The Edmonton Oilers added key defensive pieces to their roster before the trade deadline to lower their goals against, but in the first game since retooling the lineup, they once again had a tough time keeping the puck out of their net in a 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

There’s no other way to put it — the pressure is on the Oilers to start winning games. They’re now only three points above the playoff cut line, and it doesn’t get any easier with upcoming matchups against the Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, and Dallas Stars.

That said, in this edition of Oilers Thoughts, we discuss the drop in impact from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together at five-on-five, early impressions of Jason Dickinson, the goaltending situation, Zach Hyman’s hot streak, and Jake Walman’s struggles.

After the last game against the Carolina Hurricanes, Jason Gregor mentioned to head coach Kris Knoblauch that McDavid and Draisaitl together at five-on-five are only +1 and actually have better numbers when playing on different lines. He asked Knoblauch about his thought process for putting them together and why that duo hasn’t had the “nuclear” factor as much as in the past, and the head coach responded by saying:

I’m glad Gregor brought that up to the coach, because when all else fails, loading up the top line with McDavid and Draisaitl is Knoblauch’s number one go-to. But the fact is, the dynamic duo haven’t been lights out like they used to be. According to Natural Stat Trick, they’ve scored 18 goals together at five-on-five while allowing 16. In trying to figure out why that pairing hasn’t been “nuclear,” perhaps Knoblauch is onto something — with them getting offensive zone time but not scoring, other teams take advantage on the counterattack, combined with the opposition scouting their plays and keeping them in check.

I understand that at some point, you hope the dam breaks and the floodgates open, but for whatever reason, loading up with McDavid and Draisaitl just hasn’t had the impact it used to. That doesn’t mean they can’t be impactful together in the future at five-on-five, but it just isn’t happening right now.

Now, if the Oilers wanted to mix things up to generate more offence at five-on-five, the player they should try on the first line with McDavid is Vasily Podkolzin, who has the best goals-for percentage with McDavid at five-on-five, scoring 8-3 for a 72.73 per cent GF% this season. Zach Hyman has the second-highest at 56.25 per cent GF%, so a top line of Podkolzin – McDavid – Hyman could be worth trying again.

The Oilers made a splash before the trade deadline, first acquiring Connor Murphy for a second-round pick, and then trading for Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach, sending Andrew Mangiapane the other way along with a conditional first-round draft pick.

I feel that, especially with Murphy and Dickinson, they’re excellent pieces to add to the Oilers’ roster to limit goals against. Although it didn’t pay off immediately last game, I believe it will in the long run, and I wanted to highlight Dickinson’s first game in particular.

The centreman played 12:43 in total against Carolina, and his line with Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen scored a goal. They created three scoring chances while allowing three, on a night when they were the Oilers’ most effective line.

Dickinson went 3-2 in the faceoff circle on the penalty kill, had a shorthanded scoring chance, and used his good reach on the penalty kill. At one point during the game, he also made a fabulous block, sacrificing his body to get in front of a point shot. Some players only make it look like they’re going to get in the way to block a shot, but Dickinson did it with full intention.

Moreover, the Georgetown, Ont., native said before the game against the Hurricanes, “My favourite thing about doing what I do is seeing the frustration and the will to win come out of guys during the game,” which is exactly the kind of thing you want to hear from a defensive specialist.

That said, for someone so defensively minded, one thing I noticed last game was that he had nice hands on the rush. The Hurricanes were preventing Oilers’ entries all game, but Dickinson had some smooth entries, making a couple of nice moves near the offensive blue line to get past defenders.

It’s very early, but Dickinson showed some promising plays after just one game.

Before play resumed after the Olympic break, I touched on how the Oilers should handle the goaltending situation and who should get most of the minutes down the stretch. I mentioned that whichever goaltender is winning, you stick with them. If neither is winning, you go with whichever goaltender is playing the best.

Having said that, for both Jarry and Ingram, you can summarize their play coming out of the Olympic break as almost identical: “Well, the team in front of them didn’t play great, the goaltender made some big saves, also let in some saveable ones, and still gave up more than four goals,” with Ingram allowing four or more goals in his last two starts and Jarry allowing five or more goals in his last two. It’s the same story we’ve been seeing — the Oilers haven’t played well in front of their goaltenders, but the man between the pipes still has to make some big stops.

As for who gets the next start against the Vegas Golden Knights, despite neither of them playing lights out, I feel you go with Ingram, who has banked more points in the win column for his team as of late, with Jarry’s last win coming on Jan. 26 against the Anaheim Ducks.

That said, the starting role is up for the taking, and for the sake of the Oilers and their fans, can one of Ingram or Jarry please step up and claim it?

In a season filled with ups and downs for the Oilers, Zach Hyman has been one of the few steady positives.

The 33-year-old scored two goals last game against the Hurricanes, opening the scoring by burying a wonderful backhand on a breakaway. He has also been a reliable offensive threat in the five games since the break, with seven points in that span (five goals, two assists). He’s also tilted the ice in the Oilers’ favour at five-on-five, posting a 26-12 edge in high-danger chances.

He was injured last playoffs, missed several games to start this season, and needed some time to adjust to game speed, yet he still has 27 goals in 44 games, which puts him on pace for 50 goals over a full season. On top of that, Hyman hasn’t just been one of the Oilers’ best scorers — he’s also been one of the most consistent scorers in the NHL. Since Nov. 29, over a span of 38 games, his 27 goals lead the entire league.

On that note, I think it’s still within the window to say, before this thought fades and before I fully get over it, but boy, Team Canada really could’ve used one of the NHL’s hottest scorers this season at the Olympics, couldn’t they?

Over the last five games, Jake Walman has been on for 11 goals against at five-on-five, the most on the team, and simply put, he’s struggling.

Diving deeper, in the last game against the Hurricanes, he was on the ice for three goals against. On the first goal against, he had a failed clear and got tied up with his netminder, Jarry. Then, with the Oilers down a goal in the third, Walman had a series of defensive breakdowns — including poor positioning and even dropping his stick — which led to the fourth goal.

In the game prior against the Ottawa Senators, he was -2 in 11:18 minutes and didn’t see the ice in the third period. While he reportedly tweaked something, not playing in the third was mostly due to being benched for poor play.

His play is nowhere near the standard he set in last year’s playoffs, when he was a shot-blocking machine, made good transition passes, and was a pillar on the back end — the kind of performance that earned him the seven-year contract worth $7 million a season that kicks in for the 2026-27 campaign. Lately, he’s had a lot of mental errors, giveaways, and a lack of attention to detail on the defensive side of the game.

For much of the season, he’s played on the right side despite being a left-handed shot, which I feel has contributed to his lacklustre play at times. However, last game he was paired with defensive stalwart Connor Murphy and played on his natural left side. While they were on the ice for a couple of goals against, there were still some encouraging moments defensively. Fingers crossed they can build more chemistry down the stretch.