The Oilers fumble another trade by giving away 2024 Calder finalist for nothing

On February 24th, 2020, the Edmonton Oilers traded 2 2nd round picks and Sam Gagner to the Detroit Red Wings for Andreas Athanasiou and Ryan Kuffner.

Athanasiou had a less than impressive stint with the Oilers, tallying only 2 points in 11 total games, before moving on and signing with the Los Angeles Kings in free agency.

Unfortunately for Ken Holland and the Oilers, one of those 2nd round picks traded for Athanasiou was used by the Kings to pick Brock Faber, who was then dealt to the Minnesota Wild along with a 1st round pick, in exchange for star forward Kevin Fiala.

Faber, 21, was a Calder trophy finalist this past season, finishing with an impressive 47 points in 82 games, while playing 24:58 minutes per night, an incredibly high number for a rookie defender.

Faber recently signed a huge contract extension with the Wild that will see him be paid $68 million over 8 seasons.

In hindsight, Ken Holland would have probably liked to keep the pick used on Faber, but the risk and reward of trading draft picks is known by every GM in hockey, and this particular instance backfired pretty badly on the Oilers, who could have really used Faber in the 2023-2024 playoffs as their right side was severely limited after Evan Bouchard.

Add this trade to the list of questionable trades made by the Oilers over the years.

Source: The Hockey News
Oilers Lost Promising Defender With Fumbled Trade