People blaming Stan Bowman for yesterday’s lack of activity don’t understand how draft day trades work. In order to make a trade on Day 1, you need a first-round pick, a hot prospect, or a veteran who is worth more than his cap hit.
If you’re looking to bury Bowman, his signing of Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson before trading Darnell Nurse puts him in a tight spot. However, it only hurts the Edmonton Oilers if Bowman can’t get out from under most of the Nurse cap hit in a trade.
Talk of acquiring a $7 million winger doesn’t help much unless the winger is worth $7 million (that’s highly unlikely) or the player can be bought out under more attractive circumstances than Nurse.
Bowman needs to find a team that is interested in Nurse. Then he needs to find something of real value (Boston Bruins have Michael DiPietro, I’d rather see him in Edmonton than Mason Lohrei). After that, it’s a matter of how much the Oilers will retain. Bowman needs to walk away from the deal with $6 million in walking around money, so that’s about $2 million retained including DiPietro’s contract ($816,500). I think Bowman comes out of that trade looking good, your mileage may vary.
On the draft side today, I like Zach Olsen, who has size and a motor, plus Ethan MacKenzie, who looks fully formed. I wrote about those two and others here.
Chase Harrington of the Spokane Chiefs is a likely target for Edmonton. He’s 18, 6.0, 201 pounds and the owner of skill plus a nasty streak. He hits like a truck and scouting reports have him as owning natural two-way ability. He posted almost a point-per-game (28-29-57 in 61 games with the Spokane Chiefs). He is described as a good skater, but the range of assessment on skating at this point in a draft season varies wildly. Oilers have fine scouts, they’ll be able to give Stan Bowman a good idea about this player.
Egor Barabanov is a 6.0, 181 pound center from St, Petersburg, Russia. He played last season with Saginaw Spirit of the OHL and is headed to UMass this fall. is a 6.0, 181 pound center from St, Petersburg, Russia. He played last season with Saginaw Spirit of the OHL and is headed to UMass this fall. He is 20. Barabanov is brilliant with the puck, and an elusive player based on scouting reports. He scored 28-63-91 in the OHL, an exceptional junior league.
Jasper Kuhta had great offensive numbers despite a low ranking. His offense (32-31-63 in 62 games) is excellent, and the Elite Prospects scouting report says nice things. He is 6.02 and he is 19. Brock Otten at OHL Prospects likes him, but worries about his skating. That’s a concern. However, there are examples from NHL history, including the very same California Seals drafting of Charlie Simmer in 1974, and the Ottawa Senators picking Mark Stone in 2010, of slow boots delivering electric results.
I know nothing about Berzkalns. Another large Latvian went 5th overall. Maybe there is a cluster of strong Latvian players developing together and will continue to develop playing against better competition than can be provided at home. I read he is athletic and for me if you aren’t coming from a traditional hockey power you better be the best athlete because that gives you a shot.
The 2026 World Championship team beat USA, and the 2024 World Jr team beat Canada, so their program is punching above their weight in recent years.
So far this reminds me of the 2021 draft class. Basically every pick is ranked a fair bit lower by most than where we picked them. The kind of draft where we traded down once, but may as well have traded down four times. Not a lot of offense from the group overall.
Without knowing anything about him, I like the Gastrin pick. He looks like the Petrov of the group in that he comes with a little more offense and skill than the rest of the bunch.
Meh – if Pracey and his staff alone with Larsson and his team have identified these players, given the progression of who they drafted last year, I more than give them the benefit of the doubt on draft day.
Andrew Robinson, an off the board pick and another averaged sized LHD.
The last 2 picks have not been inspiring.
I wish they would stop drafting undersized players. Only smaller players with a superpower or two makes the gamble worth it. The chances that a typical sized player make it and contribute something are better
Dallas finds forwards. Usually bigger guys or typical that can finish. Hmmm, might be something in that. Especially when the east is gooning up
Recognize Robinson is D, even harder for him
100% agree.
This is why a late round flyer on Lukas Sawchyn would have been as good or likely better than any they made. RHC for one, elite skater, no-quit motor, and not afraid of board work or mucking it up in front of the net.
Maybe they invite him to AHL/NHL camp for free anyways.
Since we have some time, would a trade involving Nurse to LA for Byfield and Edmundson have some traction? Would Edm need to send a roster forward the other way? Would LA retain $1 million? I haven’t watched Edmundson recently, but he appears as a solid 3rd pair LHD who PK’s. I think Byfield would perform well with Drai or McD.
When considering a trade proposal we should always ask why would the other team make the trade. I don’t think LA would make that trade without more from the Oilers, not sure what that would need to be.
Mr.Holland loves what Nurse brings, based on the Guide and Record Book. More would need to be added on the Oilers side, but I’m not sure it’s a lot more. This is all assuming, as some have reported, that LA is looking to move on from Byfield. They may ask for a young forward in return. As long as it’s not Savoie, there’s a conversation that can be had.
Byfield has not come along to the ceiling or pace he was expected to on draft day but he’s still a 23-year old master center that has put up three seasons of 20-25G and 50-60 points. 3 more years at $6.25MM – I think it takes ALOT more.
Byfield for Savoie all day
Edmundson is a negative value like Ceci but, my goodness, I don’t know what LA needs but the Oilers would need to give up 2-3 more very good assets to make that trade work.
Per Steven Ellis:
Imo the addition of Samanski is that a good staff is able to find bottom 6 players for free without using draft capital, when using draft capital, aim as high as possible with every pick.
Draft skill over coke machines.
Projects to be a bottom 6 forward, big whoop.
Unless shenanigans happen, Oilers won’t pick again till #133, early 5th.
I’m here for some shoenanigans
Oilers select LW Malcom Gastrin at #84. 6′, 174 lbs.
Wasted pick?
Was ranked by neither Pronman nor Wheeler, but other scouting services had him in the range.
https://thehockeywriters.com/milton-gastrin-2025-nhl-draft-prospect-profile/
@bcurlock
Gastrin I only saw a few times. You can see some of the skill in him and the brain. He’s super young which is good. However, he is very slight. Again, higher ceiling, but long road.
That’s his brother Milton’s profile.
doh! good catch
https://dobberprospects.com/player/malcom-gastrin/
Ducks draft a C.H.U.D.
(those of us raised on VHS will get the reference)
Spec who had the news yesterday that Ingram is very interested in re-signing and they are talking also says that he thinks there are a couple other goalies Bowman is interested in acquiring via trade. Maybe more interested in than Ingram. This was before the Cossa trade (no idea of Cossa was one of the guys he was interested in).
Have to wonder if Stauffer’s comment about goalie buyouts is a tell.
If we draft Chrenko at 84, I’ll do a backflip.
he’s a NYR
Bummer. I wanted to see a back flip.
I would have filmed it. But it wouldn’t have ended well.
I did a double take when I looked at the the draft day ticker on TSN and it said that the Flames selected J. Iginla in the third round
turns out he’s no Jarome, but just a regular Joe.
Would like a RHD with #84.
Gudmundsson, Elofsson, Dravecky, Pantelas still out there.
Brek Liske was available at 52, Philly took him 53.
Larfs take Gudmundsson
Per Bruce Curlock:
I immediately like the pick more if Curlock is on board.
Big, physical Latvian kid developing in the US college system. Going to be fun following this kid.
2 31 63 VGK VGK Forfeited
🙂
They could have traded down to 70 and got more picks and still likely picked this guy up – a stretch by any list and not the BPA
Curlock loves the pick and that’s good enough for me. He’s an optimistic analyst but knows these guys as good or better than any other local analyzer.
That wasn’t the point, it was that they could have picked up another pick and still got a guy they wanted
Maybe they tried but the trade wasn’t there , and they knew another team coveted him as well … they already did trade down once to get an extra pick. If this was Kalle Larsson’s guy, then at some point you have to step up and make the pick that your top scout is advocating for.
Your statement is also speculation – you don’t know he would have been there 12 picks later.
He is not the Tomas Chrenko kind of profile I was looking for. More of a Shane Lachance feel here.
No, this is not true. LaChance was an off-the-radar, very late round pick from the NCDC, hardly a prospect hotbed.
That’s true. And the reports have Rudolphs as a better skater, which is important.
But I’m okay with my line of thinking here. Lachance was drafted out of the NCDC. But then he went to the USHL, the same league we just drafted Rudolphs out of.
6’4″ 195 lbs Shane Lachance went 11-12-23 in 55 games
6’4″ 204 lbs Rudolphs Berzkalns went 13-12-25 in 48 games
Shane would have been 8 months older at the the start of his draft +1 season as Rudolphs was at the start of his draft season.
I haven’t watched them play. But there’s enough similarities on paper that I’m okay with saying one reminds me of the other.
He’s listed as high as 35 on some lists, as low as 99 on others. Divisive but not necessarily a reach https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/941638/rudolfs-berzkalns
I agree if Curlock loves the pick it’s solid.
Oilers select LC Rudolfs Berzkalns at #58.
6’4, 205 lbs. Pronman 72, Wheeler 93.
Committed to Boston College next season.
Teammate of Bauer Berry at Muskegon.
Here is his HockeyDB entry:
https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=288026
Are they ever going to draft a right shot C?
Di Iorio and Chrenko still available.
Dom at The Athletic looks at a couple decades of data on what makes a rebuild successful:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7392301/2026/06/26/nhl-successful-rebuilds-teams-champions/
Slow and steady: it takes ten years, beginning with accumulation, then development, then competing, then contending. The successful teams have multiple consecutive years of ~100 point seasons.
Biggest takeaway, which I know in my bones: in a game as chaotic as hockey, the only thing you can do is to get as many reps as possible in terms of a chance of the cup: get in that final four as many times as possible.
Leaves trade Carlo to STL for two 3rds.
Woof – that’s a bad return.
The Leaf’s D gets smaller and softer.
Leafs appear stuck between re-tooling and blowing it up… and I’m here for it!
They should’ve put Matthew’s on the market as soon as they won the lottery. He’s absolutely getting traded before the end of this upcoming season, as the Leafs are going to do a lot of losing.
At around 3.5M, Carlo isn’t a huge cap hit, but he hasn’t been great the last few years. I’m not sure he’s worth much more than a couple of mid-round picks, to be honest. Raddysh also gives them 4 RD not including Carlo. I would definitely say he was expendable. Myers is 6’5” as well, so maybe they feel he fits that role well enough
Man that leafs D is old!
Raddysh was wildly overpaid in both AAV and term after one outlier season; he’s going to a much worse team and is going to be expected to carry their D. The Leafs are going to be regretting that deal for years to come.
‘Dion Raddysh’, certainly capitalized in a contract year.
Oilers trade with TB. Get 58 and 133.
They’re late. Trade?
Hope Stan remembered to set his alarm clock.
This made me laugh out loud
After the 2015 Golden Ball Draft, there have been 10 drafts + this year.
How many Oilers draft picks from the last 10 years are currently playing for Edmonton?
Close to zero?
Playing and playing for EDM are two different things. CAR just won a cup with only 6 players drafter by the team playing in the playoffs.
With only 4 picks in this draft, the Oilers may as well let a hotel manager in Mexico make the selections.
Jeebus!
Is this a Barry Fraser jab?
With only 4 picks, the Oilers need to hit on every draft choice.
Can you see the 52nd pick being able to help the team during the remaining McDavid window?
The #57 pick the Oilers traded away just won his second cup https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=129676
Draft day becomes less interesting b/c the Oilers formula has been;
Send a 1st and prospect for players on the downside of the age curve.
no 1st in 2026. no 1st in 2027. Even if they do keep their 1st in 2028, that player isn’t helping until 2030+ ….
All teams have cycles, I get it. But when the music stops for this cycle it ain’t gonna be pretty.
Harrington goes to the Falmes at 36.
OF COURSE Sim Vicius goes to Florida *spits* my attentions turn to Tomas Chrenko
If I’m a team picking before PIT at 39, I ask how much it’s worth to them to stay away from Markus Ruck.
I’m hearing he’s a Ruck Star.
Dallas does not have an intervening pick.
+10 points for the Dad Joke!
And there he goes to PIT as the twins are reunited again.
Ruck Ruck
GoosePenguinOiler talk, pffff….all hail the Sharks.
There is a vocal, influential very local group of influencers, commentators that CRAVE news.
We had cleared Skinner out after weeks/months of click bait stories, MINUTES after that the group is on to Nurse.
Lets get a goalie, keep Nurse insert Howard and add some depth speed/toughness. We have the horse to go far.
Nurse might be around another season, but he’ll be moved as soon as it’s possible for cap reasons – the other high cap D is better. Then the extra cap gets spread around the roster, takes a team to win
Yeah, what a bunch of dummies!
Get rid of your worst players and try to improve the team by getting better players.
What a stupid plan.
The issue is the commentary crowd don’t have a realistic plan. Trade a very capable number 3, and get another piece ok. But who is the other piece that is the most important part of the plan.
Who is this fantom $7m forward we are using the money on…The three impact forwards moved so far are way above $7M.
Some of these returns on trades are crazy. Two 1sts and even more for McTavish, Peterka and Dorofeyev? Smart for the Knights, that’s how you keep it rolling
Agreed, more than a few trades with crazy returns.
A first round pick for Cossa. Think back to the discussions around Cossa on this site a week ago. No one was talking about about needing a first.
Right, not at his current place in the world
I feel the same on most.
Although I must think more highly of Dorofeyev. 30+ goal scorer.
Laternfirst round picks. Arent those “magic beans”???
Always amazes me the change in value of draft picks. In 4 months.
At trade deadline they are tossed around like nothing. Then late june they hold double the value it would seem!
I think you’re right about the goals being the why. What I don’t like is in those two seasons he had 52 (+2) and 64 (-3) points, played all 82 games in each
He now makes 11M. In road hockey parlance, that’s a lot of assets and cap for a goal suck that isn’t that productive overall and breaks even, doesn’t push the river. Not my droid
A tip o’ the hat to “road hockey parlance”. All transactions should be measured this way.
You don’t hear the term “goal suck” much anymore, but that was a pretty common phrase back in my road hockey days.
CAR!!!
Heh heh
Ok, maybe I was a little too hard on Bowman and my expectations were too high. I will say that Bowman owns the responsibility of the Oilers not having a first round pick and shares in the lack of a hot prospect. He does have a few vets who are worth more than their cap hit but they either have no trade clauses or he would be unlikely to trade them. We’ll see how he does today.
To me it’s what happens next season with picks etc. He is resetting the team to what their vision is and that takes time and assets. The 1sts should now only be used on impact players that will be around, most of the work is done. Depth playoff help should not involve high picks, it doesn’t for many teams
The issue I had with the anger directed at Bowman yesterday is that none of us know what discussions he was in on.
And the Oilers certainly don’t have the trade assets to match what transpired. With no first it is very tough unless they are trading away a key player.
And he shouldn’t give Nurse away. I usually feel around here Oiler players are undervalued. We have multiple outside confirmations Nurse has appeal and value, it’s just that short list
Even at his cap hit, which is getting to be less of a deal each cap rise
Definitely should not just give Nurse away. The Oilers still need NHL players so if they don’t have a deal with a UFA then maybe keeping Nurse is the best course.
I wasn’t expecting the Oilers to do anything material yesterday.
I am blown away at the quality of player and pick moved over the last week – mind-boggling stuff.
At the same time, the Oilers didn’t have even half the asset capital/draft picks to get any of the likes of Kyrou, Dorofeyeve, Paterka, etc.
Not to mention, at least for me, I have been very consistent in my opinion all off-season that I don’t expect “big moves”, that I think the incumbent team is MUCH better than they performed last season (“a good team that played average”) and while some tweaks and upgrades are needed this off-season, aside from Nurse, I don’t see major changes but for coach and in how they play/commit.
It was never a reasonable expectation to get a Kyrou-type player this summer. I had hoped to get a Cossa-like young goalie, but even that looks unrealistic right now.
Look, we don’t cheer for other teams around here, but can we admire the work of former Oilers like Mike Grier? The man is doing well and I still root for him. Fair?
He had a brilliant day. Grier, right now, looks like the ex-Oilers GM champion, although Bill Guerin has a pretty nice mousetrap in Minnesota.
GM Staios is still painting his masterpiece; I wonder if coming up as young players during the Oilers austerity days taught these future executives something about efficiency and budget discipline?
I have an Oilers Grier jersey, of all of them in my collection (20+) it’s still my favourite.