The Edmonton Oilers might very well boast the best player in the world.
Heck, they might even have the top two.
Unfortunately, it takes an entire team worth of players, coaching staff and front office personnel to get a club all the way to the ultimate goal at the end of the season. And for the past two years, the Oilers have fallen just short.
So, what would it take to get them over the hump and make the third time a charm? Another new pair of veteran forwards to flank Leon Draisaitl on the second line? A top-tier blue liner coming in to quarterback the power play back to elite form? A new netminder? Darnell Nurse’s contract magically becoming more cap manageable somehow? Or how about a hyperbaric chamber of his very own for Connor McDavid to sleep in nightly? You know, just in case he can possibly be any better.
If that was your off-season to-do list for the Oilers, then bring out the red pen and get ready to make some big Xs, because not a single one of them happened. Well, except for maybe the hyperbaric thingamajig, for all we know.
Here’s how the Oilers roster breaks down heading into training camp. And you can decide for yourself whether they’re in any better position to finally push past the championship hump.
Trent Frederic (21) spoke with the media at the season exit interviews at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Thursday, June 19, 2025.
FORWARDS
On the surface, any roster that boasts not one, but the top two players on the planet right now would automatically receive a passing grade, if not an A-plus.
The problem is, you’ve got to surround Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with a strong supporting cast. Or at least an adequate one, given the cap hit from being able to afford those two big guns.
Gone are Corey Perry, Connor Brown, (and to a much lesser extent) Evander Kane, Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner. Coming in are Andrew Mangiapane (a one-time 30-goal scorer) and a couple of unproven rookies in Ike Howard and Matthew Savoie, (along with a freshly re-signed Trent Frederic, who is hopefully much healthier than when he arrived — on paper, anyway — at last year’s trade deadline).
Sure, the math works in the club’s favour when you consider the roster has definitely gotten a little younger and faster, which was one of the goals from the outset. But at what cost? The ageless Perry’s veteran presence can’t be counted out in last year’s long playoff run, and it seemed as if Brown was only now hitting his post-injury stride.
From the outside looking in, it appears as if the Oilers may have been grasping at straws given a tight cap and a light draft day, and are putting too much optimism in having the young blood stick in the lineup.
Also, what are they going to do if Hyman’s wrist, injured in the Cup final, isn’t ready to go when the puck drops on Oct. 8?
Are the Oilers any better? More like better start praying.
Projected lines:
Andrew Mangiapane — Connor McDavid — Zach Hyman
Vasily Podkolzin — Leon Draisaitl — Matthew Savoie
Ike Howard — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — Trent Frederic
Mattias Janmark — Adam Henrique — Kasperi Kapanen
Evan Bouchard (2) of the Edmonton Oilers, celebrates a first period goal against the Florida Panthers in game two of the Stanley Cup final at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Friday June 6, 2025.
DEFENCE
Nothing to see here. The Oilers basically stayed pat when it comes to their main defensive pairings. It’s an approach which, if we’re being honest, if they had also taken during the previous off-season, then they may still have had a penalty kill worth bringing home to mama last year.
Instead, we watched them fall from first overall in the 2023-24 playoffs (a whopping 94.3 per cent success rate) to sit smack dab in the middle of the pack at 16th place heading into last year’s post-season (a pedestrian 78.2 per cent).
Sure, they lost a past-his-prime John Klingberg. But the trade deadline addition of Jake Walman has already more than made up for the swing and a miss that was Josh Brown, who didn’t even make it out of training camp last year.
Projected pairings:
Mattias Ekholm — Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse — Brett Kulak
Jake Walman — Ty Emberson
Stuart Skinner #74 of the Edmonton Oilers looks on after a loss against the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place on June 14, 2025, in Edmonton.
GOALTENDING
Technically? If you consider Stuart Skinner is another year into his development toward becoming an elite NHL goaltender, then, yes. The problem, of course, is that the Oilers have been in win-now mode since his arrival three years ago.
He’s responded by winning the starting role after being named to the All-Star Game and becoming a Calder Trophy finalist in his rookie season, before following up with back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup Final.
He had some help along the way, of course, as farmhand call-up Calvin Pickard spent these two playoff runs proving he may very well be the best backup in the NHL right now, spelling off the wavering Skinner in fine form.
Together, they form a pair that has the Oilers in contention, no doubt. But Oilers fans don’t want a developing starter; they want an already developed one, along the same lines as the team’s top pair on offence. Never mind McDavid and Draisaitl are the top one-two punch in the world when it comes to putting the puck in the net, the fans want to see the same when it comes to keeping the puck out of it.
So, there was more than a little grumbling when the Oilers didn’t make a move inside the crease over the off-season. Skinner will continue to take strides in his own game, but he could still be years away from becoming the goalie the Oilers need now.
Zach Hyman (18) of the Edmonton Oilers, celebrates his first goal of the third period against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final in Edmonton on Sunday, May 25, 2025.
G-MAN’S TAKE
How good this roster is heading into training camp is one thing; how good it will be once the regular season is complete is another thing entirely.
Twice, they made a heroic push all the way to the final round of playoffs only to run out of gas. They were good enough. They just didn’t have enough good to go the distance. No one can blame them for a lack of effort. But in order to cross the finish line first, every part of the machine has to be running at peak efficiency. And it’s hard to think about the Oilers roster, top to bottom, like that right now.
Room for growth? Sure. Sky’s still the limit for the elite members? Absolutely. They just keep getting better.
But they also all keep getting older. Hyman is 33. Nugent-Hopkins is 32. And both their numbers indicate they have passed the peak of their careers.
The big question, of course, is just how long will the Oilers’ Stanley Cup window remain open? Because you can bet it’s closing tighter with each passing season.
This could be now or never.
E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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