Edmonton Oilers: Five reasons this team is a playoff team

3. The Defence Looks Deeper

I personally do not know if I am on board with all the different moves Ken Holland made this offseason on the blueline, but I do understand some of the logic here. After losing Adam Larsson in the expansion draft, which I do not think was expected. The team had to change their blueline makeup.

Keeping Tyson Barrie gives the Oilers a top offensive defenseman that might be a liability in his own end at times, but honestly, he is not a bad defenseman and he put up a heck of a lot of points last season. That first unit is pretty good.

The second unit is also pretty good depending on how Duncan Keith performs. If he can show that he is not the aged veteran on his way out of the league and instead can be the same guy that won the Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup six years ago then this blueline has a major upgrade in their top four.

Plus Cody Ceci is a reliable defenseman that still has a lot of hockey ahead of him and can be a good pairing with Keith. The bottom unit that will have Evan Bouchard getting a big chance in the league definitely also will take a step forward this season.

Bouchard only got into 14 games last season, but now he will probably be playing the majority of the season which will give him time to grow and develop in the NHL. It is just about getting him comfortable ahead of the postseason, hopefully, by then the pairings will have shuffled a little bit and Bouchard will be taking a bigger role.