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Oilers trade target: Scouting Blue Jackets defenceman Vladislav Gavrikov

EDMONTON — Oilers management and scouts have been scouring the defence market all season. One of their most-coveted trade targets, pending unrestricted free agent Vladislav Gavrikov, was on the ice for the Blue Jackets against their team on Wednesday.

“I’ve heard the rumours, yeah,” Gavrikov said when asked if he knew the Oilers are watching him.

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“It’s a new situation for me. I’m getting used to that right now. It’s been unpredictable since the season started. Right now, it’s pretty sticky. We’ll see what happens.”

Though this was one of the few Oilers games that GM Ken Holland wasn’t in attendance, you can bet he and his staff will get a full report on Gavrikov’s latest performance.

For all the attention Gavrikov is getting these days — from the Oilers and other teams — he isn’t fazed by much.

“When he’s at the rink, he takes care of the task at hand,” veteran blueliner Erik Gudbranson said.

The word is that Wednesday was an average night’s work for Gavrikov. The 27-year-old Russian defenceman was by no means poor, but he wasn’t exactly a difference-maker either in Columbus’ 3-2 overtime win over the Oilers.

Scouting 101 is clear that you should never judge a player based on one game. And Gavrikov’s skill set is exactly the type where a team would want many, many viewings before deciding to acquire him. That the reported asking price for the player with a $2.8 million cap hit on an expiring contract is a first- and third-round pick makes the extra looks even more vital.

In some ways, however, the middle-of-the-road game against the Oilers was a great one from which to pull some conclusions. At least, it’s better than one of the extremes.

Gavrikov played 23:41, tops among Blue Jackets defencemen. He had a missed shot attempt, a hit, a giveaway and a blocked shot.

He proved to be a solid, dependable rearguard Wednesday — albeit not a spectacular one and with a flaw or two as well.

Stepping up in Werenski’s absence

The Blue Jackets’ top left-side defenceman Zach Werenski was limited to 13 games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in November. Since then, Gavrikov has been asked to take on tougher assignments in almost identical ice time to what he averaged last season — 22:18 now compared to 22:17.

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“He’s a guy we rely on heavily,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “He’s tackling 20-plus minutes every night (with the) penalty kill. He’s even had a little bit of power play (time). With our situation, with so many guys out, he’s had to take on a big workload.”

Gavrikov starts just a third of his shifts in the offensive zone and regularly takes on opponents’ toughest players. Per Natural Stat Trick, he has a 44.7 Corsi for percentage and the Blue Jackets are getting outscored 42-27 with him on the ice at five-on-five.

It’s all part of taking his lumps during a trying season on a team near the bottom of the standings.

“It’s hard to say if it’s difficult,” he said. “It’s difficult for the team.”

On Wednesday, almost exclusively paired with Andrew Peeke, he got a steady dose of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman before those three were broken up for the third period. Nugent-Hopkins replaced Draisaitl over the final 20 minutes.

Naturally, the puck was often in the Blue Jackets zone with three of Edmonton’s best forwards on the ice. But he kept the powerful offensive trio off the scoresheet at five-on-five.

As a left defenceman, Gavrikov’s most common foe was Hyman — largely a right winger in this contest. The blueliner played Hyman effectively.

Gavrikov made a neat stick check on Hyman to negate a potential shot from the slot in the first period.

In the second period, he got in the way of a Hyman shot and then stood him up at the blue line later in the shift.

“His compete level is his best attribute — and his fearlessness,” Gudbranson said. “He’s got no problem stepping in front of anyone’s shot at any time or any position.”

Gavrikov’s reasonable success against three of the best forwards in the league Wednesday, especially given his so-so performance overall, can be viewed as a big plus.

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If the Oilers acquired him before the March 3 deadline, Gavrikov would almost certainly be their No. 2 left side defenceman — a spot he was locked into in Columbus before Werenski went down. Playing behind Darnell Nurse would allow Gavrikov to face weaker competition than he’s gotten used to seeing this year.

Judging his physicality

The next Scott Stevens, Gavrikov is not. But he’s no shrinking violet either.

“He plays a man’s game,” Gudbranson said. “He’s big, heavy and simple on the back end.”

“What jumps out is his heaviness,” Larsen said. “He knows what he is. He knows what kind of player he is.”

Generously listed at 6-foot-3 and 221 pounds, Gavrikov would rather get in an opposing forward’s way than knock him on his butt.

As we saw Wednesday, that philosophy doesn’t always work.

McDavid got around him off the rush on an Oilers power play and got a chance from outside the crease as a result. Granted, Gavrikov is far from McDavid’s first victim here.

Larsen said one of Gavrikov’s best skills is breaking the cycle. The Oilers are more of a rush team, so he didn’t get to showcase that trait much of Wednesday.

One of the chances Gavrikov did have went amiss as Oilers rookie Dylan Holloway juked around him to keep the pressure on the Blue Jackets.

It’s not like Gavrikov was useless at closing off Oilers players on Wednesday, though.

He closed off Hyman well twice, once in the second period and once in overtime.

He also pinned Draisaitl near the blue line with 45 seconds left in regulation.

“Sometimes you don’t have to hit the guy to stop the play,” Gavrikov said. “A lot of young guys can skate very, very fast. There are a lot of skilled guys. You just have to stop the play sometimes just with the stick. That’s more important for me.

“If you have to go to the bodycheck, that’s great. But if you do the hit and the guy just passes right in front of you, then it’s going to be a goal. You will satisfy yourself, but for the team, it’s way worse. For me, the (proper) checking has got to be first.”

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Owning the space near the blue paint

Larsen said one of Gavrikov’s best attributes is his work in front of the Blue Jackets’ net.

Gudbranson agrees with that assessment.

“If you’re trying to come to the net and he’s standing there, it’s going to be tough for you,” he said.

That was on full display against the Oilers, specifically the way he boxed out some of Edmonton’s best forwards.

Few players are as determined in front of the goal as Hyman, but Gavrikov did a masterful job on him late in the first period.

He got the better of McDavid early in the second period, although he might have gotten away with a hold.

This is an area where the Oilers have struggled at times this season. Gavrikov could provide some improvement there.

Offensive efforts

Gavrikov can rack up points when put in a position to do so. He had five goals and 33 points in 80 games last season.

His numbers are way down in 2022-23 — three goals and 10 points in 47 games — but Larsen said that’s more a byproduct of his usage and the quality of teammates around him.

“My first point is defence,” Gavrikov said. “But if I see the room and can join the attack, I will do that. I try to mix it up.”

Gavrikov did lurk in from the blue line toward Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner a couple of times. He also showed an ability to get his show toward the net from the point.

“He’s sneaky offensively,” Larsen said.

His two main displays of offence were a simple breakout pass to Kent Johnson and then a deft one-touch, back pass in the offensive zone to Johnson after he picked up a rim around off the boards.

“He’s capable of jumping up in the play and he moves the puck very well,” Gudbranson said.

Any offence he’d provide to the Oilers would be a bonus given the roster includes the likes of Tyson Barrie and Evan Bouchard among others.

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A costly error

Gavrikov was minus-1 on Wednesday against the Oilers. It’s not like he many a glaring error on Derek Ryan’s goal, but he certainly could have played the sequence better.

It started well for Gavrikov, who stood up Jesse Puljujarvi at the red line and knocked the puck away. But then he got caught puck-watching and stood too far to the boards and not close enough to the middle of the ice.

As the puck jutted free to Ryan at centre ice, Gavrikov was in no position to check him.

Derek Ryan goes top shelf and ties the game ⬆️🥅 pic.twitter.com/ef6KMRqD3I

— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) January 26, 2023

Gavrikov wasn’t the only one to blame. Peeke got caught flatfooted. Goalie Joonas Korpisalo didn’t make the save.

Gavrikov probably did the worst job of the three — even if his mistake was far from egregious.

Do the pros of Gavrikov’s game outweigh the cons? The Oilers have a few more weeks to decide.

(Photo: Gaelen Morse / USA Today)

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