The Edmonton Oilers need a new winger to succeed where so many others in the past have failed.
It’s the key to their season, the most important element (so long as the goalie issue has been solved) of Edmonton being able to fix the biggest problem on the team, the huge discrepancy between the performance of the top two and bottom two lines.
With Connor McDavid and/or Leon Draisaitl on the ice, the Oilers have scored 73 goals and given up 63 at even strength. Without either of them, the Oilers have scored 24 and given up 50.
Ouch!
with and without
But to find that new winger who will succeed in the Top 6 is no easy matter, even as Edmonton has several outstanding young candidates in Quinn Hutson, Isaac Howard and Matt Savoie. Jack Roslovic has already pulled off this difficult feat, earning a spot on Draisaitl’s wing with his strong skating, passing and shooting. It’s remarkable that Roslovic has come through, given how hard it’s been to find players capable of handling this role, and it makes sense for Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch to keep Roslovic on a line with Draisaitl.
But the Oilers need one more winger to step up — and they need it fast.
Many have tried, few have delivered
Many promising and much heralded players have been brought in to play with McDavid and Draisaitl over the years, from Milan Lucic, Ryan Strome, and Jesse Puljujarvi early on to Viktor Arvidsson, Jeff Skinner and Andrew Mangiapane in more recent seasons.
By my count in the 10.5 years of the McDavid and Draisaitl era, no less than 29 forwards have been brought in through drafting, trade or free agency with some hope that they will stick on a line with McDavid or Draisaitl.
Only a handful have succeeded, Patrick Maroon, Kailer Yamamoto for a time, Evander Kane for a time, Zach Hyman, Dylan Holloway in the 2024 playoffs and now Roslovic. Three others, Zack Kassian, Corey Perry and Vasily Podkolzin, have also done well, though they were not brought in with expectation of playing with McDavid or Draisaitl.
The ones who succeed tend to do so fast, finding chemistry with McDavid or Draisaitl right away.
But Edmonton needs someone to succeed now, mainly because it will keep McDavid and Draisaitl playing at a high level, but it will also help create the necessary depth for Edmonton to construct a functional third line.
They used to say a fire hydrant could score goals on Wayne Gretzky’s wing. Maybe that was true in the 1980s, where the variation between the best and worst NHL players was far greater. But this is no longer the case. Every NHL player is a fine-tuned machine now, trained by top coaches from an early age to skate, shoot, pass and defend. There’s no easy pickings for McDavid, Draisaitl and their wingers, one reason why it’s been so much harder to find suitable wingers for each of them.
mcd
Enter Howard, Hutson, Savoie
Matt Savoie has been tried out with McDavid and Draisaitl with limited success. I now see him more as a third-line player, at least for this season.
But Howard and Hutson are uniquely promising given that they are now doing exactly what you would expect to see from future Top NHL wingers in their rookie AHL seasons. Essentially, the two are burning down that league in terms of their scoring prowess. It’s something that other Oilers prospects such as Savoie, Jesse Puljujarvi, Tyler Benson, Xavier Bourgault, and Raphael Lavoie didn’t do in their rookie seasons, though it’s worth noting all of them were younger than Howard and Hutson in their rookie campaigns and some of them did quite well.
For example, 20-year-old rookie Benson got 66 points in 68 AHL games, 18-year-old Puljujarvi had 28 points in 39 games, 20-year-old Yamamoto had 18 points in 27 games, 20-year-old Savoie had 54 points in 66 games, and 20-year-old Holloway had 22 points in 33 games.
But Hutson, who turns 24 on Jan. 2, has 19 goals and 32 points in 26 games. Howard, 21, has 23 points in 16 games.
This is a remarkable level of scoring for first year AHL players.
In terms of projecting Hutson’s game into the NHL, him being a 23-year-old rookie means his scoring is much less exceptional than if a 20 or 21 year old was doing it, but perhaps because he’s older he’s also got more maturity in his game on the attack — essentially the ability to combine well with other players — and a responsible attitude towards defence. Howard is a bit more raw, but he’s working hard on defence, while having great shooting and passing ability.
2025-26 disappointments, successes
This season Roslovic, Savoie, Howard, Hutson, Andrew Mangiapane, Trent Frederic and David Tomasek were all brought in with some hope of now or in the future succeeding on a line with McDavid or Draisaitl. Bringing in so many candidates was excellent work by GM Stan Bowman, especially given the lack of quality forwards in Edmonton’s farm system, the inept and painful loss of Holloway to a St. Louis offer sheet, and the steep odds of sticking on a line with McDavid or Draisaitl.
A team needs new players to succeed. Bowman delivered big time. So far, Mangiapane, Frederic and Tomasek have all tried and failed to stick with the two Oilers superstars, just as Arvidsson and Skinner tried and failed last season.
Savoie hasn’t found instant scoring chemistry with either McDavid or Draisaitl, though in a small sample size Drai’s line has done well with Savoie and Podkolzin as his wingers.
If either Hutson or Howard can stick on a top line, this will help solve a lot of Edmonton’s problems. Last year in the playoffs, RNH thrived with two tough forechecking wingers at his side, Hyman and Kane. Could Edmonton replicate that success to some extent by playing RNH on a third line with two tough wingers like Kasperi Kapanen and Podkolzin, or Kapanen and a tough winger brought in on a trade?
RNH, unlike Roslovic, is uniquely suited to play on the third line because he’s got the defensive grit and acumen to succeed as a defensive centre.
Why not bring up Hutson, get him acclimated to the NHL again, then try him on a top line? If Hutson doesn’t cut it, why not then try Howard?
Bako
Edmonton has little to lose here. Its bottom two lines are getting caved in. The Oilers need more players who can a) score and b) out-score their opponents. If Howard or Hutson can do this job, that will mean Stan Bowman has one less need at the 2026 trading deadline. Edmonton has limited cap space and limited assets to trade.
Is it not time to see if there’s an internal solution to a pressing problem?
At the Cult of Hockey
Edmonton Oilers demote veteran grinder to the American Hockey League
Player grades: Oilers with iffy goalie and get goalied in loss to Boston
Darnell is playing Nasty Nurse. He’s never been better
Oilers and Skinner have gone in (extreme) opposite directions in net since big trade
Â
Â
Â