Do The Oilers Really Need Another Defenseman?

There is no doubt that after all the moves of the last couple of weeks the Oilers blue line is a bit weaker than it was before. Due to that there has been a lot of rumours that the Edmonton Oilers will being bringing a defenseman on a PTO to try and make the team and potentially improve the Oilers depth at dman. Is that the right move though?

The big issues for the Edmonton Oilers is that they have traded away Cody Ceci and chose not to match the Philip Broberg offersheet. What that has done is take away two of the three right defensemen that played in the Oilers playoff run, 3 of 4 if you include Vincent Desharnais signing with the Vancouver Canucks. That has left a giant hole in a team that hopes to improve on their last season.

The Oilers Do Not Need TO Offer A PTO

While the Oilers back end may be a weaker than it was at this time last year, that does not mean that they need to bring in extra help in order to fix the problem. The Oilers main concern is winning the Stanley Cup and in order to do that you will need to have a solid group of defenseman in the playoffs. The key words there being “in the playoffs”. Before that you just need a defensive core that is good enough to keep you in contention till the deadline.

While the right side takes a steep drop after Evan Bouchard, I do believe I that both Troy Stecher and Ty Emberson are capable enough players to not cost the Oilers a playoff spot. At the same time though these two are two players I would not want to see on my roster night one of the playoffs, but that is what the trade deadline is for.

The Cap Space Is More Important

If the Oilers keep their roster the way it currently is and Evander Kane is not on the LTIR then by the time the deadline rolls around the Oilers could have enough money to bring in $4.4 million in cap space. That is enough to get $8.8 million in player cap hit if the other team chooses to retain 50% of the cap.

That is the main reason why I think the Oilers would be better off not bringing in anyone on a PTO. While signing Tyson Barrie(for example) would likely be an upgrade on Ty Emberson, I do not think that Barrie is better than a player the Oilers could bring in at the deadline. Now that being said this all hinders on the fact that the players currently in the lineup play good enough and the Oilers are in a good spot to bring in a big name player at the deadline.

While I was a huge fan of Tyson Barrie and Justin Schultz when they were here, I just do not think that bringing in another dman on the back end is what this team need to do right now. I think banking all that cap space to help at the deadline is much more important that bringing in a couple of average defenseman, this is why I do not think the Oilers need to invite anyone to a PTO.