Jeff Marek shares a crazy story about how the Oilers nearly traded Leon Draisaitl
NHL insider Jeff Marek revealed today that the Edmonton Oilers and Tampa Bay Lightning nearly swapped superstar forwards in a one-for-one deal.
According to Jeff Marek, the Oilers and Lightning were working on a deal that would have shocked the league in 2019.
Reportedly, the two teams were considering swapping superstars, with the Oilers getting Nikita Kucherov in exchange for Leon Draisaitl.
Needless to say, such a deal would have been insane and somewhat unprecedented in the modern era of the league.
At the time though, it may not have sounded as crazy as it does today.
After all, the 2018-19 season was Draisaitl's breakout year and his first 100-point season.
To that point in his career, he had basically been a point-per-game player.
We could not predict that he would become a regular 100-point producer in the years since.
Similarly, Nikita Kucherov had not yet established himself as the truly elite offensive powerhouse that he is today.
The 2018-19 season was just his second 100-point year, although it was also his second in a row.
If anything, this deal would have been seen as more risky for Tampa Bay at the time as Kucherov had a slightly longer track record.
Of course, Kucherov has since become one of the most prolific scorers in the league.
Last season he secured the art-ross trophy with a career-high 144 points, including 44 goals, also a career high.
It is hard to say how the fates of these two players and their respective franchises would have changed if they had been traded for each other five years ago.
Would the Lightning still have their cups? Would Edmonton have one or more? We will never really know the answers to these questions.
Hopefully, someday we will see a trade like this though, as it would generate a lot of interest in the league, helping grow the game.
That being said, there probably isn't a single fan base that would be happy to sacrifice their own superstar player in such a deal, even if a player of equal value comes back.
| POLL | ||
Do you think the Edmonton Oilers would be better off today if they traded Leon Draisaitl for Nikita Kucherov in 2019? | ||
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