Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers complete a trade to swap defensemen
Tonight the Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers have completed a trade to swap defensemen with one another.
After struggling starts for both the Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers both sides are looking for a spark. Reports are coming in that the two teams have made a trade the Edmonton Oilers will be sending defenseman Ben Gleason to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenseman Ronnie Attard.
On the surface what looks like a simple trade could be the jumpstart that both teams need moving forward. The Edmonton Oilers value size and physicality on the back end. The Flyers on the other hand prefer smaller puck movers who can provide offensively as well. In this trade, each team gets another player that fits their style well.
Ronnie Attard heading to the Edmonton Oilers is a 6'3 smooth skating defenseman who is physical but struggles offensively. He is a good support defenseman and likely could play minutes in an NHL lineup if he were asked to do so by the Edmonton Oilers. If not he will be a top defenseman for the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL.
As for Ben Gleason, he is more of an offensive-leaning and puck-moving defenseman who does not play all that physically. With the Edmonton Oilers preferring size on defense it makes sense that he did not quite fit in. Now he will head to Philadelphia who tend to use their defensemen in more of an offensive role. Despite having a lack of NHL experience the change could be good for Ben Gleason to get a fresh start and earn his first appearance in the NHL with the Flyers.
Both Stan Bowman of the Edmonton Oilers and Daniel Briere of the Philadelphia Flyers know their teams are underperforming. This trade could be the jolt that their rosters need to kick things into that next gear and get back to the tier of team they believe they should be. However, if the move ends up back firing for either GM it could lead to a lot of frustration from fans.
As the season goes on it will be interesting to see how both Ronnie Attard and Ben Gleason are worked into their new lineups. A change of scenery is sometimes all a player needs to succeed in their career let's watch and see if that is the case with this trade.
| POLL | ||
Who do you think will do better after this trade in their career? | ||
