Bob Stauffer isn't ruling out one more addition for the Edmonton Oilers, and this time the need might actually be down the middle.
"I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility at some point they do add a centre," Stauffer said on Oilers Now. "Whether it's a fourth line right-shot centre, whether it's a guy that can play center or right wing, we will see."
Stauffer has also floated the idea that rookie center Josh Samanski could open the season in the AHL if he doesn't win over the coaching staff.
"He's going to have to impress the coach," Stauffer said, pointing to Mike Babcock's track record developing unheralded players like Zach Hyman and Connor Brown back in Toronto as a reason not to write Samanski off too early.
GM Stan Bowman has been fairly direct about where he sees the real need.
"I think more than likely if we were going to be adding a player, it would be a forward," Bowman said, adding that defense and goaltending don't look like priorities right now.
That framing matters because Edmonton's actual center depth hinges almost entirely on one decision. If Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl play together on one line, as Babcock has hinted, this suddenly becomes a very different roster need.
Why playing McDavid and Draisaitl together changes everything
If they lead separate lines, Edmonton looks fine at center, with Jason Dickinson and Samanski as reasonable bets for the third and fourth line jobs.
Dickinson posted 7 goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 64 games last season, steady if unspectacular production for a bottom-six center.
But if McDavid and Draisaitl actually share a line consistently, Edmonton doesn't need a fourth line center. It needs a real second line center, and that's a much harder problem to solve through a trade.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been part of Edmonton's core for 15 straight seasons now, longer than any player in franchise history at that level, but he posted just 20 goals and 36 assists for 56 points last season and doesn't look like a true second line center anymore either.
He thrived at center during the 2025 playoffs alongside Evander Kane and Hyman, a line that looked genuinely dangerous before Hyman got hurt. But that role never translated consistently across a full regular season.
The more realistic long-term fit has Nugent-Hopkins sliding to the wing, possibly alongside Dickinson on the third line, rather than trying to hold down a second line center job by himself.
Finding a real second line center via trade won't be easy. Those players are rare, and rival teams typically have deeper prospect pools and more to offer than Edmonton does in return.
Vasily Podkolzin posted 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points in 82 games last season, and he's been floated as a potential winger alongside Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman if Babcock experiments with that center role again.
The most realistic path might just be patience. Edmonton won't know its real trade priority until injuries or performance issues actually surface once the season starts.
But if McDavid and Draisaitl really do end up together more often this season, don't be surprised if a center swap becomes Edmonton's biggest storyline before the trade deadline arrives.
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Should the Oilers trade for a real second-line center if McDavid and Draisaitl play together?
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