Three Team Trade Proposal Fixes The Oilers Once And For All

The Edmonton Oilers have fallen just short in the playoffs for the past couple of seasons. However, this is not the fault of the offense as they had three 100-point scorers (McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins) last season and have four of the most recent seven Hart winners (McDavid 3x, Draisaitl 1x).

It always seems to be the defense that lets up during the playoffs. The Oilers tried to attend to this last trade deadline by acquiring Mattias Ekholm but they did not get any further despite Ekholm's strong play.

Their defensive core currently consists of Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, Cody Ceci, Evan Bouchard, Brett Kulak, and Philip Broberg.

This trade accomplishes one major thing, it gives Edmonton their number-one shutdown defenseman. Pesce can line up against the best on any team and mitigate them quite well.

In addition to this, the Oilers get Taylor Raddysh who is a respectable bottom-six forward who could provide some supplementary scoring. Raddysh also found great chemistry with Connor McDavid in junior hockey with the Erie Otters.

While the Oilers are essentially selling the farm to acquire these pieces, these could be the ones that push them over the top and to their first Stanley Cup in decades.