Justin Schultz, Jeff Petry and Center Depth

Craig MacTavish, the general manager of the Edmonton Oilers did a few things to shore up his teams weak defense. MacT signed UFA’s Mark Fayne, Nikita Nikitan, and Keith Aulie. He also brought back Jeff Petry and Justin Schultz on one year deals. Petry will become an unrestricted free agent and seasons end and Schultz will be an RFA with arbitration rights.

The Schultz signing, while the money bothers me a little bit is countered by the one year term. Petry is the opposite, I like the dollar amount greatly but think a one year term is a little too risky. There is something about both these signings that has me thinking, one or both of these guys might not be around at season’s end.

Jonathan Willis wrote a good article about Oscar Klefbom and his chances of making the Oilers this year over at Cult of Hockey and another piece about the role Schultz will most likely play this season at Oilers Nation. Craig MacTavish has said that he expects Schultz to be a top pairing guy and says that he see’s “Norris Trophy potential” in the player. MacT has also said that while there are question marks he’s ok with the center depth going into camp, but here’s the thing, I don’t believe him.

There is no way an NHL general manager can be happy with a center depth chart that looks like the Oilers charts. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has a lock on the 1C job, there will be a battle between Mark Arcobello and Leon Draisaitl and that battle will determine whether or not Boyd Gordon slides in at 3C or 4C.

Arco impressed last season, and I’m ok with the idea of him playing in the second line role, but the fact remains that he is still relatively unproven having only played 42 NHL games. Woodguy wrote a great article over at Lowetide’s site about the player and his performance in various roles with the team last year.

Draisaitl having never played an NHL game is a big question mark too. It seems that he might be a fit in a top six role, but can he play those kinds of minutes in his first season in the NHL? I think he’s better suited this season for the softer minutes that the third line would provide.

What the hell am I getting at?

Ok I know I’ve been all over the board here so far but I promise there is a point. MacT also mentioned in his press conference last week that the team “As the season goes on…the onus is on this group of players to prove, much like the group of players did in 2006 when we needed some goaltending and that group and that group proved that we were right in the mix and we were able to address that”. So maybe later in the season the Oilers will be able to use “their future assets” to add a center.

That seems a little late for me, and my thought is that Jeff Petry or even Justin Schultz, depending on the return may be pawns in the search for a center. Both players are still considered prospects when you listen to MacT explain it, he mentions their potential and where he thinks the players development is headed. So could we expect a package including one of the two above mentioned defensemen to be on the way out?

Think about it, Martin Marincin played great for the Oilers last season, Oscar Klefbom has developed quickly and has a strong shot. Don’t forget about Darnell Nurse who I thought could have made the team out of camp last season. There are three players there that are close to making the next step, with the other depth additions made by the Oilers in the offseason making room for one or two of them might be an option and making that room during camp might be ideal.

There are a few teams that are in big time cap trouble going into the season, and save burying a player in the AHL, some of them are going to have to make a trade or two in order to get into cap compliance. Currently there are six teams that are going to start the season with no cap space at all, of course this doesn’t count LTIR additions like Marc Savard from the Bruins and Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger. But the Kings, Leafs, Blackhawks and Lightning are all in a crunch. The latter team already shed some salary when the move Teddy Purcell to the Oil but the others may be looking for a move or two.

The Blackhawks are already deep on D and don’t have a lot of centers to trade, at least not that can fill the number two spot. There have been plenty of rumors going around that the Hawks are shopping Patrick Sharp, who has played some center before, but I don’t see the Oilers being able to put a package together that Chicago would expect.

The Kings won the Stanley Cup last year with Mike Richards playing on the 3^rd/4^th line. If Dean Lombardi expects the same thing for this season I can’t see him willing to pay Richards his 5.7 million dollar salary playing in the bottom six. Richards would be a good player to insulate Draisaitl from the toughs.

The Leafs, well their center depth is much like the Oilers with a Nazem Kadri and Tyler Bozak slotted as their top two centers. I think new GM Brendan Shanahan is most likely going to be trying the same thing as MacT, trading defense for a center.

All in all this is a lot of speculation and if it was easy MacT would have already improved the position, but after striking out with the UFA centers this offseason I think a trade is his only option.

There are a lot of if’s here.

Thanks for Reading.