A report came down the pipes later in the day on Tuesday that Eric Staal would accept a trade. More interesting is the fact that the Edmonton Oilers were singled out as a team that had interest in the 36 year old centre.

One area Edmonton hoped they addressed in the off-season was their third line centre which they expected to be filled by Kyle Turris. That has not been the case as Turris has continued to plummet, looking far worse than he did with the Predators. Last game Turris had arguably his best game as an Oiler on the wing but the team still lacks that veteran bottom six centre. Enter Staal.

Last season, the then 35 year old still managed to put up an impressive 19 goals and 47 points in 66 games with the Wild with 14 of his goals coming at even strength. This year through 23 games Staal has only produced 3 goals and 8 points.

While it might be easy to suggest time has caught up with Staal, it's important to remember how much the Sabres have struggled this season. Staal's 8 points place him 5th among all Sabres forwards and 6th in total points. This Buffalo team cannot score.

Before anyone pencils Staal in quite yet we need to discuss what a trade would look like. Staal has one year left on his deal at 3.25 million. According to CapFriendly the Sabres have roughly $410,000 in cap space while the Oilers have essentially none. Salary would need to be moved both ways in a deal.

Alex Chiasson (2.15 million) could be moved with cap space balanced out and the Oilers could offer a 6th round pick as well. Remember the Oilers currently only have a 1st, 4th, two 6th and a 7th round pick.

I wonder if Buffalo believes they can get anything out of Kyle Turris and would take him on at 1.65 million and have a player they could use the following year as well.

I love Caleb Jones but the Oilers may be worried about losing him for nothing in expansion. Even if Jones was part of a deal, his 850,000 dollar contract isn't enough salary to shed for the Oilers and Jones is worth far more than Staal.

I could see Josh Archibald or Jujhar Khaira being of interest to Buffalo but both would be non starters for me. Khaira has been far more consistent this season and both of these men are a big part of the Oilers penalty kill. One thing Staal has not done much in his career is to be a PK guy.

Let's pretend for a moment the deal is Chiasson+ for Staal. Here is what the Oilers could run in their forward core.

RNH-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Kahun-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Khaira-Staal-Turris
Neal-Haas-Archibald

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Now onto today's game day blog.

Last game, the Edmonton Oilers overall played a solid game against the Ottawa Senators, doing a good job of limiting their chances while creating their own. Credit to Joey Daccord who I had never heard of up until then for helping keep Ottawa in a game I felt tilted far more in the Oilers favor.

The biggest challenge now for Edmonton is to not grow too comfortable with their dominance over Ottawa. These should be easy points for the Oilers but only if they put in the effort.

OILERS LINE COMBINATIONS

Draisaitl – McDavid – Yamamoto
Ennis – RNH – Puljujarvi
Shore – Khaira – Archibald
Neal – Haas – Chiasson

Nurse- Barrie
Russell – Larsson
Bear - Bouchard

Smith

- Maybe wishful thinking but I hope Bouchard gets back into the lineup.

- Kyle Turris played a solid game of the wing but it was announced yesterday that he was placed on the COVID protocol list.

SENATORS LINE COMBINATIONS

Stutzle – Norris – Batherson
Tkachuk – Tierney – Brown
Paul – White – Dadonov
Dzingel – Peca – Watson

Chabot – Zaitsev
Reilly – Zub
Wolanin – Gudbranson

Murray

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