{"id":436866,"date":"2026-01-30T20:14:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/436866\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T20:14:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:14:22","slug":"would-edmonton-oilers-target-a-trade-for-three-smashers-from-smashville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/436866\/","title":{"rendered":"Would Edmonton Oilers target a trade for three smashers from Smashville?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This just in from Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman, his speculation on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast that the Nashville Predators might well be looking at trading away free agents Michael Bunting, Michael McCarron and Nick Perbix at the 2026 trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Would any or all of those players make sense for the Edmonton Oilers<\/a>, who are looking to bolster the team for a 2026 Stanley Cup run?<\/p>\n

Friedman said the Islanders and Nashville had talks about a Bunting trade, and that Perbix has also been mentioned as a trade target.<\/p>\n

Bunting, 30, is a scrappy middle six winger on the last year of a deal that pays him $4.5 million per year. He\u2019s got 12 goals and 29 points in 53 games.<\/p>\n

Perbix, 27, has another year on a deal that pays him $2.75 million per year. He has eight points in 50 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, everyone\u2019s curious about the big Nashville guys,\u201d Friedman said. \u201cThe other guy for the Predators, I think, is going to be a name out there, is going to be McCarron. I think he\u2019s a fourth-line center, does the things you need to do in the postseason. I think he\u2019s going to be a guy out there as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarron, 30, is a tough 6-feet, 6-inch, 230 pounds, right-shot fourth liner, who earns $900,000. He\u2019s got three goals and 10 points in 52 games.<\/p>\n

\"McCarron\"<\/a><\/p>\n

McCarron<\/p>\n

My take<\/p>\n

1. Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now has talked repeatedly about the Oilers looking to bring in a big, fast Top 9 forward. McCarron does not qualify as a Top 9 forward. Bunting does, and he\u2019s also an aggressive player, but at 6-feet, 186 pounds he\u2019s not that big. He\u2019s also expensive. Even if Nashville were to retain on his contract, could Edmonton find the cap space to bring him in?<\/p>\n

2. I\u2019ve not done the hours of video analysis it would take to credibly assess any of these players, but presumably the Oilers have done so, with pro scouts assessing them closely, and often live. I can\u2019t tell you which player would work out for the Oilers, but the price is right on McCarron\u2019s contract. He also fills an obvious need on the Oilers to get more hitting and aggression from the bottom line.<\/p>\n

That said, the trio of Curtis Lazar, Trent Frederic and Mattias Janmark just had their best game of the year against San Jose. Lazar has stepped up in a big way as a checker, hitter and driver of that fourth line. He threw a hellacious hit on San Jose\u2019s Timothy Liljegren.<\/p>\n

Frederic was skating as well as he has since coming to the Oilers. Janmark? The Oilers still obviously value him as a PK player, even as he has just three goals these past two regular seasons.<\/p>\n

But McCarron could well be an enticing player to add.<\/p>\n

3. The Oilers also need another d-man, a big defender who can hang in on the third-pairing. Perbrix is 6-feet, 4-inches, 210 pounds, so he qualifies as big. But his contract is also heavy for an Oilers team pressed up against the cap.<\/p>\n

LEAVINS: Edmonton Oilers storm back from bleak beginning to harpoon Sharks 4-3 in OT: Cult of Hockey Player Grades<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This just in from Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman, his speculation on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast that the Nashville…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[14005,3544,198,146,5300,2300,5,3533,12137,1708,231,4,4009,24,5897,1587],"class_list":["post-436866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton-oilers","tag-bob-stauffer","tag-curtis-lazar","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-edmontonoilers","tag-elliotte-friedman","tag-hockey","tag-mattias-janmark","tag-michael-bunting","tag-michael-mccarron","tag-nashville-predators","tag-nhl","tag-nick-perbix","tag-oilers","tag-timothy-liljegren","tag-trent-frederic"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115985886771248569","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436866","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=436866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}