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NHL insider Jeff Marek has recently revealed that the Oilers and Lightning nearly pulled off the biggest blockbuster trade of the century a few years ago.
When Ken Holland arrived in Edmonton in May of 2019, he preached patience. Fixing the Oilers wasn’t a one-summer job, but there was one trade discussion that could have shaken the entire NHL.
After Tampa Bay was stunningly ousted in the first round of the 2019 playoffs after a historic regular season, the Lighting chased bold moves, going so far as to call Edmonton about trading Nikita Kucherov for Leon Draisaitl, as Jeff Marek recently revealed this on ‘The Sheet’.
«That year, there were conversations – and I’ve had this confirmed – there were conversations between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Edmonton Oilers and the two primaries changing were Nikita Kucherov for Leon Draisatil. That was the conversation I’m not sure how close they got. I think Edmonton may have also wanted Anthony Cirelli and that’s when things kinda ‘Mehhh well that’s not going to happen.’ It’s not as if they didn’t consider massive change, because that was the conversation between those two teams.
As a hockey fan, forget being an Oilers fan Just imagine Kucherov playing with McDavid for a second. Draisaitl is an incredible player. I think Tampa was thinking ‘We go up the gut with Stamkos and Draisaitl, yeah that looks pretty nice thank you very much.’ But the thought of about Kucherov playing beside Connor McDavid, that’s juicy.»
– Jeff Marek
You can watch the Jeff Marek podcast video here
The repercussions of this trade would’ve been monumental. The Tampa Bay Lightning won consecutive Stanley Cup championships in 2019-20 and 2020-21, with Nikita Kucherov proving instrumental to each.
During the 2019-20 season, he accumulated 85 points in 68 contests before going absolutely bonkers in the playoffs, recording 35 points in 25 contests. During the 2020-21 playoff season, he returned from LTIR to amass 32 points in 23 games.
Meanwhile, Leon Draisaitl was elite in those same seasons. The German centerman took home the Art Ross, Hart Trophy, and Ted Lindsay Award in 2019-20 with 110 points in 71 games. In 2020-21, he added another 84 points in 56 games.
Two Cups with the Lightning with Draisaitl instead of Kucherov? Maybe Draisaitl pulls in similar awards and accolades in his own right. What about Edmonton?
Elite talent like Kucherov would have fit in great alongside Connor McDavid, but the Oilers would have surely missed Draisaitl coming down the middle. Had Anthony Cirelli been in the package, that would have somewhat cushioned the blow.
Had that trade been completed ahead of the draft, the Oilers would have had the pick they used on Philip Broberg to use on Trevor Zegras, to try to fix their second-line center issue.
But Kucherov’s larger cap hit would have barred Holland from free-agent centers Joe Pavelski or Matt Duchene.
It was not the first time Draisaitl was close to being moved. The year Montreal was interested in 2016, Peter Chiarelli would have moved him, preferring Draisaitl to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in a theoretical PK Subban deal.
