On last night’s Hockey Night In Canada broadcast during the second intermission of the Maple Leafs and Avalanche game, Elliotte Friedman gave his Saturday Headlines segment. One of those headlines was the Edmonton Oilers being connected to forwards Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick from the Anaheim Ducks.
This season, Henrique has 36 points through 55 games, while Carrick has 10 points through 56 games. They’re both centermen, but Henrique shoots left, and Carrick shoots right. With a lot of Oilers fans, including myself, wanting to see the team focus more on trades for a right-handed defenseman or a 1B goalie, secondary scoring has also been a flaw for the team as of late. Henrique’s production would be a decent add for the middle six lines. Carrick’s production is similar to what Edmonton already has on their fourth line. But during intermissions of other Oilers games, insider Bob Stauffer mentioned that he’d like to see them go after a right-handed center for the bottom 6. On top of that, Carrick also hits and can agitate. Those traits are the value he would bring. Both players have faceoff percentages higher than 50%, so they could help with team defense and penalty killing.
One thing to keep in mind would be the cap hits. Henrique and Carrick together make almost $7M, with most of that belonging to the former. One or two contracts would have to go the other way, maybe only one if the Ducks retain salary. I think I’d prefer Henrique over Carrick. The Oilers already have edgy players in Kane and Perry, plus Nurse likes to go that route as well. If Edmonton chooses to go after forwards, they should be the types that’ll help give the top 6 stars a break once in a while.
Are you interested in Henrique and Carrick? Are you not? Let me know.
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