Report: Oilers To Look At Forwards Trade Market

Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers' top line has been flying over the past few weeks. But as for the middle-six? Not so much. The team's 8-game win streak came crashing to a halt with two straight losses, with the middle-six not providing a single point.

With that, word has emerged that the Oilers' brass will need to be hitting the trade market looking for some help for that middle forward group. 

 Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic writes:

There’s no getting around it: The biggest disappointments relative to expectations from an offensive standpoint have been (Ryan) McLeod and (Connor) Brown, both of whom have been top-nine mainstays. 

With Brown in a major funk and (Warren) Foegele and (Mattias) Janmark career depth forwards, the Oilers could really use another top-six winger.

Brown has one single point in 22 games this season, in over 14 minutes of ice time a night. McLeod has just 7 points in 28 games, though five of them came in a seven-game span that ended earlier this month. 

In the meantime, at practice, head coach Kris Knoblauch is now shuffling things up, looking for more balance. 

Evander Kane, also in a scoring slump, is moving up to the first line with McDavid and Zach Hyman, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins heads down to the second line with Leon Draisaitl and Warren Foegele.

“We’ve been exchanging lines a little bit and moving guys around. We’d like to get a little more production there,” coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We’re trying to find a little more balanced scoring through there and generate a little more.”

So while goaltending remains a target, middle-six forward will now also be on the team's shopping list this holiday season. 

Photo: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports