The Edmonton Oilers may run into a problem with their current defensive group, but nobody seems to be taking much note of it.
After losing John Klingberg in free agency and adding no new defencemen, the Oilers will have one less NHL defender on their active roster to start the new season. Losing Klingberg doesn’t present a major problem, as he probably wasn’t capable of playing the top-four minutes that the team required. The issue is that they no longer have any right-handed option to play in the top four other than Evan Bouchard.
As it stands, the Oilers’ defensive group is most likely going to look something like this on opening night:
Mattias Ekholm-Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse-Jake Walman
Brett Kulak-Ty Emberson/Troy Stecher
On the surface, there doesn’t appear to be much of an issue with that group, and that may still be the case, but a problem could arise.
Jake Walman playing on the Oilers’ second pair shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. He’s been one of the team’s most consistent defenders since being acquired at last year’s trade deadline and impressed in the playoffs as well.
Playing him on his off side next to Darnell Nurse could be an issue. The left-handed Walman has plenty of experience playing on the right side, but it’s clear that the Oilers were more comfortable having him on his natural side. That became evident in the playoffs, where he helped anchor a strong pairing next to Klingberg.
That duo fared more than decently in the regular season together, posting a strong xGF% of 61.09 and outscoring opponents by an 8-2 margin in 105 minutes together at five-on-five, but it begs the question of whether that is sustainable over an entire season.
It’s also risky to have just one right-handed defender capable of playing top-four minutes on a team that is supposed to be contending. If Walman doesn’t work out in that spot, there isn’t a player waiting in the wings to easily take his place, unless you want to gamble on one of Troy Stecher or Ty Emberson to make that jump.
You certainly don’t want both Stecher and Emberson in the lineup regularly if everybody is healthy.
The Oilers tried to play Nurse on the right side last season, but that didn’t have the results they were hoping for.
Brett Kulak can also move over to the right side, but he’s proven to be much better staying in that third-pair LD role. Still, that possibility would allow you to move Nurse down to the third pair LD, slot Walman in as the second pair LD, while giving him minutes with Kulak as the second pair RD.
In that case, Edmonton would have to reconcile playing a $9 million defender in a third-pair spot.
If you had to re-read those last few paragraphs, it’s because it’s a confusing situation. One that could get even more convoluted if they can’t find a way to simultaneously relieve the logjam at LD and find a way to balance things out on RD.
Now, this could all be solved if the Nurse-Walman experiment is a success, but if it isn’t, expect yet another trade deadline where the Oilers are targeting a top-four RD.