Getting to know Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick and where they fit on the Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers acquired forwards Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, giving the team some added forward depth ahead of this spring’s playoff run.

General manager Ken Holland was expected to add two forwards and a defender ahead of Friday’s trade deadline and two of those three boxes are now checked off. Henrique figures to be the versatile goal-scorer needed in Edmonton’s top-six while Carrick should be an upgrade to their fourth-line centre position.

Let’s get to know the Oilers’ newest additions and where they fit on the team.

The New Jersey Devils selected Henrique in the third round of the 2008 draft but he gained more notoriety as a prospect in his two post-draft seasons in the Ontario Hockey League. While playing with Taylor Hall and the Windsor Spitfires, Henrique won back-to-back Memorial Cup Championships in 2009 and 2010. He scored a whopping 25 goals in 19 playoff games during the latter run.

Henrique spent one season playing in the American Hockey League in 2010-11 and broke through with 16 goals and 51 assists over 74 games with the Devils in his rookie season in 2011-12. New Jersey went on a surprising run to the Stanley Cup Final that spring and Henrique appeared in each of the team’s 24 games and scored five goals and 13 points.

He scored only 16 points in 42 games in his lockout-shortened sophomore year but then developed into a consistent 20-goal and 40-point player over the next few seasons. In 2015-16, Henrique scored 30 goals and 50 points for the Devils, his career-high in both categories.

The following off-season, the Devils acquired Henrique’s teammate from the OHL, Taylor Hall, from the Oilers in exchange for defenceman Adam Larsson. Henrique’s production dipped to 20 goals and 20 assists in 2016-17 and he was dealt to the Ducks for defenceman Sami Vatanan a few months into the 2017-18 season.

The Ducks played Henrique down the middle with Nick Ritchie and Ondrej Kase on his wings and he scored 20 goals and 36 points over 57 games the rest of the way. Anaheim made the playoffs that season with a 44-25-13 record but got swept aside in the first round by the San Jose Sharks.

In the summer, Henrique inked a five-year contract extension worth $29.125 million. The deal started in 2019-20 and comes to an end after the 2023-24 season. Over the course of those five seasons with the Ducks, Henrique scored 97 goals and 186 points, though the team has unfortunately been dwelling in the basement.

He was used as a centre when he arrived in Anaheim but shifted as the team’s roster changed and his best fit was on the wing of either Ryan Getzlaf or Trevor Zegras. Henrique was also consistently a member of both the power play and the penalty kill during his time with the Ducks.

That versatility is what makes Henrique an attractive option for the Oilers. He could centre a scoring line with Evander Kane and Corey Perry on his wings or he could be the winger who adds more of a scoring punch to a line with Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele. He likely won’t factor into Edmonton’s elite power play but Henrique gives the Oilers another experienced option for their penalty kill.

Sam Carrick was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the fifth round of the 2010 draft. He spent two post-draft seasons with the Brampton Battalion of the OHL and split his first professional season in 2012-13 between the AHL and ECHL.

The following season in 2013-14, Carrick scored 14 goals and 25 points for the Toronto Marlins and finished fourth on the team with 115 penalty minutes. He was called up to the Leafs during the 2014-15 season and scored one goal and one assist over 16 games in the NHL.

Carrick didn’t crack the big-league roster out of training camp in 2015-16 and wound up spending almost the entire season playing in the AHL. He scored 16 goals and 34 points in 52 games for the Marlies and was called up for the final three games of the NHL season.

The Leafs opted not to issue Carrick a qualifying offer the following summer and he became an unrestricted free agent. He inked a one-year, two-way contract with the Chicago Blackhawks and was assigned to their AHL affiliate after training camp.

Late in the 2016-17 season, the Anaheim Ducks acquired Carrick from the Blackhawks. He was reunited with his coach from the Toronto Marlies, Dallas Eakins, who had been hired to coach the San Diego Gulls, Anaheim’s AHL affiliate. Shortly after the season ended, the Ducks inked Carrick to a two-year contract extension.

Over the next few years, Carrick became a mainstay on the Gulls. He scored 41 points in 67 games in 2017-18 and 61 points in 61 games in 2018-19 but didn’t get any NHL appearances. In 2018-19, Carrick scored 32 goals and 61 points for San Diego and got called up for six games with the Ducks.

It took a while for Carrick to earn a full-time role in Anaheim, but his grinding in the AHL paid off in 2021-22 when he played in a career-high 64 NHL games. Carrick started the year off with San Deigo but was called up after two games and stuck with the Ducks the rest of the way.

Between 2021-22 and 2023-24, Carrick scored 22 goals and 34 points over 177 games for the Ducks. He also racked up 261 penalty minutes and a 50.1 faceoff percentage. Carrick featured prominently on the team’s penalty kill and also saw some time on their power play unit.

Former Oiler Luke Gazdic played with Carrick while he was a member of the Ducks organization in 2018-19 and had this to say: “He was my captain in San Diego. He wins face-offs, blocks shots, kills penalties, and has a lot more skill than you’d think. Adds a lot of grit. Doesn’t mind dropping the gloves if he has to. He’s a guy you win with.”

While Henrique was brought on board to potentially play in multiple spots around the lineup, it’s clear where Carrick will play with the Oilers. He’ll fill in as the team’s fourth-line centre, a spot that’s been occupied by Dylan Holloway recently and also Derek Ryan and Mattias Janmark in the past. Holloway isn’t ready for such a role and both Ryan and Janmark are better on the wing, so Carrick gives them a tough, physical, responsible centre to lead their fourth line in the playoffs.