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Oilers’ hunt for defenceman may pivot to ‘depth-type’ player
Edmonton Oilers Paul Coffey
Photo credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
Zach Laing
Jan 22, 2025, 12:30 ESTUpdated: Jan 22, 2025, 13:08 EST
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John Klingberg won’t be the only defenceman the Edmonton Oilers add this season.
And while The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun opined in a Tuesday column the team might be looking to pick up a “depth-type add than a bigger name,” they don’t feel like staying stagnant where they are.
With playoff depth in mind, the Oilers could very well add another defender before the March 7 trade deadline even after the John Klingberg signing Friday.
It’s possible the focus there would be more for a shutdown/penalty-killing type. Having said that, after a slow start to the season, Edmonton’s PK is top five in the league since November. Mattias Ekholm and Ty Emberson are tops among defensemen in penalty-kill usage, followed by Brett Kulak and Darnell Nurse — and those four overall have been really good. So it’s not an urgent need as much as it wouldn’t hurt to add depth there.
As it stands now — and injuries can change things — the Oilers are thinking more along the lines of a depth-type add than a bigger name. They feel they have seven solid guys. With a long playoff run again in mind, depth on the blue line is never a bad idea.
LeBrun’s report contradicts others from recent weeks about the Oilers’ plans. Prior to the acquisition of Klingberg, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported the team was looking for a defenceman with “a Mattias Ekholm-sized impact,” but the thought process could be changing internally about how the Oilers approach the deadline.
It could also indicate where the organization feels about Klingberg. He spoke to media members on Monday, talking about how he’s dealt with the hip issue his entire career, and how his motion is the best he ever remembers it being. Clearly the Oilers feel confident in that, given they signed him to the one-year, $1.74-million contract instead of opting to bring him in on a professional tryout and see where his play is at.
The Oilers looking to nibble around the edges of the defenceman market isn’t a surprise. It’s not exactly a robust trade market with as big of names as had been available in recent years, and it also falls in line with some trades in recent years.
At the deadline last year, the team picked up Troy Stecher for a late draft pick, and the year before that was the acquisition of Ekholm. In 2022, Brett Kulak was acquired from the Canadiens, while in 2021, it was Dmitry Kulikov. And how could anyone forget the trade that brought in Mike Green in 2020 just before the COVID-19 shutdown happened?
Nevertheless, it’s been the status quo for this team for multiple years to add a defencemen, and as seen by the list above, more often than not they’ve been depth pieces.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

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