With the NHL trade deadline just weeks away, trade rumors and discussions continue to rise.

For the Edmonton Oilers, they’re currently 8-0-2 in their last ten games.  Since Christmas, they rank 3rd in the league in 5v5 goal differential, and 2nd in 5v5 expected goal differential.

Their defensive play has markedly improved, as they’ve allowed just 2.0 5v5 goals per 60 during that span, ranking 4th in the league. Their power play continues to dominate, and their penalty kill has improved from 72% to 85%. The team needed to play better after an OK first half, and they’ve done just that.

The big question everyone’s asking is; what should they do at the deadline?

“I think for a long time, it was no, not Chychrun,” said Elliotte Friedman on Oilers Now in regard to Edmonton’s interest in defenceman Jakob Chychrun. “Now I do think there are people in your organization saying ‘should we be taking a deeper look at this.’ I think you guys are thinking about it a little more than you have in the past.” Based on this, there could be a decent chance that the Oilers do trade for Chychrun.

On the other hand, Mark Spector has said that the Oilers won’t trade for Chychrun, and instead, they may target a top-six winger, suggesting Patrick Kane as a top target.

Let’s take a look at the arguments for and against acquiring a defenceman or forward.

Some may use this as a counter-argument against adding a forward; their forward depth seems to be at an all-time high, right?

I dove into Kane a couple of months back. There are multiple red flags with him. Firstly, he seems to have a high asking price, and it goes without saying that there are risks in acquiring a declining forward at age 34, making $10.5M. Furthermore, Kane has had some of the league’s worst defensive results. His defence isn’t just due to the team around him, but his metrics have also been poor throughout his entire career. Put differently, both the Cup-winning Chicago teams of old and the current basement-dwelling version allowed significantly fewer goals and chances with Kane off-ice.

Kane’s offence has declined as well. His production rates have gradually worsened over the years, and he’s been a net negative in finishing talent the past two seasons. He’s still a strong playmaker (although he’s declined in that aspect as well), but does that outweigh all the cons? Not to mention, he has some lingering hip issues as well.

Patrick Kane may not be that guy, but a top-six forward that can put pucks in the net should be a player that Edmonton should consider pursuing. As they finally have some depth scoring, adding a finisher to compliment their top-six can make this team even harder to defend against.

Their biggest weakness is defending the rush. I wrote in-depth about this topic a few weeks back, but Nurse and Ceci have consistently allowed controlled zone entries and rush chances at an alarming rate. The average defender allows controlled entry ~55-56% of the time when a forward targets them at the blue line. Nurse has allowed controlled entries 61% of the time, Ceci is at 63%. 

With that said, my case for Jakob Chychrun is that players like him aren’t often available.

Defencemen that can consistently play top competition and post strong results tend to be somewhat rare on the trade market. It’s even more uncommon to see a defenceman accomplish this on a poor team.

Chychrun has produced strong results in a top-pairing role on one of the worst teams in the league at the age of just 24, making a $4.6M cap hit. A cost-controlled player that has proven to bring good results at both ends of the ice, even in a difficult role, is a player that good teams pursue. If Chychrun can post these results playing with Keller and Schmaltz in Arizona, imagine how well he’d perform in a 2LD role on a much better team, alongside McDavid and Draisaitl.