The Oilers find themselves a little snakebitten as of late. The RNH-McDavid-Hyman line that was so dominate for much of the season has not produced much for the Oilers as of late. RNH in particular has struggled. The forward has 1 goal in his last 13 games and it was a PPG. He has not scored at 5 on 5 since January 2nd against the Flyers.

The chances are there and eventually this trio will start producing but it once again points out the surprising issue for this Oilers team. The defense and the goaltending are no longer the biggest concerns; scoring is.

I didn't like putting Perry up with Kane and Draisaitl as I thought the trio would have a difficult time keeping up and playing with pace. They have responded by being the Oilers best line since being put together. I'm happy to see they are producing but I still don't think this is the trio the Oilers want to run down the stretch.

Edmonton plays 34 games in their next 66 games. Perry can certainly moonlight in the top six in some situations but running the 38 year old winger in that role for this compressed of a schedule seems like a disaster waiting to happen. A top six winger with scoring capabilities is still the biggest deadline priority.

It also appears that the defensive pairings are being reverted. I was an advocate for pairing Desharnais with Nurse to see how he fared and it's clear that at least as of right now, VD is not ready for that kind of role. That isn't an admonishment of the player; he is an excellent shutdown third pairing option and now the Oilers know that at least this season he can't be an option over Cody Ceci.

It also looks like Sam Gagner draws back in for the Oilers tonight, likely replacing Mattias Janmark on the fourth line alongside Ryan and Brown. Eventually Brown is going to have to see the inside of the pressbox but good on Knoblauch to at least push out one of the PK not producing bottom six players to put in a guy who has produced.

I like Derek Ryan but one has to think a fourth line centre is also a priority for Holland at the deadline. Ryan also isn't producing great numbers and we have seen him be more effective as a RW than a centre. I would love Dowd but not at the 1st round pick price that is being floated around.

Thanks for reading!

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