As the dust settles on another NHL trade deadline, fans can finally step away from the rumour mill and begin their diagnostics on how their respective GMs managed to improve or potentially worsen their team heading towards the Stanley Cup playoffs.
This week, the Edmonton Oilers added Jake Walman, Max Jones, and Trent Frederic across a pair of deals with the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks, but ultimately went quiet on Friday ahead of the deadline while other teams kicked into high gear with last-minute moves.
After Edmonton came up short in Game 7 of the Cup Final to the Florida Panthers last spring, some fans were anticipating a bigger splash from this year’s trade deadline. Here’s a sample of how fans were feeling on social media on Friday as the Oilers opted to not make any more moves, with Tyson Munro summing up the overwhelmingly frustrated sentiment in Oil Country…
Another fan added that this feeling is all too familiar in Edmonton given how many times the team has failed to make a big splash to upgrade around McDavid and Draisaitl.
One reason for the relatively quiet deadline is the large number of players with no-move clauses in their contracts that would have had to have been waived to make any deal work. It’s unclear what barrier that might have posed in potential trades.
While every team fantasizes about getting the big name players that float around the market every year at the deadline, it can be argued that the biggest hole for the Oilers right now is in net. Without any reinforcements on the way, it’s up to their tandem to pick up the pace if they want to reach the finals once again.
Meanwhile, some fans rejoiced in seeing Stuart Skinner remain in Edmonton. While the goalie has been consistently inconsistent over the past few seasons, there is no doubt still love for him in this city after he helped them to game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals last season, posting a 2.45 GAA in that run.
With a mix of reactions across the board, another trade deadline is in the books for the Edmonton Oilers. Now as the playoffs creep closer, it remains to be seen if Stan Bowman has done enough to push this team to ultimate glory, or if they’ll be left paying for the moves they didn’t make.
