Should the Oilers claim Dylan McIlrath?
By Zach Laing
7 years agoThis morning, the New York Rangers placed defenceman Dylan McIlrath on waivers. Should the Oilers claim the 24-year old?
Who is Dylan?
For some reason, at only 24-years old, the young defenceman seems to have fallen out of favour in New York. Standing at 6’5, 236 lbs, McIlrath is a towering force who has played in only 38 career games for the Blueshirts.
McIlrath played a slightly sheltered role last season and put up some solid numbers showing a 63 GF%, +10 GFRel%, 2.3 GF60, 1.4 GA60 and a 51.6 CF%. McIlrath wasn’t a world burner, but he did have a positive impact on the ice. Source.
The former 10th overall draft pick in 2010 didn’t have a very strong training camp this season (according to the writer), and it was reported that the Rangers had been looking to trade him prior to the start of this year. Quotes from the link above.
The Blueshirts are believed to be seeking a trade partner for McIlrath, the 24-year-old who had a disappointing camp coming off an encouraging 2015-16, but in which — probably to both the team’s and No. 6’s own detriment — he played only 34 games as Vigneault stuck through thin-and-thinner with veterans Dan Girardi and Dan Boyle.
“I thought Dylan played well, played to his strengths, worked extremely hard and was giving it his best shot,” Vigneault said when asked about McIlrath’s camp. “He was trying to put his best foot forward, and now we’re trying to figure out where he fits on the team.”
McIlrath expressed his frustration to the New York Daily News:
“It’s a little bit of a bittersweet feeling. Obviously I made the team, but not starting,” McIlrath told The News. “So I’m obviously frustrated. I think I’m gonna have to sit down with Beuk (Jeff Beukeboom) and maybe AV (Alain Vigneault) and we’ll figure out — I know what I can do, what I can bring. So I’ve just gotta make sure I show them in practice that I’m ready whenever they need me and I’ve just gotta stay patient.”
“Obviously I guess in preseason I didn’t show enough to make them think that they need me, at least to start,” he said. “But as far as what I need to show them, as I said at the beginning of camp, I need to show I can be a consistent and reliable defenseman, but also stand out in a certain way.”
Given that he is a big-bodied, right-shot defenceman who can actually skate the Oilers could certainly show interest in the former first rounder. Peter Chiarelli has been looking to get some more size on the Oilers back-end, and McIlrath could be a long term solution for the Oilers’ third pairing.
Should the Oilers be interested, the team would have the second shot to pick him up as the waiver priority hasn’t reset yet. It still stands as it did at the end of last season until November 1st, so the only team that would have a shot over Edmonton would be the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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