2 player trade between the Senators and Oilers fell apart at the draft.
Would you have made this deal?
By almost every conceivable metric the 2022 National Hockey League Entry Draft was a spectacular success. Not only was the event incredible to watch from a spectator's perspective, but it had all the elements you would want including a surprise pick at #1, a roaring crowd full of excited and energetic hockey fans, and of course a number of big trades on the draft floor.
When so many trades are being discussed it's only natural that some are going to fail to come to fruition, either due to both teams being unable to come to an agreement or due to one team simply finding a better deal. Recently, National Hockey League insider Frank Seravalli discussed one such trade that failed to materialize this week at the draft, a two player deal that had been discussed between the Ottawa Senators and the Edmonton Oilers.
Although we would eventually see the Edmonton Oilers make a trade involving veteran forward Zack Kassian later in the end, sending a second round pick, a third round pick, and moving down 3 spots in the first round to unload Kassian contract to the Arizona Coyotes, it would appear that Kassian was nearly traded earlier in the day to the Ottawa Senators.
"There were 3 or 4 teams that were ready and willing to take on Zack Kassian," revealed Seravalli on the podcast. "I think Ottawa was one, I think they wanted to send Michael Del Zotto to Edmonton as part of that deal."
There's an obvious downside to the trade with Ottawa and that is simply that, barring the Oilers sending another player along with Kassian, they would save significantly less cap space in the deal. Del Zotto is under contract for next season at a cap hit of $2 million flat, which would mean that the Oilers would only save $1.2 million this season and $3.2 million the following season. By giving up additional picks to the Coyotes, the Oilers will save the full $3.2 million in both of the next 2 seasons.
Additionally, in spite of a spot on the Oilers blue line opening up off the heels of Duncan Keith's retirement, Del Zotto is coming off a season in which the Senators largely buried him in the American Hockey League, not exactly a ringing endorsement for the 32 year old veteran defenseman.
