Stan Bowman is hard at work making phone calls looking to upgrade this Oilers roster.
And just last week, he was making calls trying to acquire winger Drew O’Connor from the Pittsburgh Penguins before the Vancouver Canucks acquired him late Friday night, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin had been busy that night, sending JT Miller to the New York Rangers in a package that brought back a first-round pick, quickly flipping that and other pieces to the Penguins for defenceman Marcus Pettersson and O’Connor.
Seravalli said on Wednesday’s edition of Oilersnation Everyday that the Oilers are looking to add some speed to their roster, and O’Connor was a player they had their sights on.
Horrobin: Do you think then if the Oilers were to go out, and like you said, spend a first-round pick on a (Connor) Murphy or a (Jamie) Oleksiak, they would try and add a depth piece as well, like they did with Adam Henrique last year where they got Sam Carrick in a deal?Seravalli: Yeah, and by the way, the Adam Henrique trade, I guess it kind of worked out fine. I think the mistake was probably in bringing him back. And look — we could probably diagnose or walk through the Oilers summer. You guys touched on, not even to go there, Broberg and Holloway, but just so many other facets of it, that I think the big reason why they need to go out and get a depth piece is just the erosion of speed on this team’s lineup.Missing (Ryan) McLeod, it’s not from a production standpoint. It’s from a skating standpoint, and still haven’t had someone step up and really grab hold, take that 4C spot, which is why the Oilers were in the mix last week — and Stan Bowman, I think the night he was at the University of Alberta Golden Bears game — was on the phone trying to potentially bring in someone like Drew O’Connor from Pittsburgh.I think that’s the thought process. It’s not just depth, it’s a very specific ‘we need more speed,’ and that part is what really stands out to me watching this team, is they got arguably the fastest player in the world — feet, hands, brain, all in unison — but a lot of their forward group is pretty slow.
O’Connor sure would’ve added some speed to the Oilers’ bottom six, as according to NHL Edge, his top skating speed is in the 90th percentile of NHL’ers, while his speed bursts over 32 km/h are in the 96th percentile. His offensive production has dropped a bit this season over last, having scored six goals and 16 points in 55 games with the Penguins this year, but he’s added a goal in two games to those totals with the Canucks so far.
His underlying metrics are unspectacular, Hockey Viz cites, driving offence at a league average rate and providing defence a three percent rate below league average. His strength, however, comes on the penalty kill, where he’s driven positive results at a five percent rate above league average.
The Oilers have already done some work to tweak the bottom six in season, picking up Kasperi Kapanen on waivers. He’s brought some speed with his top end in the 89th percentile, and his bursts in the 55th percentile, while Noah Philp has brought some more speed than the boots Derek Ryan wears. Kapanen’s chipped in some offence, too, with five goals and nine points in 31 games so far this season. oiler
Nonetheless, Seravalli’s breakdown details some of what the Oilers are looking to do with their group ahead of the deadline.
You can watch Seravalli’s appearance on Oilersnation Everyday below.
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.
