Oilers News & Rumors: Kassian, Brown, Yamamoto, Foegele, Ceci

As Twitter user @zjlaing pointed out, during his tenure with the Oilers, Kassian played a total of 412 games and recorded 80 points. Notably, 41 of those points were accumulated in 63 games across two periods between January and April 2019, as well as from November 10, 2019, to January 4, 2020, when he played in the top-six forward positions. However, outside of these stretches, Kassian contributed 39 points in 349 games during his time in Edmonton. He had two goals and two points in 51 games for the Coyotes last season. All of that essentially means that his production isn’t at a place where the Oilers would view him as an upgrade over anything they currently have on their roster.

As for Lucic, there are enough teams likely interested in the player that he’ll command more than the Oilers could afford, even if there was an appetite to bring him back, which there probably isn’t.

Connor Brown Talks Interest in the Oilers

While speaking with former Oilers and now sports analyst Luke Gazdic, Connor Brown talked about how appealing the idea would be to play with Connor McDavid. More than that, he mentioned that he’s of the belief the Oilers, with McDavid leading the charge, will win a Stanley Cup here soon. Ultimately, that’s what Brown wants to do — win.

This interview comes after reports by Elliotte Friedman that Edmonton is the clear favorite to land Brown in free agency and that other teams have actually checked in with Brown and his agent to see if rumors of him being a lock with the Oilers are true.

Oilers’ Most Likely Trade Targets

From a list of the Top 40 most likely trade candidates this off-season, Frank Seravalli pointed out Edmonton’s three biggest trade chips in a recent article and had Kailer Yamamoto ranked at No. 16, Warren Foegele at No. 31, and Cody Ceci and No. 33. He believes Yamamoto is a buyout candidate, but that the Oilers have a trade already worked out with a team and it’s just a matter of pulling the trigger. He notes that Yamamoto is expendable and if Brown is on the team’s radar, moving Yamamoto and his $3.1 million contract makes a lot of sense.

When it comes to Warren Foegele, Seravalli writes that Holland intends to tinker with the bottom half of his lineup and that means Foegele could be one of the odd men out. He writes:

To that end, the Oilers have gotten expressions of interest from teams who see what Edmonton might be looking to accomplish, so there is a path to move him that isn’t painful. If the Oilers are going to find the flexibility to improve, it’s going to have to come by moving players such as Fogele, Yamamoto and perhaps Cody Ceci to make something happen.”

As for Cody Ceci, the Oilers will consider a trade to upgrade in other areas, but they won’t move Ceci if they believe the end result is a weaker blue line. He’s more a card that Holland can play if he needs to, but don’t expect a deal if the Oilers don’t have another target or a different blueliner coming in.