The Oilers problems at the back end are dire. The Defense is miserable in all facets of the game. From their own zone out it has been a nightmare this season. The group is physically overmatched and mentally battered right now. Collectively they needed everything to go right, and it just didn’t. It’s now up to Craig MacTavish to start finding pieces for this back end that are not just going to be good in the future but that are also good today. The Oilers will surely start debuting some prospects after the deadline to get their feet wet but the plan cant be to let next year’s Blueline feature Marincin, Nurse, and Ekblad (?), so there has to be someone coming in via trade.
The Oil have trade chips that can be moved if the right return is there. There are pieces that I think should still be off limits like Yakupov (because I think there’s an elite player there waiting to bust out) but outside of the lottery pick players there are still others who can be moved without too much regret. The most notable player the Oil can part with is Sam Gagner. He’s a player I have always liked but the Tambellini administration took almost every impactful NHL Defender the team had and turned them all to ash, so now the team needs to find a better balance in the roster.
What the Oilers could do to fix their D immediately is to steal Chicago’s top two Blueliners, but that isn’t going to fly so there have to be alternatives. There have to be players who could potentially be moved but are still quality pieces.
WHAT ARE THE OILERS MISSING?
So what are the Oilers missing, specifically, from their backend?
Well, the Oilers D is thin at the left side so ideally they want a left handed shot. The Port side is occupied by Ference, Belov, and Nick Schultz with the last two names being UFAs who could conceivably be dealt at the deadline. They have Nurse and Klefbom in the system but neither are NHL players today.
The Oil also need some size back there in a player who is willing to play a physical brand of hockey. Make no mistake, the Oilers technically have some size on Defense. Both Belov and Petry are 6’3”+ and 200+ pounds. The problem is that neither are overly physical. I’m pretty sure Petry is trying to win a congeniality contest most nights.
Another huge issue the Oilers have is that their Blueline doesn’t create nearly as many shots as they need to. To put this into perspective I want to highlight the amount of shots some good teams have generated from the Defensemen: St Louis 428, Los Angeles 459, Chicago 478, and Vancouver a whopping 553 shots. Edmonton, in comparison, has generated 298 shots. That, simply put, is embarrassing.
WISH LIST
So with those things in mind I started doing some window shopping around the league and came up with a few names, but as you can imagine the list of names with that criteria who are also young enough to be part of Edmonton’s rebuild is
full of players unlikely to be moved. Names like McDonagh, Ekman-Larson, or Hedman are pie in the sky dreams. But, maybe, it is possible to target an Eric Gelinas or a Jake Muzzin.
Let’s build a case for Jake Muzzin, for example. The Kings and the Oilers have been frequent trading partners. These two franchises are comfortable dealing between each other despite both existing in the Western Conference. The Kings are 23rd in the NHL when it comes to the category of “Goals For”. They desperately need offense even though they are a great possession team. Is there a player on the Oil who could fit into their top 6 better than say Dwight King does right now? This is a quality club that has a lot of trouble scoring.
The window to win championships doesn’t stay open forever, can LA live without Muzzin if it means addressing scoring? I think so, but this is a wishlist player. If it isn’t Muzzin then the Oilers need someone who can do the things he does.
TELL ME ABOUT HIM
Jake Muzzin is 24 years old and paid his dues in the AHL. He has played 151 games for the Monarchs and has now appeared in 100 NHL contests. He is not a grizzled vet by any stretch of the imagination, but he isn’t wet behind the ears either. This is a guy who was put through the paces and developed the right way, as the Kings have proven able to do over and over again.
He stands 6’3” and 214 pounds with a left-hand shot. Physically speaking, he’s exactly what the Oilers need. Muzzin has 99 hits on the season as of today which can sometimes mean that you aren’t playing with the puck (true of the Oilers), but the Kings are a high possession club and Muzzin is not an outlier with brutal possession numbers. So we are more likely seeing a player who can bring a physical edge to his game. He also has 42 PIMs this year which would put him 2nd on the Oiler D only behind Ference.
As far as shots and possession goes, Muzzin is faring well in both departments. He has 101 shots on net this year already. Again, in comparison, Justin Schultz is leading the Oilers defense in shots and he only has 58. But this isn’t something that is a blip on the radar, this is a skill (getting shots through) that he seems to have had in previous years and in the AHL as well. He did go from 77 shots in 45 games last year in his 1st full season to 101 in 44 today, but in the American Hockey League he was putting up comparable numbers. This is important for anyone who wants to argue that his totals are because he plays with Drew Doughty.
Yes, it is absolutely important to note that he plays with Drew Doughty. Muzzin has played 663 minutes of Even Strength hockey and 503 of those minutes have been with Drew Doughty. In those minutes the pairing has undoubtedly played the best competition available and despite that they have a
Corsi For % of 59.8, which is absolutely incredible. What that means for anyone unfamiliar is that when you take all of the shots, missed shots, and blocked shots that happen for the Kings and against them 59.8% of them will be for the Kings.
But this IS with Drew Doughty so isn’t it possible that these numbers are driven by the Kings stud defenseman? Yes, it certainly is possible, but Without Doughty Jake Muzzin has played 156 Even Strength minutes this year and has a Corsi % of 64.8, even BETTER than with Doughty. Now, I think we can assume that in those minutes away from Doughty Muzzin is playing against lesser opponents but he is still crushing the opposition.
SO HE’S THE GUY?
Well, if Muzzin isn’t available then he represents everything that the Oilers are looking for in a Defender. He is still young, on a favourable contract, he has been brought up to play the right way, he’s physical, he can generate shots from the blueline, and he can play with skill. He isn’t a name-brand 1st pairing player, but he’s a heck of a hockey player.
I don’t know if there’s a great fit between the Oilers and the Kings, but if I was putting together my wish list of players Edmonton should target at the deadline or in the offseason then Muzzin would be at the top in the “Might Actually Be Available” category. He has everything the team is looking for, but do the Oilers have the right available assets to get it done? They need to find out.
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