Oilers’ talented defencemen deserve more praise

Perhaps the only thing more surprising than the Edmonton Oilers’ comeback in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final is the amount of people I’ve heard say something like “I thought it was over for sure.”

Yes, it was impressive and even unlikely, but have people not been following the Oilers the past two years? They’ve been written off at the beginning of regular seasons, written off after numerous playoff losses (looking at you, Game 2 versus the Kings), and written off within games.

And yet, they never go away, never die, never admit defeat. Over those past two seasons, they’ve come from behind to win 42 times in the regular season alone, a total bettered by only three teams. It’s a part of their identity.

Packing it in to sit on a lead against the Oilers plays directly to their strengths. For one, you stop testing their goaltending, which is imperfect. You also stop testing their defence – a group I’m about to praise – which helps Edmonton, too. As good as they are, they’re not riddled with guys in the running for the fictional Rod Langway Award, given to the league’s best defensive defencemen (a la Chris Tanev, to be more current). And further to that, you allow a team with two of the best players on the planet to just repeatedly ram the door of your castle, a challenge which they will find success at if given enough time.

I want to look at the lesson opposing GMs may take if they choose to try to copy the Oilers. Earlier in the week, I wrote about copy-Cats-ing the Florida Panthers, and how I believe the bad GMs will see the Panthers’ toughness and grit and use that as their takeaway, rather than acquiring offensive talents who will commit to a 200-foot game.

The lesson from the Oilers isn’t just rely on your superstars, it’s that skill on the back end is paramount in 2025. Florida’s acquisition of Seth Jones looks brilliant right now, and Aaron Ekblad is tied for third in playoff scoring among D (with teammate Nate Schmidt), which goes to show that they’ve got it too. But not to the degree the Oilers do.

Among teams who’ve played a decent enough playoff sample this year (10 games) for this to make sense, here are points per game from the various defence groups.

Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard leads D scoring by eight with 22 points, eight more than second-place Thomas Harley. Bouchard, Darnell Nurse, Jake Walman, Mattias Ekholm, Brett Kulak and John Klingberg all have scored in the playoffs. And in Game 4, where so many people apparently thought this team was done, they got back in the game (and series) with massive goals from Nurse and Walman, not Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Nurse also assisted on Vasily Podkolzin’s goal, while Ekholm’s quick-up from the neutral zone earned him an assist on the Draisaitl OT winner. Five goals, five points from defencemen.

In digging into some passing numbers on Stathletes, a huge number of passing stats are in the Oilers’ favour, a lot of which comes from their back end. If you check out their assisted chances, or expected goals from passing, or passes in the offensive zone, they’re second in just about everything (by percentage, so it’s not just about playing more hockey), usually behind Colorado or Carolina. In the category “successful OZ passes where the receiving player is closer to the net than the passer” – which reads to me like defence to forwards – they’re first.

Even over at Sportlogiq, you can see that their proprietary metric “possession driving plays” has the Oilers first by a mile, including far greater numbers than the Panthers. Those also often come from the back end.

The Oilers are loaded with D who may have, at other times in their careers, lived to rack up point totals. Yes, Bouchard still does it, but Nurse and Walman would’ve prioritized offence in their younger days. Klingberg too, of course. But now that that skill has been turned into a focus on defending first, and on cutting down errors – things that come with post-season experience and general maturity – the Oilers have been reaping the rewards of talented puck moving from defencemen who can skate, and are not making The Big Mistake.

Often when considering a question like “If it isn’t McDrai, who will step up for the Oilers”, fans and analysts are left grasping at straws. Some want more from Evander Kane, or they hope Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will come through, or … or, there’s these guys that go underdiscussed. No team has relied on a steadier stream of contributions from their back end than the Oilers, who continue to have those guys step up in the biggest moments.

It impossible not to think of Bouchard’s play against the Kings to keep the puck in the offensive zone before the Oilers would go on to get a huge win, which for me pairs nicely with the talents displayed by Nurse and Walman on their respective big goals in Game 4 of the Cup Final.

So the next time you feel like the Oilers are cooked, remember they’ve got threats other than the big names. And if you’re a GM looking for lessons, offensive talent that commits to D works on the back end just as well as up front.

We know that for the Oilers to finish the job, McDavid and Draisaitl will have to be great. But quietly, and without enough praise, offence from the Oilers defence has helped put those guys in position to show their greatness. With a maximum of three games left, and two in Edmonton, that strength has the Oilers’ stars at the gate of the castle yet again, with a fresh chance to break through the biggest gate of all.