Oilers radio man Bob Stauffer reported on Tuesday night that the Edmonton Oilers want to bring in a puck-moving defenceman soon, especially in the wake of Darnell Nurse’s injury.
During the intermission of Tuesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators, he was asked by Gene Principe what the Oilers might try to do to help improve the team. Stauffer mentioned that while Nurse is close to returning, the need for an improved backend remains at the forefront in the mind of the front office.
ICYMI: On last night's broadcast, Bob Stauffer mentioned how the Edmonton Oilers want to acquire a defenseman.
"It's not necessarily going to be a shutdown defenseman. It's not necessarily going to be a right-shot defenseman."
Video Credit: @Sportsnet pic.twitter.com/QlNICUMYRt
— Woz (@itsWozzz) November 20, 2024
“The reality is at some point they’re adding a defenceman,” he said. “It’s not necessarily going to be a shutdown defenceman. It’s not necessarily going to be a right-shot defenceman. Could be a lefty that plays the right side. And it might not be a guy that’s on anybody’s radar screen right now.
“Think of Mattias Ekholm a couple years ago, I don’t think anybody thought that he might be in play. So we’ll have to wait and see. I think it’s going to be a guy that can move the puck. And again, we’ll see whether or not it’s a lefty or righty. But it is a guy that’s going to slot in the right side.”
On Wednesday, Stauffer added to his report by mentioning on X that the hypothetical defenceman will be a second-pairing guy who has a little bit of term left.
FWIW
IMO the @EdmontonOilers most logical addition via trade at some point will be a puck-moving 2nd pairing D with a little term left.
Doesn't necessarily need to be a right shot, but the player needs to be comfortable playing the right side.
— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) November 20, 2024
While he did not specially mention which defenceman the Oilers are looking at, it is clear that this acquisition would be someone who can comfortably push the likes of Ty Emberson and Travis Dermott down the lineup. Both players have not necessarily been a net negative in Edmonton but neither are the kind of blueliners that contending teams have in their top-four. It’s no wonder that Kris Knoblauch has recently opted to go 11-7 with his lineups because he has yet to find a defenceman to separate himself from the pack as the clearcut pick to shore up the second pair.
On the plus side, there is no shortage of intriguing options for the Oilers to consider adding to their defence core. Marcus Pettersson of the Pittsburgh Penguins was reported to be on Edmonton’s radar earlier this week while topping the trade target list from Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Although he is a left-shot, his underlying metrics have been among the best for Penguins defencemen which is impressive considering how horrendous they have collectively been defensively. He is a pending UFA at the end of the season at a $4.025-million cap hit.
Beyond him are plenty of other candidates that could be what Edmonton is looking for. Some notable names mentioned on Seravalli’s list include Rasmus Ristolainen, Ivan Provorov, Mike Matheson, Cam Fowler, and Mike Ferraro. Out of all of the defenceman listed in this piece, Ristolainen and Provorov are the only ones who are natural right-shots though Ferraro has also played on the right side.
It is no secret that the Oilers’ top priority is to get better on the back end and the rumours of their pursuit of that goal have increased in volume lately. It’s not a matter of if they will make a trade for a defenceman, but when it will happen and who they will acquire.
