Thursday, January 16, 2014

Oilers Trade Devan Dubnyk, Then Acquire Ben Scrivens

In two separate trades, the Edmonton Oilers acquired goaltender Ben Scrivens, forward Matt Hendricks and a third round pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. (http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=700837&navid=nhl:topheads)

The first trade sent back up goaltender, Devan Dubnyk to the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Matt Hendricks.  Dubnyk has played in 32 games this season with a 11-17-2 record.  He has a .894 save percentage and a 3.36 goals against average, but also has two shutouts.

One of the reasons Dubnyk's save percentage and goals against average are so bad is because the Oilers have given up 116 even strength goals, while only scoring 80.  The team has also given up seven short-handed goals, which is tied for the most in the NHL this season. The penalty kill unit is ranked 21st in the league at 79.6%, while the power play unit has scored 34 goals and is ranked 10th.

The cap hit for the Predators is only $1.75 million for the remainder of the season, according to capgeek.com.(www.capgeek.com/player/49) The Predators picked up Dubnyk because Pekka Rinne is out with an injury and the team is unsure of when he will return to the lineup, according to nhl.com. (http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=700837&navid=nhl:topheads).  Even though his numbers may say otherwise, Dubnyk was a good pick up for the Predators because he came at a cheap price and is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

The Oilers got Matt Hendricks in the Predators trade.  Hendricks is 32 years old and should bring some veteran leadership to a young group of players.  He has played in 44 games, has two goals, two assists, and is a minus five on the season.  

Hendricks isn't an offensive forward with only 62 points in 307 career games played, but he brings the Oilers another player to add to the penalty kill unit.  He averaged just over 2:18 on the penalty kill for the Predators.  This is Hendrick's fourth team in six NHL seasons.  

Hendricks is currently in his first year of a four year, $7.4 million deal. The cap hit will be $1.85 million for the Oilers until the end of the 2016-17 season. (www.capgeek.com/player/578)

In the second trade, the Oilers acquired goaltender Ben Scrivens from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a third round pick in the 2014 draft.

Scrivens was the back up goaltender for Jonathan Quick until Martin Jones came along and stole his spot. Quick went out with an injury and on December 3, Jones got the start and won his next eight games, which left Scrivens expendable.

Scrivens has played in 19 games this season and is 7-5-4 with a .931 save percentage, a 1.97 goals against average and he has three shutouts.  He has only played 51 careeer games and is 18-19-6 with five shutouts, a .917 save percentage and a 2.54 goals against average.

Scrivens only has a $550,000 cap hit this season, according to capgeek.com (www.capgeek.com/player/1717).  He is also an unrestricted free agent after the season so the Oilers can use the rest of the season to evaluate him and decided if they want to sign him to a contract.  This is the second time Scrivens has been traded since the summer.  He was part of the deal that sent Jonathan Bernier to the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Los Angeles Kings.  





  

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