The Edmonton Oilers have a strong team overall, but have a couple of holes they would like to address this offseason. Upgrading these areas won’t come without a couple trades though as cap space is scarce and the two players the Oilers would like to upgrade are both under contract for next season.
First and foremost, the Oilers want a more consistent player who can score for the second-line right wing spot, which means Kailer Yamamoto is the one they will have to sacrifice from that position. I don’t think they are going to be picky and keep their options exclusively to right wingers as both Evander Kane and Zach Hyman can play both wings. Ideally, they would add another right-shooting player to their top-six.
The other area that should be a focus this offseason for Edmonton is defence, particularly the right side in place of Cody Ceci. While the Oilers need cap space to re-sign Evan Bouchard – and the longer term they can get on his new contract the better – Ceci was not good alongside Darnell Nurse for the latter part of this season, arguably costing the Oilers the second round series against the Vegas Golden Knights. There are a couple of solid options in free agency and on the trade market that the team likely has their eye on. If possible, and it should be if the Oilers are going all-in, they need to trade Ceci and acquire someone who’s better suited for the role with Nurse. Let’s look at both areas and the main player the Oilers should have their eye on in each spot.
Bargain Second Line Right Wing
We got some interesting information on TSN’s Insider Trading from Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger when they mentioned that the Oilers are looking for a bargain top-six forward, someone like Connor Brown. Ken Holland knows the risk involved with signing someone coming off a more serious injury like Brown is, but all the Oilers’ eggs won’t be in one basket. If the team happens to bring in the winger and he gets injured again, keeping him out long-term, that money will be freed up and there are a few internal options they could try.
Warren Foegele played very well in the postseason in that spot after Dylan Holloway initially had a hold of the second-line role at the start of the season before being moved down. The likeliness is that Brown will get a short-term deal and the cap hit will be affordable. The hope is that he won’t get injured. He’s actually very durable for the style of game he plays as he had suited up for every game from 2016-17 to 2020-21.
Related: Oilers Have Plan A, B, & C for Offseason Right Wing Addition
At this point, no matter how fun Yamamoto is around the locker room or how much effort he gives, the Oilers need to see production for the $3.1 million average annual value (AAV) they’re paying him. He struggled a lot at key times last season and was eventually moved down to the fourth line in the playoffs. This is reminiscent of Jesse Puljujarvi’s final days in Edmonton. Everyone knows the NHL is a business and they have to perform, so it’s not hard to see Yamamoto wasn’t doing that when it mattered last year. His dwindling production has been overshadowed by Puljujarvi’s for the past two seasons, but after Puljujarvi was traded, the spotlight really shined on Yamamoto.
While Yamamoto has scored 0.2 goals-per-game and recorded 0.45 points-per-game over the past three seasons, Brown has put up 0.25 goals-per-game and 0.61 points-per-game over his past three full seasons. While the goal difference might not seem large, Brown scored nine more goals playing with much worse players than Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the rest of the Oilers’ top-six that was incredibly productive offensively alongside Yamamoto. With Brown’s ties to McDavid from the Erie Otters, it seems like the perfect fit for both sides. And if Brown can’t be brought in, there are other cheap options that will be available in free agency that the Oilers could look at.
Right Defence
Now the player the Oilers and likely the rest of the league have their eye on is Brett Pesce. TSN’s insiders mentioned him by name and that the Oilers and Buffalo Sabres are interested. If contract talks don’t go as planned and Pesce wants more on his next contract than the Carolina Hurricanes are willing to dish out, he will be shopped. Right now the very solid right-shot defenceman has a cap hit of $4.025 million AAV, and he is underpaid.
The defensive pairing of Ceci and Nurse was not effective during the regular season and was the worst of the three pairings in the playoffs. Their Corsi, expected goals for percentage, and goals for percentage were all very bad. While playing 42 fewer minutes at five-on-five than Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm in the playoffs, Ceci and Nurse were on the ice for one more goal against while facing some easier matchups.
Pesce can log 22 minutes a night against the top competition and works well playing alongside any number of partners. While Nurse is capable of putting up fairly big offensive numbers, he has been limited a bit because of his partner. He wouldn’t have as many worries jumping into the rush with Pesce on the ice with him and the Hurricanes defenceman is as steady as they come. He ended this season with a career-best 30 points and he won’t be cheap to acquire. However, for a one-year rental to get a more stable backend, it’s worth what the Oilers might have to pay.
The Oilers have to do something about one of the two areas at the very least. If Holland can somehow add a top-six forward, top-four right-shot defenceman, and move out Yamamoto and Ceci, there’s not much standing in the way of the Oilers making a run all the way to the Stanley Cup in 2023-24.