Philadelphia Flyers: Sniffing Around the Oilers’ Pick
By Marc Naples
The Edmonton Oilers have made clear that they’ll talk about trading the #4 overall pick–should the Philadelphia Flyers give them a call?
Most of the hockey world breathed a sigh of relief when the Edmonton Oilers did not land ANOTHER number one overall pick. In most years some may gripe about the Toronto Maple Leafs bagging the number one pick after their blatant tank job this season, but everything is relative.
After having picked number one overall to select Ryan Nugent Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, Taylor Hall, and of course, Connor McDavid, the Oilers continue to languish at the bottom of the standings.
The Oilers and their new GM, Peter Chiarelli, are tired of settling for stockpiling top prospects. They need to push the issue, and they’ve taken the unusual step of unequivocally stating they are looking into trade options of their number 4 selection in this 2016 draft.
About a potential trade, GM Peter Chiarelli has said:
"“There’s a real legitimate chance to look to move this pick, to improve our team — to get bigger or to get a D and get something else… There’s also a chance, as I said in my previous comments, that we could move the pick to get an (NHL) defenseman, too. That is a top-four defenseman. We’re going to look at a lot of different things.”"
Which of course brings us all the way back around to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers have the 17th overall pick, and could put together a package to move up 13 spots to number 4. It’s only 13 spots, but it would take something significant to hook the Oilers.
The Flyers may be inclined to make such a deal because they don’t have much in the way in forward prospects, particularly ones with size. There’s already been lots of chatter the Flyers will look for a big goal scorer this summer, but don’t expect Hextall to chase free agents as Paul Holmgren was inclined to in the past.
Perhaps Hextall may like the idea of acquiring a youngster who plays that way. Matthew Tkachuk would be such a player, who is coming off a junior season in which he scored a massive 107 points in 57 games. Tkachuk totals were likely padded by playing with Mitch “The Magician” Marner, who was a top pick in the 2015 draft.
So that’s half the equation, but the Philadelphia Flyers need to come up with something the Oilers want. If the Oilers want to go big and get a bona fide top pair defenseman, the Flyers don’t have that to offer. If, however, the Oilers are serious about being interested in a top-4 caliber defenseman, Michael Del Zotto could be part of a trade package. He was a reliable, minutes eating defenseman for the Flyers this season, and he is still only 25 years old.
Additionally, goaltending has been a bugaboo for the Oilers for quite some time. They went in on Cam Talbot last offseason, and he has 3 more years on a contract that pays him $4+ million a year. He had an okay season last year, but he didn’t lock down the position in Edmonton. Perhaps Michal Neuvirth, coming off a great season platooning with Steve Mason, would be of interest to the Oilers. In such a scenario, Talbot and Neuvirth would compete for the long term number one job.
Would a package of Neuvirth, Del Zotto and the #17 pick be enough for the Oilers to trade with the Philadelphia Flyers? It’s hard to say. Maybe the Oilers would push for other near-NHL ready defense prospects such as Travis Sanheim or Sam Morin, but I presume Ivan Provorov is off the table from the Flyers perspective.
Next: Prospect Philippe Myers Playing for QMJHL Title
There’s still plenty of time before the draft, and in that time rumors may slip that give a better idea of the market for the pick. I suspect trade talks for the pick will go down to the wire, but it’s something for Flyers fans to keep an eye on until draft day in late June.