If the Edmonton Oilers want to continue to build towards the future by acquiring young talent who could make an impact, they should look no further than Ottawa Senators defenceman Jordan Spence.

Oilers fans will know the name well, as he spent his first four NHL seasons with the Los Angeles Kings, playing 13 playoff games against Edmonton in 2022, 2024, and 2025.

Spence, 25, headed east last year, getting dealt to Steve Staios‘ Sens during last year’s draft in exchange for a 2025 third-round draft pick and a 2026 sixth-round draft pick. The 5-foot-11, right-shot defenceman showed more than well in his first season in Canada’s capital, scoring seven goals and 31 points in 73 games, averaging 25 minutes per night in the four games of Ottawa’s first-round loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

With him on the ice in 1,209 five-on-five regular season minutes this year, Spence was one of the Senators best defenceman, leading his compatriots in shot attempt share (60.4 per cent), goal share (57.4 per cent) and in expected goal share (61.8 per cent). His isolated impacts were staggering, driving offence at a 20 percent rate above league average, defence at a six per cent rate above league average, and penalty kill play at a one per cent rate above league average. His overall contributions had him at well above the rate of a first-pairing defenceman, despite averaging 18 minutes and 44 seconds of ice-time in the regular season.

Despite all that, the Senators could be looking to trade the right-shot defenceman, the Ottawa Citizen’s Bruce Garrioch reported Monday.

“Three league executives told the Ottawa Citizen in the past 72 hours that the club is gauging the NHL’s trade market to see what they might be able to fetch in return for Spence, who is a restricted free agent with the right to file for arbitration,” wrote Garrioch.

“Let’s make this clear: This doesn’t mean Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, is trying to deal Spence. But that possibility shouldn’t be ruled out because all options are on the table with all 32 teams trying to make changes.

“It took a while for Spence to find his place, but he emerged as a strong contributor down the stretch, especially with injuries to Artem Zub and Jake Sanderson in the playoffs.”

AFP Analytics projects two different types of contracts for Spence: a long-term deal, four years long carrying an annual cap hit of $4.882 million, or a short-term, one-year contract carrying a $3.109 million cap hit.

The shorter term deal would certainly make sense for the Oilers, but with the team already carrying Evan Bouchard, Ty Emberson and potentially re-signing Connor Murphy, the right side of the blue line gets jammed up quickly.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor, and The Nation Network’s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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