The Oilers have put themselves in a comfortable spot early, but that hasn’t stopped the conversation about what the roster could look like once everyone is healthy and the front office starts looking for small upgrades.
Zach Hyman, Matt Savoie and Devon Levi are still waiting to slot into an already strong group, while younger players like Colton Dach, Shakir Mukhamadullin and Owen Michaels keep earning more ice time and showing progress. Jason Dickinson has the third-line centre job locked down, Matthieu Joseph and Alex Formenton have been steady, and the blue line has turned out to be deeper and better than many expected. Even with that, Trent Frederic and Jake Walman are two players signed to term who should be given time to work through their struggles.
If Edmonton wants to make a tweak, the easiest path could be moving Isaac Howard and/or Max Jones down to open a spot for another winger. The other obvious need is at centre, where more depth never hurts.
One internal option is Quinn Hutson, who could come up from the Bakersfield Condors. Hutson, one of three Hutson brothers in the NHL, had a breakout season with Bakersfield last year and already has five goals in nine games there this season.
He brings a shot that can beat goalies cleanly, plays with some bite, and could help on the third or fourth line. He also showed in a brief Edmonton call-up last season that he can handle himself at the NHL level.
Another Condors winger worth considering is Connor Clattenburg. He’s still sharpening his game in the AHL, but his style is easy to notice.
Clattenburg plays on the edge, gets under opponents’ skin, and has spent much of his AHL career running the other teams’ players and chirping them. Condors coach Colin Chaulk has said the winger needs to stay out of the box and develop his game.
A line with Michaels, Frederic and Clattenburg would be a problem for anyone trying to skate through the middle of the ice.
Aku Raty is another name in the Bakersfield mix, though he’s been out since Oct. 24 after getting hurt. Before the injury, the Finnish winger had been the team’s best player despite Bakersfield’s rough start to the season through nine games.
Once he’s healthy, he should be in the conversation for Edmonton as well. He would bring grit and more sandpaper to the fourth line, and a unit with Michaels, Frederic and Raty would make life miserable for opposing defenders.
If the Oilers decide the answer isn’t in-house, a trade could be the next move. Bakersfield isn’t especially deep, so a deal for a winger might not require a major price.
Reid Schaefer is one possibility. The Oilers originally drafted him before he was sent to Nashville in the Ekholm trade.
At 6-foot-5 and 226 pounds, he brings size and a good shot, and while he hasn’t found his footing at the NHL level, his numbers on the Predators’ farm team have been decent. Bringing the Edmonton native back would also add size to Bakersfield if he’s not ready to stick full-time.
Matt Rempe is another winger who could be available. The New Rangers forward is one of the league’s superheavyweights, and the Alberta product is known for his fists.
He hasn’t played much this season, but he offers more than just fighting. Rempe forechecks hard and has some skill, too.
Cole Smith is also on the list. The Blackhawks winger is a hard-nosed option who would bring more toughness to the lineup. He’s familiar with the Western Conference, protects his teammates, and throws his weight around every shift.
The centre market has a couple of names as well. Boone Jenner has been connected to the Oilers for some time.
He’s a centre by trade, though he’s playing wing for the Washington Capitals right now. Jenner has a big frame, is known as a character guy, wins faceoffs, and gives a team a strong net-front presence.
Noel Acciari is another option. He’s with the Philadelphia Flyers now, and the Rhode Island native is built at 5-foot-11 and 204 pounds.
Last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he scored 13 goals and added 12 assists in 67 games, and he finished at plus-14 on Sidney Crosby’s team. His defensive work has been consistently above average, he can handle faceoffs, and he stays out of the penalty box.
In Other News...
McDavid Took A Heavy Hit And Oilers Tempers Boiled Over
Connor McDavid took a heavy hit at Rogers Place and, as often happens when the Oilers captain gets roughed up, the temperature in the building rose fast. Edmonton was already in a chippy game against Anaheim, with penalties piling up and bodies finishing every play, and Evan Bouchards power-play goal late in the first period had already helped steady things on the scoreboard.
The hit on McDavid set off the kind of reaction the Oilers have been trying to channel all season, with Vasily Podkolzin jumping into the scrum and the officials sorting through the aftermath. Edmontons frustration was obvious as the physical play kept building, and the sequence left the Oilers facing the kind of discipline questions and emotional fallout that can linger well beyond one shift. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Debut New Look With One Awkward Trend Hanging Over It
The NHLs new Hometown Remix jerseys have already started making the rounds, giving all 32 teams a fresh look built around pieces of their own cities. Around the league, clubs such as Florida, Chicago, San Jose, Montreal, Pittsburgh and Columbus have already worn the design in recent games, and the early results have been rough enough to turn the rollout into a minor curiosity.
Edmonton is next up, set to unveil its version in an upcoming home game, and the timing comes with a little extra baggage attached. The first wave of Hometown Remix appearances has produced more frustration than fanfare, so the Oilers will be hoping the new threads land better in the building than they have for several of their peers. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Fans Have Every Reason To Be Furious Over This Call
A strange sequence during the Oilers-Ducks game left plenty of people in Edmonton shaking their heads, and not just because of the fight itself. Vasily Podkolzin and Drew Helleson got tangled up in an altercation that quickly turned into one of those moments where the NHLs rulebook seems to matter less than the interpretation on the ice, especially when the explanation coming back from the officials was anything but clear.
For Oilers fans, the frustration goes beyond a single whistle. The league has long wrestled with inconsistent standards on fighting and supplemental discipline, and this was another example of how murky those calls can feel in real time. The Aggressor Rule has been floated as a cleaner way to handle situations like this, but for now Edmonton is left with the same old complaint: too often, nobody seems to know exactly what the punishment should be until after the damage is done. [Read more 🡒]