With plenty of talent up front, the Edmonton Oilers are expected to move some of those assets in exchange for help in other areas on the roster.
Thursday evening, on local radio station 630 CHED, Oilers President Kevin Lowe responded to a report that the Oilers would complete a "wow factor" trade soon after a new CBA is reached.
"You're going into a game with lots of trump cards," Lowe said, as transcribed by the Edmonton Journal, referring to the club's young stars. "That's the only way you can make deals is if you have assets that are attractive to other teams. When you have assets then you can make deals."
The Oilers have refused to part with the likes of Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov, but have other players they have dangled as trade bait, like Sam Gagner and Ales Hemsky.
"At some point, whenever that is, we're probably not too far down the road, we're going to have to make some touch choices and maybe move some players, or a player, draft picks, to get a piece or two that finishes off the formation of what you feel is a championship team," Lowe added.
Lowe indicated that the new CBA could make it easier to complete trades, which is something Oilers GM Steve Tambellini is responsible for.
Lowe admitted that there are areas on the team that management questions.
"Are we strong enough defence? Goaltending is a question mark, and I say that in all respect to Devan Dubnyk and (Nikolai Khabibulin)," Lowe said. "Khabi has been injured and he's approaching 40. He's given us stretches of strong goaltending but his health is one thing."
Over the summer, prior to the lockout, the Oilers had interest in Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle, Calgary Flames blueliner Jay Bouwmeester and Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo.
