Oilers, Lightning trade makes sense for both teams
An interesting offseason trade might be a beneficial deal for both sides.
On Tuesday night, the Edmonton Oilers acquired Isaac Howard from the Tampa Bay Lightning for Sam O’Reilly in a one-for-one deal involving prospects.
It ended a rather strange saga, where Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois was unable to sign the Hobey Baker Award winner to an entry-level contract, and had the fear that Howard wouldn’t ever sign with the team, electing to finish out his career at Michigan State.
Now, the flipping of Howard and O’Reilly benefits both teams. For the Oilers, they get a young, talented scoring threat who many believe is ready to play in the NHL. On the other side, the Lightning are getting a proven winner in O’Reilly, who has helped the London Knights win back-to-back OHL Championships, along with winning the Memorial Cup this past spring.
On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Steven Ellis joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen to discuss why the deal makes sense for both the Lightning and Oilers.
Steven Ellis: like it for both teams and for different reasons. … Howard fits a more immediate need for the team, some scoring help. I don’t know if he’s gonna go out there and put up a ton of points next year. I think the thing that stands out on his team and has been an issue since his NTDP days, is his play away from the puck, that he’s not always engaged. He’s not always the one going out there and chasing the puck and making things happen. Then, you see the numbers, and clearly, he knows what to do with the puck. Clearly, he knows how to dominate on the power play. For me, you always had to find the right balance. You had to give him a great centerman to kind of figure it out. He’s got options in Edmonton, and I feel like that is a good fit for him. I think he’s going to be a very valuable player.
If I had to guess who would be the more impactful guy, I would have to maybe say there’s a bit of me kind of points towards Sam O’Reilly. I’m not saying he’s gonna have more points than Isaac Howard, and I think Howard will be the better offensive player, but Sam O’Reilly is more of this all-around two-way threat. … I think he’s going to be a very good two way center who loves having the puck on his stick and is very difficult to take the puck off of. … Howard’s more of a top-six guy, I think O’Reilly’s a third line guy, but they’re both going to be good at those specific roles, that, I think, no matter what the way you look at it, you’re happy for both teams.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…