Can Connor Brown Be for the Oilers What Pisani Was in 2006?

If Brown can get even three or four more to close the season, he could enter the playoffs as an underdog to have an impact in a depth role. Could he be this season’s version of Fernando Pisani and the magical 2006 run? He’s a solid penalty killer, a good two-way player, can forecheck, and can score. That sounds a lot like the role Pisani was asked to fill. Granted, Pisani had 18 goals that regular season, so to expect Brown to score 14 in the playoffs would be a stretch. At the same time, if he can add some depth offense in the bottom six, that’s a huge win for the Oilers where deeper teams gave them fits in last season’s run.

Where Will Brown Be Used?

The Oilers added penaltykillers Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick at the deadline. That should ease a bit of the pressure off of Brown to only be useful in that role. If Brown can maintain his level of consistency on the kill but also use that extra energy from not having to play every second shift, he’ll have a bit more juice to grind in the offensive zone.

Meanwhile, if Evander Kane — who could share spot duty on the second and third line — makes it a mission to find chemistry with Brown, that duo could be fun to watch. Kane said before the Washington game this week that it was his mission to help Brown get a goal. He did exactly that. One has to think that might spark Kane to do more of the same to see if they can keep that magic going.

A strong third line of Brown, Kane, and Henrique is a good third line for Edmonton. It will be potentially more dangerous than many third lines they’ll be up against and they’ll be playing softer defense pairings. That’s an opportunity the trio can take advantage of.