The 2026 NHL trade deadline has come and gone. It’s the time of year when contenders alike bolster their teams in hopes of a long playoff run.
At this time last year, we saw the Edmonton Oilers add Trent Frederic, Max Jones, and Jake Walman to their lineup. After a decent 12–7–0 run after the trade deadline, where the injury bug literally took out half the team by the time the end of the season rolled around, Edmonton struggled to gain traction against Los Angeles. They buckled down, however, and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to Florida, once more.
However, Max Jones didn’t play a game in the postseason and Trent Frederic was so hampered by his injury during the regular season, he only played one game and spent the playoffs in the bottom six, barely being a factor. Jake Walman was absolutely unreal throughout the Oilers run, which landed him a huge extension this past Fall. Besides Walman, however, the Oilers’ trade deadline acquisitions didn’t really help them in achieving their goals.
If you remember from my piece last year, I gave them a C+ because they overpaid for a fringe third-line player and they did not address their biggest weakness in the goaltending.
“The biggest issue in the goaltending was left untouched, and that to me, lowers the Oilers’ grade despite two strong moves… the additions themselves weren’t bad, but overlooking both another scoring forward and especially the goalie position, leaves the Oilers with question marks heading into the postseason. It doesn’t help that the Dallas Stars went out and acquired Mikko Rantanen to make themselves the top dogs in the conference to beat out.”
Overall grade: C+
What the team needed this year
Not to be too blunt, but the Oilers have been absolutely garbage all season. They’re barely hanging onto a wild card spot in a division that literally sees every team have more overall losses than wins. Vegas has 14 overtime losses and are only four points above Edmonton. Every team here sucks, and yet Edmonton with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are in a spot where they could MISS.
The talk among the town was to get a right-shot defenceman and a top-nine forward. The Oilers were never going to acquire a goaltender after their recent trades of Tristan Jarry and Connor Ingram.
With the additions of Connor Murphy, Jason Dickinson, and Colton Dach, the question remains: how did Edmonton make out? Funny enough, how they made the team made two separate transactions with the same club in Chicago. Were these moves wise?
Well, today we’ll do a deeper look into each of these three players. All stats are from JFreshHockey.
Colton Dach
Colton Dach, brother of former Hawk and current Montreal Canadien Kirby Dach, is an Alberta born and was drafted back in 2021. Mostly used in a fourth-line role in Chicago, Dach is what he is. He’s a big body who loves to throw a hit while not providing much value, scoring or defensively. Dach has a staggering 189 hits in 53 games for the Blackhawks this season.
I don’t see Dach as much more than an NHL/AHL tweener. He has never been the strongest scorer during his time in the WHL or the AHL with the Rockford Ice Hogs. He’s a fine enough forechecker and is a decent in-tight, net-front option, but besides that, he has no offensive flair and is fairly mid defensively.
I get why the Oilers were interested in him, considering his age and intangibles, but this is more likely a player who is bound for a career with the Bakersfield Condors than anything. There were better players who got traded for the role they expect out of Dach. Guys like Bobby McMann or a Michael Bunting—both dealt to Western Conference Foes for dirt cheap—who can flat out fly, forecheck, hit, score and is decent enough defensively, would have been better adds.
Grade: C-
Connor Murphy
First off, getting Murphy at 50% retained for a 2028 second-round pick is good value for both Edmonton and Chicago, especially hearing what the prices were like for Rasmus Ristolainen and what Tyler Myers went for (a second and fourth-round pick) when Myers is an older and worse player. Murphy was getting mentioned last year at the deadline for the Oilers, but ultimately went in a different direction with Jake Walman.
Connor Murphy was a former first-round pick by the Arizona Coyotes back in 2011. Bowman traded for him in Chicago in a trade that saw Niklas Hjalmarsson head the other way in the summer of 2017. Murphy has been there ever since, and has yet to play a playoff game in his career (unless you want to count the COVID-19 bubble in 2020, where the Hawks squeaked in by…beating the Oilers).
This season, they absolutely had to get a right-shot, defensive-minded defenceman. Murphy fits that archetype perfectly. Standing at 6’4”, 212lbs, Murphy brings a ton of physicality and a heavy game along the walls and in front of the net. He has yet to finish a season with under 100 hits. Murphy is also not a terrible transitional passer, as he quickly turns the puck up the ice the second it lands on his stick.
Murphy also brings so much value to the penalty kill. As you probably saw in last night’s game against the Hurricanes, he’s a beast in the net front, as previously mentioned. On his first shift on the penalty kill last night, he took out two Hurricane forwards with relative ease, allowing Jason Dickinson (who is next up) to safely let Jarry cover up the puck. I think Walman-Murphy is going to become a very effective pair. He is set to become a UFA at the end of the season.
Grade: B+
Jason Dickinson
The Oilers attached a first-round pick to Andrew Mangiapane to acquire their big addition up front: Jason Dickinson, who is projected to be their 3C. While he does have a twenty-two goal season, scored back in 2023–24, Dickinson is not known for his offence whatsoever. In fact, that season was the only time he’s scored double-digit goals.
Dickinson thrives off being an elite shutdown, defensive centre, and is a crucial part, like Murphy, on the Hawks top ranked penalty kill in the league. Dickinson has a very active stick in the defensive zone and is a very sound positional player. He uses his frame a lot to knock players off the puck. His best area comes in front of the net, one of the most pressing issues the Oilers have dealt with in the past year or so. Dickinson clears the net front and the slot all the time, making life extremely easy on his netminders.
However, even with the dumping of the contract of Mangiapane and getting retained salary on Dickinson, I still feel like the price of a first is definitely high for Dickinson. You could have gotten him for a second in my opinion, after dumping Mangiapane elsewhere with another pick. Nic Roy, in my opinion, is a better version of Dickinson, where they have similar defensive impacts, but Roy’s upside with offence, age and the fact he’s an RHC with another year left after this season, went for a first and fifth. I don’t mind the player, but I hate the cost.
Grade: C+
Final thoughts on the Oilers trade deadline performance
Yes, the Oilers are improved, specifically defensively. I think Murphy is a really solid add who will vastly improve the team’s penalty kill, board play, and net front presence 5v5. Dickinson’s shutdown presence is also a good thing since (and if Kris Knoblauch is actually smart about this) it would allow him to match up against the opposition’s top lines, allowing Draisaitl and McDavid to feast against their bottom-six on home ice.
However, there are still a ton of questions regarding the goaltending, depth scoring and just the general play of the Oilers, which lowers the Oilers grade despite two relatively strong moves. As you’ve noticed throughout this article and like last year, the additions themselves weren’t bad, but overlooking both another scoring forward and especially the goalie position, leaves the Oilers with question marks heading into the postseason, along with the high price that came out of the Dickinson trade. It doesn’t help that teams like Colorado went out and reacquired Nazem Kadri, the Dallas Stars picked up Michael Bunting for cheap, and the Anaheim Ducks picked up John Carlson.
Overall grade: C+
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