Connor Brown was the Edmonton Oilers big free agency acquisition, but why?

The Edmonton Oilers are a power play juggernaut. Over the past four years they have had two of the best power play success rates of all time. In 2019-20 their power play had a success rate of 29.5% - good for fifth all-time. This year they set a new record with a 32.4.

On the flip side, their penalty kill (PK) is not good. At a 77% kill rate, they ranked 20th overall in the NHL in PK%. Obviously they weren't the worst, but it's not good enough. Of the teams worse than them in PK%, three of them made the playoffs - Seattle Kraken, Los Angeles Kings and the Florida Panthers. The Oilers beat the Kings in the first round, the Kraken lost in the second round, and the Panthers made it all the way to the Cup Final. 

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Connor Brown could be the missing ingredient that the Oilers need to turn themselves into a Stanley Cup Winning team. He brings secondary scoring as well as logging significant penalty kill minutes. 

Brown Is A Penalty Killer

Brown was acquired not to become a staple on the power play or establish himself as a top offensive threat. I believe he was signed to give a huge boost to the Oilers penalty kill. 

Over his eight year career he has averaged 16:58 of time on ice (TOI) and 2:14 on the penalty kill. The last two seasons he has averaged 2:04 & 2:38 on the penalty kill. These are the top four penalty killers from the Oilers last season in order of ice time:

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It may not seem like that big of a deal, but special teams can make or break you in the playoffs. We saw that with the Oilers continued dominance on the power play in this past post-season, but they still struggled to generate enough offence at even strength to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights.

The addition of Brown gives the Oilers a top-six winger who can provide offence and play a considerable amount on the penalty kill. It might not be flashy, but it's definitely going to help the team. 

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