Early Trading: Oilers looking for upgrade on D?

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joins Gino Reda to discuss the latest priorities out of Edmonton, the attention Canadiens defenceman Jake Evans has been garnering and the preliminary discussions the Habs have had with Evans on an extension.

With the deadline coming up, we know teams are bringing their scouting staff together to come up with their game plans. What are you hearing out of Edmonton right now?

Edmonton Oilers GM Stan BowmanPierre LeBrun: That's exactly what happened there this week. The Oilers' front office held pro scouting meetings. They wanted to get ahead of the trade deadline cycle because it's a bit of a different year with the 4-Nations Face Off and the NHL season stopping for so many days. What they identity, from my understanding, is one of their priorities will be to upgrade the blue line. 

The Oilers' blue line has been better than advertised. There were a lot of people that were concerned in that market after the offseason losses and the changes but the reality is, Edmonton entered Thursday night eighth in the league in goals against. They've been pretty solid defensively but there's also recognition within the Oilers' front office that, knock on wood, they've been pretty healthy on the back-end, largely speaking. I think there's probably a recognition that there's a lack of depth there if they run into injuries as the season goes on. 

There was chatter into those meeting this week and they put together a list of names in terms of the D market and the goal is to upgrade the blue line, if possible. That can come in a lot of different ways, obviously in a perfect world, you add a top-four D. That would be the optimum. But it depends on the market, the asking price, who's available. At the very least they would add a depth piece. It's very early in the process. General manager Stan Bowman, I'm told, is just starting to make calls around the league now to gauge the market. Part of the difficulty is that the entire Eastern Conference is still in a playoff race, so there aren't that many announced sellers in the East.

The other thing is that the Oilers' front office, from my understanding, discussed this fact, they're not going out and looking at the D market looking for a very specific type of player. In other words, could they trade, for example, for a shut down, penalty killing, right-handed defenceman like Montreal Canadiens' David Savard? For sure, in my mind, David Savard is on the Oilers' list. Sure, that could happen but the Oilers are just as comfortable trade for a left-handed defenceman who's a puck mover. Essentially they left those meetings saying 'We can be flexible here.' 

The Oilers themselves as a blue line group have been very flexible this year. Brett Kulak has played both sides, Paul Coffey has deployed his d-pairings in different ways in-game by making adjustments. The Oilers are casting a wide net as they start to make their calls. They can go left, right, top-4, depth. They're looking at everything.

Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes held the state of the union yesterday. He said the Habs are thrilled to be in the playoff hunt but he's still looking to stay the course overall. They have a big decision to make about Jake Evans. He's a pending unrestricted free agent and he's drawing a lot of attention from teams who want to add up the middle. What are you hearing on that front?

LeBrun: Certainly was a guarded message from Kent Hughes. I think that was the way to go. A lot of people excited in that market, as they should be, but there are also 22 games to be played before the March 7 deadline.

Jake Evans is the big name amongst the pending UFA's, although Joel Armia has been terrific too. Evans is playing the bets hockey of his career, he's 28-years-old and this is his moment, contract wise. He's at the peak of his career, he's on pace for a 20-goal season. I should point out that he's shooting 28 per cent, which is easily a career high. His career average is 10 per cent. There's a lot of different things you can look at but the bottom line is Evans is healthy and he's playing great. 

The Habs have informed Evans that they will try to sign him. They are interested in keeping him around beyond this season but I think that part of that message is that they can't afford for Evans to get his home run deal in Montreal. There's going to have to be some give and take for Evans to remain a Montreal Canadien past this season. 

They've only had very preliminary discussions, they haven't gotten into numbers yet but that message from the Habs has certainly been sent as far as how they value him and want to keep him around.

If they can't sign him, and term could be a hurdle as this negotiation gets going for real. I don't know that the Habs could view themselves going five or six years given all the other guys they have coming in the system. No one is going to begrudge Jake Evans if this is his career moment and wants to go to market July 1, that's every player's right. 

Let's see where it goes but the top part will be this. Because Jake Evans only makes $1.7 million, I know there are a lot of Cup contenders that have circled his name and are waiting to see how Montreal plays that situation out. For example, the Devils I'm told are among the teams that have already kicked tires on Evans. 

It's going to be a tough decision for the Habs. I think they know how far they're willing to go on an extension for him and regardless of where they are in the standings, if there's an incredible offer for him and they can't sign him, I think they have to think of trading him.