With deadline week officially upon us in the NHL, Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman wasted little time getting into the spirit of the week as he acquired veteran right-shot defenceman Connor Murphy from the Chicago Blackhawks.

The trade makes sense for a lot of reasons.

Murphy is the true definition of a defensive defenceman. He won’t wow you with the puck on his stick, but he will help break up cycles and help the Oilers get the puck back. He is also a very good penalty killer.

The cost to acquire him, a second-round pick in 2028, was not high at all, especially since the Oilers got his contract retained down to $2.2 million.

All in all, this trade is looking like a win for the Oilers and Bowman likely isn’t going to stay quiet from here on out. He still has some assets that he could dangle in the coming days.

The expectation now is that the Oilers will turn their attention to their forward group, but it’s still unclear if they’re going to look for a third-line centre or potentially another scoring winger. The nice part about the way the Oilers forward group is currently constructed is that they have a lot of versatile pieces in their lineup, so they really aren’t pigeon-holed into having to just shop for one specific position.

If a top-six winger falls into their lap, they could slide Ryan Nugent-Hopkins down to the third line. If there is a third-line centre that is available, then they could slot him into their bottom-six and keep their top-six intact. The only hurdle that still exists for Bowman is cap space.

As it stands right now, with Murphy on the roster and Mattias Janmark on LTIR, the Oilers have $200,000 in cap space, according to PuckPedia (which is an incredibly valuable website on days like today).

With Isaac Howard sent back down to Bakersfield, they have 12 forwards, seven defencemen and two goalies on the roster.

That is about as bare-bones as you can keep a roster, but it does give them the flexibility to send down someone like Josh Samanski if they were to acquire another forward in the next few days.

The simplest way to view their current cap situation when it comes to adding a player via trade is this:

In short, the Oilers have anywhere from $1.175 million to $3.625 million available to acquire another forward.

Even on the low end, that gives them some wiggle room.

Bobby McMann of the Toronto Maple Leafs carries an AAV of $1.35 million. They could acquire him, with minimum retention, and not have to offload Mangiapane to do so.

He would be a great fit if the Oilers decide to prioritize adding to their top-six. He has size, he can skate and he’s already scored 11 five-on-five goals this year after popping home 16 last season. For reference, he would be tied for third on the Oilers in five-on-five goals this season and his 27 five-on-five goals since the start of last season would rank behind only McDavid, Draisaitl and Hyman if he were an Oiler.

Nicholas Roy, also from Toronto, carries an AAV of $3 million and comes with an extra year of term. Even if the Maple Leafs retained 50 per cent of that contract, the Oilers would still need to move out Mangiapane.

I’m not the biggest fan of Roy, and his contract having another year on it is a big reason why. He doesn’t skate well and he doesn’t drive offence. He might just be another Adam Henrique. If the Leafs were willing to take Mangiapane’s full cap hit, then I would be open to a Roy trade if I were the Oilers, but without that contract going back the other way, a trade would be near impossible.

Now, if the Leafs took Mangiapane’s contract, the Oilers could actually afford both of those players, and that presents an interesting one-stop shop for the Oilers’ two forward needs.

One positive in Roy is that he is a right shot, and the Oilers could use that. He is decent in the faceoff circle as well.

Still, I think the Oilers should aim higher than Roy when it comes to filling their third-line centre need.

If someone better than Roy isn’t available, then I think I would prefer that the Oilers look at players like Teddy Blueger in Vancouver ($1.8 million AAV, pending UFA) or Erik Haula from the Nashville Predators ($3.15 million AAV, pending UFA).

Blueger is at least cheaper, and Haula is a better player, although his contract would be just as tough to fit in.

If Bowman really wanted to go all in, he should be calling Columbus for either Boone Jenner or Charlie Coyle. That feels like a long shot though, since the Blue Jackets are right in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race.

For now, we don’t know where the Oilers will look for their next add, but it seems safe to assume that there is at least one coming.

If it is someone like Roy, the only way I could see it being a win is if it’s in a straight-across deal for Andrew Mangiapane (or something close to that) or if McMann is on the flight with him.

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