Rumor: Oilers turned down a player for player trade from the Rangers.

The Rangers tried to solve one problem with another.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Rumor: Oilers turned down a player for player trade from the Rangers.
Carl Sandin/Bildbyran/Zuma

It was revealed earlier today that the New York Rangers have something of a problem on their hands in the form of a trade demand from former first round draft pick Lias Andersson. The player has reportedly left the team and is now demanding to be traded before he plays another game for the Rangers organization, but it sounds like this may have been an ongoing issue between both Andersson and the Rangers. 

According to a report from Edmonton Oilers insider Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal, the Rangers attempted to get rid of Andersson at some point previously when they made an attempt to strike a deal with the Oilers in the form of a player for player trade. Matheson reports that the Rangers "were trying to get Oilers to bite on Andersson," but it sounds like the Oilers were either not interested in Andersson or simply felt that the asking price for the player was too high. That asking price came in the form of a similar player in the Oilers organization in restricted free agent forward Jesse Puljujarvi. Puljujarvi is also a former first round draft pick, although Puljujarvi was selected 3 spots higher than Andersson albeit in a different year, and like Andersson he has also demanded a trade from the Oilers so you could see why the Rangers saw a potential fit here. 

It seems though that the Oilers were not enamored with Andersson and simply declined the offer based on that fact. Matheson reports that the Oilers felt the Swedish forward lacked enough "NHL pace" and no doubt the questions about his character in the past also played something of a factor. Andersson is not a household name per say, but infamously he is best known for an incident at the World Juniors in which he tossed his silver medal over the glass in a gesture that many felt reflected very poor sportsmanship on his part. Andersson was not only representing his home country of Sweden at the tournament but had been selected as the team's captain which only added to the criticism he received over the incident. Andersson was a very young man at the time however, so perhaps he has left that behavior in the past. 

Would you have made the deal to swap the two former first round picks? 


Source: