Is there more panic on the outside of the Edmonton Oilers looking in than the other way around.
Despite what you may read or hear, there is ample evidence to say…yes.
That and more in this edition of…
9 Things
9. Fun to spot Connor McDavid among the crowd at the World Cup game in Toronto. A reminder that athletes at his level are often multi-sport enthusiasts and fans just like us. It was also good to see him smiling and having fun, after a trying season.
8. Connor McDavid narrowly came second to Nikita Kucherov in the Hart Trophy voting. The gap was a mere 10 points. While I wanted Connor to win, I felt there were three or four players completely deserving and I might have been o.k. with any of them, Kucherov included.
7. We will talk about Darnell Nurse in a minute. For the purposes of this paragraph, if Nurse is dealt by July 1 and not for another defender, does Stan Bowman re-look at Stony Plain’s Brett Kulak. Kulak has earned a substantial raise, especially in this year’s UFA field. Would he play ahead of Mattias Ekholm or Jake Walman? Or would a Nick Seeler-like player be a more affordable option.
6. It is my understanding that the Edmonton Oilers are trying to return both UFA’s that they acquired at the NHL trade deadline. I see Defender Connor Murphy as perfect fit as Edmonton is likely to find on their right-hand side. And a healthy Jason Dickinson over 82 games would be a solidifying presence in terms of team defence. Neither will be especially cheap, and term will be a concern.
5. A name of interest that often surfaced in-season as a possibility for the Oilers to acquire has re-surfaced: Alex Tuch. There is no doubt that if he can stay healthy Tuch is a Top six NHL power forward. But he is also 30 and will easily get a substantial raise over the $4.75m AAV he was making in Buffalo. What term he will demand in a thin group of quality UFA’s will be a huge factor.
4. I reported earlier this week on the Darnell Nurse situation. I believe that, while the club has been actively thinking about Nurse’s future here in Edmonton, it was ultimately the player who proactively brought this to a head. Like you, I heard there was somewhere between three and five destinations on the list Nurse would be willing to waive for. And I think there are additional clubs that would also like to get some of that action. Don’t know if the Nurse camp is interested.
3. It is often completely fascinating to watch how media and a club’s fans react to these stories (Nurse). Sometimes, those folks will volunteer to lead the parade out of town. Other times, the presiding sentiment is “he wasn’t so bad, you know”. And others still work pretty hard at “rehabilitating the asset”, shall we say? My take: Over the course of his time in Edmonton, Darnell Nurse averaged out to being a second-pairing D-man making first-pairing dough. Period.
2. I listened to Elliotte Friedman’s new Thursday edition of 32 Thoughts this week. Elliotte has real credibility. I trust what he has to say, so the words he offered on the Edmonton coaching situation landed with weight. To paraphrase, it sounds as if the NHL will indeed investigate the Mike Babcock situation vis-à-vis his exit from Columbus. But that Gary Bettman holds a lot of cards in this instance, and that the league is of a mind to move this along expeditiously. Saturday, Chris Johnston at The Athletic conveyed a belief from the league that Babcock is “going to be able to work”. All this is good for Edmonton either way, frankly. That this situation has been left hanging out there to some extent is good for neither club nor league.
1.There is one narrative out there that the Edmonton situation overall right now is a bit of a circus. On one hand, I will not pretend that anything Oilers over the past twelve months has gone especially smooth. I do not work for the team. I have no incentive to suggest otherwise. However, I do think that some of the authors of that narrative are those who would like nothing better than for the Oilers to fail in a spectacular fashion. I would avoid those bad actors like the plague. And further, I believe the relative uncertainly of the Connor McDavid contract and the general stress level of the fanbase (which I have compassion for) has built all of this up to be bigger than it is. Why?
Stan Bowman is a veteran General Manager. You may choose to be critical of some of his decisions and that is fair. But I refuse to believe there is panic in his operating model. Not only has Bowman been through this before and seen most everything. His Hall of Fame father has that times two or three and would be a steady voice and influence as well.
Is there a lot of pressure in Edmonton? Absolutely. And is there an owner in Mr. Katz that adds a level of urgency? Of course. But the Chicago market and the Wirtz family was not exactly a day at the country club, either.
I am of the mind that in any organization, it is difficult to accurately judge a G.M.’s success or failure until they have completed the task. There are lots of Stanley Cup winning managers with bad trades on their resume.
At the end of the day, it’s whether the big hockey prize shows up at the top of that document. The rest of it quickly becomes collateral damage.
This article is not AI generated.
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Bruce McCurdy, 1955-2025.
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