I’m hella curious about how the thunder rolls over this summer. Stan Bowman is the new general manager, and this will be his first full summer in the role.
I like much of Bowman’s early work. The Jake Walman-John Klingberg tandem is impressive at moving the puck out of the zone, and Bowman brought both men in over the course of the season. That’s a substantial bit of spackle, and it plays. That’s an encouraging sign for Oilers fans.
Bowman identified a need on defense. He addresed that need in a unique way (Klingberg was an outlier option and for much of the second half looked nothing like a solution) and then acquired a player (Walman) who wasn’t a known deadline option. That’s some creativity and bodes well for the summer.
The best “impatient” summer by an Oilers general manager came in 1986 summer and lasted through the deadline. Glen Sather was pissed about losing to the Calgary Flames (and interrupting what looked like a Cup-winning streak that could reach five or more) in the 1986 playoffs. This is what he did:
Signed defenseman Craig Muni. Muni had earned free agency from the Toronto Maple Leafs (they kept him in the minors forever, so he escaped like Tyler Pitlick got out of Edmonton decades later) and signed with the Oilers. Sather was impressed, Muni made the team, and then got moved around the NHL four times in a week to avoid the waiver draft (Sather didn’t want to lose winger Raimo Summanen). Muni, a hard hitter and a tough player, hung around for several seasons of rugged shutdown defensive play. Sather got a free player and an effective one.
Acquired the rights to defenseman Reijo Ruotsalainen. It was a seven player trade and Ruotsalainen didn’t return from Europe until March. He was more of a rover than a defenseman, and very effective. He had a strong run with Edmonton and played a lot in the postseason. Another win for Sather.
Traded Dave Semenko for a third-round pick. By 1986-87, the Oilers had other enforcers (Marty McSorley, Kevin McClelland, Steve Smith, Muni, others) and were tough up and down the lineup. It was not a popular PR move but Semenko wasn’t going to play every night anymore.
Acquired LW Kent Nilsson. This was a vital trade, absolutely completed the second line (Mark Messier, Glen Anderson) and for me made this team the most powerful edition of the 80’s Oilers (along with the Ruotsalainen deal).
Acquired RW Norm Lacombe. Another tough trade, sending away legendary defenseman Lee Fogolin and effective forward Mark Napier for a two-way winger who was a little shy offensively. Lacombe didn’t play much after coming over, but did have some success in the following two seasons with Edmonton. At times he played on the Messier like with Glen Anderson, providing two-way play for a high octane line ala Chico Maki 15 years before.
Acquired LW Moe Lemay. He was a fun player to watch in Vancouver but didn’t play much in Edmonton. This was a deadline deal, Sather sending away Summanen six months after working overtime to keep the Finn from the waiver wire.
Sather gave up lots of talent during the season and many wildly popular players. When I found out about the Fogolin trade it took the wind out of my sails. Here are the players surrendered.
Center Mike Golden. He didn’t play in the NHL, but was a Hobey Baker finalist in 1988, and was a prospect of note at the time of the deal. Golden was a second-round selection in 1983.
Defenseman Don Jackson. Enforcer who played on the 1984 and 1985 Stanley Cup winners, he played less in 1985-86 and spent just one more season in the NHL after being dealt to the Rangers.
Defenseman Miloslav Horava. A depth pick from the 1981 draft, he would play parts of three seasons for the Rangers in the years after the trade.
Left wing Dave Semenko. Famous and incredibly popular, Oilers fans were not pleased with this deal at all. Semenko would play a season in Hartford and another in Toronto.
Defenseman Link Gaetz. The draft pick Edmonton surrendered was used on Link Gaetz (the missing Link!) who would have an eventful career that included some time in the NHL.
Defenseman Lee Fogolin would play just nine games for the Buffalo Sabres. He was done just a little past 30, but he a nice run with the Sabres (+8 in those nine games) all the same.
Winger Mark Napier would be productive after the deadline and for two more seasons with Buffalo. He was one of my favourites, even cheered for him in Montreal.
Winger Raimo Summanen. He didn’t play much for Vancouver (6-7-13 in 19 games) but Sather put a good grade on him and Slats knew his hockey players. Summanen would have needed a coach who valued skill highly (like Sather) to have a career in the NHL of the late 1980’s. In the group traded, he had the most potential for a significant career. Vancouver was the wrong team for him.
Bowman won’t be that busy, but will make some changes. Of course, the next several weeks will inform the future, but for me Bowman appears to have some feel for the roster and the ability to properly assess the player pool (free agents and trade acquisitions).
That’s a big key, you know. Kevin Lowe had that ability. He plucked Steve Staios and Jan Hejda out of nowhere, and those moves helped. The path forward for Bowman will be limited due to the miles of NMC’s, but there’s a good chance next year’s Oilers team will be better than this one. I believe the current club is superior to last year’s, and some of the reasons were procured by Bowman. Interesting days ahead.
Will not be surprised when Ekholm is in the lineup for game 1.
Completely agree that for the first time in forever we have a management team (I truly think this is a Bowman + Jackson combo) who have a great feel for this roster and I’m not trepidatious about upcoming future moves
Rishaug reporting that Ekholm is skating with the main group in practice today, very encouraging
We’ll see if he joins the team in the trip.
Stauff saying he doesn’t think he’ll play in the first four games for sure and we’ll see after.
A good sign for sure though.
Video here:
https://x.com/TonyBrarOTV/status/1924509029671567532
Broadcast teams have been announced for the final four.
Gene Principe survives to pun another day.
https://x.com/SportsnetPR/status/1924467202901659750
Competent announcing and more Gene goodness?
Best of both worlds.
Gene is an acquired taste…but right up your alley.
Cuthbert and Simpson were locked in as soon as the Leafs lost – that was 100%.
Feel bad for Cam Moon who gets bumped off the radio play by play.
Yep…he’s much better than Jack.
I don’t get the leafs blowing up their team. It’s funny but not something I would do. Take your Tavares money and spend it on some physical players. But there are far worse things than losing in game 7 to the defending Stanley cup champions that have a very high likelihood of winning their conference.
Just keep trying every year. That’s the best you can do. If Carolina doesn’t win this year do they blow it up? No they don’t.
It’s not that they lost, its they way they lose..9 straight years
Carolina is coming from a very different place.
They have substantial prospects coming in to replace UFA’s like Burns and Orlov.
They recently signed Alexander Nikishin who projects as a #1LD and Scott Morrow at RD.
Their only other significant UFA is Jack Roslovic and, with more than $29 million in cap space, they have tremendous flexibility to add to the roster should they fall short this season.
Carolina is coming from the exact same place. Very good team in regular season that gets knocked out before the cup finals. The core has been essentially the same. Sure they have some young guys coming up and great drafting but once again their core is essentially the same
Marner will likely be testing free agency & Tavares would probably consider a hometown discount, but not as much of a discount that the Leafs are going to want. That right there is a big part of their team and a big chunk of their salary cap. They will have plenty of space to maneuver. The Leafs will be back better than ever next year. I wonder if Shanahan will be back, or if the GM is out instead.
If they lost 2-1 in a hard fought battle maybe.
42 years ago, tonight, a 9 year old version of Evilsports was laying on his stomach in front of the old tube television. Dad was on the couch next to me and we were counting down the seconds as the Oilers won their first ever Stanley Cup. The heartbreak from the year before still lived in my little body and the elation and release when the clock ticked zero is a feeling that will forever be burned into my being. I remember everything about it. I remember the joy welling up inside, exponentially more powerful than any lingering disappointment over the last season’s results.
For some reason I distinctly remember laying on my stomach and kicking my feet like an Olympic swimmer out of pure excitement. I vividly remember the tops of my bare toes getting hot from carpet burn as I paddled my way towards glory. 🤣
I remember that this was the first time that I learned about tears of joy, while we watched the players celebrate.
Whatever happened after that, whatever happens this season, I get to carry that night around with me forever.
Happy memories! Thank you.
Awesome, I was 15, but I think it was 41 years ago
Correct. First Cup win was ’84.
Marner is a darn good hockey player. I just don’t get if he’s not resigning and staying with his core teammates why he would nix the trade for Rantanen. I get why the Leaf faithful are on this guy it just breathes of entitlement. If I’m him either I sign the 8 year deal and be a Leaf for life or I move on to Carolina for half a year. The following Summer I sign with the best fit and money out there. I don’t allow myself to be put in the situation he’s in now where the fans are really and rightfully so on him.
Marner’s wife gave birth to the couple’s first child on May 4th.
Pretty sure that played into his decision not to accept a trade that would disrupt his life rather than “entitlement”.
The trade deadline was 07 March 2025.
And?
If your wife was 7 months pregnant, would she want to move to a new city?
You implied that her having given birth was one of the reasons, not the pregnancy.
Regardless, in the NHL and sports business as a whole, many other players have been in the same scenario, and have made situations work in a variety of ways.
“Marner said that the pair had made plans in case Stephanie delivered their son during the first round of playoffs, when he was in Ottawa.
“Family always comes first, so if something happened during that series, I was going to go and join her and be her cheerleader there,” he said. “Lucky enough it didn’t happen, my son was smart enough to know not to come on a hockey day.”
https://ca.style.yahoo.com/leafs-mitch-marner-says-wife-stephanie-was-an-absolute-beast-giving-birth-to-first-child–and-reveals-name-of-baby-boy-171851082.html
I feel the exact opposite. This wasn’t a Marchand situation. He was a key player on a team that was winning the division. Why would he waive his NMC?
Considering that was very likely his last game as a Leaf, the fans should be embarrassed as to how they treated him. Booing him off the ice, having him skate past discarded jerseys, hats and beers. This was game 7 against the reigning cup champs in round 2.
Entitlement or not, it should have been clear that the two sides, who have had issues with each other before, were not on the same page yet again.
He’s asked for a trade before, and sure, maybe he wanted to see if the boys could do it this year. But if I was basically told that I wasn’t as secure as I thought I was, then maybe I’d reconsider accepting an out.
Instead, Toronto doesn’t get Rantanen, and they pissed off Marner so much just by the request that he shut down extension talks as a result. It’s now a Lose-Lose.
Right. And that’s entirely on management for bungling that situation, not on Marner. Losing him for nothing is going to sting. Treliving learned from Gaudreau to Tkachuk, and likely wanted to do the same thing with Marner, but he didn’t want it and the prior management put him in that position
I don’t think the fans were just booing Marner, they were booing the whole team.
Offer sheets decisions aside (and what a no-win situation to walk in to), Stan Bowman has done quite a bit to make this team better and deeper without much cap room or assets.
Perfectly dealt with the Kane LTIR a season.
Podz was a wonderful trade – a 4th rounder for that player signed to 2 x $1MM and from a rival? Wow.
Emberson trade gained cap space and a developing young player that will be cost controlled for his career. A solid depth add.
Klingberg didn’t look great until it did and, now, playoff results are primary and a huge add.
Walman was targeted by Bowman for months and he got his player and he’s a value deal top 4D in his prime.
Kap claim adds skilled depth.
Frederic has been an “OK add”.
He’s also signed a crap ton of college and European UFAs, some of which will be non factors but a couple of those bullets might fire and help this lineup for cheap.
Bowman has done a great job.
I think we see Frederic improve now that he appears to be getting healthier. I know it’s still early but if he signs with Edmonton how mich and how long? This is a obvious question is he free to sign a deal today for example?
I’d like to bring him back but not sure if he contract will work.
He’s at $2.3MM now and I don’t imagine he’ll take a pay-cut and I wouldn’t go any higher than that for the Oilers. He had 15P this past season (57 games) and has been over 31 points once.
I’d give him term as long as its in the $2MM-$2.3MM range.
I remember when Bowman first came on, the consensus was he didn’t just get lucky falling into a Chicago team that was built for Stanley, but that he made a number of smart moves around the edges of the roster to build the kind of depth you need to win championships. He seems to be doing it again with edmonton with a number of small, creative moves that don’t give away all of our futures. The fact we’re getting guys in their prime or entering the prime is also encouraging, vs the Holland approach of signing older vets longterm. If this team wants to keep pushing for the next 3-4 years, we need more guys in that 25-28 year old range, and Bowman seems to be doing that.
Now, Bowman’s weakness seemed to be his free agent signings and bigger contracts, ala Seth Jones. Will be interesting to see how things go with the Bouchard and McDavid extensions…
Unlike Holland Bowman is looking toward the future. Chicago did a wonderful job of bringing necessary parts to his Hawk core. Once we win the Cup it’s not one and done like you mentioned this team in my opinion is better than last year and will become dominant like the Hawks were in the following 5 years.
Easier to look toward the future when you’re already good. Holland played a part in making them a consistent contender.
— whether the Oiler win the Cup or not it’s much easier for them to attract players: the Oilers are in the “vet signs one year deal for chance to win cup” era.
— Furthermore the current Oil players have the “playoff proven grit and heart” premium that make other teams value them more
— Much easier to get who you want when your the belle of the ballroom.
— Glorious day in Leaf Nation : Kinger pointing out “I never understood why leaf fans thought they were Cup contenders. Never do first round series losers from one year win the Cup the next”. Just winding them up with truth bombs Oewewwwe!
Tampa did after getting swept by Columbis on their way to back to back.
Yes he did a great job of stabilizing the franchise at a fragile time which is no small feat in itself.
Oops sorry this was meant for your previous reply about Holland’s time in Edmonton.
— yeah that’s in hindsight. Great teams win multiple Cups in a row. Which is why it’s a”rarely” as per my comment.
— More teams lose in first round one year and win multiple cups right after than win the Cup
— Losing in the first round one year: by far the likely outcome the next year is not to win the cup. It rarely happens. Unless a deadly team
— Only a leaf fan would believe they were cup contenders this year.
Sure, point taken, not what you said:
“Never do first round series losers from one year win the Cup the next”.
Never isn’t rarely.
Bowman was the first EDM GM to realize their biggest issue on defense wasn’t defending. It was the lack of ability to move the puck out of the Dzone with possession, which leads to defending too much and not enough offence.
That bodes well for future roster construction.
Not even accounting Walman, the difference between healthy Klingberg to Ceci is jaw dropping.
Ceci is playing a lot of minutes for Dallas. A lot. I wonder if we shouldn’t go a little easier on him at first, so the Stars don’t immediately shelter him.
With Heiskanen getting back up to speed, Ceci is already playing significantly fewer minutes.
Ceci’s average TOI in the playoffs is 21:56 however in the series clinching game that dropped to 18:55
Quite likely that will drop even more as the Heiskanen/ Harley unit takes over.
So you were the down vote. I see… Not that it matters much. Four strong teams left. I feel this Oilers team is better than last year at this present point in time. Florida weaker. The others? Depends. If Dallas do like LA and Vegas and play is the same as the regular season Oilers, then Oilers win. Last year Dallas tried that short, high flip out from defense that gave us fits for about 4 periods. Then the adjustment came and that was it. I’m hedging Oilers/’Canes final. With Pisani signed to score the winner on a penalty shot in OT, to keep LT happy.
Nope…not me.
Curious why you think Florida is weaker?
Adding Marchand to that roster is huge and having Seth Jones on the second pairing doesn’t hurt.
Both Lundell (10P in 12GP) and Luostarinen (12P in 12GP) have stepped up big time making their 3rd line much more dangerous.
Sheltering a guy who plays heavy minutes has repercussions on the rest of the D. I don’t think they really have that luxury, even with their 11-7 they have Ilya turnstile Lybushkin and Petrovic that already need to be sheltered
Yep. Similar to LA. But Pete DeBoer isn’t going to put Jason Robertson on D a la Kempe.
Ha, expose him so they put in Petrovic? This could turn into the LA series on steroids on the back end with Miro and Harley playing 30+. Miro can do that, he’s incredible.
Won’t be a cakewalk and Oetter can win it himself but the opportunity is there to wear them out. Dallas skates miles and we have the personnel who can skate with them on the back end.
Watching the Leafs game last night I was shocked how horrible the leafs D were at getting the puck to their forwards. Florida put a ton of pressure on them and they regularly gave it up. When you look at the leafs defence it’s obvious, Reilly is the only decent puck mover back there.
Having Klingberg moving the puck effectively on a secondary pair for the Oilers has made their entire team more dynamic. Walman is no slouch either.
With Ceci and Desharnais, EDM ranked top-5 in FA60, CA60, and xGA60 in the larger sample sizes of the 2023-2024 regular season. However, in the smaller sample sizes from the 2025 playoffs, their performance dropped to a more middling level (around 50%).
Both Desharnais and Ceci posted positive possession numbers in the regular season, but saw their numbers crash in the playoffs, along with the rest of the defensive corps—except for Ekholm and Bouchard.
EDM’s overall success with the lower pairings in the regular season seems due to a group of forwards who were capable of moving the puck up the ice with possession, reducing the need for heavy defensive play.
In the playoffs, this same group, with its shutdown defenders, made it all the way to the Cup Finals, largely fueled by incredible special teams. While EDM now boasts better 5v5 stats in the playoffs, the penalty kill has struggled, and the absence of shutdown defenders has been evident.
It seems the coaching staff—especially Coffey—grew frustrated with traditional defensive players during the playoff run. This led to a shift in personnel, with Broberg getting more minutes in the Finals and Ceci’s 5v5 time being scaled back. One has to wonder how much influence Coffey had in the transition toward more mobile players on the back end.
Walman isn’t just a mobile, puck-moving defender. He is also larger and willing to block shots, which should allow him to play strong shutdown PK defense. However, playing on the off-side with Nurse seems to have a negative impact on his PK play, and Ekholm struggled in the same spot. Maybe when Ekholm returns the Pk can have more balance.
So, it raises the question: was Walman chosen not just for his puck-moving upside, but also for his potential to contribute to a shutdown defensive role and his overall well-roundedness? Walman and Klingberg seem, overall, to be better players than Ceci and Desharnais.
I see lots of posts and tweets about going after the likes of Ehlers or Bennett or even Marner.
For me, I don’t imagine any $7MM plus contract being added (let alone $12MM plus) to next year’s cap except for Evan Bouchard.
I think this team gets run back with some tweaks. A couple forwards will be out – potentially an Arvidsson, to open up some cap to get the Bouch deal done and a raise for Brown.
Supplement with Savoie on his ELC and, hopefully, Berezkin.
Ekholm’s health heading in to next season could consequence the Klingberg re-sign decision. For me his contract would need to be 1-2 years and barely over $2MM, if that.
If Skinner blows up to the negative in round 3, maybe they make a change there but I think they run the two under contract back.
I think you are bang on. What happens in the next round (preferably two!) will also have some impact
I’d love Klingberg on that contract again but I think his strong play might earn him a longer term deal with a lesser team. Couldn’t blame the guy if he takes a 3-4 yr deal at 3-4M. He’s been a revelation this playoffs.
If the Oilers win the cup I would trade Kane as well as Arvi. A sell high move, presuming he continues being healthy and productive in the playoffs. Sign Frederick, and Klinger.
Yes it’s either Kane or a 27 year-old ready to pop Frederic. Besides many other things Kane has shown the 31 G.M’s how effective he still is and will try to capitalize on a 3-4 year deal with a number of G.Ms who are salivating over a power forward with hands. Kane stock keeps rising and he’s one of the few trade chips Bowman can parlay upwards on.
Why trade someone that has his skill set at his cap hit when you are just going to go out and try to replace it ,,He has one year left so enjoy what you have .No one else on this team has his skill set AND can score.