NHL Rumors: 2 Gritty Forwards Tied To Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers are starting to get healthy, but while a handful of their forwards have been injured, their depth has had to step up and provide. Recently, they have done just that as the fourth line of Derek Ryan, Devin Shore, and Klim Kostin have been scoring.

The Oilers are going to be very limited to which forwards can be on the roster once again when Kane returns in a few months before the trade deadline, so inner competition has been good right now. Though the team has a number of options, general managers generally feel like they have to make at least one move to upgrade and reward the team that's going for it in the playoffs.

What the Oilers have lacked since trading Zach Kassian and letting Josh Archibald hit free agency is that gritty and tough player at the bottom of their lineup. Kostin has proven to already be a great find by Ken Holland this offseason as he is a power forward who hits and can score. Playoffs are a tough game and two more names have been tied to the Oilers this season to help out lower in the lineup - Max Domi and Zack MacEwen.

Domi would not be playing on the fourth line if Edmonton were to acquire him. He would be in the middle-six, whether it be at centre or the wing. He has done very well at centre this season and could take some pressure off of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Ryan McLeod. Domi has nine goals and 19 points in 26 games this season playing with the Chicago Blackhawks' top players. He is a pest but a knock on him is he barely registers any hits.

MacEwen on the other hand can play on the wing in the bottom-six and provide a number of different services. He will fight and play very physically. The Philadelphia Flyers' forward already has 96 hits in 27 games on top of scoring three goals and eight points. He would bring the whole package that a handful of the current depth of the Oilers are missing.