Ken Holland on the phone as Oilers are no longer in a position to wait

Last month, Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland made it clear that he was not going to rush into making a trade despite taking serious social-media heat about his team’s record and their spot in the standings.

He may be reconsidering now as Pierre LeBrun reported on last night’s Insider Trading on TSN that, while Holland isn’t close to pushing the panic button, he is working the lines to add to his blue line.

The Oilers entered Tuesday hanging on to a wild-card spot. On Wednesday, they were holding on to it and Holland is no longer is a position to wait to get help on the market.

“I don’t think Ken Holland is ready to panic, but our understanding of the situation is that Ken Holland has been on the phone a little more of late than usual and he is fully investigating what’s out there on the defenseman trade market. So yes, our understanding is he has talked to Arizona about [Jakob] Chychrun, to Montreal about Joel Edmundson. Think of a team [that] has a defenseman potentially on the trade market and the Edmonton Oilers are trying to investigate fully what that means and what the price is – the prices are very high. I think Ken Holland is willing to be patient, doesn’t want to make a panic move. The other thing is they aren’t one trade away from fixing everything in Edmonton. I think the message internally is: ‘We need to play better.’ There’s no question that’s been heard.”

The Oilers have made it cleat that defense is an area of need and any on the names aforementioned would have a direct impact on the race to the postseason and the playoffs themselves.

Edmonton is also believed to be interested in Minnesota Wild’s Matt Dumba, though the price here might be high as well.

The same goes for Chychrun’s asking price as it has been reported more than once that Arizona Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong is rumoured to be asking for two first-round picks plus either a prospect or a young NHL player in a monster trade for Chychrun. It is also important to note for Edmonton that Chychrun is under contract through 2024-25 at $4.6 million annually and money would need to go back to the desert in the transaction.

While fans may in Edmonton may be hopeful that Holland is on the phone working towards a trade, we all know we will hear from them too if the GM does not make the right move.

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