Breaking down the Edmonton Oilers ahead of NHL Free Agency.
Updated: Sunday, June 29
Pending free agents
Unrestricted: 8 | Restricted: 9 | See full list
[teamleaders league=”nhl” team=”edm” season=”2013″]
Oilers overview
Highly-touted head coach Dallas Eakins was brought in to change the culture of the Edmonton Oilers, but the club again staggered in 2013-14.The Oilers missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season but even more worrisome were the peripheral numbers.
Edmonton not only finished in last place in the Western Conference, but also allowed the most goals. Even with a roster full of high draft picks — Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov and Jordan Eberle — the young Oilers struggled to score; the Vancouver Canucks were the only team in the West to score fewer goals than the Oilders. Additionally, the team was not pleased with the development of Yakupov, the 2012 first overall pick. The Russian finished the year with just 11 goals in 66 games and had a worrisome minus-33 rating.
The defensive play, which has been a recurring problem over the past several seasons in Edmonton, was just as disastrous. Reliable veteran Andrew Ference was added as a free agent to shore up the group but it wasn’t enough to resolve their defensive deficiencies. The goaltending was equally erratic before general manager Craig MacTavish acquired Ben Scrivens from Los Angles in a mid-season trade. Scrivens, who Eakins coached in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies, quickly impressed the Oilers brass and was signed to a two-year extension just seven games into his Edmonton tenure. They’re hoping he can be the goaltender of the future.
With all of the talent the club has collected, there simply isn’t enough production here. Eakins has a long road ahead to help this organization end the league’s longest playoff drought.
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Areas to address
Simply put, the Oilers could use help everywhere. They lack size on the top two forward lines, speed and skill on the bottom two lines and overall talent on defence.
According to CapGeek, they are projected to have over $20 million in salary cap space. In an ideal world, MacTavish would like to add up to five players to his NHL roster. Those additions will likely come via free agency — which is considered to be a below-average class — and the trade market, which the Oilers GM said the team will explore.
The biggest area of concern for the Oilers is on the backend, where the team needs to add a few pieces. First and foremost, they need to get better in the defensive zone. They allowed too many goals and struggled with their coverage, and do not have anyone who would be considered a shutdown defenceman. They could also use another puck-mover as the team lacks overall speed from the back and don’t have much offence coming from the group outside of restricted free agent Justin Schultz.
The club is excited about a group of defensive prospects that includes Darnell Nurse, Oscar Klefbom and Martin Marincin, but MacTavish prefers to develop them slowly — in junior or in the minors — rather than rush the kids into the NHL. Klefbom and Marincin both saw significant time in Edmonton by the end of the 2013-14 season.
While the Oilers remain unsatisfied with their current roster, it’s still unlikely that the team would move Hall, Eberle or Nugent-Hopkins at this juncture. Those players are too difficult to replace, so expect MacTavish to try to supplement them with more size, toughness and defensive prowess.
Possible signing targets
Matt Niskanen (D): He’ll be costly but he fits exactly what the Oilers need — a reliable player in his own end who can also contribute offensively.
Benoit Pouliot (LW): He’d give Eakins’s squad depth up front and would be a worthwhile investment considering his age (27) and playoff experience.
Nikolai Kulemin (LW): Eakins is familiar with Kulemin from his time in the Leafs organization. He’s the kind of defensively-sound forward that this team desperately lacks.
