The Oilers are terrible. They and Buffalo are the worst teams in the league. Most recently, the Oilers were crushed 7-1 at home by the Blackhawks and were booed and heckled off the ice. As you would expect, fans are frustrated and the team must be looking at all alternatives of management changes or making a trade.
The latest buzz is that the Oilers want a center, and are dangling David Perron. In the past, the Oilers were looking for defense, and they may or may not have been close to trading for Coburn. One version of the story is that Flyers asked for Eberle for Coburn, but then Oilers wanted to include Simmonds in the deal.
Whatever happened then, is there a deal out there now? Perron might be the kind of player Hextall is looking to add. The Flyers sorely lack skill wingers. Now 26, Perron is a skilled and energetic winger. I think there were high hopes for him in St. Louis, but his time there was derailed with concussions. He's probably not a defensive zone stalwart, and his cap hit is ~$3.8 million this year and next until he is a free agent.
Perron had a solid first season in Edmonton last year with 57 points in 78 games. This year, he has 10 in 21, with one of the worst +/- on the team, even though his Corsi rating is one of the best on the team. Advanced stats also show he hardly gets any defensive zone starts, which may contribute to that high Corsi rating and speak to their (lack of) defensive trust in him.
While some have floated that the Oilers are looking for a #1 center, there's no way Perron is going to fetch that. Would they be interested in Schenn or Couturier? I think they'd listen.
Schenn and Couturier are both a few years younger than Perron, and their career potential is still uncertain. Over the last year or so, Couturier has seemed to be more valued than Schenn. This season, Schenn is outperforming Couturier.
In my opinion, Couturier's development has been pretty disappointing, showing little offensive initiative and participating in an awful, awful penalty kill. Every time he gets the puck, he almost immediately stops skating, holds it, and looks to dish it off. Playing like that, it's no wonder he hasn't tallied a point in 15 out of 20 games this season. Then again, he was the ice time leader for the Flyers last night.
Either way, Hextall is not going to trade either young player based on how many points they have in the last month. The Flyers look like they will be in a for a battle just to reach the playoffs this year, and Hextall does not appear inclined to seek short term solutions. Perron being older and closer to UFA status probably kills a swap for a young Flyers center.
The only remaining wrinkle is if this could rekindle Coburn talks. Coburn is a defensive anchor, though he's not a game-changer. He plays a lot of minutes for the Flyers, and he could do the same in Edmonton for several more seasons. He would be a good addition for Edmonton, I think.
My thought is, that Flyers defense is lousy, and with or without Coburn it's going to remain generally mediocre this season. Hextall's prescription for fixing the defense is to wait for young guys to develop, and by the time that happens Coburn will need a new contract. Trading Coburn and giving Perron 1.5 seasons in Philadelphia to earn a spot on the team and a new contract might be an interesting way to develop the team with an eye to the future when it would be primed for serious playoff runs. Young reinforcements are coming to the Flyers defense, while there are not many on the way to put on the wings.
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