The Edmonton Oilers head into the 2026-27 season with a roster that looks open for business.
There’s been movement everywhere you look. Adam Henrique, Jack Roslovic, and Connor Ingram all left in free agency, while the club also made a major summer trade by sending longtime defenseman Darnell Nurse and the former top-10 pick to the San Jose Sharks. That deal gave general manager Stan Bowman the financial room to work with, and he used a chunk of it to bring in Frederik Andersen, Ryan Shea, and Mathieu Joseph.
Even after those additions, there should still be real competition for jobs. The Oilers are also dealing with multiple players being held out because of injury to start the season, and the arrival of new head coach Mike Babcock only adds another layer to the fight for spots. Put all of that together, and camp looks like a real opening for someone to force his way onto the roster.
A few prospects already sit near the front of the line. Isaac Howard, Josh Samanski, and Quinn Hutson appear to have the strongest momentum and should be in the mix for NHL jobs. Eduards Tralmarks and Aku Raty, both signed this offseason, make up another group worth watching.
But there are also a couple of darker-horse forwards who could make things interesting.
Viljami Marjala is one of them. The 23-year-old Finnish winger was originally taken by the Buffalo Sabres in the fifth round of the 2021 NHL Draft, then spent several years developing with TPS in the Liiga before signing with Edmonton in the 2025 offseason. Last year, he played for Bakersfield in the AHL and put up 17 goals and 43 assists for 60 points in 72 games.
Marjala has shown he can produce at every level, and he’s already proven his game can translate to North American pro hockey. His ability to create offense could make him a handy depth scorer if he can carry that into camp.
Connor Clattenburg brings a different kind of case. The 21-year-old made his NHL debut last season at 20, which is rare enough for a fifth-round pick only a year and a half removed from being selected. At 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, he already has the body and style of a bottom-six grinder, and he’s played five NHL games so far.
That gives him some built-in safety in the projection, even if the new coaching setup changes his standing a bit. He could slide from the call-up conversation into a tougher spot. Still, if Clattenburg shows up and makes noise in camp, there’s a clear path for him to carve out a role in Edmonton’s bottom six.
In Other News...
Oilers Depth Gamble Suddenly Has A Real Opening To Make Noise
Eduards Tralmaks has spent a winding pro career proving he can score wherever he lands, whether that was in the Czech leagues, the NCAA or the AHL, and now the 29-year-old undrafted forward is getting a fresh look with the Oilers after signing as a free agent on July 1, 2026. He also brought that touch to Team Latvia at the Olympics, which helps explain why Edmonton was willing to add him as another depth option for a group that is always searching for usable offense beyond the stars.
The opening may be bigger than it first looked a few weeks ago, because injuries have thinned the competition among the bottom-six forwards and created a real lane for Tralmaks to press his case for NHL minutes. The one thing that has long trailed his scoring profile is skating, so the question now is whether he can do enough in camp and early-season looks to make the Oilers keep him around when the roster starts to settle. [Read more 🡒]
Connor McDavid Faces One Oilers Question That Could Shape Everything
Edmontons offseason conversation has drifted beyond the usual questions of depth and special teams and landed on a far bigger one: how Mike Babcock will handle Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at five-on-five. The pairing has obvious offensive upside, but it also sits at the center of the Oilers defensive concerns, especially with a new coach inheriting a roster that has already spent plenty of time trying to balance scoring with structure.
For McDavid, the discussion is not just about who skates beside him, but what version of his game the Oilers will get if the alignment changes. His 2016-17 numbers are part of the argument, as are the defensive and offensive trends that have followed him into the 2025-26 season, and a recent fan survey leaned toward splitting him and Draisaitl at even strength. The result is a familiar Oilers tension heading into the new season: whether a different lineup arrangement can unlock more balance, or whether the team is simply asking its best players to solve a problem that keeps coming back. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Prospect Situation Suddenly Feels Bigger Than Routine Draft Chatter
The Oilers track record with draft picks from Russia has been a mixed one over the last decade, with Edmonton cycling through several selections between 2010 and 2019 and getting only limited NHL returns from that group. That history gives extra weight to every new prospect update, especially when it comes to players whose paths to North America already carry more uncertainty than most. Maxim Berezkin remains part of that broader conversation, but the more immediate intrigue now sits with another young player whose development has started to matter in a bigger way.
Paul Fischer has drawn attention because his play has been encouraging, yet his contract situation still hangs there without a resolution. The Oilers brought him in through the August 2024 offer-sheets trade, but he still has not signed, and that leaves his long-term fit with the organization feeling less routine than draft churn usually does. For a team that has already learned how hard it can be to get talented players to stay and succeed in North America, the next step with Fischer carries a little more urgency than it might have a few months ago. [Read more 🡒]