The Edmonton Oilers suffered a deflating loss at the hands of the Florida Panthers last night, their second-consecutive loss by at least a three-goal margin. Their turnaround under new head coach Kris Knoblauch has been strong regardless, but these past two losses have made clear that there are still underlying issues with the Oilers’ roster construction.
It’s not just a goaltending issue, either. The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman wrote late last night that the Oilers are currently receiving “nothing” from their middle-six forwards, and the team will likely need to look for external additions to strengthen that weak area. (subscription link)
Nugent-Bowman specifically singled out two players as “the biggest disappointments” in the middle-six relative to the offense they were expected to produce: Ryan McLeod and Connor Brown.
McLeod, an energetic pivot who helps keep play flowing in a positive direction, has just seven points in 28 games and is no longer receiving power-play ice time. Brown, 29, lost all of last season to a knee injury but as recently as 2021-22 had scored 39 points.
Brown has two 20-goal seasons on his resume but has yet to score his first goal as an Oiler, despite playing in 22 games for the club so far. Brown is owed a $3.225MM bonus, and with the Oilers up against the salary cap the team will be tagged with that number on next year’s cap sheet.
With just one point in his time in Edmonton, it’s looking less and less likely that Brown will be able to produce like the difference-making middle-six winger he was signed to be.
This leaves the Oilers in a difficult spot: their eight-game winning streak demonstrated that they are a team capable of making the playoffs, but their horrific start to the year makes that task more challenging than it is for other teams.
Without an abundance of trade assets to draw from in order to make deals, one wonders if the Oilers are better off using those scarce resources in the often price-inflated in-season trade market, or waiting until the offseason to make more meaningful roster surgery.
Beyond just an issue of assets available, the Oilers’ lack of cap space also threatens their ability to add external help over the course of the season.
With netminder Jack Campbell in the minors and taking up $3.85MM against the cap, the Oilers may not be able to add anyone impactful, such as the Montreal Canadiens’ Sean Monahan, for example, without money going the other way in the deal. As a result, the challenge of finding a suitable trade is made all the more difficult.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
McLeod has been ridiculously inconsistent, with frequent judgement errors, and Connor Brown seems to be playing with post-traumatic injury syndrome. As in, he may be healthy, but his mind might be fearful of another bad injury just around the corner. They allegedly brought him in because of the chemistry he had with McDavid in Erie. For some reason, that doesn’t seem to work very well when guys hit the NHL.
What DON’T the Oilers need?
This is what happens when you let one player dictate the roster. This isn’t the NBA, you can’t build around one or two players exclusively. Look at the championship teams from the past decade+ and tell me what they all had in common – Depth! Four solid lines, 7-8 defensemen, multiple goalies. To get through a season, to win 16 more games, it takes depth.