One problem for the Edmonton Oilers was they had no toughness in their top six. They now have the likes of Evander Kane, Zach Hyman and newly signed Connor Brown. Those are some tough players to play against. The problem now is the Oilers’ bottom six toughness.
The Edmonton Oilers have had their fair share of tough guys in the bottom six in the past seasons whether that be Klim Kostin, last season or Zack Kassian and Jujhar Khaira before that. Now that Kostin is not an Oiler, who is the tough guy in the bottom six?
Let us take a quick look at what the bottom six could look like. Then we will see if there is anyone that could bring toughness to a game.
Janmark – McLeod – Foegele
Holloway – Pederson – Ryan
Now no offence to any of these players, but none of their games are built around toughness. If there is a need to have to fight I don’t see any of these players dropping the mitts. The problem then is who will drop the mitts.
The Edmonton Oilers Can’t Have Top Players Fighting
Since the bottom six players won’t be fighting that leaves it up to the rest of the team to possibly fight. Who do you want that player to be? Evander Kane is coming off a major injury to his wrist, you want him chucking blows? No, you don’t.
Darnell Nurse or Mattias Ekholm can throw down but, do you want one of your top 2 defencemen sitting in the penalty box for 5 minutes? You sure don’t. Not to mention the potential injury that could come from a fight.
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This is why I think if there is any room in the cap left after the McLeod and Bouchard signings the Edmonton Oilers need to look for this type of player. It is a different NHL where you don’t need to have a big brute that only fights, but you do need a player to stop the team from getting pushed around.
I don’t know who that player would be, but I think it is something the Edmonton Oilers need to look at.