Oilers' Forward Mentioned As Trade Candidate

The Edmonton Oilers have five players who are out of the lineup and injured right now, but they are starting to get healthier with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kasperi Kapanen both skating at practice. There is still Curtis Lazar and Noah Philp out of the lineup, but once healthy, the Oilers don't have enough space to hold everyone. The team already lost Troy Stecher on waivers to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and one of their forwards could be next, via trade.

Frank Seravalli said, "I'd be curious to see, has Mattias Janmark run his useful life in Edmonton. Is he a guy the Oilers would consider moving?"

Janmark more recently returned from injury and was injected back onto the fourth line. He has two assists in eight games and is averaging slightly under 11 minutes per game of ice time and has gotten a little bit of time on the penalty kill. The 33-year-old still has another year left on his deal at $1.45 million AAV. This is a contract the Oilers could definitely do with moving on from, as they have plenty of depth in the NHL, injured, and on the thriving Bakersfield Condors.

Janmark shouldn't be too difficult to move, especially for a team struggling with injuries and that doesn't have similar depth. A team like the Montreal Canadiens just recently signed Alexander Texier after his contract was terminated by the St. Louis Blues. The Vancouver Canucks did the same with David Kampf after the Toronto Maple Leafs parted with him. Janmark is a depth piece that stepped up in the playoffs last season, so his value isn't at zero. There are more difficult contracts that have been moved plenty of times before, but it seems like more of a decision that will come when even more of the team gets healthy.

For the sake of shaking some things up, it would make more sense to really ship Janmark now. Bringing up someone like Clatterburg injected life into the Oilers' bottom-6 and team as a whole as they defeated the Florida Panthers. There are more talented young players in the minors itching to be called up and given a chance or get called back up. These players include Isaac Howard, Quinn Hutson, Josh Samanski, Viljami Marjala, Roby Jarventie, and James Hamblin. Decisions are coming for the Oilers.