The NHL's Holiday trade freeze is forcing multiple trades to occur sooner than expected, and one more trade target has come off the board for the Edmonton Oilers with Alexandre Carrier moving to Montreal.
The Oilers had previously been linked to Nashville Predators defenceman Alexandre Carrier in free agency.
Now, Carrier is on the move from Nashville to Montreal in exchange for depth defenceman Justin Barron.
The Oilers have been in the market to acquire a defenceman all season, and Carried perfectly fit the apparent need for a right-shot defenceman with term on his contract.
Carrier was a former partner of Mattias Ekholm in Nashville, and the two had incredible success in their time together.
It wasn't clear if the Oilers would've adjusted defence pairs to play Carrier with Ekholm, but their history and Carrier's strong player profile on his own made it an interesting option for the Oilers.
Top Oilers Defence Trade Target Off the Board After Trade to Montreal Canadiens
Carrier is a 28 year old right shot defenceman in the first year of a three year contract for $3.75M. The Oilers and Nashville Predators were listed as top trade partners earlier this season by Elliotte Friedman.
On the Edmonton Oilers, Carried theoretically would've perfectly fit next to Darnell Nurse on the second pairing. However, Brett Kulak has since been filling the spot on his offside, changing the Oilers trade plans.
According to Bob Stauffer, the Oilers top trade target is currently Canadiens defenceman Mike Matheson. Now that the Canadiens have acquired Carrier, perhaps they're more likely to move Matheson.
The Edmonton Oilers are more likely to wait until as close to the trade deadline as possible to get the most time to make their trade decisions, but with so many candidates flying off the board right, now, the Oilers maybe missing out.
