EDMONTON –  The trade deadline is a great time for hockey fans.

The rumors ahead of deals being made are one of the ways that many fans of the sport spend their time scrolling through the internet. And in the aftermath, failed deals come to light.

For the Edmonton Oilers, it looks like they came close to one deal.

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According to RG, the Oilers were interested in New York Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Ultimately, any potential deal fell through, and the Oilers pivoted to acquireTrent Frederic and Max Jones. A source also confirmed this with The Hockey News.

A report published by RG cites two primary reasons the Islanders didn't execute a Pageau deal with the Oilers at the trade deadline.

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Islanders Weren't Willing To Retain Salary

Pageau's $5 million contract is valid until the end of the 2025-26 NHL season. However, the Oilers' salary cap situation means they couldn't absorb the entire cap hit for the veteran center.

Unfortunately, the Islanders didn't want to retain salary in the deal. Instead, they made a deal to trade away center Brock Nelson, who has an expiring contract. So retaining salary on a Nelson deal made more sense because the retained salary would only be for the remainder of the current NHL season.

Islanders Didn't Want Just Draft Picks

Another reason the Islanders pivoted to a Nelson deal was the return. In addition to draft picks, they acquired prospect Cal Ritchie. They expect Ritchie to be ready to play NHL games at the beginning of next season.

Looking at the Oilers prospect chart, it's clear who the Islanders would have wanted in a Pageau trade. They would likely have been eyeing one of Matt Savoie or Sam O'Reilly. Considering that the quality of the team's prospects falls off after that would be enough reason to give the organization pause.

In the end, they gave up some draft picks and Shane LeChance, a prospect whose rights with the team were expiring at the end of the current season.

Failed Pageau Trade Is A Missed Opportunity

Acquiring Pageau would have been an incredible addition to the Oilers. He is a hard-working two-way player who can chip in a good amount of offense. Pageau is in his fourth full season with the Islanders, scoring at least 33 points each year.

He currently has 37 points in 68 games while averaging 17:02 per game. Pageau would have been an excellent middle-six center who would have given coach Kris Knoblauch a lot of roster flexibility. He is also a right-handed shooter.

While Frederic doesn't bring all of the same elements as Pageau, he is unique in his own way and will be a contributing member of the team once he is healthy again.

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The Chicago Blackhawks were beaten by the New Jersey Devils at United Center on Wednesday evening. It was a game that the Devils led from beginning to end, but the Blackhawks always stayed close. 

A very definitive point of the game came in the second period when the Devils were given a controversial power play. The play started with Devils defenseman Simon Nemec cross-checking Blackhawks Connor Bedard into the ice while on top of him. 

Landon Slaggert came to the defense of Bedard, which is what any good teammate would do for their star payer. Slaggert was the only player in the mix to get a penalty during this sequence. 

Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) on XHere's where Slaggert received a roughing penalty. Nemec's stick appeared to get caught under Bedard's arm. Refs probably didn't need to call anything and just moved everyone on.

We've seen NHL referees give the "third man in" a penalty before. The calls can go either way, but the Blackhawks didn't act even a little bit upset about it. The coaching staff and players on the bench acted like nothing happened. 

You'd like to see the head coach say something to the referees in response to a situation like that. Most coaches would be irate, but Sorensen just watched. 

After the game, Sorensen was asked about his mentality when it comes to issues like this with the officials. 

"I just don't know what to gain out of it," Sorensen said of barking at officials when questionable calls are made. "They've made their call. They're probably not going to change it. You can try to talk to them in TV timeouts to get an explanation that way instead. Coming across yelling is probably not going to help the situation, right? Try to build a relationship and talk to them. I think that will go a longer way down the road."

There is some truth to what Sorensen is saying but it's hard to watch the replay of the Blackhawks bench appearing to be fine with Slaggert going to the box for defending their star player in Bedard as he was getting shoved into the ice. 

On the TNT broadcast of the game, former Chicago Blackhawks full-time color commentator Ed Olczyk was on the call. He had some harsh opinions on this. 

"If I'm sitting on that Blackhawks bench, I'd be absolutely livid right now, considering how the Devils got a power play." 

Olczyk has been a coach in the NHL before. He's also had young superstars like Sidney Crosby on his bench. He's been around the game for a long time as a player, coach, and broadcaster. Hearing this from him speaks volumes. 

Is Sorensen and his staff wrong for the way that they handled this? Not necessarily, but it isn't a good look. The Blackhawks need a coaching staff that fires everyone up, no matter how they are performing in the standings. 

Connor Bedard is a budding superstar in the NHL, and Chicago must protect him at all costs. Slaggert did the right thing, then he was punished for it, the team allowed a power play goal, and no emotion came from it. That's not ideal. 

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The Philadelphia Flyers reached the final straw with head coach John Tortorella. The long-time NHL coach was fired Thursday after saying he was "not really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season."

The team confirmed the news, though made no mention of Tortorella's comments in the press release.

Tortorella went 97-107-33 in three seasons with the Flyers. Associate coach Brad Shaw will take over as the team's interim head coach moving forward.

Tortorella's firing comes after the Flyers fell 7-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. It was Philadelphia's sixth straight loss.

Following the contest, Tortorella drew criticism by implying he had no interest in coaching the team.

"When you're in this type of situation and you're losing all the time, and there's nothing at the end of the tunnel for you, there's certainly going to be some frustration. But, this falls on me. I'm not really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season, where we're at right now. But I have to do a better job. So this falls on me, getting the team prepared to play the proper way until we get to the end."

Some interpreted those comments as Tortorella trying to take the blame off his players. Others viewed it as Tortorella raising the white flag. 

At 28-36-9, the Flyers rank ninth in the Eastern Conference. The team hasn't been officially eliminated from the postseason yet, though that will likely happen soon.

John Tortorella struggled to turn Flyers around

Tortorella was hired by the Flyers ahead of the 2022-23 NHL season. The team was coming off an eighth-place finish in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers showed slight improvement in Tortorella's first year, improving to 31 wins.

Things looked more promising in his second season, as the team turned in a 38-33-11 record. Despite finishing the year over .500, the Flyers failed to make it to the postseason.

The team failed to capitalize on that improvement this year, and sat at .500 at the trade deadline. Instead of making additions, the Flyers shipped out three players. The team went into a tailspin after the deadline, going just 1-10 in its next 11 games. 

Prior to coaching the Flyers, Tortorella coached the Columbus Blue Jackets, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. He led the Lightning to a Stanley Cup championship during the 2003-04 NHL season.