According to Darren Dreger, the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights have emerged as two teams aggressively going after the same forwards at this season’s NHL Trade Deadline. Mentioning in a recent TSN Insider Trading segment that the Oilers and Golden Knights are pursuing names like Tyler Toffoli, Pavel Buchnevich, and Jordan Eberle, both teams are willing to push hard for players they believe will help at that necessary piece for their top six.
Dreger notes that they’ve been told Mark Stone is out for the remainder of the regular season and possibly the playoffs for the Golden Knights. “You can be certain that Kelly McCrimmon and the Golden Knights will utilize his cap space.” The Oilers, meanwhile, have to be cautious about where they spend and how they use their limited assets.
Dreger adds:
“We know that the Edmonton Oilers have been targeting a top-six forward, so both teams are looking at players like Tyler Toffoli, Pavel Buchevich of the St. Louis Blues, maybe Jordan Eberle if he doesn’t sign with the Seattle Kraken. I mean, go down the list from there. There is a list of high-level players potentially available and you can be sure the Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights are going to be among the top clubs trying to pick one up.”
That both teams are looking to add isn’t necessarily news. That these names are out there and that both teams might be looking at the same players is the development here.
This Isn’t Great News for the Oilers
The problem for Edmonton is that Vegas now has a ton of cap space with Stone on LTIR. Oilers’ GM Ken Holland doesn’t have the luxury of going after anyone he wants and not worrying about the financial ramifications. He’s money in for money out and that means moving a player first or back in the deal and likely overpaying for salary retention to be part of the transaction.
At the same time, if two teams are pushing hard for the same player, it creates a supply-and-demand issue. The selling team can play the two teams against each other and it doesn’t serve the Oilers well to get into a bidding war.
