‘There’s a slight chance’: Oilers could be among suitors if Sidney Crosby seeks trade

Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby on the same NHL team.

It’s a dream many Edmonton Oilers fans have harboured in recent years, as it’s taken far too long for the two to take to the ice for Team Canada. While that finally happened earlier this year at the 4 Nations Face-Off, the idea of McDavid and Crosby potentially winning a Stanley Cup in Edmonton hasn’t faded.

Crosby controls his own destiny as the longtime Pittsburgh Penguin not only has a full no-movement clause, but enough respect in the game of hockey to decide where he will end his surefire Hall of Fame career. Speculation about a potential trade ignited earlier this month when his agent, Pat Brisson, said “it’s a possibility” that Crosby could be open to a move as the Penguins continue to toil in mediocrity.

The Athletic’s staff put together a 32-team roundtable asking their staffers to put Crosby’s chances of being acquired by the team they cover into one of four categories: “it’s a strong possibility,” “it’s a maybe,” “there’s a slight chance,” and “there’s no way”.

Daniel Nugent-Bowman filed the Oilers under the slight chance category.

The Oilers are a Cup contender with arguably the two best players in the league. If Crosby wants to go hunting for a fourth title, there aren’t many better places to go in the short term than Edmonton. The problem is the Oilers are tight against the cap and are low on high-end futures, something the Penguins would want. Oh yeah, there’s also that contract situation with their captain.

As Nugent-Bowman mentions, McDavid’s contract status is an obvious caveat to the teams short-term and long-term plans. Any deal for Crosby — or any deal at all — needs to delicately balance the similar short-term and long-term plans with McDavid, making clear that an aging roster is a top concern.

Even in a scenario where the Oilers could, theoretically, acquire Crosby at the trade deadline this year at 50 percent retained, it would be a very difficult deal to consummate. In fact, in order to just get the money to work, all of Adam Henrique, Mattias Janmark and Curtis Lazar would have to be off the roster. That doesn’t even account for future assets, which would likely include top prospects and top draft picks — things the Oilers just don’t have a whole lot of.

There’s no denying that adding Crosby to a forward group that already has two of the best centres in the NHL today in McDavid and Leon Draisaitl would be something that could push the Oilers over the hump to hoist Lord Stanley’s mug. Ultimately, it would be up to Crosby if he wanted to come here, and up to the Oilers front office to make it happen.