A safe presumption that the Edmonton Oilers would be one of the teams to watch in the Brandon Saad sweepstakes doesn’t appear to be the case.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported Thursday night that the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning are the “four teams to keep an eye on.”
Saad, 32, had his contract terminated by the St. Louis Blues this week, and is set to clear unconditional waivers Friday at Noon MT, making him eligible to sign with any team in the league. He’s drawn in for 43 games this season with the Blues, scoring seven goals and 16 points, as his offence has taken a dip.
The veteran, who won two Stanley Cups with the Chicago Blackhawks, playing in over 900 regular season games and another 100 in the playoffs, forfeited the final year and a half of a five-year, $22.5-million deal he signed with the Blues as a free agent in July 2021. His next deal is expected to be at a significantly lower dollar amount.
It was reasonable to think the Oilers would have interest in Saad. He has familiarity with Stan Bowman from each of their tenures in Chicago, the Oilers are likely to be nibbling around thee market for depth forward pieces, and there’s reason to believe Saad could put the struggles behind him.
Most importantly, though, it would give the Oilers a chance to give him a test drive ahead of the March 7th trade deadline, similar to how the team is doing so with defenceman John Klingberg.
The Oilers could always be on the outside of the aforementioned four teams. The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford listed them, the Leafs, the Golden Knights, the Washington Capitals and the Dallas Stars as teams that could make sense.
