Talk of improving from within has been nothing short of exhausting. Oilers players don\u2019t seem to have answers, and the coaching staff can try to change up the lines \u2014 or even who\u2019s behind the bench itself \u2014 but nothing seems to be working.<\/p>\n
Just two days after picking up defensive defenceman Connor Murphy<\/a> from the Chicago Blackhawks, whose game emulates that of his father, Gord, Bowman was back on the ringer with Kyle Davidson. This time, it was to bring in a nearly ideal third-line centre<\/a>, Jason Dickinson, and a young player in Colton Dach.The cost didn\u2019t appear cheap. They moved out a disgruntled asset in Andrew Mangiapane, and a top-12 protected first-round pick in 2027 to make the deal and the money work. Fan reaction has been swift<\/a>, with many expressing sticker shock at the trade.<\/p>\n Understandably, many still clutch onto the concept of first-round picks being worth their weight in gold, but the reality is that the acquisition cost is more than fair. For one, the Oilers were believed to need to attach some kind of an asset to get out from Mangiapane, whose contract has a year left on it, whether that be a player or a draft pick. Then there needed to be value for the Blackhawks to use their final retention slot two days out from the deadline to eat 50 per cent of Dickinson\u2019s contract, which expires at the end of this season.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0PuckPedia\u2019s cap relief calculator<\/a>, the cost of Chicago taking on the remaining money on Mangiapane\u2019s deal is equivalent to the 35th overall selection in the draft. If all goes according to plan, Edmonton\u2019s pick will be very late in the first round, so Edmonton did more than well on that front.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the players.<\/p>\n Dickinson is considered one of the best shutdown centres in the NHL, spending the majority of his ice time in matchup roles going up against opposing teams\u2019 elite talent, something the Oilers haven\u2019t had in some time. According to hockeystats.com, he provides defensive Wins Above Replacement (WAR) at the 11th-best rate of any centre in the league this season, and over the last four years in aggregate, at the eighth-best rate. Hockey Viz, meanwhile, has his defensive contributions operating at a 20 per cent rate higher than a league-average player.<\/p>\n No Oilers centre has provided as much defensive value in a single season as Dickinson since Derek Ryan in 2022-23, and on a per-hour basis, there hasn\u2019t been another centre beyond Ryan in the analytics era (beginning in 2007-08) to be as strong defensively as he has been this season.<\/p>\n The long and short of it is this: Dickinson is as good as they come defensively, and is of a mold that the Oilers simply haven\u2019t had in a very, very long time.<\/p>\n And his acquisition is going to open up plenty of options for Kris Knoblauch<\/a> and his coaching staff.<\/p>\n No door may open more than for Dickinson to be utilized against opponents\u2019 top lines. Easiest done at home, that is going to create the opportunity for lines centred by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to spend less of their time going up against top competition, something both have done at high rates this season. Dickinson\u2019s ability to kill penalties could limit McDavid\u2019s short-handed ice time, too, which he\u2019s done at the second-highest rate per game played of his career.<\/p>\n Scoring goals is Edmonton\u2019s strength, something they\u2019ll be able to continue to do, but Dickinson\u2019s acquisition wasn\u2019t about further pushes for offence. It\u2019s about boosting their play in their own zone, and Edmonton just got the kind of player they\u2019ve been searching for for years.<\/p>\n Lord knows they need it.<\/p>\n Zach Laing is Oilersnation\u2019s managing editor, and The Nation Network\u2019s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report<\/a>. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing<\/a>, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.PRESENTED BY THE DAILY FACEOFF TRADE DEADLINE SPECIAL![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SPE-TDL_Marketing_Article_727x404-FINAL-opt2.png\")
<\/a>The 2026 Trade Deadline Special is going LIVE March 6th. Join the Daily Faceoff crew on Friday, March 6th from 9 AM-1:30 PM MT for wall-to-wall coverage of every single move as it happens. Get instant reaction, expert analysis, and exclusive insights from special guests throughout the day. Tune in LIVE on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel<\/a>\u00a0and don\u2019t miss a second of deadline day chaos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sticker shock aside, Oilers\u2019 acquisition of Dickinson furthers commitment to improving team defence The Edmonton Oilers can\u2019t play…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":{"0":"post-515702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-edmonton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515702","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=515702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}