Oilers failed trade exposed at deadline and fans wonder what went wrong

The Edmonton Oilers added Adam Henrique, Sam Carrick and Troy Stecher prior to the trade deadline last week, but David Pagnotta revealed how they also wanted to pry out another player, but couldn’t pull it off.

According to the Fourth Period, the Oilers were amongst a few teams interested in acquiring Montreal Canadiens defenseman David Savard. Habs general manager Kent Hughes decided to hold on to his blue liner instead.

“Like I’ve said, it was possible we could move him, but it wasn’t our objective,” Hughes said on Friday after the deadline.

Savard was one defenseman that was coveted in trade chatter leading up to the deadline. He has a year left on his cuurent contract and comes with a $3.5 million salary cap hit. Savard could be back on the trade market this summer, possibly around the NHL Draft, but Hughes isn’t in a hurry to part with his blue liner.

“I think we’re trying to be – I don’t know if patient is the word – but we’re trying to make decisions for the right reasons. If that requires patience, we’re trying to do it. I look forward to the day that we’re buying, not selling,” Hughes said.

“I don’t want to do it at the expense of doing it the right way.”

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman also heard about some moves that didn’t happen in Edmonton and will keep an eye on the Oilers moving into the offseason. This is what he said on his latest 32 Thoughts podcast:

“I’m going to be very curious about what Edmonton did not do. I think they had a few irons out there, obviously they were around on [Chris] Tanev. But I think there were a couple others.”

I bet the offseason will be as interesting, if not more than the trade deadline.

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