The Edmonton Oilers are an offensive powerhouse. Boasting the game's best player in Connor McDavid and arguably the next best in Leon Draisaitl, fans in Alberta have been treated to exciting, fast-paced hockey on a nightly basis for years. The Oilers are firmly in the NHL's bracket of Stanley Cup contenders heading into next season, boasting one of the most lethal powerplays of the last decade at a staggering 32.4 percent in 2022-23.

Besides McDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers also have an excellent supporting cast, made up of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evander Kane and Zach Hyman. Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman have scored at point-per-game clips or above in their careers, while Kane is a proven goal scorer. The Nuge had a career year with an incredible 104 points in 82 games last season. Hyman scored 83 points in 79 games, while Kane amassed 28 points in 41 games after a scary wrist injury that required surgery.

Edmonton is arguably the best offensive team in the NHL, and the goaltending situation is also under control thanks to the excellent play of Stuart Skinner, who was a runner-up for the Calder Trophy as the league's best rookie last season. He figures to take another step further next year, and relegate Jack Campbell firmly to backup duties. With offense and goaltending under control, the one place that the Oilers are constantly under the microscope for is defense.

No impact defenders left on free agent market

Oilers GM Ken Holland made an excellent trade last year, offloading offensive D-man Tyson Barrie and bringing in a much more responsible defensive player in Mattias Ekholm. Evan Bouchard is a future star on the back end, and Darnell Nurse continues to eat big minutes (and earn a ton of money) in the team's top-four. Regardless of that, it seems that every postseason, the defensive play lets the team down.

And there will be no help from the free agent market this late in the offseason. There were a ton of great options on the market that the team couldn't make work due to salary cap restraints. Dmitry Orlov went to Carolina, Matt Dumba to Arizona, Luke Schenn to Nashville, Carson Soucy to Vancouver, Radko Gudas to Anaheim, Damon Severson was traded to Columbus, and the list goes on. The free agency wire is now extremely thin, not that the Oilers were planning to go that route, anyways. The logical move is to trade for a defenseman.

One player away from Stanley Cup contention?

The Oilers have been knocking on the door the last few seasons. They were arguably good enough to win the Stanley Cup both of the last two seasons; they lost to the eventual champion Colorado Avalanche in the 2022 Western Conference Final, and to the Vegas Golden Knights in the semis last season. There is belief in Alberta that a core led by McDavid and Draisaitl can bring a championship back to Edmonton for the first time since 1990.

To do that, they may be one player away from finally getting over the hump. But the team cannot stick with Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci on the top pair next season, and it might be time for Ceci to move down the lineup. The right side of the defensive is flawed, and the combination of Bouchard, Ceci and Vincent Desharnais is just not the answer for a Cup contending team. There's a hole at right-defense, one that would be plugged perfectly by Carolina Hurricanes D-man Brett Pesce.

Ideal trade target: Brett Pesce

The Hurricanes have already made it clear that if they can't re-sign Pesce to a contract extension, he will be traded. To be honest, I'm surprised he's still on the team after they made a huge splash by signing Dmitry Orlov and Tony DeAngelo this offseason. It is time for Pesce to get moved, and there might be no team he's better suited to than the Oilers.

“I think the Edmonton Oilers have interest in Pesce. We know that the Edmonton Oilers are one of those teams in the market also looking to add another top-four defenceman,” TSN's Darren Dreger asserted on Insider Trading back in June.

Brett Pesce is entering the final season of a six-year contract he signed back in 2017, at a reasonable $4 million cap hit in 2022-23. The 28-year-old is considered one of the game' best right-shot defensive defenseman, and he's averaged over 20 minutes of ice for seven straight seasons in Carolina. He's also a proven playoff performer, helping his team reach the Eastern Conference Finals twice since 2019.

There are obviously multiple teams interested in the coveted RD, but Ken Holland should be locking in on bringing him to Edmonton. The Oilers continue to knock on the door, and they could be one responsible D-man away from finally reaching the Stanley Cup Final in the Connor McDavid-Leon Draisaitl era.