A possible surprise trade to watch for between the Canadiens and the Oilers?

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Jeff Drouin
October 24, 2022 (9:16 PM)

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The Habs young defensive squad has been doing pretty well so far this season. With Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris and Arber Xhekaj playing excellent hockey, it gives Martin St-Louis some breathing room and the organization will not rush the return of two veterans, Michael Matheson and Joel Edmundson.

While Matheson is out for a few more weeks, Edmundson is not.

The latter is back in training and should return to action sooner rather than later. However, as Samuel Doiron of Habsolumentfan.com reports, No. 44 could be more useful with another NHL roster.

In an article published on The Hockey Writers, journalist Jim Parsons raised the possibility that Joel Edmundson could be traded to the Edmonton Oilers.

One of the reasons mentioned is that so far this season, the team has been playing seven defensemen on a regular basis, and let's just say that's giving Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft some headaches.

"Playing 11 forwards and seven defensemen most nights, the team goes through several defensemen trying to find the right combination of defense pairings, but keeping teams from repeatedly shooting their goalies has been a real problem in all four games this season. Sooner or later, the question will be this: How long can the Oilers continue to allow so many shots before it starts costing them points in the standings?"

Even though it's still very early in the season, the fact remains that the Oilers can't afford to be piling up the losses, as they have two-wins, three-loss record at the time of writing.

But if Kent Holland were to contact his counterpart in the Habs, could he offer him something interesting in return for number 44? A Jesse Puljujarvi for example?

As we know, there were some rumors this summer about the Finnish forward with the Habs, but again, it's probably too early to speculate, as Edmundson hasn't even played a game yet this season.

We love Edmundson, but right now, with the likes of Mike Matheson (eventually healthy), Arber Xhekaj and Jordan Harris, the Habs already have three left-handed defensemen that really deserve their spot in the lineup.

Could he go for a championship with the Oilers? That would be a surprise, but he could be quite an addition for Edmonton. According to Parsons, this is a possible trade to watch, especially if Harris and Xhekaj continue to play well.

What do you think?

Credit: The Hockey Writers