The Edmonton Oilers got their final big checklist item done last weekend, signing restricted free agent Colton Dach to a two-year contract.

The deal is solid for both sides, giving Edmonton a chance to get a second year on the deal, and for Dach, who sees a raise from $825,000 to $1.2 million annually.

Dach showed well during his brief, injury-riddled tenure after the team picked him up in the Jason Dickinson trade. What we knew about the winger was clear: he’s a physical presence who can get under opposing teams’ skin.

What we didn’t know, however, was that Dach has some positional versatility. Dach spoke with Sports 1440’s Jason Gregor on Monday, sharing that he’s been working on taking faceoffs this summer, and could play up the middle next season.

“Junior was probably the last time I was a permanent centre, but I played a handful of games this year,” Dach told Gregor. “I’m very confident, very comfortable in both positions. Growing up, that was something my dad always kind of tried to instill: play every position, try to be as versatile as possible.”

Suddenly, that opens doors in how Mike Babcock can manage the Oilers’ bottom-six.

It’s been assumed that Josh Samanski would be the guy, after getting called up to the big club before the Olympics, and never returning to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors after. He looked real solid, driving play at a solid clip, and changing the outlook of how the bottom-six looked. Samanski, of course, was in his rookie season last year, just getting his first taste of North American hockey since the 2019-20 season, when he played for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack. Evidently, he didn’t need much, as he racked up eight goals and 31 points in 45 AHL games, and two goals and four points in 24 games.

But Dach potentially being able to play centre could bump Samanski out of the lineup. As I highlighted in a recent roster outlook article, there’s a large group of players that are going to be vying for ice time in the bottom-six.

Samanski and Dach join the likes of Trent Frederic, Isaac Howard, Mathieu Joseph, Max Jones, Mattias Janmark, Connor Clattenburg, and Quinn Hutson. That’s 10 players who, in one way or another, could make sense as players for Babcock and Co. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see each of them play NHL games.

With Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jason Dickinson likely holding down two-thirds of the third line, those other four spots are going to be wide open for players to grab. I like the idea of Isaac Howard joining those two, and if the coaching staff likes the idea of Dach being a centre on the fourth line — so long as he’s effective in doing so — who could flank him?

Frederic is the most likely candidate of that group, as they played 70 five-on-five minutes in the regular season. Despite the sample size being 30 minutes short of what we like to see before determining how real the numbers are, they performed very well together, controlling 58.2 per cent of the shot attempt share, 71.9 per cent of the expected goal share and 57.1 per cent of the goal share, outscoring the opposition 4-3. All the while, when together, they had a 13.3 per cent on-ice shooting percentage and a .869 save percentage for a 100.3 PDO.

Joseph, meanwhile, looks like he could be a very effective fourth-liner for the team, too, and could complement the Bash Brothers well.

What say you, Nation? How do you see Dach playing centre affecting the Oilers’ bottom-six?

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor and The Nation Network’s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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