Take this to the bank:
Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz’s playoff cash cow disappeared when his hockey club went out after just three home games in the Round 1 loss to Anaheim and he lost that gravy ticket/merchandise/concession money that was rolling in the previous two springs.
He can’t be a happy camper. Nor should he.
So, he will be asking questions, lots of them, evaluating, maybe assessing blame somewhere for this.
Players, coaches, management. This is what happens when the owner sees $$$ signs and the team is not winning a Stanley Cup.
And, as a corollary, you’re entitled to ask when captain Connor McDavid, finishing up his 11th season, sits down with the powers-to-be and says “you’re officially on the clock … as you know I gave the team a hometown deal of all deals on my two-year, $25 million extension which starts July 1, so how are we winning a Cup as I approach 30, like, what’s the plan?”
You know McDavid wants some clarity here.
Those words from GM Stan Bowman after signing 97 last October ring very loudly today.
“He likes to know what’s coming and what the thoughts are,” said Bowman.
There is so much on Bowman’s plate after this first-round loss.
1. Does he go to the longest-tenured defenceman Darnell Nurse and say this isn’t working at his $9.25 million price-point, for cap reasons, will he waive his no-trade, maybe give us a list of teams you might want to play for in a trade, other than the only jersey you’ve ever worn?
2. Coach Kris Knoblauch’s three-year extension starts with next season after two trips to the final but 12 quick days and the Oilers are out of the playoffs this spring? How is that relationship going for the GM? If Knoblauch stays and he should, it says here, does Knoblauch want the same assistants?
3. As skaters go, the Oilers have six UFA free agent forwards—trade deadline pickup Jason Dickinson, who was playing on one leg and a prayer in the Ducks’ series; Kasperi Kapanen, Jack Roslovic, Adam Henrique, Curtis Lazar and Max Jones—and defenceman Connor Murphy. Along with goalie Connor Ingram and Calvin Pickard. They won’t keep them all.
4. Should Bowman take the SIM card out of his cell phone July 1 and make no calls to player agents so he can add a free agent or two from another team after the Oilers strike-out ratio the past two summers?
5. How does he play it with goalie Tristan Jarry, who has two years left at $5.385 million, but had an .857 save percentage here after the Penguins trade and watched as Ingram started five of the six Ducks’ games? Is there a market for him elsewhere or are they locked into him, hoping he plays like a $5 million goalie? Not likely.
Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt celebrates the overtime win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Grand Casino Arena on Nov. 19, 2025 in St Paul, Minnesota.
About the goaltending…
Are we allowed to keep plowing old ground and wonder what in hell the Oilers were thinking in 2021 when they had goalie Jesper Wallstedt sitting there on a platter for them when they lost out on Sebastian Cossa earlier in round 1 to Detroit, and they traded back two spots for a third-round draft pick (No. 90), and took winger Xavier Bourgault? What’s the statute of limitations on that error? Who was selling the team on the idea that there were disturbing red flags with the Swedish tender?
If the team had fallen out of love with the good soldier Stuart Skinner, even if he helped them get to two Cup finals, and they had Wallstedt, who just backstopped Minnesota to their first-round ouster of Dallas, in their back pocket, then what?
We’re not taking anything away from goalie Ingram, who was a revelation after the Oilers traded for him. He deserves to be re-signed. In the right situation, he fits in a 1a-1b goalie rotation. But, when the Oilers decided Skinner wasn’t the answer and moved him to Pittsburgh, getting Jarry to replace him, they were doing so because there was no Wallstedt in the picture. Goaltending can be voodoo; Jarry might bounce back next season, but heavy on the word might.
Darnell Nurse #25 of the Edmonton Oilers and Jackson LaCombe #2 of the Anaheim Ducks battle for a loose puck during the second period of Game 4 of the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Honda Center on April 26, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif.
LaCombe a stud for the Ducks
Now that the Ducks are moving on, the brightest of all their Young Guns is clearly defenceman Jackson LaCombe. This was his playoff coming-out party (nine points), and, going against McDavid every game, he was plus-3 in Game 6 and finished the series with nine points. For sure, McDavid was only 70 per cent, playing on a bad ankle, which compromised his cheat code game. But LaCombe, 25, never took a shift off.
“It is a scary feeling … he’s so dynamic and so unpredictable, not to mention so fast. There’s no easy way to not take a penalty, too,” said LaCombe, who averaged 27 minutes a night in the series.
“You know who LaCombe reminds of? (Brian) Leetch. Same number, same size, same great skating. Leetch had more offence, but LaCombe plays both ends of the sheet. A quiet, rising star,” said a long-time pro scout, once an NHL player.
Clear storyline: the icy, calm LaCombe, who will get slim consideration in the Norris trophy balloting, was considerably better (plus 6 to -7) than Oilers big-minute D Evan Bouchard, who will likely be somewhere in the top 5 for defenceman of the year.
This ‘n that
When Knoblauch says “there were a couple of fractures” with his injured team, we can assume one of those was centre Dickinson, who took that shot off his ankle area in the late season game in San Jose but managed to play four games in the Ducks series. Enduring snapshot of the trade deadline pickup: Dickinson losing his balance and falling hard into the boards in Game 6, gamely getting to his feet, skating to the bench, shoulders slumped, head down. He’s a keeper; they should resign him for three or four years as a 3C.
So who else had broken bones? Did Zach Hyman, who seemed seriously compromised in the series, break something? Did McDavid do something to his hand along with his bad ankle?.. Do you bring Ingram back for $2.5 million AAV? I would.
Now the Oilers know how the L.A. Kings felt when they had no answers on their PK in past playoffs, after the Oilers’ abysmal eight goals allowed on 16 tries in a little over 20 minutes in six games. The Oilers were fine 5-on-5 against the Ducks, but were scared silly of taking a penalty. Too passive and the Ducks had no trouble getting into the Oiler zone…
Roslovic ($1.5 million) was at his most noticeable in Game 6, certainly one of the Oilers’ best forwards, ringing one shot off the iron, but is he part of the solution going forward with a new long-term deal as a UFA? Or was he just a one-time signing? Great regular-season (21 goals) but only one point (an assist) in the playoffs. He has three goals in 51 career playoff games and 18 points. And this is when you want players stepping up, the most.
Free agent who did himself the biggest favour in round 1: Kapanen (four goals, six points). He’s on the cheap at $1.3 million and maybe you want soon-to-be 30-year-old support players on low-risk, short contracts but he’s probably worth double that, for a few years, on a new deal.
Oilers need Murphy back, maybe for three years, because he’s 33. Would he sign for the same $4 million AAV as Ekholm, whose three-year extension starts next season? Henrique, who missed the last five games of the Ducks series with a leg issue, at $3 million on a return deal, is too much at 36. Would signing him for half that be amenable to him and/or the team? He still has value as a face-off/PK guy.
When they’re scratching winger Trent Frederic for the last two games of the playoffs is obviously not a good look for the player or the Oilers team. Frederic had seven points this season, league and playoffs. But, Frederic, who seems like a nice young man, has to know that being a sitter for Games 5 and 6, is solely his fault. On the surface, there is no reason he couldn’t play like abrasive, defensively responsible fourth-liner Jeff Viel played for Anaheim. Is it in his DNA? It should be, but we haven’t seen it.
Sobering thought: the young, fast Ducks scored 26 goals in the six games and only one from rookie winger Beckett Sennecke, who had 17 shots. He had 23 goals and 60 points in the regular season. Book on Sennecke from scouts: great skills but he’s a rover, who needs to be reined at times.
Ekholm remains the ultimate, hard-nosed, valued leader D, but he struggled with the Ducks young legs in Game 6. He turns 36, May 24…
The Oilers’ best defenceman in the series was Jake Walman.
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