The Quiet Contributor: Ty Emberson’s Penalty Kill Prowess Makes Him an…

Following an underwhelming start to the 2024-25 season (again), the Edmonton Oilers are heating up, proving why they remain one of the top cup contenders in the league. Since November 7th, Edmonton has possessed a 14-4-1 record, equating to a fantastic 0.763 points percentage that ranks first in the NHL during that time frame.

From the emergence of the Darnell Nurse-Brett Kulak pairing to Leon Draisaitl’s two-way dominance, there are plenty of factors for Edmonton’s recent resurgence. But, one relatively undermentioned area of improvement in their play is their penalty kill.

Despite their slow start, the Oilers were surprisingly quite fine defensively at 5v5 to begin the year, ranking 13th in the league in 5v5 goals against per hour. While certainly not great by any standards, 5v5 defence was not their most concerning issue.

Unfortunately, they still ranked well below average in total goals against, primarily due to a dreadful penalty kill. In the first 14 games, they allowed a whopping 15 goals on the penalty kill.

Luckily, there has been a significant turnaround in that area. Since November 7th, the Oilers have allowed just 5 goals against on the penalty kick in 18 games. Their PK% of 88 percent in that time span ranks second in the league.

It’s reasonable to point to goaltending being the major area of improvement; after all, their PK SV% moved from a dreadful 0.694 (!) to 0.886. However, the coaching staff made another adjustment midway through the season that had a significant impact: the promotion of defenceman Ty Emberson.

In mid-August, Emberson was acquired by the Oilers from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for defenceman Cody Ceci and a 2025 third-round pick. Emberson immediately became Edmonton’s youngest NHL defenceman at 24 and by far their most inexperienced one, with just 30 NHL games under his belt.

Edmonton’s depth right-defence saw a significant shuffle this past summer. Alongside the departure of Cody Ceci, RHD Vincent Desharnais had also left in free agency. In the 2023-24 regular season, Ceci had led Oiler defencemen in TOI per game on the PK, while Desharnais led the team in the 2024 playoffs; although Ceci and Desharnais weren’t exactly indispensable players by any facet, the exit of two heavily-used defencemen on the penalty kill forced Edmonton to alter their deployment.

Initially, the Oilers deployed Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse as their top PK unit, Brett Kulak and Ty Emberson as the secondary PK unit, and Troy Stecher occasionally rotated with Emberson. This deployment was far from successful.

While Nurse has been excellent at 5-on-5 since the start of November, he has struggled on the PK this season. Nurse has been on ice for 16 of the 21 goals the penalty-kill has allowed, and no Oilers defenceman has been on ice for a greater rate of shots and scoring chances against the PK than Nurse, by a pretty hefty margin to boot.

After October, Kris Knoblauch and Mark Stuart eventually acknowledged these struggles, and made adjustments to their deployment. From November 7th onwards, Nurse was moved down to the second PK unit with Kulak, while Ty Emberson was promoted next to Ekholm on the top unit. In the past 18 games, Emberson has led the entire team in TOI on the penalty kill.

So far, the results have been a huge success.

The Ekholm – Nurse unit on the PK has allowed a whopping 26 goals against per 60 minutes and 73 shots per 60. On the other hand, the Ekholm – Emberson unit has allowed 48 shots and just 3.6 goals per 60.

Overall, the Oilers have allowed substantially fewer goals and shot attempts on the penalty kill with Emberson, seeing a decrease of a whopping 68 percent in goals against when Emberson is on-ice.

Troy Stecher ranks atop the list here, but it must be mentioned that he’s the fifth defenceman on penalty-kill, playing nearly all of his time against the opposition’s second PP units.

What makes Emberson’s metrics here impressive is that he’s spent a significant portion of his TOI against the opposition’s best players on the PK. For instance, in their game against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, no Oilers defenceman played more against David Pastrnak on the PK than Emberson. In the game before that, Emberson was deployed the most against Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart on the PK and so on. This is far from easy deployment, and yet, Emberson has thrived.

Emberson’s past results suggest that his current play isn’t just a mirage. Even in San Jose, Emberson was arguably their best defenceman on the PK, as he was on-ice for the fewest rate of PK shots against amongst their defenders in 2023-24.

Emberson may not be a flashy defenceman. He’s not a dynamic puck-mover or a spectacular passer, and he’s Edmonton’s only regular skater without a goal this season. But, he has been a fantastic in-zone defender.

Emberson excels at breaking up cycles, defending passing lanes, retrieving opposition dump-ins, and successfully moving the puck out of his own end. These types of defencemen can often be extremely useful throughout the playoffs.

Edmonton’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals last season proved the importance of a strong PK. They had some struggles defensively at 5v5, but they held the best penalty-kill in the 2024 playoffs, and it was a major reason why they were simply a single game away from winning it all. With the departure of multiple players heavily used on the PK this summer, such as Ryan McLeod, Vincent Desharnais and Cody Ceci, there was concern that Edmonton’s PK would see a significant decline this season, which was true for the first month.

Fortunately, the addition of Ty Emberson has seemed to quell those concerns. He has formed a reliable top PK unit alongside Ekholm, and there are several indicators that his current results can be sustained in the long term. Emberson has been a quiet but very useful contributor to the Oilers’ roster as they climb up the standings.

“As the season has gone on, I’ve built some confidence up in finding ways to contribute, whether it’s on the PK or playing hard five-on-five,” said Emberson following Edmonton’s 7-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild a week back.

“I think it’s in a good spot, and I’ll just try to keep building on that.”