{"id":881783,"date":"2026-09-03T10:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T10:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/881783\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T10:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T10:24:18","slug":"bowman-oilers-unlikely-to-offer-professional-tryouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/881783\/","title":{"rendered":"Bowman: Oilers unlikely to offer professional tryouts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> have never been shy when it comes to signing players to professional tryouts.While they didn\u2019t bring in any players last year, forward Mike Hoffman<\/a> and defenceman Travis Dermott<\/a> got invites to training camp in 2024, with the latter signing a one-year deal. He\u2019d play just 10 games before being waived and claimed by the Minnesota Wild.In 2023, Adam Erne<\/a>, Brandon Sutter, and Sam Gagner<\/a> came to camp, with Gagner signing a one-year deal, sticking with the team through the run to the Stanley Cup final. He played in 28 regular season games, scoring five goals and 10 points, but didn\u2019t dress for a playoff game.In 2022, they invited defenceman Jason Demers, who would play one game with the Oilers to hit career game No. 700, while bringing in winger Jake Virtanen<\/a> was nothing short of a mess.<\/p>\n

Who could forget the success that was Alex Chiasson in 2018? He would score 22 goals and 38 points that year, sticking around town for three seasons.<\/p>\n

But any Oilers fan hopeful the team would do the same this year may want to exhale. General manager Stan Bowman joined Oilers Now\u2019s Bob Stauffer Monday, saying the team was unlikely to bring anybody into camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some conversations about that, but there\u2019s certainly a lot of guys looking for (a tryout),\u201d said Bowman. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of inbound calls the last few days here. Agents are working hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still some decent players out there that are trying to find landing spots. I\u2019m not sure if we\u2019re going to go down that road. We\u2019re not overflowing with players, but we also don\u2019t have a shortage of players. We\u2019re in that mode where yeah, we probably could try to bring a guy in on a tryout \u2014 not the worst idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just not a lot of time this year to really even give evaluations.\u201d<\/p>\n

A shorter training camp, and a pre-season cut to just four games limit how much time teams can look at external players, Bowman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou figure your main roster is going to play those two games, and then you really have two other games, really,\u201d he said. \u201cYou could get to know them a bit, watch them practice, but it\u2019s a tough year for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t rule it out, I just think that I wouldn\u2019t be waiting for the news to break that we\u2019re adding new players.\u201d<\/p>\n

While winger Matt Savoie was injured this summer and is expected to miss some time, there\u2019s also a plethora of players the team has added who can fill depth roles. Aku Raty, Eduards Tralmaks, and Mathieu Joseph were all signed since last spring, all of whom will be in competition, and that doesn\u2019t even account for others like Quinn Hutson, Viljami Marjala, Owen Michaels, Josh Samanski, and Max Jones who could all make arguments for making the team.<\/p>\n

The Oilers already have enough competition on the blue line, too, with eight players on one-way contracts in Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, Jake Walman, Connor Murphy, Ryan Shea, Ty Emberson, Shakir Mukhamadullin, and Spencer Stastney competing.<\/p>\n

Things could change, as Bowman highlighted, but there seems to be no need to hold your breath.<\/p>\n

Zach Laing is Daily Faceoff Edmonton\u2019s managing editor and The Nation Network\u2019s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing<\/a>, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.PRESENTED BY NATION GEAR\"\"<\/a>
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