EDMONTON — There is only one team in the National Hockey League that could have made the Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson trade, and had even 25 per cent of its fan base claim to endorse the move.
That is how bad the Edmonton Oilers‘ defence corps has been over the years — that general manager Peter Chiarelli could deal a 65-point winger for a stay-at-home defenceman who has amassed 69 points in his entire, 274-game NHL career.
“He’s not a sexy defenceman,” Chiarelli admitted back on June 29, when the deal went down and the howling began in Edmonton. “You have to reserve judgment on this [trade] before you start the Twitter war. It’s all one equation.”
Today, as the Oilers embark on a quest to end their streak of playoff misses at an even decade, the equation does indeed look better in Edmonton.
For the first time in many, many years they have a good enough goalie in Cam Talbot. In front of him, Larsson, Oscar Klefbom, Andrej Sekera, Darnell Nurse, Brandon Davidson and Mark Fayne make up the Top 6. Among those fighting for the seventh spot are swift-skating Jordan Oesterle, Griffin Reinhart and big, stay-at-home Eric Gryba, who is here on a PTO.
There is no defined No. 1 here. No Kris Letang, Drew Doughty or Erik Karlsson. (But to be fair, half the league can not claim a defenceman of that ilk or pedigree.)
“There is a lot more depth in the D corps this year. Significantly better than it was last year. Especially having [Klefbom] healthy,” said Gryba, who easily made this group last season and is now playing for a contract. “Davidson is a legit player. Darnell is ready to play more minutes. You’re filling in all the roles with this D corps.”
Of course, they talk that way every fall in Edmonton. So let’s take a look at what actually could make this blue line better:
• Larsson ranked a close second among New Jersey Devils defencemen last season, playing 22:30 per night. The Devils posted the eighth-best goals against in the NHL. He’s 6-foot-3, can kill a cycle and defend well. Regardless of offence — or who he was traded for — this addition makes Edmonton’s defensive corps better.
• Klefbom played just 30 games last season before a mysterious staph infection in his ankle ended his campaign. He scored 0.40 points per game — the best on the Oilers — in that short span. He and Larsson are 6-foot-3, 23-year-old Swedish book ends. If he stays healthy — and that’s a big if with Klefbom — that pair will help scratch a 10-year itch in Edmonton by lowering the goals against.
• Once Klefbom went down, Sekera led the Oilers’ defence in ice time last year. Playing less, against second- and third-liners, will help his game significantly.
• At his apex, 21-year-old Nurse was tasked with being Team Canada’s shutdown guy at the 2015 World Juniors. He was brilliant in that role, and will be asked to eschew his offensive tendencies for a while to become that shutdown guy again.
• Davidson: Put simply, he is better than you think.
“It’s looking a lot more promising,” said Talbot, who got a rude awakening when he left the New York Rangers to play behind last year’s group in Edmonton. “It was a bit of an adjustment to me. I struggled off the bat, that’s no secret. My reads were off.
“But once I got comfortable with our system … the guys had more confidence to make their plays. It starts from me. When I’m playing better it gives them confidence to do what they need to do.”
You can question where the points are going to come from here — that is absolutely fair. Or you might ask, ‘who will run the power play?’ (It will likely feature four forwards). Who has the bomb from the point? (Davidson has perhaps the best shot, but isn’t ready for all those minutes).
As an organization, however, focusing down in their own end — with a proper goalie in Talbot and a group of guys with the size and mobility to defend — can’t be criticized.
It had to happen in Edmonton. Even if the cost was Taylor Hall.
“We’ve got to find seven defencemen who can … take the goals against number down another big chunk,” said head coach Todd McLellan. His team shaved 34 goals against off last season, and would need to knock off another 27 this season just to rank 15th in the NHL.
Is this D-corps good enough to do that?
“We have to take the test,” cautioned McLellan. “We believe visually it is: a healthy Klefbom; adding Larsson; having Nurse grow as a player last year; Davey being a year older and more experienced. All of those external factors add up to say ‘Yes, it is.’
“But until we play…”
Until the Edmonton Oilers are winning more games 3-2 than losing them 4-3, Hall-for-Larsson will be hard to justify.
But if they get a proper defensive game from a proper defensive corps, fans will get it.
