Underrated defence problem may lead to Oilers trade, says analyst

Outside of newly-extended Evan Bouchard, the Oilers lack depth at the right-defense position, a scenario that has both caused problems in terms of defensive-structure, and has revealed the team's weakness on defense.

Outside of the first d-pairing of Bouchard and Ekholm, the remaining pairings are uncertain, mainly due to there not being a clear-cut right-defense option, as the Oilers failed to replace out-going free agent John Klingberg.

For a contending team, having only one right-defense in the top-4 is risky. Last season, when the Oilers utilized Darnell Nurse at the right side, the results were less than ideal, creating a roster problem for GM Scott Bowman and head coach Chris Knoblauch, where the latter will now be forced to use one of right-d Troy Stecher, Ty Emberson, and Joshua Brown on the second d-pairing.

Left-defense Jake Walman has been one of the more consistent defensemen since coming to the Oilers at last season's trade deadline. He could conceivably play the right-d on the second pairing. Yet, though he played well in that role, Jake prefers his natural left side, which could especially be problematic if he's paired with another left-d like Darnell Nurse, who's underperformed, regardless of which side he plays, left or right.

No clear picture presents itself, therefore, where the Oilers' defense is concerned, which should not be the case, considering Nurse's $9.25M cap hit; that he's in year 4 of an 8-year contract, only adds to the uncertainty with which the Oilers are faced on D.

This is not the case on the left-side defense, however; the Oilers have plenty of good options there, with Ekholm, Dineen, Kulak, Walman, and, well, Nurse.

A solution, of course, would be for Stan Bowman to trade Darnell for a solid top-4 right-d; but finding a trade partner will not be easy, for the reasons already mentioned. The Oilers would have to absorb a large portion of his salary to get a decent asset back, while the potential team would still have 4 years of team-control.