NHL Rumors: Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers, Columbus Blue Jackets

Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The focus has shifted toward the new season. Teams are always looking to improve, and the excitement of a new NHL season is upon us.

In this Wednesday edition of NHL Rumors, we’ll examine the Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers, and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

NHL rumors in this edition include: 

Would the Boston Bruins actually trade for Leon Draisaitl? The Oilers are a mess; how do they fix it? The Blue Jackets aim to shake up their roster.

Boston Bruins – Leon Draisaitl

Rumor: Per – Scott McLaughlin – audacy.com. This Bruins/Oilers trade proposal sounds wild, but what if it went down?

This is the @Buccigross trade idea we mentioned: https://t.co/VtkQP49OC0

— The Skate Pod (@TheSkatePod) November 6, 2023

In this controversial trade proposal, here’s the breakdown.

Boston – Leon Draisaitl, Warren Foegele

Edmonton – Linus Ullmark, Jake DeBrusk, Matthew Poitras, Fabian Lysell, 2026 first-round pick.

Pretty wild, right? Yet, when you take a look at how the Oilers have done this season, it could be considered. They are an awful 2-8-1 after losing yet another game to the hot Vancouver Canucks on Monday night. This would be a major shakeup if it did happen.

The Bruins would gain one of the most prolific scorers in the game and fill the center position with one of the league’s best players. He has dominated in his 10th season. His career totals are magnificent. In his 648 games, he has collected 310 goals and 447 assists. He’s brutal on the power play with 135 tallies. He has 54 game-winning goals and an awesome 18 percent shooting accuracy.

To say he would step right in and help the Bruins is an understatement. But at what cost? Sure, the Bruins could easily lose Ullmark and DeBrusk, but allowing two promising young players to go along with a first-round pick seems to be quite a lot. Yet, a player of Draisaitl’s status and abilities wouldn’t come cheaply. Poitras is just 19 years old and has four goals and three assists in his first 12 NHL games. Lysell is 20 and has nine points in 10 AHL games with the Providence Bruins.

Another issue the Bruins would need to consider is Draisaitl’s contract expires after next season. He will surely demand a contract equivalent to Auston Matthews‘ $13.25 million pact. The Bruins have never been a team that spends the big bucks, but for Draisaitl, they would need to do so.

Adding Draisaitl to the lineup would allow them to ice quite a powerful four lines. They would need to call up Brandon Bussi to back up Jeremy Swayman.

James van Riemsdyk – Leon Draisaitl – David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand – Pavel Zacha – Trent Frederic
Warren Foegele – Charlie Coyle – Morgan Geekie
Milan Lucic – John Beecher – Jakub Lauko
Danton Heinen

Edmonton Oilers – Changes coming

Rumors: Per – Jim Parsons – nhltradetalk.com. The Oilers are in trouble. They could fire their head coach, and even make roster moves. Things are not great in Edmonton.

Besides the above-proposed trade involving Leon Draisaitl, what might happen in Edmonton going forward? Head coach Jay Woodcroft could get the heave-ho if the team can’t come off its current divebomb. Defensemen are being out-muscled. Goaltenders aren’t doing their part and making important saves. In fact, the big rumor again is, will they trade/waive goalie Jack Campbell? Stuart Skinner is not doing much better than Campbell, with a 1-3-1 record and a poor .861 save percentage to go along with a porous 3.62 GAA.

This doesn’t bode well for Connor McDavid and when asked about his team’s downfall, here’s what he said.

Death by a thousand cuts. pic.twitter.com/ujj4fxT5Yd

— Spittin’ Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) November 5, 2023

Mark Spector of sportsnet.ca had this say about the Oilers’ play. “A playoff miss is very much in the cards, and as such, everything is on the table in Edmonton. That includes firing head coach Jay Woodcroft, whose non-competitive, lackadaisical team looks exactly like the one that got Dave Tippett fired, and Todd McLellan before him.”

Right now, the Oilers need to regroup and shake loose the losing trend. They have time, and it may not be time to panic… just yet. Last season they finished strongly with a nine-game winning streak. Duplication of that effort is certainly needed now.

**UPDATE

The Oilers waived Campbell today; here’s our Jim Biringer’s reaction.

?Night Cap Recap ?

Edmonton Oilers Are a Mess and Now Jack Campbell Goes on Waivers #letsgooilers @FP_Coverage @myNHLTradeRumor @RodPedersenShow

Thoughts Here: pic.twitter.com/RBgjNxuvIY

— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) November 7, 2023

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Columbus Blue Jackets – Shaking up the roster

Rumor: Per – Dave Littman – nhltraderumors.me. Two teams seem to be linked to trade talks with the Blue Jackets. Columbus wants to shake things up.

According to Aaron Portzline of theathletic.com., GM Jarmo Kekäläinen “has been trying to swing trades for months now in an attempt to reduce his roster glut. It’s worth noting that Winnipeg Jets assistant general manager Larry Simmons was in Columbus for Thursday’s win over Tampa Bay, as was Philadelphia Flyers head pro scout Dave Brown and senior advisor Bob Murray.”

Bench boss Pascal Vincent made a controversial move during the club’s recent loss to the Washington Capitals, benching star winger Johnny Gaudreau for the final 16 minutes of the game. In addition, sophomore Kirill Marchenko was benched Saturday night and only has two more games remaining before he becomes waiver-eligible. Similarly, 20-year-old Cole Sillinger has only six games left before he would have to be put through waivers to be sent down. The Blue Jackets are 4-5-3 in the Metro Division and are in seventh place.

The Blue Jackets have made it known that they are willing to trade a couple of defensemen to improve. Both Adam Boqvist and Andrew Peeke have been mentioned in NHL rumors as trade candidates. They added Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson in the offseason and expect better results.

That concludes this edition of NHL rumors. Be sure to catch our next article, and thanks for reading!