The NHL trade deadline has passed and the Edmonton Oilers were quite active leading up to it, acquiring defenceman Connor Murphy as well as forwards Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach in deals with the Chicago Blackhawks. However, for the fourth straight year, the Edmonton Oilers failed to make a single trade on deadline day itself.
Following the deadline, NHL news site Daily Faceoff did a recap of the trade deadline in a 'winners and losers' format, naming the Oilers as one of five winners across the entire league. This is high praise for a team to be lumped in with some of the others who made major acquisitions like the Colorado Avalanche pulling off one of the biggest deals in reacquiring Nazem Kadri.
Are the Oilers a winner of the 2026 NHL trade deadline?
According to Daily Faceoff, the reason for their placement was "Landing Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy may not feel sexy, but the Oilers addressed their top roster needs in acquiring them: third-line center, right-shot defenseman and not one but two members of the NHL’s top-ranked penalty kill coming over to help an ailing penalty kill."
This is a fair point, the Oilers currently have a 26th ranked penalty kill, something that will hopefully be helped out by their defensive upgrades throughout the season down the stretch. In addition to their shorthanded struggles, the team is in dire need to stop the bleeding when it comes to allowing goals against.
Both Murphy and Dickinson project to be instrumental pieces in the Oilers defensive structure down the stretch this season and hopefully in a Stanley Cup playoff run.
Oilers still left with glaring holes
The moves that general manager Stan Bowman made were definitely the correct moves and worthy of recognition. Being able to add a shutdown third line centre, a young depth forward, and a responsible and steady right-handed defensive defenceman, while unloading a struggling player from your roster, essentially undoing a major mistake is good work.
However, one of the biggest glaring weaknesses plaguing the Oilers this season has been their lack of depth scoring. When Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are not on the ice, the team struggles to generate offence and score goals.
An update on Edmonton's 5v5 goal share without McDavid and Draisaitl with less than 20 games remaining this season. pic.twitter.com/8hoyPZlAm3
— Sid 🇨🇦 (@NHL_Sid) March 7, 2026
This is an area of the team that Bowman failed to address and it is an issue that has and will continue to harm the team. Especially if they take a hit to their top-six again or if one of their stars hits a slump in the playoffs, it could be enough to knock the team out of the playoffs entirely.
On top of the offence, another area the Oilers failed to address was goaltending. They were reported to be exploring a move for Sergei Bobrovsky on deadline day but nothing came to fruition. Instead, they stood pat with their current tandem that has been seriously struggling this season.
It remains to be seen if the moves that Oilers brass made will be enough. The team has 19 games to prove him right but the true test will come as the Oilers attempt to make a third consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearance.