Welcome back! The trade deadline is over and we have five writers her to discuss five simple questions about the Edmonton Oilers post-deadline.
Question 1: What do you think of the Henrique trade?
Greg: Adam Henrique shores up the greatest weakness in the Oilers lineup, as the team struggled to find a reasonable option to complete their second line. Henrique was ideal because of positional flexibility, as well as two way impact, contributing on both special teams. It didn’t make sense to me to add a pure scoring forward, as there isn’t much (if any) power play time up for grabs. The Evander Kane-Leon Draisaitl line has struggled defensively, needing some help in that area. I am still hoping we see Ryan McLeod on Draisaitl’s wing, but Henrique brings enough to help the second line on both sides of the ice.
Faiz: I like it. Henrique has always been an underrated scorer. He’s averaged 48 points per 82 games in his career, and has averaged 56 points per 82 games the last three seasons. He’s been over 50% in the faceoff dot for the last six seasons. He can play center or wing, which gives the Oilers plenty of options in terms of arranging the top nine. If they want to load McDrai up, you can have Ryan Nugent-Hopkins center the second line and have Henrique pivot the third line.
Sean: Henrique is awesome. Super happy with this add. He is the forward I wanted and should fit well within the roster composition. Versatile, has offensive capabilities, but is also smart defensively and without the puck. He brings some much needed forward depth to the roster and will be valuable in a playoff run.
Czechboy: On the surface it is a good trade BUT we were seeking out forwards (in a saturated market) when our opposition was loading up on defence at the exact same time. We’ve never been “one forward away” from a Cup yet here we are getting bargain forwards. Henrique is also not a burner. He’s a smart player who knows where to be effective. This could go either way. I’d like to point out that if the Connor Brown signing was a success, this wouldn’t have happened.
Oilingoal: I think Henrique is fine. It gives Kris Knoblauch some flexibility with the forward lines but I don’t think it necessarily solves any of the issues that existed with the forward core. The team needed a scoring winger and instead got a centre, when the market was dicating that wingers were cheap and there was a premium on centres. I think Henrique was propped up by the Anaheim Ducks too. He passed through waivers two seasons ago, and this year was eightth on the Ducks in 5v5 ice time per game. He has also sported a 45% expected goal share in Anaheim, which was right around team average. His production will help no doubt, but there were better players and better fits out there.
Question 2: What do you think of the Carrick trade?
Sean: I see where he was going by adding Sam Carrick, but I’m not sold on the player. He has very poor and unimpactful underlying numbers and I don’t think he makes the team better. What he does accomplish is adding toughness to the fourth line, which is something that was lacking as that line has had no identity or role this season.
Greg: Carrick is fine, a depth move. For a while there have been rumours that the Oilers were looking to add a reliable penalty killing right shot centre. James Hamblin, Dylan Holloway, or even Brad Malone might’ve been adequate in the role, but Carrick represents a bit more of a sure thing, I suppose.
Faiz: I don’t really like it, but I don’t think it necessarily hurts. If anything, it adds more competition in the bottom six which should hopefully means no one takes any nights off. While the Columbus game wasn’t great, one thing to note is that Brown was a healthy scratch.
Granted, I would rather Brown in the lineup rather than Carrick, but in terms of black aces for the playoffs he helps with that. If/when opposing players start running around, you can throw Carrick on the fourth line to be that physical presence. If it’s looking like we need more skill in the lineup, you can take him out and throw in any of Brown, Gagner, Holloway. Depth is never a bad thing, and at 50% salary at least it doesn’t hurt the cap.
The only way I am really against it is if by including him with Henrique the price to make the trade went up.
Czechboy: Insignificant in my opinion. There seems to a theme with our three acquistions of getting small players that have a lot of heart and “play big.” That is great and commendable but our West opponents have big players who also play with heart. This is a journeyman who will be in Europe within a few seasons.
Oilingoal: I don’t like the Carrick acquisition at all. It’s pretty easy to see why the Oilers would like him. He’s a big body with a willingness to fight who can kill penalties and take right hand draws. There’s some value in that, but Carrick struggles in every other facet of the game. He’s a net negative possession player, that doesn’t offer much in terms of individual production or finishing. It helps that there was value retained, but I think the Oilers had better options internally.
Question 3: What do you think of the Stecher trade?
Oilingoal: Troy Stecher is someone I’ve long liked as a depth defenceman. He might be small in stature, but he makes a strong first pass, is great retrieving the puck and generally has strong possession metrics. It’s a solid depth addition. I think the problem with the Oilers defence right now is that they have three third pair right shot defencemen, and none of them are good fits to play with Nurse on the second pair.
Faiz: I like it. Would I prefer getting an actual upgrade on Cody Ceci? Sure. But Stecher is a good veteran player who can still play a regular shift, and so now Knoblauch has that depth on D to look to if Ceci continues to struggle or Vincent Desharnais does like in his first playoffs.
Czechboy: All this trade shows is that Philip Broberg isn’t that highly regarded. It’s another smaller player that plays big and with heart. Again, our opponents have big defencemen who also play with heart. We are now going into another round of playoffs with Ceci or Desharnais in our top four. I can’t be the only one that sees this as a problem.
Sean: I’m mostly opinionless on the Stecher add. I like the additional depth to defence, it is something that will be needed. But again, I don’t know if this makes the team better. He doesn’t really have a place in the lineup unless someone is hurt. I’ve seen positive reviews about him from fans of his past teams, which is good, but will we even see him showcase this?
Greg: Stecher is a great move, a reliable defender who continues to find his way into the top six of playoff teams. Although some might argue Stecher is an outright upgrade over Ceci or Desharnais, at the very least Stecher gives the Oilers an option behind them. Prior to the move, it might have been Broberg as the fourth option on the right side, a situation that is unfair to both team and player. Stecher could be a reasonable partner for any of Nurse, Kulak, or Broberg. Stecher has proven time and time again he can get up to speed with a new team quickly.
Question 4: What grade would you give Holland for his fifth trade deadline?
Czechboy: F…not even close. We had several real needs and none of them were a middle six, slower player or a seventh or eighth D. We got nice deals on things we didn’t need while completely ignoring that we don’t have a legimate top four. We’ve had over a year to replace Ceci and a lot of very good RHDs have been signed and traded since last year’s elimination. We didn’t get one of them. Calvin Pickard has never played a playoff game and is 31 years old. Skinner has been tremendous but his only playoff experience has seen him falter. We are betting on Ceci, Skinner, and Desharnais to all show significant improvement over a calendar year. We are also betting on no injuries happening.
Oilingoal: I’d give Holland a D. He made additions without giving up any current roster pieces or prospects and the draft pick capital wasn’t outrageous. But going into the deadline the team had needs at second line right wing, second pair right shot defence, and at back up goalie. They spent relatively considerable assets and didn’t solve any of those holes. The other pieces (like Tyler Toffoli or Jake Guentzel) that got moved around the deadline not only were better players, but better fits for the team. It’s particularly frustrating considering where McDavid and Draisaitl are in their contracts and their careers. Ken Holland went through the five years of his contract and never truly went all in. There’s two playoff runs of Draisaitl and three of McDavid on their current deals, and if they want to win a cup, it’ll be because they carry the team beyond expectations.
Greg: Maybe a B. The team is improved, the prices are fair enough. Could a depth goalie like Magnus Hellberg or Kaapo Kahkonen been added? Perhaps. Might Tyler Toffoli have been a better fit than Henrique? Maybe Chris Tanev should’ve been a higher priority? I think it’s a little unfair to measure the team’s moves against all those that could’ve been. The team kept Max Wanner and Phillip Broberg, which I think is a positive.
Faiz: A solid B. While I like the above moves, seeing the Jake Allen trade makes me wish we would have done that deal as insurance/safety net for Skinner. There is also the question about not upgrading on Ceci, but looking at the other defencemen traded, the only one that could possibly be one was Sean Walker (we weren’t getting Noah Hanifin or Bowen Byram, and apparently Calgary turned us down for Tanev), and I think I prefer trading the first for Henrique than him.
Sean: C. Completely average. As usual, he seems to have paid more for what the Oilers acquired than any other GM did for their acquisitions. But that first may have been given up for the amount of salary retained within the Henrique/Carrick deal. He identified needs and told us about what he wa looking for and accomplished it, so bonus marks there, but other than Henrique, I don’t know if the moves will make enough of an impact.
Question 5: Did the Oilers chances for a cup increase or decrease after this trade deadline?
Sean: Decrease, in a big way. The Oilers are in a highly competitive Western Conference this season and every main competitor made more or bigger additions. Vancouver brings in Elias Lindholm. Vegas gets Anthony Mantha, Noah Hanifin, and Thomas Hertl. Winnipeg gets Sean Monahan and Toffoli. Colorado gets Walker and Casey Mittelstadt. Dallas gets Tanev (who the Oilers were in on and should have given up thay first for if that trade could have happened).
But within this, the Oilers only really made one move that should have an impact and he is likely to slot in as the 3C, leaving the right side of the defence quite shallow and major question marks in net.
Comparatively, Edmonton’s chances have decreased relative to the teams they will have to face in the playoffs.
Faiz: I think the last minute Vegas trade for Hertl really put a dent, but that’s more because they will be able to activate $17M worth of players come playoff time. Without that trade, I think the Oilers did enough to keep pace with the moves of other teams.
I think this Oilers team having gone through the terrible start and then improving to the point of a historic win streak is the kind of adversity that bonds a team together, and that kind of intangible can sometimes be more valuable than a big name trade. We saw last year that Timo Meier didn’t push the New Jersey Devils over the top, a team that was humming at the time of the trade.
Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my end.
Czechboy: Decreased and in a big way. Dallas has Tanev, Colorado improved, and Las Vegas went full on molten. Winnipeg made their big move much earlier. So did Vancouver. Our road to a cup goes through teams that all were as good as us that all improved in the last month. We are back to relying on McDrai to outscore our deficiencies. We simply do not defend like a Cup winner and we had a year to address that.
Oilingoal: The Oilers odds got a lot worse overall. All the major contenders added quality pieces for comparatively less than what Edmonton paid for their additions. Edmonton got lucky that Linus Ullmark blocked the trade with Los Angeles because otherwise any first round opponent would have improved more than they did. Particularly in the west, it turned into an arms race where the Oilers didn’t keep pace.
Greg: No change. The teams around the Oilers got better, but so did the Oilers. The Western Conference is filled with high quality teams, and the first round will see a few legitimate contenders eliminated. In the small sample size of raw energy known as the playoffs, the margin for error is incredibly thin. Even the best teams can be upset.
The Oilers belong among the best teams in the league, as they have been since the start of the league year. Early on they were a popular choice to win it all. A month in the sky was falling. Now opponents have loaded up. The truth remains that the Oilers will have to overcome four formidable opponents in a row. To become champions the Oilers cannot fear any other team, no matter how daunting.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
