Oilers making strange defensive changes ahead of trade deadline
The Edmonton Oilers made an interesting change to their defensive group during last night’s 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Despite the lineup card very clearly having Darnell Nurse playing with Cody Ceci and Brett Kulak with Vincent Desharnais, head coach Kris Knoblauch decided to make a last-minute change to both pairings. Desharnais was promoted to the second pair to play with Nurse, while Ceci was sent down to the third pair with Kulak.
The change paid off, with Ceci notching a goal and Kulak picking up two assists, but the reason why the change was suddenly made was not clear. Daily Hive asked Knoblauch after the game about why he decided to shuffle things up, but he was not able to give a crystal-clear answer.
“Just looking to change things a little bit,” said Knoblauch. “I’m not certain exactly why, [I don’t want to] say one reason why, just thought to switch it up a little bit… just felt to change the scenery a little bit.”
"There’s a room full of guys & I appreciate what they do."
Coach Knobaluch talks to the media after the #Oilers 6-1 win over the Penguins. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/HG5Vh4pJ9R
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 4, 2024
The vague answer has some wondering if something is going on behind the scenes with the trade deadline just four days away. This morning, it was revealed by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that the Oilers offered a first-round pick and a roster player to the Calgary Flames for Chris Tanev, a deal that was rejected in favour of a package from the Dallas Stars.
Ceci could very well have been the roster player that the Oilers offered in that potential deal and this off-the-cusp lineup change moving him down to the third pairing could have been a calculated move spurred by Edmonton management. Think about it: if the team doesn’t want to have Ceci sit in the press box to protect him from injury, they would move him down the lineup to make sure he plays a more sheltered role.
Now, he did still have the fourth-most time-on-ice of Edmonton’s defencemen last night, playing 18:50, but 2:28 of that came on the PK. According to Natural Stat Trick, Ceci ranked last among Oilers defenders in five-on-five ice time.
NaturalStatTrick.com
It’s no secret that the Oilers want to upgrade their blueline ahead of Friday’s deadline. The latest report from Friedman all but confirms that the team is going to be aggressive and is willing to move on from players currently on their roster to make deals happen.
Combine all that with the non-answer from the head coach and it certainly seems like something is afoot.
We won’t have long to wait to see if that winds up being true as the NHL trade deadline is set to hit at 1 pm MT on Friday.