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Oilers trade college prospect after refusal to sign with the organization

Originally posted on Oilers Daily | By Liam McCormick | Last updated Mar 4, 2025 8:38 PM ET

The Oilers traded for Bruins forward Trent Frederic today, and in doing so offloaded prospect Shane LaChance, who reportedly had no interest in signing with Edmonton.

Shane LaChance was a long shot by the Oilers in the draft, but has developed into a prospect that experts have guaranteed will play NHL games.

Oilers trade prospect Shane LaChance to New Jersey in Trent Frederic trade after contract dispute

According to reports from Oilers insider Bob Stauffer, Shane LaChance had informed the organization that he had no intention of signing in Edmonton, and the team was actively pursuing trade options for him.

All signs were pointing to Shane Lachance NOT signing in Edmonton and becoming a free agent...So the Edmonton Oilers proactively elected to move him.

The Oilers had selected LaChance in the 6th round of the 2021 Draft, which in a way made him a long shot to make the NHL in the first place. However, in his time with Boston University, his prospect stock has risen to become a promising player.

With Boston University last season, LaChance was paired with Macklin Celebrini and excelled in a crash-and-bang style of play and hunting pucks around the net. LaChance was able to score a decent clip, and more importantly, has continued that rate after Celebrini left.

Oilers prospect experts have been positively tracking LaChance's development as a player and have called him a guaranteed NHLer, but that's mostly referring to his physical frame at 6'5 and 218 pounds. He's got the physicality, but skating is a question.

Oilers had no chance of keeping prospect headed to free agency

The Oilers ended up sending LaChance to the New Jersey Devils to retain salary on Trent Frederic, and it's likely the Devils were keeping tabs on him. Shane's father, former NHLer Scott LaChance, is the head scout for New Jersey.

Unfortunately, it does continue a trend of the Oilers and western Canadian teams having little success signing college prospects.

As long as these players can wait out their draft rights to become a free agent, it'll be hard for the Oilers to be able to keep any college prospect. At least in this case, Edmonton was able to get some value in a trade for his signing rights.

This article first appeared on Oilers Daily and was syndicated with permission.

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