The Edmonton Oilers may have a chance to work a trade angle that’s hard to ignore, and it starts with the mess in Detroit.
In NHL negotiations, leverage is everything. If one side knows the other has pressure building behind the scenes, that can change the whole conversation. For Oilers general manager Stan Bowman, the Detroit Red Wings could be a team worth watching closely because of the uncertainty around the franchise right now.
Edmonton has been on the wrong side of that kind of dynamic before. Oilers fans know the feeling of dealing from weakness, whether it came from market size, team results, or the realities that come with being the league’s northernmost club. Those factors have shaped plenty of Edmonton’s past trades, and some of them still matter today.
Detroit, though, is the team in a rough spot now.
The Red Wings are far from the powerhouse they were in the 1990s, 2000s, and even into the 2010s. Their last trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs came in the 2015/16 season, when they were knocked out by the Tampa Bay Lightning and saw a run of 25 straight postseason appearances come to an end. Since then, it’s been a decade without playoff hockey, a stretch that looks painfully familiar to Oilers followers.
That kind of slide usually brings more than just losses on the ice. It tends to come with trade requests, front-office shakeups, and coaching turnover. Detroit appears headed for more change, and the roster could look very different by the end of next season.
Steve Yzerman is no longer the general manager, having moved into what the piece describes as the sort of “promotion” that often comes when a franchise legend doesn’t work out in a post-playing role. The search for a new GM is still on, and whoever steps in won’t be inheriting a group built entirely in his own image. That opens the door for other teams to poke around.
Dylan Larkin’s trade request is already public, but he may not be the only player with doubts about the situation. Losing wears on everybody.
Some players may have already asked out quietly, while others could be willing to move on even if they were prepared to finish the season in Detroit. That possibility stretches from veterans to rookies and even into the prospect pool.
From Edmonton’s side, the fit is interesting because the Oilers have cap space, and Detroit does too. The Red Wings are sitting on nearly $20 million in unused space, which gives them room to absorb salary in a deal.
With retention in play and a sharp eye for what actually improves the roster, the article suggests Bowman could look at almost anyone on the Red Wings roster as a possible target. These were Yzerman’s players, after all.
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