It’s crunch time for the Edmonton Oilers with only 21 games remaining.

After earning just two points out of a possible six on the recent California road trip, sitting only four points above the playoff cut line, and with the trade deadline coming on March 6, they’ve got to be feeling the pressure.

With that in mind, in this edition of Oilers Thoughts, we discuss the Oilers’ goaltending duo on the recent three-game road trip and who should get the next start, Connor McDavid maintaining his pace post-Olympics, the team’s depth scoring stepping up despite defensive struggles, and whether the Oilers should be rethinking the Darnell Nurse–Jake Walman pairing.

Before the Oilers headed out on their three-game California road trip, I explored which netminder should get the bulk of the starts moving forward — Tristan Jarry or Connor Ingram. I mentioned that Jarry should get the slightly longer leash to start, but ultimately it should boil down to this: you win, you’re in. If no one is winning, whoever plays better gets the next start, and repeat until someone takes the reins and runs with it.

Jarry put up a stinker against the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 25, allowing five goals, with some sneaking right through him, before he was pulled in favour of Ingram. Ingram won the next night, 8-1 against the Los Angeles Kings, and while he wasn’t heavily tested, he still made some big stops, posting a .955 save percentage (SV%).

It seems like head coach Kris Knoblauch applied the ‘you win, and you’re in’ method, giving Ingram the start against the San Jose Sharks. However, the Oilers’ netminder allowed five goals, and while the loss can’t be pinned entirely on him — the team in front of him gave up too many chances against — and he did make a series of big saves, it was by no means a Grade-A performance, as he posted a .848 SV%.

So, who should get the next start? Since Ingram wasn’t at his best last game, I’d turn to Jarry for the next game against the Ottawa Senators and see if he can find a rhythm. Also, perhaps he’ll be a little extra motivated after being pulled in a tie game in his last start.

Nevertheless, not even a prime Dominik Hasek could have bailed the Oilers out, given some of their lacklustre defensive play over the road trip. So while the netminders need to be better, the team as a whole needs to tighten up on defence, which we’ll talk about a bit later.

If I had to guess the Olympics, I would’ve expected Connor McDavid to start the California road trip a bit slow, given the emotional rollercoaster he went through in Milan, the travel, and the likely jet lag. However, true to the superhuman player he is, he carried the elevated level he showed against the world’s best right back into the NHL season.

He tallied two assists against the Ducks, and on one play, nearly deked through the entire team, almost scoring the go-ahead goal at full speed. Against the Los Angeles Kings, he added another clip to the “Connor McDavid career highlight reel goal package” when he outwaited Darcy Kuemper and, as the rest of Kuemper’s teammates slid to the ice, casually put the puck into the net.

He finished the night with a goal and an assist, bringing his point total to 100 on the season, which was the ninth time he has reached that milestone in his career.

His engine wasn’t revved all the way up against the Sharks, but he still delivered two magnificent passes, finishing the night with a pair of assists.

After the big loss in the Olympic gold medal game, the heavy minutes he played throughout the Olympics, the travel back to Edmonton, and even the outside chatter questioning the Oilers captain’s ability to win big games, I thought fatigue might set into McDavid’s play and that we might see him ease his way into the road trip. But seven points over the last three games suggest otherwise, and the captain appears more than ready for the final 21-game sprint.

The Oilers’ California road trip wasn’t ideal, winning only one of three games, but if there’s a silver lining, it’s that their depth scoring finally decided to show up.

The Oilers had 12 different players score goals over the past three games, and most notably, a few players took a step forward offensively on the trip: Matt Savoie registered six points, Trent Frederic scored for the first time in 35 games, and Jake Walman scored three goals, finding the back of the net in back-to-back games for the first time since 2023.

That said, they scored 17 goals over the past three games, which is absolutely tremendous, but the downside is that they failed to lock things down when the games were tight, which brings us to our next point.

The Oilers have the firepower up front and pieces that most NHL teams drool over — top-end elite offensive talent. Yet committing to playing defence, I feel, is something almost anyone in the NHL can do. We’ve seen this core of Oilers do it as recently as last season, but for some reason, that attention to the extra details on the defensive side just isn’t clicking with this group.

And a staggering stat that Jason Gregor recently posted demonstrates this: the Oilers have scored the most goals (44) over the last ten games, while also allowing the most goals against (46).

I recently singled out Darnell Nurse for a few defensive errors he made on the recent road trip that cost the team — failing to prevent entries, not being square to shooters, etc. They were simple defensive mistakes, but the truth is, it’s not just him. McDavid, despite how red-hot he is, had several turnovers and was on the ice for three goals against the Sharks. Ty Emberson and Spencer Stastney got caught puck-watching behind the net in that game as well, allowing for an easy tap-in in front of the net. Additionally, against the Ducks, there was more puck-watching and instances of Oilers failing to pick up trailing opponents.

There are 21 games left, and the Oilers are just four points out of the playoff cut line. We’ve seen this team and its core players lock it down defensively before. They can do it again, but to me, it’s a mindset thing.

You have to commit to playing defence. What does that take? Perhaps the answer lies in sacrificing a bit of offence to pay extra attention to the details on the defensive side. After all, there’s no sense in scoring a pile of goals if you’re not winning hockey games. Whatever the case, the answer is somewhere in that locker room, and perhaps a fresh cup of (Paul) Coffey is what it takes to wake them up.

As mentioned, Nurse had a tough road trip and was likely the culprit on several goals against, most notably his giveaway when the game was tied 5-5 against the Ducks with 1:23 remaining, which led to Cutter Gauthier scoring the game-winner.

At the same time, fingers can’t be pointed solely at the Oilers’ D-man, because his partner, Jake Walman, had some questionable moments on the road trip as well, despite scoring three goals. For example, on the Sharks’ second goal against, there was confusion in front between him and Ingram, and the puck bounced around before going into the net.

On that note, the Nurse–Walman pairing was on the ice for seven goals against on the road trip, and according to Natural Stat Trick, the high-danger chances were 9–16 in favour of the opposition. That said, at this point, 61 games into the season, I’m questioning whether Walman — a left-shot playing on the right side — is the right partner for Nurse.

The duo had a good stretch together last playoffs, where in 105:51 minutes played, they posted a 66-36 edge in shots and an 8-2 goal advantage. This season, in 370:41 minutes played at 5v5, that pairing has been outscored 19-21, with scoring chances 166-211, favouring the opposition.

With the trade deadline fast approaching on March 6, ideally, the Oilers should be looking for a top-four, right-handed shot D-man — something they’ve been after for a while. The question is, who? The Toronto Maple Leafs’ Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been mentioned as a potential fit in Edmonton, though he’s not a right-handed shot, and NHL_Sid recently questioned whether giving up a first-round pick would be worth it for him.

There’s also Justin Faulk of the St. Louis Blues, whose name has also been linked to the Oilers in trade rumours.

The right-handed Faulk has put up 32 points this season and has been recognized for his ability to deny entries into the zone while also generating offence from the right side. Though he carries a $6.5 million cap hit and has one year remaining on his contract after this season, any deal would come down to the St. Louis Blues’ asking price and whether the Oilers can make the money work.

Nevertheless, anything can happen between now and the trade deadline, and if I had to pick the Oilers’ top priority for a deadline acquisition, I’d say it should be a top-four D-man, whoever it is, because the Nurse–Walman pairing experiment just doesn’t seem to be working.

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