The Edmonton Oilers may have a problem most teams would take in a heartbeat: too many usable defensemen and not enough lineup spots to go around.
While the forward group has been hit hard by injuries, the blue line has mostly held up. Jake Walman is the only defender who’s missed time so far, sitting out a few games in October before returning.
Since then, Edmonton’s back end has stayed healthy enough that the coaching staff doesn’t have extra room to experiment. That leaves a real question at the bottom of the depth chart, where multiple players are fighting for one of the last openings.
The top four appears settled. Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard are driving the first pair, while Connor Murphy and newcomer Ryan Shea have settled into the next wave. The uncertainty starts on the third pair, where Walman seems to have locked down one spot and the final role is down to Ty Emberson and Shakir Mukhamudullin.
Emberson and Mukhamudullin have taken very different routes to Edmonton. Mukhamadullin came over in July as part of the Darnell Nurse trade, while Emberson arrived in another deal in August 2024, when the Oilers were reshaping the roster for another run at the Cup. Both have had opportunities, but the competition is still open.
On the surface, Emberson has the cleaner stat line. Through six games, he has one assist, nine hits and a plus-2 rating while averaging 12:19 of ice time.
Mukhamadullin, in five games, has one goal, seven blocks, a minus-five rating and 11:52 per night. The gap is there, but not by much.
There’s also enough ice-time history with Walman to judge how these combinations have worked. Emberson and Walman have played just under 29 minutes together, and their numbers sit in the middle of the pack among Oilers defense pairs with an expected goals against of 1.4 and an expected goals percentage of 48.1 per cent.
Emberson’s minutes with Mukhamadullin, meanwhile, tell a different story. That duo has also cleared the minimum threshold, but the results rank near the bottom in most team categories over more than 29 minutes together. That doesn’t shut the door on another look, especially if injuries or Walman issues force Edmonton’s hand, but it does suggest that pairing would need cleaner execution and more help from the rest of the lineup.
The case for Emberson is straightforward. He’s already shown over two-plus seasons that he can handle a shutdown role in depth minutes, and he fits naturally with Walman, who likes to activate in the play. That kind of balance matters, and Emberson has earned the trust to keep building that chemistry as the sixth defenseman.
Mukhamadullin is younger and still in the learning phase at the NHL level. That isn’t a criticism so much as a reality. The Oilers do have more experienced options, and because of that, the safer path may be to let him keep developing in the AHL before bringing him back later in the season and looking further down the road toward 2027-28.
If head coach Mike Babcock wants to carry seven defensemen for now, Mukhamadullin still has value in that role. He could give the Oilers a workable seventh option, ready for a night off, an injury or a back-to-back. But in terms of the current pecking order, Emberson gives them the stronger, more reliable fit right now.
Alec Regula could complicate things once he’s back in the mix. He opened the season injured after offseason surgery and is on long-term injured reserve, with no clear timetable yet. When he does return, he’ll be another name the Oilers have to consider.
Regula hasn’t been the flashiest defender during his time with Edmonton, but the fact that he’s still in the organization after arriving in 2024 says plenty about how the team views him. With a new head coach and a different defensive setup than last season, there’s at least a chance he can take another step.
That raises more questions for Edmonton’s defense than it answers. Would Regula jump Mukhamadullin?
How would the pairings shift if he becomes a regular? Those are decisions the Oilers may not have to make right away, but they’re part of the picture as the team tries to settle on the best version of its blue line.
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