Oilers looking to shift trade focus toward one specific talent

Usually, a team's third and fourth lines adopt a defensive, shutdown role, though really, it's a mindset the entire lineup must learn to bring to each game, beginning with the head coach.

Where coach Knoblauch is concerned, his game plan has been to rely on the top-two lines for offense for most of the game and give the bottom-six guys the remaining ice-time, usually under eight minutes TOI.

It's a strategy that does not empower a lineup, give it the sense that they're contributing, making a difference in the game.

So when reports continue to surface that Edmonton is focusing on defense as its trade-deadline strategy, I'm not at all surprised, for several reasons.

The Oilers don't have the cap space to make a difference in multiple areas of the ice. According to PuckPedia, the team has $2.9M of team salary cap available as of today.

With Adam Henrique's $3M projected to come off the LTIR, that leaves Stan Bowman almost no money to work with at the trade-deadline.

Any deal hinges on what the GM can do with Mangiapane's $3.6M, including adding top picks and prospects for any trade to work.

Ryan O'Reilly is a name that keeps coming up for Edmonton. He's the prototypical defensive-forward that is relentless off the puck and makes a team stronger defensively. He can also produce; this year he has 20G and 56 points with Nashville.

Another name linked to Edmonton is Oliver Ekman-Larsson from Toronto. He's similar to Ekholm in terms of offense with 8G and 34 points and has a lower AAV at $3.5M and two years of term.

Defensively, OEL is solid and can be counted on to do his job. His TOI with the Leafs is 20:45.

With just weeks remaining before the March 6 deadline, you can bet that Bowman is narrowing his options, and most are pointing to defense.

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