Earlier I wrote about how the main issue for the Edmonton Oilers is their blue line, since then I have been thinking about how can the Oilers help make their blue line better before the trade deadline. Pretty much the only way was to sign one of the free agents. The good news for the Oilers though is it is deep enoough in the offseason that they don’t actually have to sign the defenseman they and just sign them to a professional try-out(PTO).
While you obviously aren’t going to get the highest quality of player on a PTO you can get a serviceable defenseman. In order to do this we need to take a quick look at which defenseman are still availed and who would be a solid fill in on the right side.
My Top Candidates
Tyson Barrie
This one time Oilers would be a solid fit for this team. We know he fits in with this group as he was a member of this team only a couple years ago. When he was on the team he ran the first unit powerplay and put up pretty decent points. For Barrie this time around though he would not be running the powerplay, so could his defensive game make up for his lack of offence he would be providing. When he played with the Oilers last time he did get some time playing with Nurse, a spot that is now vacant. Having a history would help him fit in better and understand the way the team plays.
Kevin Shattenkirk
A very similar scenario to Barrie, Kevin Shattenkirk was once one of the leagues top offensive defensemen. The problem with the Oilers and matching with an offensive defenseman is they don’t really need a defenseman whose main skill is getting points, they already have that with Bouchard. The thing with Shattenkirk is he is a veteran, so he understands how to defend NHL calibre players since he has been in the league so long.
While these two players might be an upgrade on the players that a currently slotted on the right side, the Oilers will need to take a look at their cap. The Oilers currently have $945,833 in cap space, if they can stay like that till the deadline they can afford a player who has an AAV of around $4.4 million. If they add an additional player that drops that number. The management will need to weigh out those options when making every decision moving forward including this one.