Insider reports Oilers chances of landing star forward in trade have plummeted

In recent weeks, rumours have grown that the Edmonton Oilers are heavily interested in acquiring forward Jake Guentzel at the trade deadline. The Pittsburgh Penguins have continued to fall out of playoff contention, and as a result, Penguins GM Kyle Dubas may be granting team permission to talk about a contract extension with a trade. According to Elliotte Friedman in his latest 32 Thoughts blog, that will really hurt the Oilers' chances of acquiring Guentzel.

Simply put, the Oilers will not have the cap space to even offer Jake Guentzel a contract extension - unless they move out a core player which is extremely unlikely. Dubas has done Guentzel a favour by giving him the ability to talk to other teams an negotiate an extension elsewhere, but it will hurt his standing as a pure rental player.


Guentzel would've been the best addition possible for the Oilers this deadline as an offensive threat. The 29 year old forward is a proven consistent scorer, and is having a great year with 22 goals and 52 points in 50 games.

If Guentzel is able to find an extension, the Oilers will need to turn their attention elsewhere for their trade deadline plans. The team could still go in numerous directions, being connected to forwards primarily including Jordan Eberle, David Perron, and recently Pavel Buchnevich.