Rumor: Oilers targeting trade with the Chicago Blackhawks.

We are rapidly approaching the halfway point of the 2022-23 National Hockey League regular season and that means that the trade chatter around the league is going to pick up considerably.

Of course all eyes are going to be on some of the big names expected to move this season, names like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks, but there will no doubt be plenty more deals in the coming weeks and months to compliment those.

On Saturday night, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman dropped a little nugget of information on the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast that touched on another potential trade involving the aforementioned Blackhawks. Instead of discussing the Blackhawks' top two forwards however, Friedman instead focused on veteran defenseman Jack McCabe.

"The other thing I wonder about Chicago is Jake McCabe on the blue line," said Friedman on HNIC.

Why does Friedman wonder about McCabe? The NHL insider appears to believe that the Edmonton Oilers view him as a potential trade target for the latter half of the season.

"I'm wondering if he's going to be an Edmonton potential target for the second half of the season," added Friedman.

This would be a very interesting trade for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that McCabe is still under contract for 2 more seasons beyond this current one. The veteran defenseman carries a cap hit of $4 million per season so the Oilers will have to make the money work for this season as well as the next two, and McCabe himself could play a role in whether or not this trade comes to pass. The 29 year old has a 7 team no trade list and if the Oilers are among the teams on that list, he will have the option to reject any potential trade to Edmonton.

No word from Friedman on what a potential return could look like in this deal.