Last season, the Edmonton Oilers’ big upgrade ahead of the trade deadline was to their penalty kill.
It seems as if the team may have the same intentions with this season’s trade deadline around the corner. According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Oilers are one of several teams who have called the Montreal Canadiens about “[Jake] Evans and/or [Joel] Armia.”
There are some parallels here in regards to what the Oilers see in Evans and Armia and what they saw last year when they acquired two players from the Anaheim Ducks to make their forward group better defensively.

What Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick brought to the Oilers

On March 6, 2024, they traded their first-round pick and their 2025 fifth-round pick for 2024 seventh-round pick (William Nicholl), Adam Henrique, and Sam Carrick, the latter two with significant retention.
Henrique was their big addition. In addition to his 18 goals and 42 points before the trade, he was in the top 10 in minutes on the penalty killing for forwards. From the start of the season until March 5, Henrique played 154:09 minutes on the penalty kill, the eighth-most in the league.
On the other hand, Carrick is a right-shot centre who was winning faceoffs at a high clip – 51% (which only increased after joining the Oilers). Carrick killed even more penalties than Henrique, as his 162:16 minutes on the PK was the sixth-most for forwards in the league.
After the trade, Henrique scored six goals and nine points while Carrick scored two goals and five points. However, it’s what they did in the post-season that mattered. You can pin it specifically on Henrique and Carrick, especially since both of them missed some time in the post-season. But a big reason why they were within two goals of winning their sixth Stanley Cup.
In the first round, their usual beatdown of the Los Angeles Kings, they killed all 12 penalties they took. In the second round against the Vancouver Canucks, they killed off the first four penalties, before allowing two power play goals in Game 3. After that, the Oilers killed off all 14 penalties they took in the remaining four games.
The Western Conference Final was much of the same, as the Oilers went a perfect 14/14 to bring their penalty kill streak to 28, six shy of the highest streak I was able to find (ironically, a team with Corey Perry on it). I wrote about the Oilers’ post-season penalty kill before the Stanley Cup Finals.
In the Stanley Cup Final, the steak extended to 30 after a 0/2 Game 1, before killing the first three penalties in Game 2, including a five-minute major on Warren Foegele. However, at the end of Leon Draisaitl’s penalty midway through the third period, the Oilers penalty killing streak was snapped at 33 straight kills, one short of the 34 straight kills the Ducks had in the 2006 postseason.
Henrique and Carrick helped play a part in the penalty kill, as did Connor Brown, Mattias Janmark, and other players. For what it’s worth, Henrique is still strong on the penalty kill, allowing just nine goals in 93:52 minutes of PK ice time.
Edmonton Oilers Adam Henrique
Nov 23, 2024; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Adam Henrique (19) chases a loose puck against the New York Rangers at Rogers Place.

What Joel Armia and Jake Evans would bring to the Oilers

This season, the Oilers have the seventh-worst penalty kill in the league, starting horribly before playing better… before playing horribly again. The same cannot be said for the Montréal Canadiens, as their 81.8 PK% is the sixth-best in the league.
To say Evans and Armia play a role in that would be an understatement. Looking at Armia first, he’s killed off 152:48 minutes on the penalty kill, the third-most in the league for forwards. On the ice, the Canadiens have allowed 15 goals, but have also scored six goals of their own for a 28.57% goal share, which is really darn good. Only Brandon Hagel (eight goals, 47.06 GF%) and Anthony Cirelli (eight goals, 42.11 GF%) have a high GF%.
Armia has also chipped in offensively this season, scoring 10 goals and 24 points in 59 games, on pace for 13 goals and 33 points, the latter would be a career-high.
Evans, though, should be the Oilers’ top priority if they want to improve their penalty kill and add a bottom-six player. He’s Armia’s penalty kill partner and linemate during even-strength play. His 170:04 minutes on the penalty kill isn’t just the most for any forward, but it’s the 10th-most in the league.
Aside from just penalty killing, Evans is a right-shot centre with a 52.2 faceoff percentage this season and a career 51.4% faceoff taker. Although not a physical presence like Trent Frederic or Michael McCarron, Evans’ 88 hits would rank fourth on the Oilers, behind Vasily Podklolzin, Darnell Nurse, and Ty Emberson (who has three more than Evans).
The 28-year-old also is quick on his feet and is set to break his career highs in points. So far this season, he has 11 goals and 27 points, on pace for 15 goals and 37 points, which would surpass his 13 goals and 29 points in 2021-22.
Although neither player is an elite player like, say, Mikko Rantanen, acquiring both Evans and Armia would significantly improve their bottom six as well as their penalty kill, such as the Henrique trade did last year.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.