“What ifs” are common in sports: what if that goal went in, what if the goalie made that save, etc. There are also a lot of “what ifs” when it comes to roster construction, usually “what if we drafted that player” or “what if we never let go of him.”
For Oilers fans this season, a big one has been the latter, especially with respect to the loss of Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway to offersheets this summer.
The Oilers are also looking to make some adds to bolster the team for a long playoff run, and one former Oiler looks to be on the block, which could make for an interesting homecoming.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at a “what if” Oilers roster being the best roster of active players who have at one point played for the team. For the purpose of this exercise, we won’t worry about the fact that some players were traded for others and therefore couldn’t exactly play with each other. We also will make it a rule that the player has to have suited up for at least one NHL game with the Oilers, not just been in the organization at some point.
Forwards
Zach Hyman – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle
Dylan Holloway – Leon Draisaitl – Viktor Arvidsson
Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Ryan Strome
Warren Foegele – Ryan McLeod – Connor Brown
Adam Henrique
This exercise leads to six new forwards, or half the lineup. It brings back three former first round picks in Hall, Eberle, and Holloway, as well as Foegele and McLeod, two players who fans have lamented the loss of at times this season.
This forward group is certainly more skilled than the current one the Oilers are running, no doubt. But we’ve seen players like Mattias Janmark, Vasily Podkolzin, Corey Perry, and Kasperi Kapanen play well in their roles this season, so I don’t know if this is as much of an upgrade as we might think.
Defence
Mattias Ekholm – Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse – Adam Larsson
Brett Kulak – Phillip Broberg
Ty Emberson
For all the bellyaching about the Oilers defence corps, I see only two players that would be clear upgrades: Larsson and of course the aforementioned Broberg.
Outside of them, there aren’t really any others that would move the needle. Vincent Desharnais hasn’t exactly panned out in Vancouver, and is Cody Ceci actually an upgrade on Emberson, the player he was traded for? Jeff Petry and Tyson Barrie are probably past their prime at this point as well.
So either the Oilers current defence is pretty good, or it has just been that bad for so long that there aren’t any better options. I’m gonna go with the former.
Goalies
Stuart Skinner
Cam Talbot
Anthony Stolarz
You may have noticed that I only took 13 forwards and seven defencemen for this exercise, and it’s because in this case there are two ex-Oiler goalies that would be a good choice to supplement current starter Stuart Skinner.
Cam Talbot has been pretty steady in his play since leaving the Oilers, and even at the ripe age of 37 is still trucking along as the starter for the Detroit Red Wings.
The other goalie is the guy the Oilers got when they traded Talbot. Anthony Stolarz played just six games for the Oilers, but that’s enough to be eligible for this team. He didn’t have great stats for the Oilers, but has come into his own these last two seasons. He played 27 games for Florida last year, posting a 0.925 save percentage, and has followed that up with 17 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs this year with a 0.927. This would make him the best of the three goalies this season. But as the only goalie that isn’t the clear cut starter on his team this year, I decided he would be third on the depth chart and have to force his way to the top.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
