Anatomy Of A Jonathan Bernier Trade

Does Ben Scrivens find himself a Toronto Maple Leaf again?

Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

 Edmonton Oilers Trade Proposal:

I’m breaking one of the only rules I made on this trade by adding in the Nashville pick… but hey, why not.

Why it will work:

Edmonton screwed up big time by going on a spending frenzy and signing D-list free agents to B-list big money contracts in Pouliot, Nikitin, Ference and almost Clarkson. Getting that 7.75M off of the books for the next 2 seasons is big in a cap world, and probably worth trading down in the 1st round IF they get bumped out of the top 3 and DON’T win the lottery.

Nikitin is a fringe NHL defender, and the Leafs might just buy him out, but Ference along with Robidas and Polak form a very solid veteran core to guide the young Leafs through the rebuild. The Oilers also get to give the Captaincy to Taylor Hall the way it always should’ve been. Meanwhile the Leafs get another top 5 pick in a deep draft and reunite the tandem of Scrivens and Reimer that got them to the playoffs that one time… it worked out so well then right?

Why it won’t work:

7.75M in free cap space would be amazing, except if you are the Oilers and no free agents will take your money unless you massively overpay them. Considering the Oilers’ complete lack of drafting skills outside of the 1st round, they would be loath to move from top 5 to 24-30th even if they do finally solve their constantly revolving goaltending door with the best goaltender the organization has had since Fuhr.

A deal of Scrivens, the Penguins 1st rounder this year and a prospect like Dillon Simpson or Nail Yakupov for Bernier would be more likely…. but that is less fun to speculate on.

Next: Hurricanes Trade Offer