Another one aye?

Switch dellandrea with Faksa

Is Caleb Jones a full time NHLer next season?

DAL and FLA say no. Honestly the DAL trade is awful, FLA trade isn’t awful but don’t think FLA says yes.

I think Florida really thinks about is. It’s not very far off. Something needs to change there.

Cap relief and two prospects. Its a heck of a price to pay, but they might.

I don't think the package is quite right for Ekblad. It would have to include the best RHD prospect the Oilers have which would be Bouchard. Puljujärvi is an okay addition, just unproven at the NHL level. If Florida is trading Ekblad, they would need a guarantee that the package coming back is worth it. Larsson is, at best, a top 4 D man. Puljujärvi is still unknown. The only player worthwhile in this deal is Borberg.



Cap relief in the form of trading their best defenseman? That'd be like Ottawa including Zaitsev in an Ekblad deal for "cap relief". They'll let go of Hoffman and Dadonov to get the relief they need. I don't think they'd like to take cap back, is my point.

What about Nurse and Bouchard for Ekblad? Minor pieces may be needed either direction. As you correctly point out Broberg could fill in next to Ekblad. Bear and Klef are still there. Bottom pair is bottom pair.

I don’t think RHD/LHD would really matter here - it’s more about which prospect Florida believes has more upside. Larsson could be flipped for a decent prospect or pick if the panthers don’t want him - I included him in the trade in order for Edmonton to fit under the cap.

Yes. He played the 6th most minutes of all Oilers defensemen this year despite playing 14 games in the AHL first. About 50% of that time was spent in the top-6, mostly with Adam Larsson when Oscar Klefbom was injured but also significant time on his off-side with Klefbom too. Not bad for a rookie... his most common partner all season was Kris Russell on the 3rd pairing. In the end, he finished 1st or 2nd in most 5v5 shot and goal metrics relative to his teammates (>100 minutes):

CF% rel - 2nd
FF% rel - 1st
SF% rel - 1st
GF% rel - 2nd
xGF% rel - 1st

He didn't get an offensive zone push either, all of Bear, Nurse and Klefbom had more offensive zone starts.

Every single defenseman that he played with had better CF% with Jones than without, irrespective of the competition.

He's ready for fulltime NHL duty without a shadow of a doubt.

Add Bouchard and a 1st and take out Puljujarvi.

I'm a big fan of his game. His ability to defend the neutral zone is already elite at this point of his career and he's a very good puck mover. I wasnt sure if the Oilers were actually going to give him the playing time he deserves next season. I could see him being a dominant 2nd pair defenseman next season if they give him a better all around d-partner then Russell