The Oilers defenseman nobody expects could become Stan Bowman's biggest trade chip
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Edmonton Oilers general manager Stan Bowman is staring at a defense logjam, and the obvious name everyone points to isn't the one that matters most.
Spencer Stastney, a left-shot defenseman acquired from Nashville in December for a 2027 third-round pick, has become the name in every roster preview.
Matt Parks of The Hockey Writers laid out the math plainly, noting the Oilers already lean heavily left with Mattias Ekholm, Jake Walman and Ryan Shea holding down that side.
Per Parks, that shot-side crunch is exactly why Stastney gets tagged expendable. The logic isn't wrong.
"The Oilers have Mattias Ekholm, Jake Walman, and Ryan Shea who are left shots, so keeping righties, or players who can play the right side, should be the priority. That should make Stastney expendable.”
- Matt Parks
- Matt Parks
It also isn't the whole story.
Ty Emberson's right-handed shot is why his name keeps surfacing as the safer keep at a $1.3 million cap hit. Shakir Mukhamadullin, the centerpiece return in the Darnell Nurse trade, gets treated as automatically safe simply because of how he arrived in Edmonton.
The wrong player is getting called safe
Shot-side math explains why Stastney's name keeps surfacing, but it stops short of the real calculus. Mukhamadullin is a left-shot defenseman who can play right, signed for two more years at $1.75 million - a combination that's scarce trade currency around the league.
Stastney is a pending unrestricted free agent on a one-year, $1.525 million deal - the profile rival general managers shop cheaply, not build around. Bowman holds more leverage moving the piece other front offices actually covet.
What Bowman needs the trade to deliver
Edmonton has been open about wanting a scoring winger without gutting its blue line depth. Dealing Stastney nets futures or a bottom-six body at best.
Dealing Mukhamadullin's rare mix of term, price and positional flexibility is the type of chip that actually pries a difference-maker loose from a rebuilding club.
Waivers will likely decide who leaves the lineup first, and that's probably Stastney or Emberson.
The trade that actually upgrades this roster runs through the player nobody is floating as available.
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