Last year at the trade deadline, the Edmonton Oilers acquired Adam Henrique in a three-way trade with Anaheim and Tampa Bay for only a fourth-round pick, while only on the hook for just under $1.5M of his $5.825M contract. At the time the move was considered a huge upgrade for the Edmonton depth.
Henrique, now a 34-year-old, left-shooting, centreman has been an established 20-goal scorer in this league for close to 15 years. Having a seasoned vet with solid scoring ability as your third line centre is huge. This past off-season the Oilers signed Henrique to a two-year, $3M AAV contract.
Henrique’s production for Edmonton so far
Henrique finished off last year as advertised, scoring six goals in 22 games, a 22-goal pace, and finishing the year with 24 total goals and 51 total points, tying his career high. In the playoffs last year, the Mattias Janmark-Henrique-Connor Brown line was excellent, exactly what a third line should be.
Henrique is also defensively capable, with a GF% of 52.94 this year, meaning that, while Henrique is on the ice, the Oilers have scored more goals than they’ve given up. Henrique currently has a 54.5% faceoff win %. Outside of the world of stats, he looks even better, rarely on the wrong side of the puck and always defensively responsible.
This year though, Henrique has not been up to his same scoring ways, he has six goals in 43 games, as many as he did last year, but in twice as many games. He is on pace for only 25 points this year, which would be the lowest PPG rate of his career.
Is his career picking up again?
Recently though Henrique may be showing signs of a resurgence. While he only put up one point in his first 14 games, he has scored three times in the last four games. He showed off his beautiful release twice in Boston, on both goals the puck was on his stick and off again faster than Bruins GM Don Sweeney could wonder if his goalie was overpaid.
Though not on the score sheet Monday against the Los Angeles Kings, Henrique had a couple good chances. Henrique never really looks bad, but you get the sense that he has regained some offensive confidence in the last week and a half. The extra depth scoring is a major key to the Oilers making another deep playoff run. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will have a hard time shouldering the bulk of the Oilers offence.
Henrique returning to a 20-goal pace would be enormous for the Oilers, there are very few, if any at all, teams in the NHL that have 20-goal third line centres. Can Henrique keep it hot tonight for a big away game against the Minnesota Wild?
