The Edmonton Oilers are wondering who they will turn to on defense since veteran Andrej Sekera will be out for 6-9 months after his ACL. The Oiler defense didn't show a lot of promise last season after a 103 point season and a trip to the second round of the Western Conference Playoffs in 2016-2017. However, there are some rumblings coming out of Boston care of NBC Sports' and Bruins Insider, Joe Haggerty.
Haggerty states that with Boston having eight defensemen under contract for 2018-2019, it would make sense to move someone. The Bruins are still looking for a top six forward after coming up empty in the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes as well as the uncertainty of Rick Nash's future. Haggerty made it clear that Boston really doesn't want to move Krug, but it is an inherent need to land a top six winger. The Oilers had expressed interest in the left handed shot Krug during the draft, but no further reports surfaced. Haggerty speculated that Boston may have a lot of interest in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who looked really good on the left wing last season.
If Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were to be part of a deal to land Krug, he would be the second first overall pick of the Oilers to be traded for a defenseman in two years. On June 29, 2016, the Oil sent Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for Adam Larsson. If history were to repeat itself, I am sure that Boston Bruins would like nothing more than to complete this trade and see RNH win the Hart Trophy in his second season in Beantown just as Hall did in New Jersey this past season. We will have to keep an ear to the ground because Haggerty did question whether or not Boston would want to make a deal with GM Peter Chiarelli after firing him in 2015. Regardless of past affiliations, fulfilling team needs should come first.
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