{"id":540581,"date":"2026-04-04T17:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T17:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/540581\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T17:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T17:00:14","slug":"edmonton-oilers-getting-solid-defensive-contributions-during-winning-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/540581\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers getting solid defensive contributions during winning streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDMONTON \u2014 The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> didn\u2019t make any flashy moves at the NHL trading deadline, but general manager Stan Bowman did obtain some impactful defensive-minded players who have contributed significantly to the team\u2019s five-game winning streak.<\/p>\n

Bowman and coach Kris Knoblauch knew the team has plenty of offensive firepower, led by Connor McDavid<\/a> and Leon Draisaitl<\/a>, so their focus was trying to shore up a leaky defensive system that had the team struggling to find a consistent winning formula.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt going into the deadline we had enough offence,\u201d Knoblauch said. \u201cWhat we wanted was to get better defensively and we have gotten better. A lot of it was emphasis on what we can do with our systems, just details, but also we added two very defensive detailed players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowman acquired forward Jason Dickinson<\/a> and defenceman Connor Murphy<\/a> from Chicago and the two have played a lot of minutes against opponents\u2019 top lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Dickinson and Murphy playing a lot of minutes against key matchups \u2026 those two have really solidified our identify and how we want to play,\u201d said Knoblauch.<\/p>\n

Murphy settled in alongside Darnell Nurse<\/a> and that duo has become a solid second pairing on the blue line behind Mattias Ekholm<\/a> and Evan Bouchard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we get excited because that\u2019s our strength, wanting to defend hard and be thinking that way together,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cI see the competitiveness in (Nurse). He\u2019s a fiery competitor and he wants to be physical and tough and be hard to play against. I feed off that energy that he brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy said knowing exactly what their role is has made it an easy transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery player wants to know what\u2019s expected of you and you want that to align with what your strengths are,\u201d he said. \u201dSo for us to be able to have a role that\u2019s designated to our strengths really feeds good energy to our game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bouchard said Murphy has been a great addition to the Oilers, who shifted their focus to an improved defence when Draisaitl was injured March 8. The star forward isn\u2019t expected to return before the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s as solid as it comes,\u201d Bouchard said of Murphy. \u201cHard guy to play against, great fit in our group, great addition, great guy to have in the room and it\u2019s showing on the ice as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bouchard\u2019s improved play since the Olympic break has also played a key role in the team\u2019s defensive strides. Despite his occasional and often costly turnovers, Bouchard has a plus-22 rating, second on the team to Ekholm.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely a slow start for me,\u201d the seven-year veteran admitted. \u201cBut things have picked up (at) a good time with the playoffs around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Dickinson and Murphy, their motivation is to get to the playoffs after long absences. Their last post-season action was in 2020 \u2014 Murphy with the Blackhawks and Dickinson with the Dallas Stars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor games to be meaningful and matter it\u2019s huge,\u201d Dickinson said. \u201cThe last few years it\u2019s been basically counting down the days and waiting for summer, back to the gym, getting reps in to prepare for the next season. Now it\u2019s preparing for the next chapter of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Oilers have six games remaining with four of them against divisional opponents.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 4, 2026. <\/p>\n

John Korobanik, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 The Edmonton Oilers didn\u2019t make any flashy moves at the NHL trading deadline, but general manager…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[198,146,5300,5,4,24,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-540581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-edmonton","9":"tag-edmonton-oilers","10":"tag-edmontonoilers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-oilers","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116347510789394713","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}