Shakir Mukhamadullin is already wearing a minus-6 three games into the season, and trade rumours have the Oilers moving a defenceman.
The chatter picked up Sunday afternoon, when The Mug NHL weighed in on which blueliner Edmonton would actually ship out.
His read was blunt. The 24-year-old has struggled, but the account can't see Stan Bowman flipping a player he acquired from San Jose and then extended for two years.
The name floated instead? Spencer Stastney, the 26-year-old left shot carrying a $1,525,000 cap hit.
Mukhamadullin has dressed twice and been held scoreless. Edmonton, meanwhile, has given up 14 goals across three games.
That goals-against total is the bigger headache. Tristan Jarry is sitting at a .739 save percentage, and nobody on the blue line is getting much help from the crease.
And yet the Oilers are 2-0-1, winning a 9-7 track meet in Vancouver before closing out Seattle 3-1 on Saturday night.
Spencer Stastney's minus-10 in Edmonton complicates the Oilers' choice
Here's the part that cuts against the rumour mill's favourite target. Stastney went minus-10 over 36 games in Edmonton last season, with one goal and no assists.
In 30 games with Nashville that same season, he managed nine points.
Career-wise, he sits at 19 points through 117 NHL games. That's a depth résumé from a fifth-round pick, 131st overall in 2018.
His deal also runs out after this season, with unrestricted free agency waiting. Expiring money moves easier, and every GM in the league knows it.
Mukhamadullin costs $1,750,000, barely more than Stastney. He's also the one with runway.
Trading him two games into a new contract would be a bad trade. It's like returning new skates after one practice because they pinched. Breaking in takes time.
The blue line isn't short on bodies either. Ty Emberson has dressed only once, which gives Mike Babcock a cheap internal option if someone does get moved.
Edmonton's top pairing is holding up its end. Evan Bouchard has eight points and Mattias Ekholm sits at plus-6.
The pressure lands lower in the lineup, and on Jake Walman, who has gone minus-3 on a $7,000,000 cap hit.
Edmonton opens a three-game road trip Wednesday in Anaheim, then visits San Jose on Saturday.
That stop in San Jose, of all places, puts the Sharks' former defenceman right back where Bowman found him.
If Bowman pulls the trigger on a D-man before then, the name on the transaction will tell you exactly how much patience this front office has left.
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Should the Oilers trade Spencer Stastney before giving up on Shakir Mukhamadullin?
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