Edmonton Oilers' trade assets to acquire top four defenseman revealed

The Edmonton Oilers are looking to trade for a top-four defenseman this season, but they won't have many trade assets to work with. Here's a complete look at their potential trade assets.

Most recent reports suggest the Oilers will be casting a wide net for their defenseman addition this year, looking at options that could be fairly cheap or expensive to acquire.

Oilers' top trade assets to deal for top-four defenseman

The most usual asset that a contending team like the Oilers could trade is their draft picks.

The Oilers have their second, third, sixth and seventh picks from this season to trade. In the next two years, they'll have all their picks except a fourth-rounder in 2027. Stan Bowman may be reluctant to trade away future prospects, but the Oilers need to win now.

Two prospects in Beau Akey and Paul Fischer have been floated as trade candidates. Both players are young defenseman who just made their World Juniors teams, but are far away from helping the Oilers in the playoffs.

The top prospects in the Oilers system — considered to be Matthew Savoie and Sam O'Reilly — are most likely considered untouchable after Edmonton made trades to acquire them.

Outside of those few options, there's not many more high-profile prospects who could interest other NHL teams in trade. There's options like Maxim Berezkin, Roby Jarventie, Max Wanner and more — but other teams may not value them.

Oilers analyst lists four roster players as potential trade candidates

Oilers analyst Preston Hodgkinson recently named four roster players Edmonton could trade this year: Evander Kane, Jeff Skinner, Derek Ryan, and Adam Henrique.

The latter three veteran forwards have played below expectations this season and could be shipped out if Edmonton wants a new identity to their bottom six.

Evander Kane could be moved out, but it would be a complex deadline deal that could be about clearing cap space. Kane's no-movement clause expires before this year's trade deadline.

Between their draft picks, few enticing prospects and some roster players, there's Oilers surely have enough to put together a package for one top four defender. The best Oilers fans can hope for is that Stan Bowman is able to swing a positive value deal.