Stan Bowman recognized the Edmonton Oilers needed more defensive-minded players last season when he acquired Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson at the deadline.

He acquired Murphy for a second-round pick, and then landed Dickinson, and Colton Dach — a young player with tenacity and grit, and sneaky good hands around the net — for a first rounder and Andrew Mangiapane. By signing Dickinson to a five-year, $4 million AAV contract yesterday, Bowman made his first key player move of the offseason. He made this second today, signing Murphy for five years at $4.1 million, and Dach, who is a pending restricted free agent, will get a deal this summer as well.

Dickinson’s main impact in Edmonton will be improving the penalty kill, because when he’s on the ice, the penalty kill is okay, but when he’s off the ice, it has been a train wreck.

In Chicago, Dickinson was an elite penalty killer. He came to Edmonton and instantly became their most used penalty killer, averaging 1:51 per game. He was on the ice for three goals against after being acquired, and he and his penalty-killing linemate, Kasperi Kapanen, had the lowest goals against per hour on the Oilers. In the playoffs, Dickinson only dressed in four of the six games as he battled a fractured ankle, but in his four games, he was on for one goal against in 7:00 of TOI. In the six minutes and 38 seconds he wasn’t on the ice, the Oilers allowed four power play goals. He’s clearly must be an integral part of the penalty kill moving forward.

Chicago had the best penalty kill in the NHL, with Dickinson and Murphy making up half of their first penalty kill unit along with Alex Vlasic and Ilya Mikheyev. With Murphy and Dickinson signed, half of the Oilers’ first-unit penalty kill is secured. It will be up to Mike Babcock (I sense a press conference tomorrow to officially announce him) to figure out which forward and which D-man should join Dickinson and Murphy on the PK.

The Oilers must improve their penalty kill and lower their goals against five-on-five. The Oilers were 27th in goals against at 5×5 last season. The entire lineup gave up too much, especially many of the big-minute players. Here is a look at some of the other top teams in the NHL and their best and worst players’ rankings in GA/60 at five-on-five (minimum 500 minutes played).

Dallas had one player over 2.5 GA/60. Colorado had none. Here’s a quick look at the Oilers’ 5×5 rankings from highest to lowest:

Mangiapane          3.72
Walman                 3.56
Nugent-Hopkins  3.08
Hyman                   2.97
McDavid                2.94
Roslovic                 2.90
Draisaitl                 2.88
Bouchard               2.82
Ekholm                  2.81
Savoie                     2.72
Nurse                      2.70
Stastney                 2.58
Henrique               2.57
Frederic                 2.39
Podkolzin              2.36
Emberson              2.01
Kapanen                2.01

The Oilers have to lower their goals against. The top guys need to be better, and while some of the bottom players didn’t give up much, they didn’t score enough to break even. Podkolzin and Kapanen were the best at limiting goals against but also outscoring their opponents. It is why if I were Stan Bowman, I’d be looking to re-sign Kapanen. At around $2 million, I think he’s a valuable player and can give you good value at five-on-five and help the penalty kill.

Dickinson and Murphy’s natural instincts are more defensive than offensive. Dickinson has only reached double-digit goals once in his career. He wasn’t signed for his offence. He will need to chip in something offensively, of course, but not as much as many think. Most of Dickinson’s production will come from the five-on-five as he isn’t on the power play, and he will add a few shorthanded points. But what is a realistic expectation for five-on-five production from a third-line centre?

Let’s start with top-line production.

Last season, 98 forwards produced 33+ points at 5×5. Edmonton had three players, McDavid, Draisaitl, and Podkolzin, produce at a top-line rate.

The league had 189 forwards with 25+ points (essentially six/team). Edmonton had six with McDavid (57), Draisaitl (43), Podkolzin (33), Roslovic (28), Hyman (27), and Savoie (25).

There were 281 forwards (8.78/team) with 18+ points. Edmonton has seven, with the above six and RNH (22). Kasperi Kapanen had 16 points in 41 games.

There were 393 forwards (12.2/team) with 9+ points. Edmonton had the aforementioned eight, along with Dickinson/Mangiapane (15) and Henrique (9).

Dickinson has scored 18+ points (5×5) pace in five of his last six seasons. He did score 19 goals and 28 points in 2024, but that was the outlier of his career. He’s shown he can be a consistent 16 to 20 point player at 5×5. He will need to continue that for the first few seasons of his contract, while maintaining his solid defensive play.

The Oilers do need more production from their fourth line next season. Trent Frederic is the obvious one who needs to improve. He had seasons of 18, 29, and 36 points in a five-on-five, prior to 2025, while scoring 15 and 16 goals in 2023 and 2024. In Edmonton, he’s been a shadow of that player. Babcock will need to see if Frederic can kill penalties, at least as a third forward pair option, and find ways to get him a few extra shifts in the game. Frederic needs to come to camp great and ready to play fast and assertively. He needs to be involved emotionally.

But the main takeaway from the past 24 hours is that Bowman remained on track with his vision of adding defensive-minded players. He landed Dickinson and Murphy and retained both of them. Now it will be up to the rest of the players to commit to being better defensively. They did it in 2024 when Knoblauch arrived, and I suspect you will see a more committed group under their new head coach. Since the season ended, I felt the Oilers would rebound next season, and these two signings only strengthen that belief.

— I’d expect the Mike Babcock press conference tomorrow. He is flying in later today, as is Stan Bowman. They will remain in Edmonton for Friday’s and Saturday’s draft and then likely through until free agency.

— The Oilers would like to, and I expect they will, finalize the Darnell Nurse trade in the next eight days. They want to enter free agency with the knowledge of what roster spots are available. They will need another left-shot defenceman either as part of the return in the trade or via free agency.

— It isn’t a must, but adding a right-shot centre, who can kill penalties and is good on faceoffs, is on their wish list. If it doesn’t happen this summer, they will revisit it near the trade deadline. The list of right-shot free agent centres isn’t very long right now, but you can sign them without giving up an asset, whereas if you acquire one at the trade deadline, it will cost you something. The difference is that there are likely more players available in a trade than to sign.

— I’m most intrigued to see what direction Bowman goes with his goaltending. Who will they sign to partner with Tristan Jarry?

Daily Faceoff is your Free Agency Headquarters! Big moves. Breaking news. Instant analysis. Daily Faceoff is bringing the team together July 1st for a live Free Agency Special featuring Jeff Marek, Tyler Yaremchuk, Carter Hutton, and Dave Pagnotta. Tune in at noon ET on the Daily Faceoff YouTube Channel and socials for full coverage as the NHL landscape changes. WATCH LIVE!