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Chiarelli doesn’t see Oilers delving into rental market

2015 NHL Draft - Round One

SUNRISE, FL - JUNE 26: Peter Chiarelli of the Edmonton Oilers attends the 2015 NHL Draft at BB&T Center on June 26, 2015 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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The Edmonton Oilers may be on the verge of breaking of a decade-long playoff drought, but their general manager, Peter Chiarelli, doesn’t sound like a motivated buyer ahead of the March 1 trade deadline.

“I really don’t want to delve into [the rental] market,” Chiarelli said today, per NHL.com. “Things fall in your lap, and we’ll see what happens. There’s a lot of time left, but I don’t see us being heavily involved in that market.”

Chiarelli was one of the NHL’s busiest GMs this past summer, when he traded Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson and signed Milan Lucic, among other moves. The Oilers (29-19-8) have improved a lot, to the point it would take a pretty big collapse to keep them out of the postseason.

Still, Chiarelli doesn’t see his team competing for the Stanley Cup this spring, even if the Western Conference does look rather wide open.

“I don’t think we’re quite ready to contend for the Cup,” he said. “You never know. I know it happened here in 2006.”

The Oilers could still use a right-shot defenseman to run the power play -- someone like, say, Kevin Shattenkirk. But the price to add that kind of player would be high, and according to Chiarelli, that’s “certainly not on my shopping list this deadline.”