It’s all about balance.
Much like when Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars balanced the force, Kirt Hill has now balanced out his defence.
Losing Conner McDonald to the Kelowna Rockets was a massive loss. McDonald brought another layer of offence from the Oil Kings blue line, and it didn’t matter what they did; he was always going to be hard to replace.
“He wanted to get closer to home, unfortunately for us,” stated Oil Kings General Manager, Kirt Hill. “It took our guys a little bit of time to get over.”
The haul Edmonton got back for McDonald was pretty incredible with a first-round pick in 2021 coming back their way.
“From a team perspective, what we were able to recoup for him from Kelowna and regards to the picks was big,” explained Kirt Hill. “That the first-round pick next year, depending on what Kelowna decides to do with their team, could be a lottery pick.”
Hill and his team opted to bring in 2000-born defenceman Samuel Stewart from the Americans for a fourth-round pick in the 2023 WHL Bantam draft.
Now, Stewart doesn’t bring that same offensive flair that McDonald did, but he can chip in from the blue line. This season in 33 games for the Americans, he contributed on the box score on 12 occasions with two goals and 10 assists. He’s a defenceman who doesn’t find himself in the box often with 32 penalty minutes in 109 WHL games.
The Winnipeg native also brings some pace to an already quick Oil Kings team. He’s a steady defenceman that gets the puck moving down the ice in transition. He’s not going to wow you on the scoreboard, but he’s going to get the job done.
“It took me a little bit by surprise. It was just after a game in Spokane, got pulled aside, and I was told,” said Oil Kings new defenceman Stewart on being traded.
“You know, a great team, a great facility, great people. I’m just really excited to be here,” Stewart continued.
With the acquisition of Stewart, Edmonton currently sits with nine defensemen on its roster, headlined by New York Rangers pick Matthew Robertson. Robertson is joined by Wyatt McLeod, Ethan Cap, Jacson Alexander, Logan Dowhaniuk, and Aidan Lawson — who were all with the organization last year — and then Keegan Slaney, Loeden Schaufler and, of course, Stewart who are all new to the team.
Their top four with Robertson, McLeod, Cap and now Stewart seems to be locked in which leaves two spots for the five extra men.
Could the number of defencemen hint at a possible move? Potentially. We’ll have to wait and see.
One other factor that Stewart brings to the lineup is to bring balance back to the Oil Kings blue line. Now Brad Lauer doesn’t have to put pressure on one of his younger defencemen to step up and play those extra five minutes. That may seem very minor, but it goes a long way. Who knows — in that extra couple of minutes of ice time, that young defenceman could have allowed the game-winning goal. That additional veteran piece back there should make a big difference.
Of course, the team needs to be healthy for that to work with McLeod and Alexander currently sidelined.
Overall, it was inevitable that the Oil Kings would make a move for a more veteran defenceman. Now that we are edging closer to the trade deadline and they’ve filled out their extra 20-year-old spot, it’ll be interesting to see if the Oil Kings make one final move before the window closes.
We’ll have to stay tuned for that. If you have any possible solution, send me a tweet at @LiamHorrobin.
