#4. Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers still, apparently, have $3.5 million in cap space, and they need to use it efficiently. As long as they have Connor McDavid (and Leon Draisaitl) they will always be in playoff contention, but their severe lack of depth has crippled their chances of reaching the finals, year in and year out.
To the Oilers’ credit, they were eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, but the Golden Knights don’t have two of the greatest scorers of the 21st century on their roster. However, they have a lot of players that can do a lot of different things, and the Oilers don’t. There is not one player in the Oilers’ current bottom-six that scored 30 or more points last year, and that’s an issue.
Mattias Janmark, Ryan McLeod, and Warren Foegele are all great players in their own respects, but they’re also all one-dimensional players. Generally speaking, they play similar styles of hockey. McLeod and Foegele particularly excel off of the cycle, and have a decent track record of making plays for each other. Janmark, on the other hand, is black hole in all facets of the offence.
To get the third line going, the Oilers can seek out a trade for Frost, who is a better finisher and more skilled off the rush, to add an extra dimension. Frost’s underlying numbers suffered greatly in a big role on a bad Flyers team, but the production was still there. Playing with two analytics demons like McLeod and Foegele should help him refine his game and find his niche on a contender.