Edmonton won 5-3 on Saturday night in a fun affair against the Canadiens but truthfully the Oilers were a little lucky to win. Had the Canadiens not played so undisciplined and taken not only a 5 minute major after Edmundson cross checked Zach Hyman in the face, but also a second penalty to give Edmonton a 5 on 3 things may have ended differently.

The loudest Oilers fans will say a win is a win but I still have yet to see this team play a dominating 5 on 5 game against an opponent. Edmonton remains in the bottom half of the league in 5 on 5 scoring with only two more goals than the team they face tonight in the Washington Capitals.

More on the Caps in a second but first I wanted to explore the idea of acquiring a player that has reportedly been given permission to speak with other teams; Brock Boeser.

Boeser, a 25 year old right winger already has 4 seasons under his belt with more than 20 goals. In his first full season with the Canucks he put up 29 goals in only 62 games. He put up 26 in 69 the year after, 23 in 56 in 20/21 and 23 in 71 in 21/22. After this season he has two more years at 6.65 million.

Boeser is a above average shot generator. Last season in 71 games, Boeser put up 195 shots. To compare to the Oilers, McDavid led the team in shots last season with 314 followed by Draisaitl at 278. Both men played in 80 games.

Edmonton is weak on the right side in their top six. Yamamoto has essentially missed the entire season and while Puljujarvi is doing great things on the defensive side, his lack of scoring is also a concern. Boeser at 25 years old with some term remaining on his contract fit into the Oilers window of competing.

These are all the positive things about Boeser that could make him an enticing option for Edmonton. Having said all of that I would stay far away.

The first reason here is injuries. While there haven't been many recurring issues, Boeser has yet to play a full 82 game schedule. Groin, hand, foot injuries are just some of the things that have kept Boeser out of the lineup. Edmonton is already dealing with a cornucopia of injuries this season and using another 6.65 million on a player with a history of injuries is a needless risk for this roster.

The more important issue with Boeser is how much of a one dimensional player he is. Boeser at his best is a big volume shooter and can score goals. That is a good dimension to have but the issue with Boeser has always been if he is not doing that he is not bringing much else to the lineup. This season Boeser has only 4 goals in 19 games. Often this is where I would say it's because of a career low shooting percentage and he is primed to bounce back. That is not the case here. Boeser is still shooting 9.8% on the year but far more concerning is that he just isn't taking shots. He is averaging just over two shots a game and ranks 9th on the team with 41 shots. He did miss some time but that is still a massive drop for the player.

The Canucks have struggled in the past few years defensively and Boeser is one of the biggest culprits of trying to cheat for offense. While his team has managed to outscore the opposition 129-118 at 5 on 5 while he is on the ice (numbers from 19/20 to 20/21) the team has been outchanced 1251-1208. 66% of his zone starts are in the offensive end and he is still struggling to remain even in this regard.

As I will continue to shout from the rooftops, the Oilers are a team that struggles to play defensively sound in their own end which leads to them having fewer opportunities at 5 on 5. Boeser does not help at all in this regard. The top line which is where Boeser would surely be placed already can outchance their opponent and Boeser is not a player that could drive offense away from the Oilers top players.

Lastly the cost simply doesn't make sense. The amount of cap juggling Holland would have to do to fit in Boeser would be detrimental on it's own. Even if the trade was somehow Yamamoto (3.1 million) and Puljujarvi (3 million) for Boeser. Does that really improve this team? I would say no.

There are other options available around the league. Boeser is not worth taking much of a look at in terms of what Edmonton needs.

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Speaking of Kailer Yamamoto he will return to the lineup tonight and might just do so alongside Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. In the 13 games Yamamoto has appeared in he has only 3 assists and 15 shots. When the team finally pulled the plug on him they stated he was dealing with issues that were lingering since training camp and pre-season. Hopefully bringing him back now means those issues are fully resolved and not simply panic putting him in because Hyman is out.

No official word that Hyman is out but he did not practice with the team yesterday and took that nasty cross check against the Habs. I expect some type of suspension for Edmundson. If Hyman is out hopefully it is a short term precaution and not due to a concussion.

Likely this is what we will see tonight from the Oilers:

Draisaitl-McDavid-Yamamoto
Janmark-RNH-Puljujarvi
Kostin-Shore-Ryan
Benson-Malone-Holloway

Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Barrie
Broberg-Bouchard

Skinner

- Skinner is expected to be in between the pipes for the Oilers. I thought he played well against the Habs, particularly late when Edmonton started bleeding chances again.

Ovechkin-Strome-Sheary
Milano-Kuznetsov-Mantha
Johansson-Eller-Oshie
Protas-Dowd-Hathaway

Gustafsson-Carlson
van Riemsdyk-Jensen
Alexyev-Irwin

Lindgren

Kuemper was pulled out of the game against the Flames after taking an elbow to the head from Toffoli and is unlikely for the game tonight. That means the Oilers get Charlie Lindgren; a 28 year old with a total of 37 NHL games and a SV% this season of 0.890%... shutout incoming...


Enjoy the game!