Edmonton’s depth on the back end was a huge reason why they got to a second consecutive Stanley Cup Final last spring. The ability to play Jake Walman in softer matchups gave their bottom six a puck-moving edge that helped Edmonton dominate the transition game up and down the lineup.

Now that we’ve hit the halfway point of the season, I figured it was a good time to check in on the Oilers’ defencemen and discuss their performance so far. Have they lived up to the standard set last postseason? Let’s start with a snapshot of their 5-on-5 metrics.

I’ve arranged the players by Quality of Competition, and unsurprisingly, the number one pair, featuring Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard, is at the top. What is somewhat surprising, however, is how much more difficult their deployment is compared to years past.

Last season, both players faced elite competition in less than 32 percent of their minutes. This season, they’re both at over 37 percent. Defensive coach Mark Stuart is leaning on his top guys more heavily than his predecessor, Paul Coffey. Despite the heavy responsibility, they’ve been quite successful.

Bouchard and Ekholm are both hovering around a 54 percent share of the expected goals, which is among the best on the team. Although they had a rocky start to the season in terms of actual goals scored and conceded, that has since turned around. The top pair has been outscoring the opposition since the beginning of November.

At the start of the season, Ekholm appeared to be feeling some lingering effects of the groin injury he suffered last year; his mobility looked somewhat compromised. With time, though, Ekholm’s movement has improved, and the results on the ice are gaining traction.

As for Bouchard, a rough October that featured a surprising lack of scoring is now a distant memory. His current pace of 74 points would be the second-highest mark of his career, and he’s the only defenceman on the team with both a positive goal differential and expected goal differential at 5-on-5.

The Oilers outscore and out-chance the opposition in Bouchard’s minutes, which is a consistent trend year after year. There’s still going to be the odd gaffe here and there, but no defenseman on the team can tilt the ice like him when he’s moving the puck with confidence.

Second Pair Problems

While the top pair has found its stride, the Oilers have had issues with their second pair all season. For the most part, it’s featured Darnell Nurse, with either Jake Walman or Alec Regula.

Walman and Nurse had success together last season, outscoring their opponents 8-2 in just over 105 minutes. Walman’s strong puck-moving ability seemed like a natural fit next to Nurse, whose breakout passing isn’t a strength.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t find their game together early on this season while the team was going through some significant struggles. Walman sustained an injury that has forced him out of action since November 20, leaving the Oilers without the second pair they had planned.

In the meantime, Nurse and Regula have formed the second pair, and while the duo boasts decent underlying metrics together, the actual results have been tragic. They’ve been outscored 15-6 and neither the goal scoring nor suppression is anywhere near acceptable.

The Nurse-Regula pair has a solid 55 percent expected goal share, but the Oilers are shooting under five percent in their minutes with an .875 save percentage on top of that. Oiler fans may be frustrated, but these percentages are typically unsustainable, and they should regress to the mean eventually.

Regula, in particular, has been a victim of some of the worst luck in the NHL this season. He ranks second-last in PDO among players with 200+ minutes at five-on-five, which explains part of the damage.

While I may not view him as the ideal second-pairing D, there are enough encouraging things under the hood with Regula that I can see why Stan Bowman claimed him off waivers last year. Sure, he’s a little mistake-prone at times, but his retrieval and exit microstats are terrific, and the Oilers are controlling the expected goals in his minutes — they just haven’t yet translated to the results the Oilers want.

Regula missed an entire year of hockey due to injury, and it might take time before we really know for sure what he’s capable of. I still believe he has the tools to be an effective player for the Oilers, and it would be a mistake to give up on him just yet.

The third pair

The Oilers shook up their bottom pair earlier this season, trading the struggling Brett Kulak along with Stuart Skinner to the Penguins and acquiring Spencer Stastney from the Predators.

So far, the new third pair of Emberson and Stastney has decent underlying metrics together, playing mostly low-event hockey. Stastney’s mobility, age, and success in a sheltered role intrigue me about his potential upside. It’s too early to be sure how this new third pair will pan out, but both are doing relatively well so far in a small sample.

Second half outlook

At the halfway point this season, the Oilers’ defensive core still has some questions to answer. While the top pair is reliable most nights, they haven’t received the same consistency from the bottom two pairs. We haven’t seen them fully healthy for much of the season, but that should change in the coming weeks.

Last season, acquiring Walman was a game-changer for this group, and I expect his return to have a significant impact again this year. When I think back to their run of dominance in the first three rounds of the 2025 playoffs, it was their ability to spread out the talent on defence that drove a lot of their success. If they can replicate that once they’re back to full strength, the defence can be a huge weapon for them again this postseason.

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