Oilers are “playing hard ball” in Duncan Keith trade!

For the past week, we’ve heard about the Chicago Blackhawks working on a trade to ship out veteran defenseman Duncan Keith. Sportsnet’s insider Elliotte Friedman added to the rumour when he stated later on that the blue liner could be moved to either the Pacific Northwest or Western Canada. 

It was then reported that the Oilers have become frontrunner to land Keith seeing that the team needs a solid, reliable blue liner in case sidelined Oscar Klefbom misses next season. He missed the entire 2021 campaign because of a chronic shoulder injury. On top of that, Keith is believed to be looking to move closer to his son, who resides in his offseason home in Penticton, BC. He carries a reasonable $5.538 million annual average value for two more seasons and the Oilers could make it work. 

And since, we’ve been waiting… 

Friedman explained earlier this week that there was a hold up in the trade and said that the Oilers might be looking to get their plans set on the expansion draft and free agency and available cap. 

However, the insider added on the latest 31 Thoughts podcast that he believed Edmonton is now playing hard ball with the Blackhawks because “Chicago may have nowhere else to go.”

Bad news for the Blackhawks...

The Oilers and Hawks will need to decide shortly if this trade is happening or not. As Friedman said himself: are we gonna do it or not?