Oilers linked to 6-foot-4 Alberta native as potential PTO addition

The Oilers blue line still has some question marks heading into training camp, and one name keeps popping up as a possible answer.

Mike Gould has listed Edmonton as a potential PTO suitor for free agent defenseman Carson Soucy, pointing to lingering uncertainty about how the depth chart projects behind the top pairing.

Soucy, a 6-foot-4 native of Viking, Alberta, remains unsigned after splitting last season between the New York Rangers and New York Islanders.

He posted five goals and 12 points across 76 games but finished with a minus-6 rating, numbers that explain why he's still testing the market this deep into the summer.

A PTO would let him compete for a bottom-pairing job without Edmonton committing any real cap space.

The Oilers already reshaped their defense this offseason, trading Darnell Nurse to the San Jose Sharks and bringing in Ryan Shea and Shakir Mukhamadullin.

That leaves a group anchored by Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm up top, but the depth behind them is far from settled.

Part of the concern traces back to underwhelming seasons from Jake Walman, Ty Emberson, and Spencer Stastney, all of whom were expected to take a step forward and instead left the org searching for answers on the back end.

Soucy has never been an offensive threat, but he's built a reputation as a physical, direct defender since breaking in with Minnesota back in 2017.

He's also played through deep playoff runs with the Wild, Kraken, and Canucks, experience that could matter if Edmonton is chasing another Cup Final run under new head coach Mike Babcock.

Nothing is close to official, but with camp approaching and several depth spots still unproven, a low-risk PTO look at a familiar Alberta name feels like exactly the kind of move Stan Bowman could make before puck drop.

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