The Edmonton Oilers have acquired defenceman Alex Petrovic in exchange for a 2019 third round draft pick and Chris Wideman pending a trade call, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie.
It comes a day after the Oilers were handed a brutal 7-4 loss to the San Jose Sharks — a game where the Oilers defensive lapses were clear.
Petrovic, 26, is an Edmonton-native with has one assist in 26 games this season. He’s averaged 17:23 TOI per game this year — up nearly a minute from his career average.
At even-strength, Petrovic has been an average possession player notching a 49.5 per cent Corsi rating this season. A low PDO of 96.7 suggests there is room for improvement for the 6’4, 216 lb defender known for his prowess in his own zone.
He is making $1.95-million this year, and is a UFA at season’s end.
With the Oilers holding two third round draft picks in 2019, McKenzie has indicated Florida will receive the better of the two.
Edmonton brought in Chris Wideman last month in a deal that saw them flip a 2020 sixth-round pick to Ottawa for his services. He struggled in his small showings with the Oilers and it was clear there wasn’t much trust for him from the organization.
While the cost of Petrovic isn’t major essentially being two draft picks — it will still likely be a top-100 pick for a player that the Oilers could just let walk at seasons end.
The Oilers are in dire need of back end help — a narrative as old as time itself. The problem has only been exacerbated with the losses of Oscar Klefbom and Kris Russell, the latter of which set to return soon.
The hope is that Petrovic can rebound and provide some stability on Edmonton’s defence.
Postmedia’s Jim Matheson, on Twitter, said the Oilers “might not be finished trading” after this morning’s move.
It’s a sentiment echoed by Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, who wrote he has heard from multiple sources Peter Chiarelli “still has some balls in the air.”
Stay tuned to OilersNation, where I will be bringing the latest on any potential news.
On Twitter: @zjlaing
He is a 1.9 million dollar cap hit and a UFA at the end of the year. Safe safe move by a GM questioning his own moves. Time to move on if our GM thinks this will solve all our problems. Teams know they have the upper hand in every deal they make with him, enough already.
Enough of you guys already.
Bunch of behindsight knowitalls.
The club’s performance is all that is needed to measure Chias success. It is a disaster, still.
On the fence
I don’t like that he had to give up a third in this too.
You would have complained even if he got him for free.
Actually, my real problem is that Chiarelli is still allowed to make trades at all.
That’s not your problem.
You chose to make it your problem for whatever reason.
Chiarelli is a better GM than you could ever be, or have ever been. I doubt you have any NHL experience at all.
You, just like the rest of these knowitalls, live in a fantasy world where you judge and criticize other to feel better about the problems you imagine you have.
10-4
10-3
just because someone is employed or has experience in their job does not make them good at it. if you think Chia is good, than you have not moved on from 1990’s hockey and are definitely living in a fantasy world.
Chia is that you?
Obviously you do not have season tickets, try shelling out 10K for them and let us know how you feel. Here’s another cup of Kool-Aid, drink up!
Why so serious?
Mrs.Chiarelli go bake some cookies
chia is that you?
If you don’t have anything constructive to say,don’t say anything at all,don’t say anything at all. The verbal diharia is not needed.
The point is not that he is a better GM than a sports writer. That is a straw man argument. Look that up bc clearly you are very low information. He is saying the PC is among the worst GMs QUANTATATIVELY in his profession. Sports are entertainment driven by revenue extracted from the fans in an open market exchange for said entertainment. PC has vastly diminished the entertainment value in the Oilers product thus the drivers of the Oilers revenue need to be as vocal as possible as the first step to halt financial support of the team so that ownership begins to feel a financial need to improve the on ice product. I only watch the games to see McDavid play hockey. Once he is gone, and he will be much sooner than you think, there will be no fans left.
Are You Chia’s mom? Too bad the NHL doesn’t hand out participation medals.
Burner account
Pete’s a Harvard Man, you know
“McKenzie has indicated Florida will receive the better of the two.” That makes this deal even worse. Plus this is another deep draft.
I thought it was regarded as a weak draft this year?
it is. complaining about trading a 3rd is so Oiler fans. even the better of the two may not be much more that 5 or so spots so i see no big deal here ! fans need to ask themselves if they want to still have a chance at the playoffs this year or do they want to conceed the playoffs already? Wideman and a 3rd is nothing to give up for Petrovic even if he should walk at the end of the season. when Klef and Russel and Sekera come back, we’ll have Larsson, Nurse, Benning , Jones, Gravel and Petrovic and we’ll actually have some decent depth on the back end ! and after the first 2 rounds, it isn’t the deepest draft i have ever seen.
Well be glad, I am suprised Chia didnt throw Nuge in too,
I give up. Chia just dealt a player and a 3rd round draft pick for a defenceman that will walk after this season? Fire Chia NOW!
I don’t think Chiarelli is making these decisions without consultations with the “brain trust”. Chiarelli will be fired, but the problems will still be with us, unless the Oilers sweep out some more personnel during spring cleaning.
The real question is,is there a brain in the “brain trust”?
1 assist in 26 games. Pretty sure that PDO isn’t his issue.
Funny PC didn’t throw in first round pick and Nuge. What would a first round, third and JP get us for a top 4 dman? Or is that even enough? What happened last time the Oilers actually went after and got a top dman(Pronger) oh ya lost in the final and should have won the cup. Death by a thousand trades….
Sid Seixiero said it best “Oilers acquire Alex Petrovic from Florida. He has one assist this year. He’ll fit right in“
All this tells me is Chia is here for awhile yet, hope I’m wrong on that front.
I don’t mind this, Proactive move. Won’t solve everything but atleast he’s an nhl defenceman
For half a season and then bye bye.
Oh
You got an inside track on that fact that he is gonna walk after this season?
Wouldn’t you with current situation here?
dont mind aquiring petrovic, but as long as benning is still on the ice than our D is not upgraded.
Also is this not the same as what we got for Maroon? We get a third for a 20 goal good contract power forward who can skate, than we pay the same thing for a healthy scratch 1 assist Dman,
Its Overpay Pete at his finest.
Ehh sounds like another Lars/Gryba. I guess we dont want a dman who can actually get the puck on net from the blueline and chip in with some offense. 1 assist all year lol how is that even possible.
How many goals does Lucic have? It’s possible.
And what do we have to give up for that type of defenceman again, please remind us
Uh oh. According to Spec Just a few minutes ago, Chia is not done yet…
Do you have details?
Just saw it on Twitter
A lot of red wine must have been consumed last night.
I hope Chia is done. Chia is most dangerous when he’s allowed to make any significant moves. Even worse, he is trading from a point of weakness. He has no significant expendable trading pieces. Eberle was the last one, in which he squandered away into a $3.1 4th liner in Spooner. I’m not sold completely on Talbot or Koskinen and only see them getting a mid level pick for either of them at the trade deadline.
I miss you Oilers fans. No cap room. No assets. We get an NHL dman on a sweet short deal that we can afford for a 3rd and essentially a 6th and you are all sooooo mad haha
They’re just bandwagon groupies.
One point and healthy scrathed multiple times this year. Yup that screams NHL defenseman.
He’s still better than Benning
Uh…no hes not
Uh… yeah he is. Even Caleb Jones has passed Benning on the depth chart
Than why didn’t he pass Benning?
Is it because you’re a better judge of talent than Hitchcock?
Oil fans have a right to be frustrated this has been the worst NHL franchise over the last 12 or so years.
I’ve wanted Petrovic on the Oilers roster for a few years. Solid 3rd pair D that can make a pass out of his own end. Not sure on the price to get him, but it is definitely an upgrade on what went the other way.
Petrovic might help stop the bleeding on D “immediately.” Step in and play. Before the Oil bleed away their wildcard chances…
That’s my take on the trade rationale – given the Oil absolutely MUST win the next 2 games (i.e. Oil currently 4 pts out of a wildcard spot, with a game in hand on Dallas) to stay in the hunt.
I’m just happy they upgraded a position. Petrovic is better than Wideman. Need to keep the puck out of our net. He will be better at that. And who cares if he walks after the season? We have Bear Jones Bouchard etc all coming along. 3rd round pick is fine. When our guys get healthy we have a bit of depth for the rest of the year. Petrovic will be fine.
Another overpayment imo, but I cannot blame him as he is trying to make moves before they put the final nail to his coffin. He put himself in this position and the other teams know it.
Nevertheless, this move makes the Zykov waiver more questionable. Why waive Zykov if now you have an “upgrade” with Petrovic over Garrison. With Sekera expected to come back soon, there’s gonna be D overdepth with the emergence of Caleb Jones. You also have Bear down in the AHL.
Did someone say…Blockbuster ??
So just went to Panthers website to see his stats. Looks like they couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. He has already been removed from the team listing and stats page. TOO FUNNY! ?
They protected him and let Vegas take Marchessault and traded Smith to them in the expansion draft.
Petrovic is a hometown boy who played junior in Red Deer with Nuge. Good chance he’ll want to stay if it works out the rest of the season. Maybe not someone who can contribute offensively, but he’s worth his salt if he can stop the bleeding in our own end. I’m sure he can do that better than Benning.
It seems that most players acquired by PC seemingly forget how to play hockey once they arrive in Edmonton…….too many players to mention. If he can play solid defensive hockey, well that is great but will not solve our problems.
We need a puck moving, puck shooting, type of defenceman that has above average hockey IQ. I will say good on PC for trying but he has not made a meaningful trade ……..ever!!
He’s made plenty of meaningful trades. They’ve just been meaningful for the wrong reasons for Oilers fans.
More appropriately he’s made no trades with a positive impact.
he may not be the answer but a change of scenery can do wonders. Just ask 90% of the players the Oilers have traded. FLA knows we are desperate, thus the 3rd round pick. Chia is gasping for air as the rope tightens and the chair supporting him is weakening. Ill take Petrovic , he is better than Garrison , Wideman [ gone ] Gravel possibly , Benning and more experienced than Jones whom is rocking it imo.
Well Wideman wasnt getting any traction, but the big question mark is will he be any better than Wiedman? Right now from what I read, it seems like a coin toss. Guess we will find out when he suits up and steps in the line up.
Right now the Oilers are not good enough in their end, and while the defence plays a part in that the whole team has been brutal in our end, guys stand still, guys puck watching and guys just plain not knowing where their man is in the zone, last night the Oilers got burnt by that more than a few times, and it isnt just the last game, this has been going on all year the last 5 or 6 games have just really exposed it. Untill the Oilers can take care of things in their own end, it is going to continue to be our Achilles heel
@ Dallas….I don’t know much about Petrovic other than he is from Edmonton. He couldn’t be any worse Wideman. You are absolutely correct on the puck watching, holy smokes the give up chances because of it.
He better be better than Wideman. They also gave up a pick for him.
Guys I’m scared. It’s clear what Chiarelli is doing and, while I’ve been okay with his trades before, I’m deathly scared now. He’s in panic mode, and when we panic, we tend to say or do things that are illogical. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think he’s done. As for this, a nothing more. Nothing gained, nothing (really) lost.
Yup, like when I suggested they start Talbot against the Sharks very illogical of me.
If Chia is handling the trades I would be scared as well, Chia trading record sucks, and not just with the Oilers, his PTO’s here have been the one shining light
Puljujarvi & Benning for Tyler Toffoli ?
Let’s do it, this team needs more scoring especially in the bottom 6.
Is that a thought or a rumour or wtf?
The move to make imho is Talbot and a small plus for Radko Gudas RHD. Money is close and Philly has been linked to Talbot in the past. Problem is that you are all in on Kostco….
I wouln’t be suprised if Talbot is dealt next.
I wouldnt be surprised if Talbot gets traded he is a UFA at the end of the year and I doubt right now they are going to re sign Talbot at 4 mil + on the season he just had, but I expect a different goalie coach and a team that plays better in its own end is going to do a lot for him….You may be right on that, I dont see Talbot in the teams plans
It really doesnt matter at this point unless he moves anything bigger or high picks…These are desperation moves. This team is not making the playoffs. They really should have fired him after last season…or now at least after yesterday’s embarrassment at home.
I dont agree with you a lot but on Chia, he and TM should have both been shown the door last year
So Petrovic has only played 26 games? So was he hurt or a scratch for the others, that kinda worries me , because I havent been able to see why he has only played in 26 games
Healy scratch …..
* healthy
This trade good or bad will have marginal impact on the oilers season or franchise as a hole.
I think if he can help on the defensive side of game for is til klef gets back, and Russell I guess, then as mentioned before he should be a good addition to a healthy defense.
Calm down on the negativity guys.. breath for chri$&? Sake.
We still have mcheese….. for now!
Who is TM, as in “Chia and TM should be fired “
Ugh, that’s kinda what I thought, that’s not a good sign I dont think the Pathers are really deep on defence
Fine trade, 3rd rounder is worth dirt in Edmonton anyway and wideman is two years older. Petrovic is, hypothetically, happy to play in Edmonton since it’s where he is from. I think good teams have players who want to play where they are. Best part is if he does fine, he is more likely to resign. This deal makes more sense if wideman has made it clear he would walk as well. Not a game changer, but could be a better fit since he’s Petrovic is better in his own end. Oilers need a 3rd pairing who can get some pk time in too
Chiarelli a desperation move, gave away a 3rd round pick for a UFA at years end.
Getting a guy out of the pressbox doesn’t work too often so obviously a desperate move from a desperate tell. Question about how they got his $1.9M salary under the cap. Maybe they have written off Sekera for the year