
Florida Panthers Blogger • 
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