NHL Trade Buzz: Oilers exploring options ahead of Trade Deadline

Welcome to the NHL Trade Buzz. With only six days remaining until the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline (March 3 at 3 p.m. ET), here's a look around the League at the latest deadline doings:

Edmonton Oilers

General manager Ken Holland said the Oilers are exploring options to add to their roster prior to the deadline.
"I am working the phones and we'll see what happens," Holland told the Edmonton Sun on Friday. "I've talked to lots of people multiple times. Do I think anything's imminent? No, I don't. Would I trade a first-round pick? Yeah, if it makes sense."
Obviously, scoring hasn't been an issue for the Oilers, who lead the NHL with 3.81 goals per game, so improvement on defense is more likely. The Oilers are allowing 3.24 goals per game (21st in the League) and average 31.8 shots against per game (19th).
Edmonton (32-19-8) is third in the Pacific Division, two points behind the Los Angeles Kings for second and three points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for first.
"There's still a week to go (until March 3). Who knows what will happen? The West is really close from first to eighth in the conference, just [six] points difference," Holland said.

Minnesota Wild

The Wild are 4-0-1 in their past five games, a run that has general manager Bill Guerin motivated to make moves prior to the deadline.
"They're showing me they're serious," Guerin told The Athletic. "We're going to be in a dogfight until the very end. We'd like to be active. What we can do or whatever we'll be able to do is another story, but we have to take a look at being very active."
Minnesota is third in the Central Division, one point behind the Winnipeg Jets for second, two points behind the Dallas Stars for first, and only one point ahead of the Colorado Avalanche, who are in fourth.
The Wild have already been somewhat active as the third party in two trades. They acquired defenseman Dmitri Orlov from the Washington Capitals for forward Andrei Svetlakov (Washington retained half of Orlov's salary) on Thursday, then traded Orlov to the Boston Bruins for a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. Minnesota retained 25 percent of Orlov's remaining salary.
Minnesota also acquired Ryan O'Reilly from the St. Louis Blues for forward prospect Josh Pillar on Feb. 17, then traded O'Reilly to the Maple Leafs for a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. The Blues retained half of O'Reilly's salary, then the Wild retained 25 percent of his remaining salary.

Calgary Flames

What the Flames do at the deadline will depend on how they're playing as it approaches, general manager Brad Treliving told Sportsnet on Thursday.
"It's great to get stuff done early, but the reality is, look at the prices. There've been really good players on the move, but for the most part it's a rental market, and when you're solidly in a spot it's easier to do that," Treliving said prior to the Flames' 4-3 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.
"I'm not going to start throwing out top assets. I think we're a good team that has underperformed. We've done all our work on the deadline. We have a sense of what's going on out there."
It's been a season of inconsistency for the Flames (27-20-12), who are three points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Flames play the Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, CITY, ALT, ESPN+).
"It's not like things are going to change dramatically the next two games. You just want to see what kind of spot you're in and if the areas we know we need to be better in are improving," Treliving said. "We've got enough here to get in with the group we have, but we've got a lot of work to do. At the end of the day, if we can help ourselves, of course I'd like to do that, but reality is also part of the equation."