The Edmonton Oilers were rumored to be in the mix on several trade deadline conversations. Ultimately, what they chose to do was add depth in the form of Adam Henrique, Sam Carrick, and Troy Stecher to go along with their earlier signing of Corey Perry. Time will tell if it was enough, but Holland toyed with other deals that he couldn’t make, or elected not to.
One of the names rumored on the trade block was Cody Ceci. Specifically, it was believed that the Oilers were actively pursuing Chris Tanev from the Calgary Flames. Reports are that Tanev was open to Edmonton, but the Flames didn’t necessarily want to trade with a deadline rival, nor did they want to take a contract with term back.
When that deal fell apart, Holland looked at other options but chose not to pull the trigger.
Insider Says Oilers Were Open to Roster Subtractions
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman addressed what the Oilers did at this season’s trade deadline on the most recent episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast (around the 53-minute mark). In his conversation about the Oilers’ moves, he noted that what they didn’t do was almost as interesting.
“I’m going to be very curious about what Edmonton did not do,” said Friedman. He added, “I think they had a few irons out there, I mean, obviously they were around on Tanev, but I think there were a couple of others.” Friedman went on to say that the Oilers considered some subtractions from the team, but players preferred to keep Ceci around.
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“At the end of the day, I think organizations will occasionally listen to their players, but not always.” He noted that in Ceci’s case (or other deals that might have been out there), the Oilers ultimately didn’t see anything out there that was a clear enough upgrade to go against the wishes of the players.
It Was Either a Clear Upgrade or No Deal for Oilers
In other words, GM Ken Holland would have made the deal if he thought it was going to vastly improve the team. But, when those trades weren’t available, he opted to stick with the roster and maintain the status quo. Instead, he chose to make depth additions to fill holes in the bottom six and add a depth defenseman.
The Oilers might have been right. While it would have been nice to add a big name on the blue line, there’s something to be said for letting this roster finish what they started. There’s chemistry and loyalty built up and moving Ceci off of the roster, even if he’s somewhat polarizing, could have negatively impacted the team’s chemistry.
