For the fourth consecutive trade deadline day, the Edmonton Oilers didn’t make a trade.

Of course, the Oilers made their moves earlier this week, acquiring Connor Murphy, Jason Dickinson, and Colton Dach from the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2028 second, a 2027 first, and Andrew Mangiapane in two separate trades.

Overall, those weren’t bad trades for the Oilers, as they have improved their defence by getting a strong defensive defenceman and a good third-line defensive centre. But once again, there is a feeling that they may not have done enough, as they failed to land a middle-six scoring record, even though Bobby McMann was available for a second and a fourth.

It’s been a long time since the Oilers have gone all-in. The closest they’ve been in the Connor McDavid era was when they sent a 2023 first, 2024 fourth, Tyson Barrie, and Reid Schaefer to the Nashville Predators before the 2023 trade deadline. Their follow-up move before the 2023 deadline saw them acquire Nick Bjugstad, giving up a 2023 third and Michael Kesselring.

Last year, they acquired Jake Walman, Trent Frederic, and Max Jones. In 2024, they acquired Troy Stecher, Adam Henrique, and Sam Carrick. Then in 2022, they acquired Brett Kulak and Derick Brassard. The examples go on and on, too: 2021 saw them acquire Dmitry Kulikov, 2020 saw them acquire Mike Green and Andreas Athanasiou. 

Even in their first postseason appearance since the start of the Decade of Darkness back in 2017, they only acquired David Desharnais. Granted, Desharnais scored a big goal, but you have to look all the way back to the 2005-06 season as to the last time the........

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