Oilers Rumored To Still Acquire Another Big Piece

The Edmonton Oilers have flipped a switch on their season and have stormed to two points back of the division lead. Late November and into early December is generally where the Oilers start to play well and climb the standings, but this season, they have already made a couple of trades prior to doing so.

The Oilers acquired Tristan Jarry and he is undefeated, but injured, and also brought in Spencer Stastney, who looks great on defense.

David Pagnotta said, "(Jarry) is signed next season. This is now something they don't have to necessarily worry about. This can allow them to focus on other elements, including...bringing in a top-6 guy which I believe is on the docket."

As a contender, it isn't believed that the Oilers are done making their team better, even with a lack of cap space. They can do a lot more in the offseason, but this is yet another important season in which they have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. With Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and company, that is the goal.

Jack Roslovic and Vasily Podkolzin have made themselves valuable pieces that can be used in the top-6, pushing players like Matthew Savoie and Andrew Mangiapane down to the bottom-6. But when healthy, the Oilers have a real logjam up front and on the back-end. The defense has been stable enough and doesn't have to be addressed, but the forward depth is always something Edmonton is trying to make right.

This season more than any other, the Oilers have a lot of good young talent in the AHL, and we've seen some of them like Isaac Howard, Quinn Hutson, and Cal Clattenburg. There will have to be some tough decisions between sending players down or trading them if the Oilers are looking to bring in another top-6 player.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been great as the LW on the top line with McDavid because of the experience alongside him and on that line, but the Oilers would also like him to play the third line center role as he'd be a major upgrade over Adam Henrique and would create some great depth. The Oilers will have to free up some cap space and make a number of moves to get where they likely want to be up front before the playoffs.