The Edmonton Oilers are playing like a much better team as of late. After some early-season struggles, they’ve picked up wins in six of their last eight games, and have pushed their way back into a top-three spot in the Pacific Division. In other words, they are back to playing like the team everybody expected to be heading into the season.
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There are plenty of reasons to point to as to why the Oilers are having success. Connor McDavid is playing some of the best hockey of his career, while Leon Draisaitl, who registered the 1000th point of his career on Tuesday, has been no slouch. The return of Zach Hyman can’t be overlooked, either.
Overall, there have been very few disappointments from the Oilers as of late. Sure, they could tidy up their defensive zone coverage from time to time, but that isn’t always unusual from this group. They have always had the offensive weapons to outscore their mistakes defensively, which is exactly what they have done as of late. Despite their recent success, however, there is one player on their roster whose struggles cannot be overlooked.
Trent Frederic is Not Fitting In
When the Oilers traded for Trent Frederic at last season’s trade deadline, the move was met with overall positivity. Fans were well aware he wasn’t going to come in and be a gamebreaker, but after having already traded for Jake Walman, the cap space was never going to be there to trade for a legitimate top-six winger.
Instead, they opted with Frederic, a player who, throughout his tenure with the Boston Bruins, provided plenty of physicality and toughness, but also had put up some solid secondary numbers along the way. Fans expected him to be a similar player to what they saw for some seasons in Zack Kassian, a guy who could score timely goals but also protected the big guns in McDavid and Draisaitl. Unfortunately, he’s been anything but.
Trent Frederic, Edmonton Oilers (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
Frederic largely disappointed in last season’s playoffs, scoring just one goal while adding three helpers through 24 games. He did get a bit of a pass given that he was still believed to be battling a high-ankle sprain, but it was far from a memorable performance. It also made the eight-year, $30.8 million deal the Oilers gave him quite puzzling.
Now, not even half way through the first season of that contract, it’s already looking like a massive flop. Frederic has found the back of the net twice through 35 appearances, while chipping in with one single assist. On top of that, he’s failing to provide any sort of spark from a physical standpoint. Even more shocking is that he still doesn’t seem to understand what his role with this team is supposed to be.
“I think I’m still trying to figure that out,” Frederic said earlier in the week. “I don’t know what I’ve created for myself. I haven’t had a great start, but there’s still a lot of season left.”
Meanwhile, head coach Kris Knoblauch also had some rather concerning comments regarding the matter. From the sounds of things, Knoblauch didn’t seem to be completely convinced that Frederic will get things going anytime soon.
“Whether [it] takes two weeks, sometimes two months, sometimes it doesn’t ever happen. We’ve saw it in the past with players that are coming into Edmonton and just [never fit],” Knoblauch said. “But, obviously we’re committed to Trent, we think he’s a good player, and we need to find him a spot where he can help us win.”
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Thankfully for Frederic’s sake, the Oilers are winning in spite of his poor play. That said, the fact he seems unclear of what his role with the team is not only frustrating to hear, but confusing as well. He had established his role as an NHLer before, but seemingly got to Edmonton and thought he could play a different style of game.
This Situation Could Get Ugly
The scariest part in all of this is what the Oilers will do moving forward. The hope is that Frederic can figure things out and get his game back to the level he’s shown before, but given what we’ve seen to this point, that may be wishful thinking. If he continues to struggle throughout the rest of the season and in the playoffs, the Oilers will suddenly find themselves with one of, if not the worst contract in the entire NHL.
