The Edmonton Oilers have made a trade with the Arizona Coyotes.

Edmonton has sent Mitch Moroz to Arizona, while the Coyotes have sent Henrik Samuelsson to the Oilers in an Oil King for Oil King swap. The two players were taken five picks apart in the 2012 NHL Entry draft.

The Oilers famously blew a high second round pick in 2012 by taking Moroz a full round too early (if not more than that). It was a curse on the kid who had to play with the massive expectations of being drafted 32nd overall. He had 25 points in his draft year. In his first year after the draft he had 34 and 63 in his second year after the draft. Unfortunately, none of that transferred to professional hockey where his most productive AHL season has been 10 points in 40 games.

I wish Moroz the best in his future endeavors.

In truth, the Oilers wished they had taken the much higher touted Samuelsson that year. Samuelsson had size (6’3”, 210lbs), family Pedigree (son of Ulf Samuelsson), and he had a decent amount of skill. For a while it looked like Samuelsson was on track to be a win for the Coyotes, too. He went from 23 points in 28 games as a WHL rookie in his draft year to 80 points in Draft +1 and 95 points in Draft +2.

When Samuelsson graduated to the AHL in 2014-2015 he ended up scoring 18-22-40 in 68 games played. That’s a solid start to a pro career. Unfortunately that was the high watermark for Henrik. He followed that up with 12 points in 43 games last year and now just 3 points in 20 games this year at the AHL level.

Something happened to derail this kid’s career. If the Oilers can salvage something there might be a player here. He’s 22 years old, has NHL size, NHL pedigree, and once upon a time not too long ago he looked like he might have had NHL skill. If the Oilers can't revive this young man’s playing career then it cost them virtually nothing.

Good luck, Henrik.

UPDATE

@Archaeologuy major ankle surgery. Concussions.

— Sarah Hall (@sarahhowling) February 1, 2017

Sarah covers the Coyotes and prospects. Apparently a major ankle surgery really hobbled Samuelsson and he wasnt the most fleet of foot to begin with. Dont set your expectations too high yet.

Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy

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