Edmonton Oilers: Inaction at trade deadline is baffling

The Edmonton Oilers had a chance to finally bring some change to an organization that desperately needs it at the NHL trade deadline. Instead, they elected to punt. 

If the NHL season is a football game, it’s heading into the two-minute drill. Buyers are looking to drive down the field to win or protect their lead. Meanwhile, sellers are looking to do the same thing, but in a few years. Standing pat is the equivalent of punting when you’re down by three with under two minutes remaining. That’s precisely what the Edmonton Oilers did at the 2019 trade deadline.

For a franchise who preaches their need for change, they sure don’t like, you know, making change. Granted, Edmonton wasn’t going to solve their problems at the trade deadline. But the Oilers could have at least done something. Instead, Edmonton has the approximately same team going into the post-deadline portion of the season as they did before.

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Aside from the Cam Talbot deal, which admittedly was a good one, and the Sam Gagner trade, which does nothing to address their actual issues, the Oilers did absolutely nothing else. They didn’t buy or sell. The Oilers just sort of sat there and watched other teams do what they should have done.

Edmonton was getting offers for wing Alex Chiasson. They were likely going to get way more than what he was worth. After a very fast start to the season, Chiasson has been quiet for well over a month. Getting anything for the soon to be free agent would have been a small win, which the franchise could have used. Alex Petrovic was in the same boat. But alas, he’s still in Edmonton.

The Oilers should have focused on moving out some deals with term as well. Their salary cap situation is a disastrous one and it doesn’t get any better next season, even with a spike in the salary cap ceiling. Moving out defenseman Kris Russell could have given them a bit of breathing room. The same could be said of Zach Kassian and Matthew Benning.

In terms of 2019-20 cap space, the Oilers actually lost some (about $50,000) thanks to the Gagner for Ryan Spooner trade. That doesn’t make their vacancy at general manager any more appealing. In fact, it probably makes it less appealing.

Anytime you create more questions than answers, you’re failing at what you’re doing. The Oilers have way more questions than answers after the trade deadline. Their inaction was downright baffling. Then again, the past 13 years has been baffling for the Oilers. And it doesn’t appear things are going to get better anytime soon.