The 2025 offseason for the Edmonton Oilers was one of both success and failure. The front office performed admirably in free agency, and they made a few key trades. One of the trades heavily addressed the future, as the franchise traded for Hobey Baker Award winner Isaac Howard from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Regardless, two main concerns persisted in this offseason, but missing out on one of them was unacceptable.
In 2024-25, the Oilers finished the year ranked 14th in the NHL in goals against average and 19th in the league in save percentage. In the playoffs, the goaltending became an issue. Collectively, the goaltenders had a 2.87 goals against average in the regular season, but that moved to 3.32 goals against per game in the playoffs. Meanwhile, their save percentage dropped from .897 to .888.
This was also the second straight postseason that Stuart Skinner has struggled at times. He gave up four or more goals in a game six times in the 2025 playoffs while starting just 15 games. There was an expectation that the team would do something to solve the netminding woes. Still, they made no moves to fix their goaltending situation via players on the ice. The Oilers did make a change to the goalie coach this summer, though.
It remains to be seen if that move is enough to fix their problems. If not, the goaltending situation will be the topic of discussion in the summer of 2026. Still, the one biggest miss this offseason will surely dominate all the headlines next summer if not remedied soon.
The Oilers failed to re-sign Connor McDavid
Connor McDavid was the first overall pick of the 205 NHL Draft by the Edmonton Oilers. Since then, he has scored 100 or more points eight times in his 10 NHL seasons. The Canadian is a seven-time All-Star, five-time winner of the Art Ross Trophy, three-time winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy, and four-time winner of the Ted Lindsay Award. He was also the seventh player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe while not winning the Stanley Cup. McDavid is one of the greatest players of this generation, and could become a free agent in the summer of 2026.
While cap space was tight this summer, the team is expected to have over $45 million in cap space for 2026-27. The former league MVP is seeing his eight-year deal worth an AAV of $12.5 million come to an end. Regardless, the Oilers have not re-signed the superstar. Oilers GM Stan Bowman has noted that there is no current timeline to getting the deal done, but at this point in the summer, the front office has the time to make this the primary focus.
The Oilers cannot let their star get anywhere near free agency. He is currently fourth in the NHL in AAV, but second on the team. As he continues to produce great season after great season, the cost for his services will only rise. Edmonton needs to look at the recent situation with Mitch Marner and stay away from it. Marner got close to the open market and realized his value. His new contract has an AAV of $12 million, which is tied for fifth in the NHL.
The Toronto Maple Leafs realized they were not going to be able to keep Marner. They made a sign-and-trade to get some return for him before he walked away for nothing. Getting a deal done for McDavid will potentially save the franchise money and save the fan base from stress next summer.
Edmonton's failure could hurt more next summer
The Maple Leafs did not re-sign Marner early and then failed to do anything until it was too late. Still, Marner did not have the track record that McDavid has built. If McDavid gets to next summer and free agency, every team that can afford him will be lining up to get a meeting. The Leafs attempted to salvage the situation by making the trade and getting Nicolas Roy in return. Roy is nowhere close to the player Marner is, but it is a something is better than nothing situation.
The Oilers would potentially get more back if they did a sign-and-trade next summer, but if a deal is not imminent for McDavid and the front office, they should trade him now. For the Oilers, this could make sense. They could focus on the future of their franchise with Leon Draisaitl and Howard. They would then have plenty of cap space to make other moves and could bring in a massive haul.
The deal would also likely require multiple prospects, high draft picks, and a solid player or two in return. The Oilers could both contend this year, and rebuild for the future, while not losing McDavid for nothing. This is not the ideal move for the franchise, but if a contract agreement cannot be reached, letting the best player on the team — and in the world — leave for nothing would be a catastrophic situation.
