Expect changes to the Oilers defence corps
With opening night just one week away, Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft is still considering what pairings to use on the blue line.
RD Evan Bouchard is being tried next to Darnell Nurse during training camp, to see if the Oilers can create a sort of super puck-moving duo. If Jay Woodcroft approves of this partnership after training camp is done next week, we’ll be looking at a new top pairing going into the season.
This would move Cody Ceci out of the top pairing right D position. The logical place for him would be Bouchard’s former spot on the second pairing, right? Well, that brings us to something else being tried in preseason – Philip Broberg next to Mattias Ekholm.
The idea behind this pairing is Ekholm can continue on in the tradition he’s been maintaining his entire career, of mentoring younger players and making them better. In Nashville he did it with Roman Josi and Seth Jones, two players who turned out awfully well.
Even in the brief time Ekholm played with Bouchard last season, the Sweden native certainly helped his teammate’s game, especially defensively. While I personally think it would be premature to simply gift Bouchard that top pairing spot at this point in time, there’s no doubt there is some appeal to playing the two best puck movers on the team together.
Third pairing options
Anyway, if these two scenarios come true, this would push Cody Ceci down to the third pairing – and frankly the bottom pairing is crowded enough as it is. Putting Ceci on the bottom pairing then pushes Vincent Desharnais out of the lineup – something that is very much undeserved at this point in time – not to mention it could potentially create a very expensive bottom pairing, if Brett Kulak is his partner.
Even if neither of these scenarios comes to pass, push is coming to shove sooner rather than later, especially with LD Ben Gleason also challenging for a spot and leading the Oilers in preseason scoring from the defence. That puts three candidates at the left pairing D spot on the third pairing – Kulak, Broberg, and the aforementioned Gleason.
This means at least one player will be the odd man out. Uless Ken Holland wants one of those players to succumb to rust from not playing, or risk losing Kulak on waivers if he’s sent to Bakersfield at least temporarily. (Gleason and Broberg are still under two-way contracts for this upcoming season, so they can be sent right back down to Bakersfield if need be.)
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Of course rumor has it that the Oilers have been unhappy with the slow progress Broberg has been making and might be shopping him as well. It hasn’t helped that Broberg’s training camp has only been so-so, though he does have two assists in four games, so it’s not exactly all bad.
Personally I would not be in favor of a veteran third pairing of Kulak-Ceci, as it would likely have the dubious distinction of being one of – if not the – most expensive third pairing in the NHL. That’s $6 million for the third pairing total for the two of them and this is simply too much for bottom pairing D.
Trade considerations
If you were to trade one of them, I’d be willing to bet that Ceci would net the Oilers at least a second round pick, while Kulak would likely be at least a third round selection. Trading either would give the Oilers some much-needed cap space and make them cap compliant for next season, plus replenish a draft pick – never a bad thing.
In this respect, the Oilers are missing their third round pick (went to Arizona in the Zack Kassian trade), their fourth round pick (went to Nashville in the Ekholm trade), and their seventh round pick (went to Montreal in the Kulak trade) in 2024. They already have two sixth round picks for next season (again Nashville’s from the Ekholm trade), so why not accumulate an extra second round pick or grab a third round pick again?
Personally I’d be against trading Broberg, as I believe at this point in time the Oilers would be giving up on him too soon. Why not trade at least one of the veterans and if Gleason continues to hold up to the end of training camp, keep him on the roster to platoon and push Broberg for that bottom pairing spot?
After all, let’s not forget Broberg was a first round pick of the Oilers in 2019, and a high one at that at eighth overall. If I’m a NHL GM, I think long and hard before walking away from that. Not only are you selling low on a player and wouldn’t get nearly as much back in trade – never a good idea – but he has a higher ceiling and wouldn’t save the Oilers much in cap space.
While Kulak or Ceci would save the Oilers millions in cap space, Broberg would net a mere $472,541 ($863,333 minus the cap overage of the Oilers right now of $390,792). Although you’d be on the right side of the ledger, it’s still not much better than the situation right now.
At the trade deadline you could get a pro-rated bottom six forward or bottom pairing D for that cap space. Or if you have the cap savings from Kulak and/or Ceci, you could trade for a much higher quality player, or get both types of depth players for the cap space the Oilers would have available.
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In the end of course, Woodcroft will sort it out how he wants to and likely recommend to Holland who the odd man out is. We’ll see how it all unfolds before the start of the season on October 11.