{"id":492390,"date":"2026-02-22T17:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/492390\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T17:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:11:12","slug":"oilers-should-switch-the-defence-pairings-the-hockey-writers-edmonton-oilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/492390\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers Should Switch the Defence Pairings – The Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Oilers decided to bring back Paul Coffey behind the bench. This decision was made because the defence group hasn\u2019t been good enough<\/a>, and hopefully Coffey can provide a boost. They\u2019ve struggled on the penalty kill, and they\u2019ve given up too many quality chances at 5-on-5. Therefore, a change was necessary. However, they need more than just a new face behind the bench.<\/p>\n

The Oilers are ranked 25th in the league in both the penalty kill and goals against. They\u2019re only 76.9 percent on the penalty kill and have allowed 3.29 goals per game. Edmonton has also allowed the sixth-most high-danger shots against, at 123. For perspective, the Los Angeles Kings have allowed the least at only 76. If they want to find success down the stretch, those numbers must improve.<\/p>\n

Related: Oilers Coaching Staff Reportedly Unhappy with Coffey Hiring<\/a><\/p>\n

The Oilers need to do something different because what they\u2019re doing clearly isn\u2019t working. The coaching staff hasn\u2019t hesitated to mix up the forward lines, but for whatever reason, the defensive pairings have mainly remained intact, especially in the top four. Evan Bouchard has been stapled alongside Mattias Ekholm<\/a>, and Darnell Nurse<\/a> has primarily played with Jake Walman when the latter has been healthy. But it might be time to make some changes and mix up the pairings.<\/p>\n

Nurse Should Play with Bouchard<\/p>\n

While Nurse doesn\u2019t necessarily deserve a promotion<\/a> to the top pair, playing him with the team\u2019s best defenceman could elevate his game and make the team better. The veteran blueliner has had the most success alongside Bouchard this season, so the team should explore that option.<\/p>\n

In 85:23 of ice time at 5-on-5 with Bouchard, that pairing has been on for eight goals for and only three against for a 72.73 goals-for percentage. That duo has a 30-16 advantage in high-danger chances when on the ice, which is 65.22 percent of the high-danger opportunities.<\/p>\n

To put that into perspective, Bouchard has 56.27 percent of the high-danger chances paired with Ekholm, and Nurse has an underwhelming 43.18 percent of the high-danger chances paired with Walman. The numbers speak for themselves, so Nurse should get a look with Bouchard after the break.<\/p>\n

Ekholm Should Move to the Third Pair<\/p>\n

Ekholm has battled injuries, and his age looks to be catching up to him. So, it might be time to limit his minutes and shelter his matchups down the stretch. He\u2019s still a capable blueliner and could find success in a lesser role. He can be a true shutdown defenceman on the third pair, and the team needs that.<\/p>\n

\"MattiasMattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard, Edmonton Oilers (Amy Irvin<\/a> \/ The Hockey Writers)<\/p>\n

An Ekholm and Ty Emberson<\/a> pairing could work. They\u2019ve only played together for 14:19 at 5-on-5, but they have shown potential. They\u2019ve outscored their opponents 3-1, including having 60 percent of the high-danger opportunities in their limited ice time. They also have a 61.21 expected goals-for percentage. Those are positive numbers, so it would be interesting to see if they could sustain that over a larger sample size.<\/p>\n

Experiment Spencer Stastney with Walman<\/p>\n

This pairing would have the most uncertainty, but why not try Walman with Spencer Stastney<\/a>, especially if the other two pairs are effective? Out of these three suggested pairings, this one has been the worst, but that has a lot to do with Walman\u2019s lacklustre play. They\u2019ve played 70:01 together at 5-on-5 and haven\u2019t looked great, which is why adding a right-shot blueliner at the trade deadline<\/a> is imperative.<\/p>\n

They only have 35 percent of the high-danger chances and have been outscored 3-1, but haven\u2019t allowed a high-danger goal. Edmonton only has four games before the trade deadline, so hopefully, this pairing will be temporary. If they add a right-shot defenceman, they can finally move Walman to the left side<\/a>, where he\u2019s more comfortable, instead of playing him on the right side. At the end of the day, the Oilers need a lot more from Walman because he hasn\u2019t been nearly good enough.<\/p>\n

How should the Oilers deploy their blue line after the break? As the NHL resumes this week, keep following The Hockey Writers<\/a> for all your content throughout the season.<\/p>\n

Statistics are courtesy of Natural Stat Trick<\/a> and MoneyPuck<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"SUBSCRIBE<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Oilers decided to bring back Paul Coffey behind the bench. This decision was made because the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,29972,23752,36386,23988,150184],"class_list":["post-492390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-darnell-nurse","tag-edmonton","tag-evan-bouchard","tag-mattias-ekholm","tag-spencer-stastney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}