NHL Insider Reveals When Edmonton Oilers Could Make Their Next Trade

The Edmonton Oilers were expected to make a President's Trophy run this season, but instead a quarter of the way through the season, they've got a mediocre 11-9-2 record, and sit out of a playoff spot at 9th place in the Western Conference.

American Thanksgiving has long been the timeline when NHL teams have shown who they are, and with few exceptions, the teams in a playoff spot stay in a playoff spot from then on.

So far, the Oilers may have proven that they're not as good as they were last season, and it'd be irresponsible to bet on another historic 16 game win streak. Improvements need to happen now.

The Oilers goaltending ranks near last in every category, being the team's biggest problem so far this season.

The defence is weaker than last year, but is the only position actually outperforming expectations.

The offence has underperformed with major slumps from Hyman, Nugent-Hopkins, Jeff Skinner, Arvidsson, and more.

Recent reports from Bob Stauffer revealed that the Oilers are exploring off the radar trade candidates for their defence this season - and perhaps off the radar candidates for other positions too.

While it's still most likely the Oilers will trade for a defender, they're mostly showing that they need more scoring and better goaltending.

The Oilers will play 5 games in the next ten days, against Utah, Colorado, Vegas, Columbus, and St. Louis. Stan Bowman will mostly be looking for solid efforts against the contending teams to see how the team holds up against elite competition.

The Edmonton Oilers need to turn around their season, and it needs to happen quickly. Having any doubt about their playoff chances later in the season would be an abject failure by management and the players.