OK, GM Stan Bowman’s work is done.

While it’s far from a sexy trade, the Edmonton Oilers did find a team that would take Andrew Mangiapane’s troublesome contract off their hands Wednesday night which allowed them to pick up rental centre Jason Dickinson from Chicago in concert with Kirby Dach’s baby brother Colton, still trying to find his right lane on his NHL road.

It did cost the Oilers their 2027 first-round pick to the Hawks, which is for the birds. They don’t have one in 2026, either, after surrendering that to San Jose last trade deadline for Jake Walman and, as a UFA, this is a test drive on Dickinson who could walk July 1 as another centre pickup, Nick Bjugstad, did back on March 2, 2023, after they got him from Utah for the playoffs.

But they got the Hawks to eat half of Dickinson’s $4.25 million cap hit as Chicago did two days earlier when the Hawks ate half of 4-5 defenceman Connor Murphy’s $4.4 million, filling out the last two retention spots for Chicago.

In the grand scheme of things, the Oilers needed a right-shot third-line centre more than a left because they are very light there, especially now with Curtis Lazar out with a bum shoulder. Maybe they took a run at Toronto’s right-shot centre Nic Roy, but the price was too high.

So, Dickinson, 30, who has played for Dallas, Vancouver and the Hawks, and has often gone against Connor McDavid in a checking role when his team played the Oilers, comes in as an Oilers add, alongside his Hawks’ buddy Murphy. They got Murphy for a second-round pick in 2028.

Both trade pickups are far from wow, a long way from home runs. Say, ground rule doubles, but they fill needed holes. Indeed, the Oilers had a loud swing and miss on Mangiapane and less than a year later they had to trade a first-round pick to get his money off their books for Dickinson and Dach, who has potential but hasn’t proven he’s a legit, every day NHLer yet.

The Oilers are in the win-now with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and Bowman acted appropriately, filling holes. But again, they don’t have a first-rounder this June or the next one, which isn’t good. Mind you, they’ve made a history of trading those first-rounders, even if they did pick one, like they did with Reid Schaefer (for Mattias Ekholm) and Sam O’Reilly (for Ike Howard).

It’s anybody’s guess why Bowman didn’t just make one deal with the Hawks for Murphy and Dickinson, but he went back to the well, with the Hawks retaining 50 per cent on both Murphy and Dickinson, an absolute necessity.

The red flag with Dickinson is his health; he’s been hurt the past two seasons, 59 games last year and only 47 this season. But, when healthy, he’s got a lot of hockey IQ. He was in a checking role at centre with the Hawks behind Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, often going against the opponent’s stars, as Chicago coach Jeff Blashill told The Athletic in January. He was also part of the Hawks’ top ranked PK, as was Murphy.

“He’s had more of those matchups on a consistent basis, a hard thing. He has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. He’s a self-accountable person, who wants to win,” said Blashill, who saw Dickinson with a team best 50.77 Corsi percentage and he also had the most face offs in Chicago with 691, winning 49.5 per cent of them.

“Dickinson: Skating+Smart+Competitive,” said former NHL GM and TSN commentator Craig Button, who should be a soothsayer because he said two weeks ago the Oilers should be getting Murphy and Dickinson from the same team.

“Dickinson fills an important spot because his skating is so much better than (Adam) Henrique’s and it gets him into a better slot.”

Dickinson has pedestrian stats, 13 points this season, but he could take Henrique’s spot on the Oilers third line, moving Henrique to the fourth line. Henrique, who came to the Oilers at the 2024 trade deadline to be third-line centre or a winger in the top nine, is fine with whatever and wherever his role is.

“I’ll play anywhere,” said Henrique, whose contract ends this year.

The key was off-loading all of the failed free-agent signee Mangiapane’s $3.6 million for now and next season. Sadly, this is becoming a bad trend, signing guys from other teams on July 1 who don’t pan out: Jeff Skinner, Victor Arvidsson and now Mangiapane. That absolutely has to change with more than $20 million to spend again this upcoming July.

For now, they found another area code for Mangiapane, the winger who expressed frustration with his playing time back in December after playing early in the season with the big guns until he was moved to a third line or lower. They tried to move him for weeks, eventually putting him on waivers for cap reasons where he cleared. He went to Bakersfield, played 20 seconds on one shift to qualify as an AHL player, the requirement when clearing waivers, and flew back here Tuesday to await a trade.

The Hawks are banking on Mangiapane having a bounceback after seven goals and 14 points in 52 Oilers games, but if they change their mind on him over the summer they could buy him out. The key was the draft pick. They have two first-round picks in 2026 and now one in 2027.

When Bowman was the Hawks’ manager he drafted Dach, 23, who grew up in Fort Saskatchewan. He took the former WHL winger in the second round in 2021. He’s cheap, only $825,000, for a cap-starved team, and his contract is up after the season.

So this is a look-see for the big winger who has played 78 NHL games with five goals and 16 points, mostly in fourth-line duty with the Hawks.

With Curtis Lazar and Mattias Janmark out with shoulder problems, the Oilers have a hole on their fourth line now, so Dach will get a look there.

“Dach is a very good skater and he has a power element with an edge to his game. He’s capable of making opponents uncomfortable. Nice add for depth for Oilers,” said Button.

In terms of fiscal gymnastics, Oilers still had some manoeuvring after the trade, being $300,000 over the ceiling, but they put Lazar and his $775,000 cap hit on LTIR. They went that route rather than send Dach and his $825,000 to Bakersfield or returning centre Josh Samanski to the farm with Dickinson coming in.

They have $475,000 in cap space with 22 active players.