A familiar starting point for Babcock’s Oilers
October 1, 2026
Oilers prepare to face Nurse for first time
October 10, 2026October 9, 2026 by Ryan Lotsberg
Last Saturday night, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Edmonton Oilers were looking at a “lateral trade” involving trading a depth defenceman for a depth forward. The trade materialized on Wednesday after a few days of speculation. The Oilers acquired Filip Hallander from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Spencer Stastney.
Stastney came to the Oilers from the Nashville Predators hours after the Oilers lost Stuart Skinner and Brett Kulak in the trade for Tristan Jarry last season. Stastney played in 36 games for the Oilers last season, and he did not dress in the team’s first round playoff series.
Related: Jarry for Skinner is a lateral move for the Oilers
The Oilers entered the season with eight defencemen, and they intended to carry three goaltenders on the active roster. The math says that an active roster of 23 players comprising eight defencemen and three goalies leaves twelve spots available for forwards. Not being able to carry an extra forward is not ideal. This reality was awaiting the Oilers upon Frederik Andersen’s return, but his injury bought them time to alleviate that situation before it came up. Quite a few Oilers forwards have also been injured early in the young NHL season. They took from their defence depth to add to their forward depth with this trade.
Hallander was a second round pick of the Penguins in 2018. The 26-year old Swedish forward has seven points in eighteen NHL games. He played three NHL games in 2021-22 and 2022-23 combined before leaving to play for Timra in the SHL for two seasons. In 2024-25, Hallander finished second in the SHL in scoring (53 points in 51 games) behind David Tomasek, who started last season with the Oilers before heading back to Sweden after Christmas. He was limited to just thirteen NHL games and three AHL games last season due to a blood clot issue, which is apparently no longer an issue. He got off to a good start with two points in his first three games with the Penguins this season.
The Oilers have been in the market for a right-handed centre for a while now, and Hallander is not that. He’s a lefty that predominantly plays the wing. It’s clear that he has some offensive ability based on his production in the SHL and his seven points in eighteen career NHL games, but that’s not going to be his calling card in the NHL. Hallander averaged 0:59 per game on the penalty kill in his thirteen games with the Penguins last season, and he averaged 1:46 on the kill in his two games so far this season. He will get an opportunity to show what he can do on an Oilers penalty kill that is struggling to start the season (64.3% through four games).
Oilers GM Stan Bowman said that the Oilers have been interested in Hallander for a while, dating back to his time in Sweden. “It’s good to see that he’s got that ability to make plays, but in addition, we like the fact that he’s a worker and he competes. He plays at a high pace. I think he’s going to fit in well with the way that [Oilers head coach Mike Babcock] wants our players to play, so he’s got a really nice combination of assets that I think will fit in good with our group.”
Babcock wasn’t familiar with Hallander on Wednesday, but he got a chance to get a glimpse of him on the ice during Friday’s practice, and this is what he had to say about the newest Oiler afterwards:
“I liked the confident kid that seemed to make good plays with the puck… He looks like he’s a worker, they tell me he’s got some pace and that he can make some plays, so we’re excited to have him.”
To summarize, Hallander is a 6’2”, 207 lb left winger that works hard, competes, and plays with pace. He’s also got some offensive ability. His NHL sample size is small, but this sounds like a player that has a real shot at sticking in the bottom six.
I couldn’t help but compare Hallander to Tomasek, who didn’t fare well here last year after beating Hallander out by two points for the SHL points crown in 2024-25. Tomasek is an undrafted European journeyman that has had a fantastic career in Europe, but he didn’t have the foot speed to cut it in the NHL and he simply got beat out by other players that had more NHL experience. Hallander is a former second round pick that has the requisite foot speed for the NHL.
That’s what I know with certainty. What I don’t know is how the chips will fall. The Oilers’ current reality is that they have a surplus of depth forwards and a group of injured players that will return to health eventually. Colton Dach got hurt in Wednesday’s game. Zach Hyman skated with the team on Friday, but his status for Saturday’s afternoon affair in San Jose is unknown as of the time of this writing. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Matt Savoie, and Mattias Janmark remain sidelined. I’m not convinced that Janmark will play this season, but the others will all return within the next six weeks or so.
In the meantime, Hallander and the other depth forwards will vie for precious ice time once the team gets healthy. The roster spots currently occupied by Ike Howard, Josh Samanski, Owen Michaels, Max Jones, and Alex Formenton don’t feel fully secure. We don’t know about Hallander as an Oiler yet. Four (or five) of those six forwards will end up in Bakersfield or elsewhere at some point in the near future to make room for their injured teammates. If I had to bet, I’d bet that Hallander finds a way to stay up with the big club.
Based on Friday’s morning skate, it looks like Hallander will debut on the second line with Jason Dickinson and one of Hyman or Kasperi Kapanen against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday afternoon. Hyman and Kapanen were rotating in for each other on the second line, and Jones and Trent Frederic were rotating in for each other on the fourth line during Friday’s skate. We probably shouldn’t read too much into the line combos we saw on Friday based on the uncertainty over who will play, but Hallander seems poised to play.
