![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bowman-e1767352971787.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Edmonton Oilers are not necessarily better off now than they were before the flurry of activity on July 1.<\/p>\n
The Edmonton Oilers didn\u2019t exactly have a banner July 1. The organization had a chance to plug some major holes in the lineup. But judging from the moves, the team is no better off after July 1 than it was before.<\/p>\n
Leaving the questionable hiring of Mike Babcock<\/a> aside, the Oilers really didn\u2019t make any serious attempts to shore up confidence in Edmonton as a Stanley Cup contender.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with the most evident need for the club: Starting goaltending.<\/p>\n Last season, the club moved on from Stuart Skinner<\/a> and Calvin Pickard. That move was long overdue. But the replacements, Tristan Jarry and Connor Ingram, didn\u2019t quite work out. In fact, Ingram, the guy that led the Oilers to the playoffs, has pretty much walked away in free agency.<\/p>\n The solution Stan Bowman came up with was a washed-up prospect and a veteran. There was a time when Devon Levi was a solid goaltending prospect. However, he just couldn\u2019t find his game in Buffalo. Apparently, Edmonton thinks there\u2019s something there. If Levi can find his game in Oil Country, well, that would be a home run.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s rare that a Stanley Cup contender would hang so much on a 24-year-old goalie.<\/p>\n Then, there\u2019s Frederik Andersen. He\u2019s coming off a Stanley Cup championship. As such, why would the Carolina Hurricanes just let him walk away? If he were part of the organization\u2019s plans, the Canes would have easily topped what the Oilers offered.<\/p>\n So, banking on a tandem of Jarry and Andersen next season is something that fans should really be concerned about.<\/p>\n Nurse Trade Looked Bad for Oilers<\/p>\n To Bowman\u2019s credit, it\u2019s impressive that he pulled off the Darnell Nurse trade<\/a> without retaining any salary. The talk had been that the Oilers would have had to retain a bunch of that contract just to get it off the books.<\/p>\n Well, that wasn\u2019t the case. And in return, The Oil didn\u2019t get very much<\/a>. Yes, Shakir Mukhamadullin is a solid young defenseman. He\u2019s a former first-round pick and packs size and punch.<\/p>\n But he\u2019s not really going to be more than a middle-pairing guy at best. All right, so the Oilers don\u2019t really need that right now. Yes, but what did the Oilers do with the cap space they saved from Nurse\u2019s contract?<\/p>\n What to read next:<\/p>\n Edmonton Didn\u2019t Do Much with Cap Savings<\/p>\n Had the Oilers turned Nurse\u2019s cap hit into other serviceable pieces, it would be easy to justify the trade. Instead, the organization signed Ryan Shea to essentially replace Nurse. That\u2019s not necessarily an upgrade.<\/p>\n Then, the club lost Jack Roslovic<\/a> and bottom-six forward Adam Henrique. What\u2019s the plan to replace those guys?<\/p>\n The Oilers have over $7 million in cap space and will need another top-six forward and a bottom-six center. That\u2019s not really doable with that cap space. Unless Edmonton is banking on Isaac Howard and Matthew Savoie to really step up this season, it\u2019s tough to see the club get scoring beyond their main guys.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the Oilers are a one-trick pony. It\u2019ll be Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl carrying the entire offense, while praying that Evan Bouchard can keep the defensive gaffes to a minimum.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s also the matter of Andersen and Jarry somehow coming up with great seasons to paper over the lack of scoring the Oilers will surely encounter.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tNestor Quixtan<\/a> Seasoned NHL and NFL analyst and baseball writer focused on covering clubs across each league with news, analysis, and insights. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Nestor’s singular experiences and background have enabled him to bring a different take on the sports world as a whole. Nestor’s fondness for baseball, football, and hockey set the tone for his love and passion for writing about sports. More about Nestor Quixtan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Edmonton Oilers are not necessarily better off now than they were before the flurry of activity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-776550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}