What potential addition matters most for the Oilers: Goaltending, Depth, Or Star Talent?
A third line center, a potential elite netminder, or another star for the top six. Those are all potential needs for the Edmonton Oilers. Those are all needs the team needs, but what is their number one priority?
In an ideal world, the Oilers are going to try and address all of these needs. But what if they can’t? What if they are not willing to move on from their picks or prospects to get the return on these different components for their team? Today let’s talk about what hole needs to be filled first.
Let’s start off talking about each potential area the team needs to address:
1. The Goaltending Question.
Mike Smith has missed the majority of this season with an injury and then has seen some setbacks before getting close to returning. With that alone, the team has had to rely upon Mikko Koskinen in the net.
He started the year off pretty strong, but heck so did everyone on this team when they won their first handful of games. Koskinen’s numbers are starting to return to his normal performance… which is not that good.
On the other hand, Smith being out has given the team an opportunity to see Stuart Skinner in action. Skinner has looked pretty impressive at times and probably will get an opportunity to be the full-time guy in a few years. There is depth here in the net, but getting an elite star netminder that can steal games before the playoffs is a need for this team, especially if Smith is still struggling to get back in the next few months.
2. Depth Problems.
The Edmonton Oilers are in need of a third-line center. A few players have held the position throughout the season with the main being Derek Ryan and Ryan McLeod, but neither has worked out great, the team would instantly be better with a legitimate third-line center in the mix.
Who the team does potentially add I do not know, but this is definitely a top priority for the team as they try and get their entire lineup more involved in the score sheet.
3. Another Top Guy With The Top Six.
The Oilers have two really good lines, but they can be better. Kailer Yamamoto has not been the offensive threat this team has needed through the first 30 or so games of the season and adding that last top pairing guy could be a difference-maker for the team.
Let’s put it this way, here are the main contributors of the top six: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jesse Puljujarvi, Zach Hyman, and Kailer Yamamoto. Everyone except for Yamamoto has at least 19 points, while he only. has seven through 29 games and averaging 15:40 a night.
Seven points this far into the season playing with stars like Draisaitl and McDavid is not going to cut it in the top six for this team. This is definitely a need the team needs to address somehow but is it the top need?
The Number One Priority Is…
Here is the sad thing. One could make their case for any one of these issues and they would be right. The team has a lot of work they need to do to get this team to the next level. But in my book, the top need has to be the third-line center position.
Adding a good third-line center would help boost the rest of the lineup. It would make Warren Foegele and Zack Kassian better and would instantly improve the scoring of this team and take some of the workloads off of stars like McDavid and Draisaitl.
Letting your top players play lots of minutes like the Oilers do is a blessing because they are that good, but it is also a curse if you are playing them like that because you do not have anyone else to ride with. Look at some of the top teams of the past.
Tampa won their cup without Kucherov throughout the regular season – they were still able to get there. The same was true for when they did it without Steven Stamkos who was injured. This team is not as deep as Tampa in the past or other teams that still managed to get it done without a star player. Adding another elite center for man the third line is definitely the number one priority in my book.