Rumor: Habs and Oilers to make monster trade?

This would shake up the entire NHL.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 6 years ago
Rumor: Habs and Oilers to make monster trade?
KeyStone Press

The Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers are in a tailspin - they've both completely underperformed throughout the first quarter of the NHL season after being top 10 teams last season.

The Oilers made their first playoff run in a decade, falling late in the second round of the 2017 post-season. The Habs fell short against the Rangers in the first round, with their offense running dry.

There were clear signs that the Canadiens would struggle this season, especially following the loss of Andrei Markov, as well as Alexander Radulov. But the Oilers - they were expected to compete for the top of their division and now they're at the bottom, only ahead of the lowly Arizona Coyotes.

Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette speculates like his fellow media members that the Canadiens may be hiding something with Carey Price's "minor" injury - and that perhaps they are gearing up to trade him before his massive contract kicks in. 

Cowan looks to the Edmonton Oilers as a trade partner - with Cam Talbot struggling this season and with their strong depth at the center position behind Connor McDavid, the names of Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are thrown out there. It seems inconceivable that Peter Chiarelli trades Draisaitl, but then again, he's traded Tyler Seguin and Taylor Hall among others, so it's not out of the realm of possibility.

Could we see a trade featuring Draisaitl and Price this year? That would be groundbreaking. It isn't uncommon for struggling teams to trade with each other, and both Chiarelli and Marc Bergevin are known for making some pretty wild trades.