Analyst Flags Worrying Stat Line for Oilers’ Shakir Mukhamadullin

The Edmonton Oilers likely did well when they traded Darnell Nurse to remove his full cap hit and picked up a solid prospect defenseman in Shakir Mukhamadullin. There’s a solid chance that he’s an effective piece this coming season. That said, one stat has scribe Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal concerned.

The GvA/60, or giveaways per 60 minutes of play (4.27), is potentially problematic.

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Leavins writes:

“One of the Oilers wild cards entering this season is newly acquired Defender Shakir Mukhamadullin. I get the attraction of the 6’4 D-man who can skate as well as he can. But a couple things from last season’s stats with San Jose make me want to see more before I proclaim much. One is the 61 giveaways in 50 games. Two are the 35 Hits in those same 50 GP.”

Mukhamadullin was second in the Sharks in GvA/60. That’s not ideal. Edged out by only Macklin Celebrini, he posted the stat in just over 17 minutes per game. As far as where that ranks in the league, it’s 36th-worst among defensemen. There are roughly 200+ NHL defensemen in a season, so this puts him in the rough vicinity of the top-15-20% for giveaway rate — not a flattering percentile. Given his time on ice, the hope is that these are just rookie-ish numbers that reflect the fact he’s still only played a total of 83 games.

He’s not playing big matchup or heavy-zone-exit minutes, so the concern here is that he’s not being overloaded defensively, but still coughing the puck up. It’s not like he’s playing no minutes, but he was being used in a relatively limited role, which is part of why the rate stands out.

One thing to consider is that defensemen who attempt more zone exits, breakout passes, and rushes generally rack up more giveaways than those who just chip it off the glass. If he was being used as a puck-mover in San Jose’s rebuild, there is reason to believe these totals are influenced by the system he was playing in.

The other concern is that his Gva/60 numbers got worse last season than they were in 2024-25. He posted a 3.65 Gva/60 in 2024/25 and actually played more minutes per game. He was 95th worst, meaning something happened last season where he was more prone to giving away the puck than the season prior. Maybe the silver lining is that he has shown he can be better at protecting the puck.

Is this going to be something worth watching? Maybe. Then again, Spencer Stastney, who he’ll be competing with for a job, had worse numbers for the Oilers in 2025-26. It also goes to show how underrated guys like Ty Emberson (2.84) and Brett Kulak (1.96) are and were.

It’s also worth noting that Mukhamadullin is not very physical, ranking 174th among defensemen in Hits/60. The good news is that he penalty kills and isn’t too shabby at it.

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