Depth on defence is a key component of a championship team. The regular season is hard enough, but once the Stanley Cup Playoffs arrive, the physicality of the National Hockey League game increases significantly. Defenders are often the recipients of hits as teams focus on heavy forechecking, and injuries often are a direct result, especially as a team gets deeper into the postseason.
But there is also a downside to significant depth on defense. Ice time is limited, and beyond the first one or two pairings, there's always a dogfight for minutes, shifts, and games played. The Edmonton Oilers have nine defensemen on their pro roster, so new head coach Mike Babcock is going to have to figure out a way to get all of them on the ice if he wants a happy dressing room.
Roster names
Beyond Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm, who remain the Oilers' top pairing, we have Jake Walman and Connor Murphy, newcomers Ryan Shea, Shakir Mukhamadullin, and Spencer Stasney, as well as depth blueliners Ty Emberson and Alec Regula (currently on IR). That list alone will be hard to manage, and that could mean that the Oilers' prospects down on the Bakersfield Condors don't get many NHL games in.
Mid-season injuries may simplify some of the line juggling for Babcock. The average age of the team's defenders is 28.4, with Ekholm the elder statesman of the blueline at 36. Given the obvious desire to hit the postseason with a fully healthy lineup, we may even see some roster management during the 84 game regular season. Many will recall the difference in Ekholm's effectiveness during the first Stanley Cup series against the Florida Panthers, versus his clearly more limited abilities the second time the two teams met.
Balancing priorities
Keeping every player happy isn't a hallmark of Babcock's coaching style, so we can expect a fairly strategic approach to how he handles these potential issues. Mukhamadullin in particular has previously expressed frustration when his ice time is limited, and that's a dynamic I'll be keeping my eyes on as the season continues.
The other question, and arguably the bigger of those relating to the Oilers' blueline, is whether they have the collective talent in place. This is a significantly different group than we saw last season, even if the top four are the guys who played out the string and saw their season come to an early end versus the Anaheim Ducks. No matter what else happens with the roster, the team needs to drastically improve its goal differential if they want to be a true contender this year. They were top five in scoring, but the fact that they couldn't keep pucks out of their own net was ultimately what did them in.
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