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Oilers have had ‘constructive conversations’ with Petry’s agent, but no contract yet

Dallas Stars v Edmonton Oilers

EDMONTON, AB - NOVEMBER 13: Jeff Petry #2 of the Edmonton Oilers skates against the Dallas Stars during an NHL game at Rexall Place on November 13, 2013 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images)

Derek Leung

When Cody Franson was traded to Nashville, much of the focus leading up to the March 2 deadline turned to Edmonton’s Jeff Petry.

Like Franson, Petry is a right-shooting defenseman in the final year of his contract. Both players can become unrestricted free agents this summer. And unlike Mike Green in Washington -- who also matches the preceding description -- Petry plays for a team that’s well on its way to missing the playoffs.

Today, Oilers GM Craig MacTavish provided an update on Petry.

“I’ll just say this about Jeff -- we really challenged him on a one-year contract and he’s clearly met that challenge. His game is at a level I think right now that it hasn’t been at before and I give Jeff a lot of credit for that,” MacTavish said, per the club’s website.

“As for a contract or what the course of action is going forward, I’ve had many conversations over the last four weeks with Wade Arnott, Jeff’s representative, as you might imagine and they’ve all been constructive conversations but I’m just going to leave it at that and we’ll see what happens going forward.”

The consensus is that Petry, 27, will be traded. Perhaps to Los Angeles, as a replacement for Slava Voynov. Or maybe to the Ducks, who were “pretty adamant about trying to add another d-man” even before Sami Vatanen was lost for 4-6 weeks. That’s just two potential destinations. There are others.

Here’s MacT: