December 23, 2020 /

Edmonton Oilers Talk: Which UFA Dman Should the Oilers Add? If Any…

Put yourself in Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland’s shoes for a second. You pick up your latest edition of the Oilers depth chart for this season and you look down at the defense and see this,

LHD RHD
Darnell Nurse Ethan Bear*
Caleb Jones Adam Larsson
Kris Russell Tyson Barrie
William Lagesson Evan Bouchard
Theodor Lennstrom

*unsigned
Oscar Klefbom (LTIR)

You’ve got William Lagesson sitting there, more or less a depreciating asset. At what point does he get a chance? Also, what was the point in bringing Theodor Lennstrom in if he wasn’t going to get a chance as well.

Is your first instinct to go out and see what the market is on another left-handed defenseman?

Apparently, it is, as we’ve heard that the Oilers are looking at trading one of their wingers for a left-shot defender and more recently, the names of Slater Koekkoek and Ben Hutton have emerged thanks to Oilers insider Bob Stauffer and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Madison Bowey’s name has been bandied about as well…

So since those names have come up specifically, let’s take a gander at some of their statistical metrics to see if they might glean anything as to whether or not one, both, or none of these players could help the Oilers.

I’ll highlight the stats (5×5, relative, 2018-2020) that I believe are important in this exercise and then try to explain below each table.

As we can see, Hutton played a helluva lot more than Koekkoek with regards to games (SK has been plagued by injury throughout his career) and I suppose TOI/gm as well (both were third-pair dmen) but it didn’t really help him in the individual metrics. Koekkoek played a grittier game (more hits, shots blocked, PIMS per 60), scored more points per 60, and had better luck shooting. But in terms of the “i” possession stats, the two were pretty equal.

I will grade this comparison in favor of Slater Koekkoek because as a third-pair dman who is a veteran, I would imagine the Oilers are looking for the kind of blueliner that can offer up a more physical element. That’s kind of ironic given Koekkoek’s injury history.

Next up, we’ll have the on-ice fancies. These are our overall possession stats. You would think before looking at them that Hutton being the smooth-skating two-way defender would dominate here, right?

The first thing that pops out to me is that Hutton, for the most part, is better at generating shots than stopping them and that’s fine, but the issue I take with his numbers is the massive gap between his “for” and “against” stats… Then you combine that with the lack of point production and I see a player who is massively unbalanced.

Whereas Koekkoek excels in the “against” categories almost unanimously as well as high-danger chances and goals for. For me, that’s a little weird to see given he’s so much better defensively than offensively.

Now, to the eye, I do like Koekkoek better than Hutton. I find him to be more my style of hockey player and that could just be my bias setting in from decades of Rock Em Sock Em videos, but aside from that, when I ask myself what kind of defenceman do the Oilers need? I look at the numbers, I remember Koekkoek’s performance against Edmonton in the play-ins, and it seems pretty conclusive that he’s the guy.

If you don’t take my word for it, then at least we could listen to what legendary Edmonton Oilers blogger and TSN radio voice Allan Mitchell has said about the UFA defender,

“Slater Koekkoek is probably the best option among players still available who could slide into a top-six role. Puck IQ shows he has played significant minutes against elites and performed well. He wouldn’t replace Klefbom’s offence but would give some cover if Jones or Russell falter during the season. He’s also young enough to hang around and contribute for several years, representing the kind of value Dominik Kahun boasts for the forwards in Edmonton. It’s unlikely the Oilers could get him on a PTO, but a one-year deal at a reasonable price seems possible.” (source)

(Stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick)

What do you think? Do you favor Koekkoek or Hutton? Let us know in the comments below!

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CategoriesArmchair GM Beer League Hero Edmonton Oilers NHL Rumors

TagsBen Hutton Edmonton Oilers Edmonton Oilers Rumors NHL NHL Rumors Slater Koekkoek

Beer League Hero Written by:

I'm the Beer League Hero! I am from Camrose, Alberta but I make my home in Taipei City, Taiwan. I've been through the ups and downs and the highs and the Lowes, the Bonsignores and the McDavids, the Sathers and the Eakins but I'll never leave my Oilers, no matter what! They're with me until the end and then some. GO OILERS GO!