Welcome to Oilersnation’s annual player review series, where we dive into the Edmonton Oilers season player by player. We’ll look back at the season that was, what kind of impact each player had, and what we could see from them next season. You can read about the analytics behind my analysis here.

The Edmonton Oilers have had a second-pair right-shot defenceman on their shopping list for what feels like an eternity. Those duties used to belong to Cody Ceci, who paired with Darnell Nurse for several years, but after they fell flat in consecutive playoff runs, the Oilers traded Ceci in the summer of 2024.

Since then, they’ve cycled through Troy Stecher, Ty Emberson, Alec Regula, and Jake Walman as potential replacements at 2RD. None of them stuck, and it became clear that they needed help from outside the organization.

Enter Connor Murphy. The Oilers acquired the 6-foot-4, stay-at-home defenceman from the Chicago Blackhawks........

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