{"id":454091,"date":"2026-02-11T05:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T05:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/454091\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T05:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T05:18:16","slug":"do-the-oilers-have-what-it-takes-to-land-a-perfect-fit-from-the-senators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/454091\/","title":{"rendered":"Do the Oilers Have What It Takes to Land a \u201cPerfect Fit\u201d from the Senators?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As another goaltender has struggled in Edmonton\u2014newly acquired Tristan Jarry<\/a> over his last five games before the break\u2014the questions and blame have started to shift from the crease to the Oilers\u2019 team defense as a whole in front of their netminders.<\/p>\n

GM Stan Bowman is well aware of these defensive issues, which is why he\u2019s not only been searching for a top-nine forward but also a Mattias Ekholm-esque acquisition on the blue line<\/a> ahead of the trade deadline. Several names have been floated as targets that fit the mold, though according to one Oilers reporter, they don\u2019t have what it takes to land the player who would be the perfect fit: Artem Zub<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a recent article for The Athletic, Allan Mitchell dove into Edmonton\u2019s deadline dilemma, and while he pointed out the Senators defenseman as tailor-made for what the Oilers need, he quickly shut it down, claiming Bowman doesn\u2019t have the quality assets required to pry him out of Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Mitchell wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cDefence is tough to fill due to a lack of strong options. It\u2019s easy to identify the perfect fit \u2014 it is Ottawa Senators defenceman\u00a0Artem Zub, and has been for a couple of years \u2014 but there\u2019s no deal coming for that level of quality. The Oilers\u2019 decade-plus of mortgaging the future at each deadline, combined with spending to the cap, has negatively affected the current situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old Zub is in year three of the four-year, $18.4 million extension he signed with the Senators back in 2022. He\u2019s produced 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) while posting a +12 rating through 56 games played this season.<\/p>\n

If Not Artem Zub, Then What Can the Oilers Do?<\/p>\n

Mitchell makes it clear that the odds of Edmonton acquiring Zub are slim to none\u2014not only because of their lack of assets to interest GM Steve Staios<\/a>, but also due to the massive impact Zub has on the Senators as a key reason they\u2019re one of the league\u2019s top defensive teams.<\/p>\n

\"ArtemArtem Zub Senators NHL trade talk<\/p>\n

So, who could Bowman and company pivot to as a cheaper option to bolster the blue line?<\/p>\n

Brandon Carlo<\/a> and Oliver Ekman-Larsson<\/a> of the Maple Leafs have both been linked to the Oilers<\/a>, though neither would come cheap. Bottom-pairing bruisers Luke Schenn<\/a> and Logan Stanley<\/a> have also come up and would be far more realistic as rental options that fit within Edmonton\u2019s spending range.<\/p>\n

The problem is how much of a difference does a move like that actually make? It may be cheaper and easier to stomach, but if the Oilers truly want to improve defensively, it\u2019s likely going to require a more impactful addition than a sixth defenseman.<\/p>\n

Because of that, it could be worth paying a higher price to land a better-caliber player\u2014but do the future assets Bowman has really interest teams around the league that possess those players? That\u2019s the question that needs to be answered, and one we\u2019ll find out by March 6.<\/p>\n

Next: How Big Could the Oilers Swing Ahead of the Deadline?<\/a><\/p>\n

\tDiscover more from NHL Trade Talk<\/p>\n

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/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":"As another goaltender has struggled in Edmonton\u2014newly acquired Tristan Jarry over his last five games before the break\u2014the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1473,5,4,6269,5158,2175],"class_list":{"0":"post-454091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-artem-zub","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-stan-bowman","12":"tag-steve-staios","13":"tag-top-story"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116050310953356534","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454091","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=454091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}