Improving right wing, right defense the top priorities for Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers had a disappointing second round exit to the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Vegas Golden Knights, even if they put up the best fight against them in the playoffs, and are now going to look for ways to improve the weaknesses that Vegas exposed. They only have about $5 million in cap space to make it work, so they’ll either need to be efficient or move out some of their own money.

So what is their biggest priority this offseason? Jason Gregor joined Daily Faceoff Live to talk about where the Oilers will likely look to improve their roster this summer.

Jason Gregor: I think that they’re going to look at if they can somehow tweak their right defense. But that would be a significant move, because it’s likely going to mean that Cody Ceci’s out. Bouchard’s not going anywhere, and I’m pretty bullish, I think Vincent Desharnais is going to be the ultimate late developer with his size. He has to improve his puck skills, and that’s what he’s going to do this summer.

Kailer Yamamoto, I don’t expect him here, so that means you’ve got a right wing top six forward position, and you’re going to either play with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. There is no right wing position available in the NHL that’s more attractive for a right winger to get to play with either one of those two guys. If I’m Ken Holland, I’m using that. And I wonder if there’s guys on the free agent market. Tomas Tatar shoots left, but he can play on the right side, would he sign a one-year deal, come here, pad your stats, have some success, and who knows what happens. The only unfortunate part about Tatar is that he’s never really done anything in the playoffs, so that’s an issue.

I don’t think they need a third line center. I think Ryan McLeod is the guy they’re going to use at center. He’s got great speed, skates, kills penalties, he gets the crumbs on the second unit of the power play, but I thought he really took a step in the playoffs last year. He’s a young guy, and he’ll just emerge. He’s probably going to get a $2 million deal this summer, so I think McLeod’s their third line center. They need a fourth line center, and potentially some bottom guys if Klim Kostin leaves to the KHL, which I think is probably a low percentage chance.

So, I think right wing in the top six, if I’m a right winger, and I know Connor Brown’s name has been attached to Edmonton a lot, and it makes sense. That’s the one change that could be significant, and it doesn’t have to be a huge point guy, because Edmonton scores goals. Scoring goals isn’t their problem, they have to find a right winger who’s good offensively, but also reliable defensively.

You can watch the full episode here…