{"id":410181,"date":"2026-01-16T04:47:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T04:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/410181\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T04:47:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T04:47:26","slug":"does-suggested-oilers-kraken-trade-for-defenseman-make-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/410181\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Suggested Oilers-Kraken Trade for Defenseman Make Sense?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Oilers are looking to improve several areas of their roster ahead of the March 6 NHL trade deadline, with their defense corps a priority.<\/p>\n

Jake Walman<\/a>\u2018s return<\/a> should help solidify a strong top four, so Edmonton is likely targeting a more tertiary piece to bolster the blue line. As a result, names are starting to float around as targets, with the latest being Jamie Oleksiak<\/a> of the Seattle Kraken.<\/p>\n

Jesse Courville-Lynch recently pitched a trade that would see the Oilers land Oleksiak in exchange for Mattias Janmark<\/a>, prospect Beau Akey, and a future first-round pick.<\/p>\n

Courville-Lynch wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cRealistically, the Oilers acquire Oleksiak at 50% retained, dropping his cap hit to $2.3 million, in exchange for Mattias Janmark, Beau Akey, and a conditional 2027 first-round pick. This deal gives the Kraken a solid prospect in Akey, some draft capital, and a veteran forward. They could flip Janmark again for more draft capital, but as they try to make the money work, it\u2019s possible they would be willing to take him on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old Oleksiak is a pending UFA in the fifth and final season of the five-year, $23 million extension he signed with the Kraken back in 2021. He\u2019s recorded eight points (three goals, five assists) and is a plus-eight through 43 games this season.<\/p>\n

Is Jamie Oleksiak Worth The Cost?<\/p>\n

While Oleksiak is a solid defensive defenseman who\u2019s built playoff hockey at 6-foot-7 and 252 pounds, a first-round pick plus feels like too steep a price\u2014especially for a rental.<\/p>\n

\"JamieJamie Oleksiak Oilers trade talk<\/p>\n

Edmonton is, of course, already without its first in 2026, so if they\u2019re also going to surrender next year\u2019s pick, it has to be for a true impact piece. If they\u2019re just looking to upgrade their depth on defense, it would make more sense to spend less on recently rumored targets<\/a> Luke Schenn<\/a> or Logan Stanley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unless they\u2019re landing a legitimate top-six forward, third-line center, or top-four defenseman\u2014one capable of pushing Nurse or Walman further down the depth chart\u2014the Oilers should hold off on moving another first-round pick.<\/p>\n

It should also be noted that the Kraken currently hold down the third seed in the Pacific Division, meaning if the playoffs started today, they\u2019d be off to Edmonton. If Seattle remains in a similar position closer to the deadline, it\u2019s hard to imagine them parting with anything of value to a division rival without an overpay\u2014further proving why Bowman should steer clear.<\/p>\n

Next: Stuart Skinner Appears to Take Subtle Jabs at Oilers and Fans<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Oilers are looking to improve several areas of their roster ahead of the March 6 NHL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[198,146,5300,5,18756,4,24,6269,2175],"class_list":["post-410181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton-oilers","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-edmontonoilers","tag-hockey","tag-jamie-oleksiak","tag-nhl","tag-oilers","tag-stan-bowman","tag-top-story"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115902968748093049","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}