There are already NHL teams crashing. The anguish in their fanbases is intensely hot, in particular, in Buffalo which has been out of the playoffs for 14 years straight. Star Sabres winger Alex Tuch is an upcoming unrestricted free agents and star players Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin have made it clear they need to see improvement in the team’s trajectory.
Oilers fan to a man, woman or teenager can feel for the plight of the Sabres and their fans. We went through our own Decade of Darkness-plus from 2007 to 2018 when Edmonton only once made the playoffs.
At the same time, with players having so much more power today to decide their own fate in the NHL, an NHL GM isn’t doing his job if he’s not looking at failing teams to see if he might be able to snag one or two useful players in the general meltdown and confusion of generational franchise failure.
During that Decade of Darkness did not the Oilers let players like Devan Dubnyk and Jeff Petry slip away for peanuts?
And Edmonton’s era of failure was just before the time when NHL stars realized their own power to choose their own destiny on a team of their own liking, a la Mikko Rantanen, Mitch Marner and many others. If an NHL star desires to play a few peak years with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard, he’s got plenty of cards to play in order to make that happen.
Added to the mix, the National Hockey League cap is at long last on the rise again, which will eventually give Oilers GM Stan Bowman some money to work with in terms of acquiring more talent. But when exactly will all that good stuff kick in?
I see many Oilers fans on-line plotting for Edmonton to pounce right away and bring in one more star player like Buffalo’s Tuch this season. Is that in the cards? Or will the Oilers have to wait a bit longer to make such a move?
This season?
I can’t see how the Oilers make a big move this year, at least if we’re talking about picking up, say, a No. 1 goalie or a top line forward, someone on a big contract. Edmonton is right up against the salary cap.
Even if the Oil had more cap space, they’ve got little to trade save for a future first round pick, not in the coming 2026 draft, but in the 2027 draft. Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now has reported the Oil are willing to move that pick, but the pick is likely to be late in the draft and it can’t be cashed in until June 2027. Edmonton can get a solid player for that pick, but not an expensive one, and not likely a top unit one.
If Edmonton wanted to sweeten the deal, the only players earning more than two million per year who don’t also have no-trade clauses are Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak and Evan Bouchard.
Bouchard is staying put. If Skinner is good this year, Edmonton won’t want to move him. If Skinner is bad, what trade value does he have? That leaves Kulak, who is on an expiring contract at $2.75 million.
The Oilers would need left shot d-man Atro Leppanen to play lights out hockey in the AHL in order to be confident Edmonton could replace Kulak if they were to move him. But even if the Oil determine they can’t afford Kulak in years to come, he’s also one hell of a solid 2026 playoff rental for Edmonton, in that he’s already on the team and he almost always plays his best in the heat of playoff competition.
A trade involving Kulak is possible but not likely. This leaves Edmonton with its 2027 #1 pick to trade, or maybe some prospect such as newly acquired Ike Howard, Leppanen or Roby Jarventie, Viljama Marjala or Josh Samanski, if they were to light it up in the AHL this year.
Given that Edmonton already struck it big, seemingly, in the 2025-26 free agent market signing up its top two targets in Andrew Mangiapane and now Jack Roslovic, I’m starting to wonder just how desperate the Oilers will be to make a big trade at the 2026 deadline. That’s especially the case if Stu Skinner steps up and plays well, or if Connor Ingram does so should Skinner slide.
This summer?
While I’m not bullish on the Oil making a big move this season, this coming summer of 2026 is a different story. If the cap goes up to as much as $107 million, as has been rumoured, the Oilers will have as much as $20 million to spend, with core pieces like McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman and a Top 4 defence of Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse and Jake Walman already nailed down. The Oilers have $86.2 million allotted for next season.
The only issue is that only McDavid and Bouchard in that top group will be under the age of 30 next year. The team needs to bring in some younger players, no? Edmonton will also need to sign a top goalie, as Stu Skinner is a UFA in July. If he plays well, Edmonton will have to pay him well.
Other Oilers free agents this summer include: Kulak, Kasperi Kapanen, Adam Henrique, Noah Philp, Jack Roslovic, Calvin Pickard, Connor Ingram, David Tomasek and Troy Stecher.
If Tomasek or Roslovic have big years, it will be costly to bring them back. All that said, it’s highly likely the Oilers will have about $10 million to bring in one big ticket player.
Alex Tuch? Adrian Kempe? Tage Thompson? Martin Necas? Artemi Panarin?
Dare to dream.
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At the Cult of Hockey
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