The Oilers organization shouldn\u2019t overreact and an early look at who they may re-sign<\/p>\n
In sports, winning teams are often the best at making the right decision while under pressure.<\/p>\n
On the ice, hockey players have to make hundreds of decisions, often in less than a few seconds, that can lead to winning or losing a game and ultimately the championship. Thriving under pressure, remaining calm and level-headed are attributes managers and scouts look for in players. Of course they need skill, but having the ability to make plays under pressure is often what separates good players from great players.<\/p>\n
The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> can\u2019t panic this off-season<\/a>. Making knee-jerk decisions won\u2019t help them reach their ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup in the near future. There will be tough decisions, but their process can\u2019t be rash or emotional.President Jeff Jackson and general manager Stan Bowman<\/a> want to win, and they have pressure to win. Owner Daryl Katz is the ultimate decision maker. He has no one above him, while Jackson, Bowman and head coach Kris Knoblauch<\/a> do. All of them want to win, and the Oilers\u2019 off-season decisions will start at the top of funnel down.If there are any changes in management those decisions need to be made first. I\u2019ve heard the Oilers are looking to add to their management team. Kalle Larsson<\/a> did a lot of quality work this year, and I could see him getting a promotion to assistant general manager. Bill Scott, who quietly has done a lot of great work and gained significant experience over the past 16 seasons with the organization, has had multiple interviews with Nashville for their vacant GM job. He is on the short list of finalists. The Oilers don\u2019t want to lose him, but if he is offered the Predators job he will take it and they will need to replace him.<\/p>\n When a team loses emotions run high. Owners, managers, coaches, fans and media at different levels will call for change. Some will be too emotional and call for massive changes, while others will be more calculated and take some time to analyze every level. Some fans have called for Stan Bowman to be fired. Same as Knoblauch. Let\u2019s look at those scenarios.<\/p>\n Bowman was named GM on July 24, 2024. One of the first decisions under his tenure was to not match the offer sheets for Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. Holloway just signed a five-year extension<\/a> worth $7.75 million after he produced 26-37-63 last season and 22-29-51 in 59 games this season. Holloway and Broberg were good young players and losing them wasn\u2019t ideal. Edmonton received second and third round picks in 2025 as well 2028 third rounder and prospect Paul Fischer on August 20th. The Oilers moved the second rounder to Boston for Trent Frederic<\/a> and Max Jones, while they drafted Tommy Lafreniere with the third round pick. Edmonton lost this transaction. It might improve down the road, but they lost the two best players.When the Oilers knew they weren\u2019t going to match the offer sheets, Bowman acquired Vasily Podkolzin<\/a> (August 18th, 2024) from Vancouver for a 2025 fourth round pick (they re-acquired the pick before the draft when they sent Evander Kane<\/a> to Vancouver). Acquiring Podkolzin for a fourth has worked out incredibly well. Podkolzin scored 19 goals this year, 17 at 5\u00d75 and added 18 assists. He skates well, his aggressive and will fight when needed. Podkolzin made $1 million the past two season and was great value, and his new $2.95 million deal for three seasons begins next season. He\u2019s given the Oilers great value and if he continues to improve like it looks like he will be one of the best contracts in the NHL for the next three seasons. Bowman did a pretty good job replacing Holloway with Podkolzin at a much lower cost.On the same day, Bowman traded Cody Ceci to San Jose for Ty Emberson<\/a>. Emberson has emerged as a solid third pair defender. This was partially a salary cap transaction. Trade has been okay.<\/p>\n In November 2024, Bowman claimed Kasperi Kapanen on waivers from St. Louis. He\u2019s turned out to be a great acquisition. He\u2019s played very well in the playoffs last year and this season. He battled injuries this year and only played 41 games, and doesn\u2019t have the stats to ask for a big raise. He made $1.3 million last season and he likes Edmonton and the Oilers like him. Re-signing him for two years at $2.1-2.4 million makes sense. He\u2019s fast, skilled, can shoot, is physical and can kill penalties and he performs well in the playoffs. He\u2019s been a big win for Bowman.<\/p>\n In March 2024 the Oilers acquired Trent Frederic and Max Jones for Max Wanner and a second and fourth rounder in 2025. Frederic was signed to an eight-year, $3.85 million extension last June. The term was, and is, a concern. Frederic did not have a good season. If, and it is a big if at this point, he can rediscover the player he was in Boston and score 15 goals and add 15 assists and play physical the AAV will look okay for the next few seasons, but this deal aging well is unlikely. Jones played much better this season, until getting injured late in the year. I\u2019m not sure he will re-sign with the Oilers or not.<\/p>\n A few days later Bowman acquired Jake Walman from San Jose for a first round pick in 2026. Walman played very well last season in the playoffs, had an inconsistent regular season, but played well again in the playoffs. His new seven-year, $7 million AAV<\/a> deal begins this season. Bowman signed him to that deal last summer. Walman and Mattias Ekholm essentially swamped AAVs. Ekholm\u2019s salary for the next three season will now be $4 million while Walman will be $7 million. It would seem the plan is for Walman to take over Ekholm\u2019s minutes over the next season while Ekholm moves more into a 15-18 minute\/game defenceman. Walman needs to stay healthy, which has been a challenge as he misses 20-25 games each season. That is the risk with his contract. When he\u2019s on, Walman is a solid contributor, but Ekholm has been more consistent in his career, and the Oilers will need Walman to find that consistency for this deal to work out.2025\/2026\u2026On April 2, 2025, Bowman signed Josh Samanski<\/a> out of Germany. It didn\u2019t get a lot of fanfar, but Samanski has an unexpectedly great first season.<\/p>\n He played well in the American League, represented Germany at the Olympics, and then played well for the Oiler down the stretch. He is reliable defensively. His first instinct is to play solid defensive hockey, which the Oilers need. Samanski will need to get stronger on the puck, and work on creating a bit more offensively, but he looks like a solid bottom six forward moving forward. A great free agent signing.<\/p>\n Bowman\u2019s first free agency as the Oilers general manager wasn\u2019t great. He signed Andrew Mangiapane<\/a> for two years at $3.6 million AAV. It did not work out. Mangiapane was given opportunities and it didn\u2019t work. Bowman ended up moving him to Chicago along with a 2027 first round pick for Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach. If Dickinson signs a new deal in Edmonton the deal will look very good. Dach is a pending RFA and will receive a qualifying offer, if not a contract before July first. Edmonton likes his speed and tenacity and he has decent hands.<\/p>\n Curtiz Lazar signed a one-year deal at $775,000 and lived up to his contract. He chipped in offensively won faceoff, and in the playoffs, he led the Oilers in penalties drawn. Solid low-cost signing.<\/p>\n On July 8, Bowman acquired Isaac Howard<\/a> from Tampa Bay for Sam O\u2019Reilly. Howard is more of a scorer, while O\u2019Reilly is pegged as a solid two-way centre. Howard signed a three-year entry level deal with the Oilers the same day and had a productive rookie season. Howard scored 24 goals and 50 points in 47 games in Bakersfield and chipped in 2-3-5 in 29 games with the Oilers. He will be given every chance to replace Roslovic next season. Howard and O\u2019Reilly are both good prospects who offer different skill sets. It is too early to say with certainty how the deal will work out for both clubs.Just before the season began, Bowman acquired Connor Ingram<\/a> from Utah for nothing (future considerations). Ingram started in the American Hockey League and was recalled in December and played well. Getting him for nothing and having him play well was a win for Edmonton.<\/p>\n A few days later Bowman signed Jack Roslovic for one year at $1.5 million. He gave the Oilers great value scoring 21 goals in 69 games. A great signing for the price.<\/p>\n Bowman traded Stuart Skinner<\/a>, Brett Kulak and a second round pick in 2029 for Tristan Jarry and Samuel Poulin. The Oilers gave up a lot, and the trade did not work out well for them this season. Jarry got injured in his third start with the Oilers and missed a month. When he returned, he couldn\u2019t find his game and the Oilers, due to underachieving all season, didn\u2019t have time to let him find it. He lost the starting job to Connor Ingram. The trade doesn\u2019t look good right now, but it could improve next year. Jarry will have all summer to work with Peter Aubrey in Edmonton, and he needs to get fully healthy. If he does, there is time to salvage the trade, but he will need to play well for that to happen. So far, the trade hasn\u2019t worked out well for Edmonton.<\/p>\n At trade deadline Bowman acquired Connor Murphy for a second round (2028) pick. The deal looks good now, but if Murphy signs (which I think is very likely) the deal will look great for the Oilers. Acquiring a second pair right shot D-man, who will play three playoff years, maybe more, for a second-round pick is a great acquisition. But they need to sign him for it to be great.<\/p>\n He also did the Dickinson and Dach trade for Mangiapane as outlined above.<\/p>\n Bowman hit homeruns with Podkolzin and Kapanen. Walman was a solid acquisition as was Murphy. Dickinson could be great if he signs a new deal.<\/p>\n The offer sheet decision cost them two quality players. The Frederic contract was awful in year one as was the Jarry trade. Bowman will need those players to perform much better otherwise those will be two huge misses, and some would argue they already are.<\/p>\n I expect Bowman to remain GM. He recognized the team needs to get better defensively by adding Murphy and Dickinson. Now he needs to sign them. He has experience in re-tooling a Stanley Cup Final roster. He won a Cup with the Blackhawks in 2010, although he inherited that roster. Then the Hawks lost in the first round in 2011 and 2012, before winning the Cup again in 2013 and 2015. The Oilers have repeated that cycle through two seasons. They made the Cup Final (lost, didn\u2019t win) in Bowman\u2019s first year and then lost in the opening round in his second season. He will want the third year to be better and go more than one round. But he should have the experience in seeing how to re-tool a team to get back in the mix for the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n COACHING\u2026Since being hired on November 12th, 2023, Kris Knoblauch<\/a> has the fourth most regular season wins among NHL head coaches with 135. He trails Jon Cooper (136), Rod Brind\u2019amour (143) and Jared Bednar (146). His 31 playoff wins are second to Paul Maurice\u2019s 32. Knoblauch currently has the most wins regular season and playoffs combined since joining the NHL with 166 followed by Brind\u2019amour (164 and counting), Maurice (162) and Bednar (160 and counting). Knoblauch has had a lot of success.<\/p>\n However, I do think he had a bit of an off-year coaching this past season compared to his first two. The Oilers never found any consistency in their defensive game. They had a very good 25-game stretch defensively in December and January, but other than that they never got on track in their own zone. I asked Leon Draisaitl if the team needs to improve their defensive focus.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, for sure, and I take myself right to the top of that,\u201d said Draisaitl. \u201cI wasn\u2019t necessarily happy with the way I defended all season or the details in my game. I feel like they slipped away from me a little bit, and that\u2019s certainly something that I really want to focus on. Those things are hard to focus on in the summer. The summer skates, they\u2019re summer skates. But when I\u2019m coming back here, and I think that should be our focus for next season, at least to start the year, that those little details, they go a long way. And I can only speak for myself, but I do think that it slipped into our group a little bit and it got away from us a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2025, Knoblauch sent a message early to the group when he benched Leon Draisaitl in the fourth game of the season. Draisaitl had taken four penalties in four games, and three of them were undisciplined. Draisaitl sat on the bench for almost seven minutes. Message sent. Draisaitl only took one minor penalty in the next 33 games. Give Draisaitl credit for handling it like a pro. He didn\u2019t pout; he took responsibility and played smarter.<\/p>\n Knoblauch had ample opportunities in the first few months of the season to get the group\u2019s attention. He could have sat a veteran for seven to 15 minutes to get the group\u2019s attention. Too many of their top minute-eaters weren\u2019t playing well enough defensively. Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse, Mattias Ekholm, Draisaitl, Connor McDavid. Any of them could have been used. Knoblauch opted not to, and I think the standard to where they need to be defensively wasn\u2019t drilled home strong enough. He can learn from that.<\/p>\n Glen Gulutzan<\/a> got the head coaching job in Dallas and Paul Coffey wasn\u2019t on the bench to start the season. Goalie coach, Dustin Schwartz and skating coach David Pelletier also didn\u2019t return. Mark Stuart was promoted to run the defence, while Paul McFarland was hired to run the power play, Peter Aubry was the new goalie coach and Conor Allen the new skills coach. The PP remained solid, Aubry worked with four goalies, two of which came in during the season, while Allen\u2019s skill work before practice was received very well by the players. Many of the young players really enjoyed it. I do think the Oilers lacked some experience on the bench, and Coffey returned late in the year. Essentially demoting Stuart.<\/p>\n I have an analogy for Knoblauch. Look at him like a 35-goal scorer. He isn\u2019t an elite coach yet, but he\u2019s shown really good promise his first two seasons. If a player has two seasons with 37 and 36 goals, but dips to 22 in his third season. Do you trade him, or do you think he can rebound? That\u2019s how I view Knoblauch. He didn\u2019t match his previous two seasons, but I think it is premature to fire him. Let him grow and learn.<\/p>\n