UPDATE
The Edmonton Oilers appear to have acquired right shot defenseman Troy Stetcher from the Arizona Coyotes. Stecher is a mobile puck moving defenseman who is capable of playing between 14-18 minutes a game. This fits the bill for what Holland was stating, adding a veteran defenseman for the right side. Stecher isn't going to push any of the existing players off the roster but injuries always happen; Stecher is a solid replacement option should that occur.

Oilers trade a 2027 4th round pick in exchange for Stecher and a 7th round pick in 2024. No salary retained. Unless another body goes out, the Oilers are likely done with their moves.
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This morning the Edmonton Oilers sent down Dylan Holloway, freeing up more cap space. According to CapFriendly the team has roughly 2.1 million in cap space now. This is more than enough to sign the depth 6/7 defenseman that Holland was alluding to in his press conference, meaning they may have one more bigger move up their sleeve.

A few options it could be:

- Jordan Eberle is the big one up front. Reports from Seravalli suggest that the team and player cannot come to a contract agreement and he would likely be traded at the deadline if they cannot sign an extension.

- Alex Carrier is still being shopped by the Predators and could be either a Ceci replacement or at least a strong option in addition to shore up the Oilers defense, especially with Vegas adding Hanifin yesterday.

- Tyler Toffoli, Buchnevich, and Guentzel are all still out there but I don't see the Oilers having the assets at this time to acquire any of those players. Maybe I'm wrong but those seem like bigger pipe dreams at this time.

Carrier would certainly help the blueline and Eberle would be a great addition to the top six, both certainly improve the roster in different ways. In addition, I would still expect a 7th D man brought in for depth, unless they were adding Carrier without trading someone else off the roster.

If neither of these bigger moves happen, this is the roster we will see going into the playoffs:

RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Henrique-Draisaitl-Kane
Foegele-McLeod-Perry
Janmark-Carrick-Ryan

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Desharnais
Kulak-Ceci

This is the roster going into Columbus tonight. Let's talk for a moment about the trade from yesterday.

I like Henrique a ton for this roster. He's a skilled centre and winger who could be slotted in anywhere on this roster. He could be an excellent third line centre and provide some offense alongside the likes of McLeod and Perry (who he's played with before). He could be used on the wing in the top six like we will see tonight. He could also be used as a second line centre with the likes of Kane and RNH if the coach wants to stack McDavid and Draisaitl on the same line. That's a versatile add.

Henrique also is a great penalty killer which is part of the reason why Connor Brown is finally out of the lineup. The only area that Brown was really helping move the needle was the PK but that finally has run out of runway as other players like Henrique and Carrick can fill that role.

Sam Carrick I'm a bit more lukewarm on. He's a physical player and a right shot centre and I do think that Derek Ryan has lost a step and would do better on the wing and not have to worry about all the centre responsibilities. At the worst it's a depth move that helps in case of injury and at best he could add a different element to the Oilers bottom six.

Trading the 1st round pick for both of these players at a fraction of the cost does seem like fair value so I'm not going to criticize Holland for that. The Oilers added an impact player and a depth player without having to move anyone off the roster. That's some good business.

That being said, seeing Vegas once again circumvent the cap and find a way to add the likes of Mantha and Hanifin to an already stacked defense while knowing Mark Stone is going to be ready for Game 2 of the playoffs is a tougher pill to swallow. Henrique and Carrick are good adds but with more assets on the table and cap space to work with I wouldn't say Ken Holland has gone "all in" this deadline yet.

Still a bit more than 24 hours before the deadline comes and goes so tomorrow evening we can revisit and see where the Oilers and the rest of the Pacific Division teams are at.

Thanks for reading!

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