The Edmonton Oilers are sniffing around another blueliner.

EDMONTON -- You can never have too many defensemen. When it comes to winning championships many believe that the best way to do that is by having a lot of quality defenders. According to a new report from The Fourth Period, the Edmonton Oilers are poking around an NHL veteran.

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The Fourth Period reports that the Columbus Blue Jackets have been "willing to take calls on [Ivan] Provorov." This was known before Jarmo Kekalainen was relieved of his general manager position. 

The report continues on saying that the Oilers and the Tampa Bay Lightning are believed to be in the mix to acquire the 27-year-old left handed defender.

Provorov has 26 points in 57 games so far this year. He's chewing up a good amount of ice time, averaging 22:29 per game. He's also utilized on the Blue Jackets secondary power play unit - as evidenced by his 1:48 of average power play ice time per game.

My Take

 Provorov certainly checks off a few boxes - a two-way defender who can play a lot of minutes and chip in on a second power play unit. The only issue with the Oilers considering him is where he would fit on the Oilers roster.

The left-side is logjammed. Darnell Nurse, Mattias Ekholm and Brett Kulak occupy those positions. So one of Nurse, Ekholm, Kulak or Provorov would have to play on the right side.

This wouldn't be the end of the world, as the Oilers had to do that in the playing days of Kris Russell. It's definitely less than ideal.

At this point in time, it seems more likely that the Lightning push their chips in to acquire Provorov to help soften the blow of losing Mikhail Sergachev to injury.

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