Oilers found a way to finally trade Lucic to Vancouver?!

This is getting dangerous if it’s true…

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Published 4 years ago
Oilers found a way to finally trade Lucic to Vancouver?!
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For weeks, a potential trade of heavy contracts between the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks have been heard. 

Some pundits believe a trade of Milan Lucic for Loui Eriksson could make sense for both the Oilers and Canucks, however, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed earlier this week that there could be a way for Edmonton to convince Vancouver to pull the trigger. 

He mentioned that the Oilers might have found a way to add value to get a deal done by adding forward Jesse Puljujarvi to the mix. 

“Everyone is talking about this big Lucic for Eriksson thing,” Friedman explained. “My sense is Lucic is willing to do it.”
“I also understand that one of the biggest issues, since Lucic has an extra year of term and he’s got a buy-out proof contract, what should Vancouver get for doing it? And I really wonder if at the end of the day one of the things that comes up to maybe see if this goes down the road is Puljujarvi. I don’t think he wants to go to Finland. That’s been out there and that report has been debunked, but I am still not 100 per cent sure he wants to stay in Edmonton. I believe the Oilers will be meeting with him or his representatives sometime in the near future to discuss this. But I do wonder if somewhere along the lines that he’s potentially involved in this conversation to see if it can move along.”

Friedman isn’t the only one that believes the Oilers could pull this off to make the trade happen: TSN’s Darren Dreger also mentioned this possibility on Monday. 

"There could be a fit and if you look at it from Edmonton’s perspective, the interest might come from their newly hired coach Dave Tippett who had Loui Eriksson in Dallas for three years, so there is a familiarity there," Dreger said on Insider Trading. "The Vancouver Canucks do see value in Milan Lucic, in that they have a younger team, they have some smallish players if you look at Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson and now you have Quinn Hughes on the back end.  Milan Lucic could add a little bit of bite, but for the Vancouver Canucks to consider that type of swap I think that there would have to be some type of sweetener coming from the Edmonton Oilers to take on the extra year."

It is quite an important decision for both Canadian teams so it makes sense that a lot of speculations are being thrown around about this potential trade. Both players are signed at a cap hit of $6 million, though Lucic's deal runs through 2022-23. 

Lucic and Eriksson would both benefit from a change of scenery, and we can easily say the same about Puljujarvi. 

For now, this is simply speculation, but many pundits believe it makes sense. Will Oilers GM Ken Holland and Canucks general manager Jim Benning think it too? 

Source: Sportsnet