Just one year I would like to not write about how the Edmonton Oilers need to fix their defensive game or hear about goaltending issues. This year is NOT one of those years.
According to the NHL standings we are only 20 games away from the end of the regular season and the Oilers are still in the top 5 teams with the most goals against – in fact, we are tied with the Ducks for 5th spot and Toronto, Nashville, St Louis and Vancouver are head of us. Ironically, we are 2nd in goals for with only 10 less than league leading Colorado. Pretty impressive dichotomy of statistics. Now, how can this be fixed?
The acquisition of our 4th Connor, Connor Murphy
The Oilers made it clear, well, the fans voiced it first – they were in need of more stay at home defenseman. It’s funny how the loss of one person, Brett Kulak, resulted in the defensive struggles for the Oilers in December that has continued after the Olympic break. They still have a potent powerplay at 32.3% today, but have slowly been slipping the ranks to 26th in the league at 76.9% on the PK.
As I pointed out in a previous article, the players with the most fingers pointed at them are Darnell Nurse and Alec Regula on defense at -12 and -16 with Mangiapane at -19 indicating that they are getting scored on way more than the team scoring. The Oilers have been guilty of giveaways, intercepted passes and bad defensive clearances. They are sixth in the number of giveaways on the season with 972 with the Maples Leafs at first with 1002 giveaways on the season. Those statistics speak volumes and management and team know that something has to change.
The Oilers brought back Paul Coffey as the defense coach and they recently acquired Connor Murphy from the top penalty kill team, The Chicago Blackhawks. Unlike Nurse, Murphy is -3 and played on that top penalty kill for Chicago playing 16 to 20 minutes per game. He will not score a ton of points, but will hopefully be a key part of the rebuilding of their defensive game. Hopefully, he can disclose some penalty kill secrets from the Hawks and get the Oilers PK playing better. Do traded players reveal strategy secrets when they go to another team? I would love to know!
Connor Murphy is 6’ 4 and 212 lbs and a stay home defenseman. Maybe they will pair him with Nurse or maybe with Jake Walman as they both have struggled in their zone play this year. Surprisingly, Ty Emberson is at a +5 and playing the safe game. We need more of that and Connor Murphy can bring that to the Oilers.
Funny statistic on Murphy, he has only played 9 playoff games in total with 4 games against Edmonton in the first round of the 2020 playoffs when Chicago won the series 3-1. Chicago played another 4 games in the next round but were eliminated by Vegas 4-1. All of Connor Murphy’s playoff games was during the COVID-19 pandemic and thus the playoff bubble in Edmonton without fans! So, he is excited about playing in front of fans if Edmonton makes it the playoffs in 2026.
Reasons for the Oilers poor defensive play
There are many reasons for the poor defensive play for the Oilers. One very obvious reason is that they are just not playing defense properly and are puck watching. Over the past few games, including the one against Ottawa on Tuesday night, several goals had five Oilers trying to get the puck! One or two Senators players were in the open and boom its in the net with no chance for Ingram. Why is that their defensive play?
They are playing like my son’s U9 ice hockey team when the entire line chases the puck! It is so frustrating to watch. I hope they are called out by Coffey for such plays. They have to go back to the basics and play man-on-man defense. It’s boring, low scoring hockey but it’s a safe play and once in a while the other team will make a mistake and your high-flying superstars will break through and score. The Minnesota Wild and LA Kings have played that way for a while and have had success in the regular season. The Oilers cannot afford more losses otherwise they will be out of playoff spot like the Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks.
Another reason for poor defensive play might be that the team has lost its ability to keep up with the speedy McDavid or Draisaitl. It has also been suggested by hockey writers that maybe the Oilers should focus on small outlet passes vs long breakout passes as 7/10 times they will be intercepted. A lot of the mistakes have come on passes to McDavid and Draisaitl as they want to fly into the opponent’s zone.
That is not working right now and hopefully the Oilers defense might change their strategy of getting out of their zone. I think Connor Murphy has the skillset to make those short breakout passes and thus maybe, just maybe, the coach should mix up the defense to force Connor and Leon to get safe short passes from their D-men and thus cut down on giveaways and intercepted passes. There are only 20 games left before the end of the regular season so rapid changes are needed for this team.
Will the Oilers Acquire More Help Before the March 6th Trade Deadline?
This has been relatively quiet for trade deadline being 3 days away. I am sure that will change in the next 24-48 hours. There are lots of speculation about where Rangers' Vincent Trocheck, St Louis Blues' Robert Thomas and their captain Brayden Schenn will end up, as well as Justin Faulk and Jordan Kyrou. Others include Vancouver’s Jake DeBrusk, DrewO’Connor and many more but we have seen limited movements so far.
I like the defensive game of Scott Laughton of the Toronto Maple Leafs – at a cap hit of $1.5 million this year, this center could find a home on the 3rd or 4th line for Edmonton in a very defensive role – he can win faceoffs and can block shots. Bobby McMann is another Leafs winger that is available and has a low cap hit and with hockey smarts to play on the 3rd line or even with Leon. He has size and speed and worth the $1.5 million cap hit.
Another defenceman worth getting is Braden Schneider of the Rangers – at 24 years of age he is still learning to play the game but is 6’ 3” and 204 Ibs and from Prince Albert, SK. His game has suffered a bit due to dismal play of the Rangers but he could be an asset on team like Edmonton.
The Nashville Predators were looking like a team selling come March 6th. But, they have rejuvenated themselves and could challenge for a wild card spot. So, players like Steven Stamkos and Ryan O’Reilly will most likely not be moved. Calgary is rebuilding and will most likely give up Nazem Kadri at the trade deadline; Dougie Hamilton from New Jersey would be great to have but too expensive. Warren Foegele is also available but might be too much at $3.5 million but we could use him as he was a very defensive forward that played a lot on the PK. The team would love to have him back I think.
I have not talked about may players listed at the beginning of this section as they are in the $5 to $11 million cap hit and thus cannot be considered for Edmonton. The message we got from the recent Bowman press conference is that the Oilers have to play better defensively and all have to buy into that system. These comments have been mirrored before in the past 3 years and we know that Oilers can turn it around but ALL have to buy into it from the forwards to the defencemen. I think the goaltending will be good enough for the playoffs but the defensive play has to be better.
The Oilers are expected to make at least one more move before the March 6th trade deadline.
What to Expect in the Last 20 Games of the Regular Season
The Oilers traditionally have started to play better by mid to late February. The Oilers record in January 2025 was 10-3-1 vs 8-5-1 in 2026. The record in February 2025 was 2-6-0 vs 1-4-0 in 2026. March has always been a better month with 8-5-1 in 2025. Time will tell how they finish this year and we will know soon if this team will make the playoffs. We know they can play well and can be a playoff contender. They will have bumps along the way in the next month and might even just sneak into the playoffs as the 2006 team did. It will be an exciting finish to the 2025-2026 regular season.