The NHL Trade Deadline is March 1st. It’s barely more than 1 month away. This will be a fundamentally different trade deadline for the club since this is the first year in a significant time that the Oilers might actually be buyers.
The goal set out by management no longer seems so far away that it can barely be seen at all. To use another metaphor, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The Oilers are a playoff club. I think I can safely say that. They have the points in the standings, the high-end talent, and the numbers bear out to show that this isn’t all smoke and mirrors. So finally this team is talking about a very small number of changes that it can make to help ensure that they play beyond the first round and potentially make a run.
It’s such a crazy thing to even write, it feels, that I have to take a step back and make sure I’m not just getting carried away. But, I really don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that the Oilers can do some damage in the playoffs and are poised to become even better. They’re tied for 1st in the Pacific Division with 64 points. They’re 1 point back of 2nd in the Western Conference. They are 15-7-5 away from home. They are 19-5-6 against the Western Conference. The Oilers are 10th Overall in Fenwick For percentage and Shots For percentage (Both at 50.9%).
They have Connor McDavid.
The Oilers are a significantly more balanced than they have been in years. This covers pretty much every forward position. Even the area of weaknesses (3C and 3RW) are occupied by Drake Caggiula and Anton Slepyshev who will have plenty of supporters among Oiler fans. The Oilers also have Anton Lander and Jesse Puljujarvi who can be substituted into these roles should injury arise.
On defense the Oilers lack a match to the high-end talent of their forwards, but they finally have 6 NHL blueliners. This one major change has made all the difference in the world. We can all argue about which 6 should or could have been a part of Edmonton’s team, but we all agree the overall impact is huge. It is no longer the case that the Oilers are running out 2-3 NHLers and letting Jesus take the wheel.
So now this team can look past just trying to fill out a complete NHL roster and start looking at how to fill a contending NHL roster. The expansion draft ruins a lot of fun this year, but there are 3 or 4 positions that I see needing an upgrade if the team wants to go deep into the playoffs. Something to note, the Oilers have a lot of available cap space to spend. The equivalent of almost 14 million dollars of salary can be added. We’ll start from the backend moving outwards.
Backup Goaltender
The Oilers tried Gustafsson for reasons that only Peter Chiarelli can explain. Now, the Oilers are 1 injury away from having to rely on Laurent Brossoit for 30+ games. This is not ideal. It’s not ideal because LB is a huge question mark. He played “fine… against the Flames, but has had a very poor year in the AHL. Yes, a .908 save percentage is poor for a goalie who wants to play in the NHL. The options here are many. One of the most attractive options is probably Reto Berra. He’s cheap, he’s mature, and he’s had a better AHL season than Brossoit. An option that has been thrown around a lot has been to re-acquire Anders Nilsson, who is killing it with a .923 save percentage right now. Lots of options out there.
Right-Handed Defenseman
Kris Russell currently plays the right side on Edmonton’s top 4 and logs the most Even Strength minutes per game of all defenders. He does this as a left-shooting skater who has struggled greatly moving the puck or defending the blueline. His shot attempt and scoring chance metrics are by far the worst on the team. Yeah, I could go on. I wont. What the Oilers lack is a right-shot defender who can log big power play minutes and move the puck. Maybe Benning will get there eventually, but he’s a rookie and excelling on the 3rd pair. If Chiarelli could pry Shattenkirk out of St Louis (soon) then that’s potentially 25-30 games as an Oiler to try to sell him on re-signing after expansion. Other options include Stone, Franson, and a handful of others. Nobody fits perfectly like Shattenkirk though.
Right-Handed Winger
The Oilers are using left-shot Leon Draisaitl as the right wing of the 1st line. Then it’s Eberle on the 2nd line. Anton Slepyshev has 6 points through 23 games on the 3rd line. Kassian (who is red-hot) is rounding out the 4th. You would like to get another right-shooting right winger to give a lot more flexibility to McLellan. This player is preferably an option on the power play as a shooter and can add a lot of firepower to Lucic’s line. Names include Vanek, Vrbata, and Iginla. No, I’m not sold on Iggy, but he’s an option anyway.
Depth Center
Drake Caggiula has 10 points in 33 NHL games. He’s just a kid at 22 years of age so there’s lots of room for him to grow, but things don’t generally get easier in the playoffs. Edmonton is a little smaller down the middle (especially with Draisaitl playing wing), hence why Martin Hanzal’s name is constantly thrown out there. The 6’6… 226 pound center would be a fine addition as a rental and the Oilers can take his cap hit no problem. The problem there is that the Coyotes are rumored to be asking the moon for him. He would be a nice addition, but nobody is going to give Arizona a 1st rounder for him. That’s crazy talk.
Those are the 4 positions I see that could use an upgrade. Honestly, I’d be thrilled with a little backup depth and a right winger like Vrbata or Vanek, but I will be doing cartwheels if the Oilers can get a puck moving defenseman. In terms of parts moving out, the Oilers have their pick this year and next, which wont likely be part of the lottery. They have a number of defensive prospects in the AHL and other levels. They have Matt Hendricks who is on his last legs. They have Brandon Davidson who looks like the best candidate for Las Vegas to take.
One month away from the trade deadline, the Oilers look like buyers with lots of Cap Space and a winning team. Watch out.
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