Edmonton Oilers Acquire D-Man Connor Murphy From Chicago Blackhawks
The Edmonton Oilers added a right-handed veteran defenseman from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a second-round draft pick, the teams announced.
Video Transcript
I don't think it's really a surprise or I don't think it's been a secret that defense has been, you know, sort of a sore point for the Oilers here, recently.
But, Jim, do you think that these struggles are going to impact the way that the Oilers approach the trade deadline if it hasn't really impacted it much the last couple of years?
Or do you think these are issues that the team can work out internally?
Yeah.
Talk about an interesting game.
Like, the approach coming into that game against Anaheim, and there was some players that said this, "This is like a mini-season for us."
Like, they took the break, they came back, and they said, "Okay, we're starting from scratch here, almost like this is a very short season."
And so there was a lot of real reason to be optimistic with that.
You know, they were coming back, Connor McDavid was playing when he wasn't really projected to, Paul Coffey was behind the bench, and hopefully that was gonna help with the defense.
they knew that they needed to be better, and Draisaitl had talked about that.
And then they started out really well and let two-goal leads slip twice and ended up losing.
so everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, and the same things that came up prior to the Olympic break came up again.
So to answer your question, what will they do with the trade deadline, I don't know that they can solve all of their problems.
I think they need a top six winger, I think they need a third-line center, I think they needed a blue line help.
And now there's questions about Tristan Jarry and whether or not he's the guy that they can count on going forward because there's a lot of talk here at Edmonton about that trade and how bad it looks right now, especially when Brett Kulak was moved to Colorado and the return that Pittsburgh got in that deal when Kulak was a throw-in in the Jarry trade.
it kinda doesn't look so good on Edmonton, right?
So they can't solve all their problems.
So at the deadline, my question and I wonder is because they have to make a move like Andrew Mangiapane or clear out some space to do anything, will they settle for, you know, one move and try to fill one hole?
Or will they try to make a move that allows them to fill as many holes as possible, knowing that not one of those single moves is gonna be the be-all, end-all answer to their major problems?
Because they have major problems.
Like, this is a, a very concerning issue for them.
That many goals, that weak a defensive structure, and the fact that they came back from this break and did it again, is really concerning for Edmonton.
So I don't know that they can fix all their problems.
And the-- I think the hope is that they can find something in the next few days to fill one or two of those holes, and that it all starts with the Mangiapane trade.
If that doesn't happen in the next 48 hours, I think they're really in kind of a bind.
