Oilers Linked To Interesting Young Defenseman On Ducks

The Edmonton Oilers' defense might look a bit different by this time next year as four of their top seven defensemen are heading into the final year of their deals and are UFAs. This includes Mattias Ekholm, Jake Walman, Brett Kulak, and Troy Stecher. At the very least, I think two of these players will re-sign before next offseason even starts, but at the same time, at least one of them will be gone.

If it is any of Ekholm, Walman, or Kulak, the Oilers will need to find an NHL replacement. Seeing how the team has gotten younger and faster and that doesn't just appear to be a one-year plan, Stan Bowman is likely looking for youthful upgrades on the back-end as well. Edmonton signed Atro Leppanen, which was solid, but there's an even more interesting d-man Bob Stauffer linked to the Oilers.

This player is Olen Zellweger from the Anaheim Ducks. He and Pavel Mintyukov weren't the happiest with how last season went. They are both talented young defensemen who should be in the lineup every day and are going to develop into much better players, but they both sat out quite a bit. Zellweger played 62 games, scoring seven goals and 20 points. He had only played 26 games in the NHL prior to last season.

Zellweger played third pairing minutes and averaged just under 19 minutes per game. That isn't the problem, it was sitting out a quarter of the season when he was effective and needing to be in the lineup every day. I don't think the Oilers could give him that either right now as their left side is pretty full, but if things aren't improving for Zellweger in Anaheim, the Oilers might have a small window to scoop him up mid-season.

By next year, he will be more developed and the Oilers would have an easier path to getting him a regular spot in the lineup. While Zellweger averaged 2:24 of ice time on the power play last season, that won't be a reality with the Oilers as Evan Bouchard has that role locked down for a long time. With the lack of defensemen the Oilers have coming, Zellweger does make sense in the near future, but maybe the team opens a bit of cap space and moves Kulak now in return for him. That may not sit well with some people given what Kulak has brought to Edmonton, but the Oilers have already made some hard choices this offseason to get younger and look different.