4 potential National Hockey League trade deadline deals

The Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins could make some trades

Edmonton Oilers Receive: Jake Guentzel (F)

Pittsburgh Penguins Receive: Cody Ceci (D), Philip Broberg (D), Dylan Holloway (F) & 2024 1st

This first trade on this list has been heavily rumored over the last several weeks. The Pittsburgh Penguins originally weren’t a team that was expected to sell at this year's trade deadline.

That is especially true after new General Manager Kyle Dubas acquired Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson this last offseason.

This season was supposed to be one of the final runs with the key core that has had a ton of success for Pittsburgh with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang not getting any younger.

However, this season Pittsburgh has garnered only 56 points and currently sits 7th in the metropolitan division and 7 points outside of a playoff spot.

The rumors surrounding Jake Guentzel started early in the season after the two sides did not agree to a contract extension. Guentzel, a pending UFA at season's end, will cost anywhere from $9-10 million dollars a year to retain if Pittsburgh wants to bring him back. But should they?

Guentzel is going to be 30 years old when next season begins and Pittsburgh can get a great haul of picks, prospects, and players if they were to trade him before the March 8th deadline to help bolster their fairly thin roster.

For Edmonton, they are going all in on trying to win a cup with this team and adding a potential 40 goal scorer in Guentzel to a team that already has Connor McDavid, Leon Drasaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evander Kane is very dangerous.

There are a few things that keep getting brought up with this trade being presented. The first is Edmonton, a team that isn’t great defensively so why would they send out two defensemen in Broberg and Ceci in this deal?

The simple answer is Ceci is the odd man out in Edmonton and is dealt to make the cap work in this trade, while Broberg has been inconsistent in playing time and seems to need a change of scenery.

For Pittsburgh, the true prizes in this deal are the 2024 1st rounder (which they can pick a prospect with or flip for a young asset), and former 2020 1st round pick Dylan Holloway.

Holloway was picked 14th in the 2020 entry draft and has failed to find his footing on a very stacked Edmonton forward core.

In 74 career games, Holloway has just 13 career points, although in limited minutes. A change of scenery could help kickstart his career as he is just 22 years old with a lot of potential still left.