Breaking down the Edmonton Oilers ahead of NHL Trade Deadline Day.
Deadline approach
The Edmonton Oilers will be: Sellers
Pending free agents
Unrestricted: 12 | Restricted: 11 | See full list
[teamleaders league=”nhl” team=”edm” season”2014″]
Oilers overview
The Edmonton Oilers have taken a major step back in 2013-14. First-year head coach Dallas Eakins intended on changing the culture with the club, but the team finds itself back in the lottery. Coming out of the Olympic break, the Oilers have the least amount of points in the Western Conference and appear further away from contention than they originally thought. And also bad, there has been minimal progress from the young core, outside of forward Taylor Hall.
The defensive play, which has been a significant problem over the past few seasons, has been just as disastrous under Eakins. Only the New York Islanders have allowed more goals than Edmonton this season. The goaltending was equally erratic before Edmonton shipped struggling starter Devan Dubnyk to Nashville for checking forward Matt Hendricks. Dubnyk had a 3.36 goals-against average and an .894 save percentage, all but forcing the team to move in a different direction. Ilya Bryzgalov and Ben Scrivens were added to boost the position.
Up front, the team still isn’t getting enough from 2012 first overall pick Nail Yakupov (maybe they should’ve taken a defenceman after all!). Yakupov has just 11 goals in 55 games and has a startling minus-29 rating. No. 1 centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also remains a work in progress. With all of the first-overall picks the club has collected, there simply isn’t enough production here. Eakins has a long road ahead of him.
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| Click player positions to see depth chart | ||
Areas to address
At some point, the Oilers need to address their defensive corps. They have just one player (Andrew Ference) signed beyond this season and have done little to improve a group that has been among the league’s worst throughout the last half-decade. Justin Schultz has not lived up to the hype since joining the Oilers. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season while Nick Schultz, Anton Belov, Corey Potter and the recently-acquired Mark Fraser are scheduled to hit the market as unrestricted free agents. The Oilers have 2013 first-round pick Darnell Nurse in the system but not too much depth beyond that. They could consider moving one of the top-six forwards to bolster the blueline.
In net, the Oilers still have some questions despite the solid play of Ben Scrivens since being acquired from Los Angeles. Scrivens has mostly been a backup throughout his brief NHL career and it remains to be seen if he is capable of being a full-time starter. With his new two-year deal in Edmonton — coupled with Bryzgalov becoming an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season — Scrivens has the opportunity to prove that he could be the solution at a position the Oilers desperately need stability at if they are to move forward in the rebuilding process.
Possible trade chips
Sam Gagner
Ales Hemsky
Nick Schultz
Ilya Bryzgalov (traded to MIN)
