Unexpected injuries have pushed Stan Bowman back into the market, and the Edmonton Oilers GM isn’t shutting the door on a professional tryout before the 2026-27 regular season begins in just under a month.
Bowman addressed the possibility while appearing on Bob Stauffer’s show, Oilers Now, and made it clear the team is still weighing its options. A PTO is one of them.
“There are still some decent players out there who are trying to find landing spots. I’m not sure if we’re going to go down that road," Bowman said.
That possibility only resurfaced because the offseason took an unexpected turn. The plan had seemed set, with no further spending or roster movement on the horizon. But injuries changed the picture, including the expected absence of Frederik Andersen, and now Bowman is taking another look at what the Oilers have available.
Matt Savoie’s situation is part of that equation. Bowman said the winger’s injury won’t keep him out for “months and months,” which softens the urgency a bit. Even so, the Oilers are not exactly sitting on a surplus of bodies.
“We’re not overflowing with players, but we also don’t have a shortage of players."
So the door stays open, even if the organization isn’t rushing through it. Bowman said the team is in a spot where a tryout is a real option, adding, "We’re in that mode where, yeah, we probably could try to bring a guy in on a tryout - not the worst idea."
The challenge is obvious: a PTO only helps if the fit is right.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Patrik Laine, Evander Kane, Michael Bunting, and others remain out there, at least in the broad sense of veteran names still looking for opportunities. But not every name carries the same appeal.
Kane is easy to cross off. He has already been an Oiler, and the off-ice baggage that came with him is not the sort of thing the organization is likely eager to revisit.
Laine is another possibility that comes with plenty of questions. He can still score, and he would have motivation, but he’s also viewed by many as a power play specialist who has slowed down and offers a pretty narrow game. With Edmonton’s power play strength already part of the picture, the fit is hardly automatic, especially given Laine’s history with Mike Babcock.
Alex Formenton is the more glaring cautionary tale. Stauffer himself linked him to the Oilers recently, but the case against that kind of move is hard to miss.
He’s 26, has not played an NHL game in years, and his most recent Swiss League line - 13 goals and 23 points in 42 games - does not suggest a player knocking on the NHL door. Then there’s the larger issue: Formenton is still tied to the 2018 Hockey Canada scandal.
Even after his acquittal and international reinstatement, signing him would mean absorbing that storyline all over again. Edmonton passed on Carter Hart, and it would make sense for them to avoid walking back into that same storm.
For a team already dealing with the Babcock headlines, adding another controversy around a player who hasn’t shown he can clearly help on the ice would be a hard sell.
That’s the point of Bowman’s comments. The Oilers may explore a PTO, but they’re not treating it like a checkbox to fill.
If the right player is there, they could move. If not, they’re prepared to stay put.
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The intrigue is not whether Samanski is going to score at a flashy rate. It is whether his game translates into something more practical for the Oilers, the kind of forward who can handle trusted minutes, help on the penalty kill and hold his own at five-on-five when the margins tighten. For a team always searching for cost-effective depth that can be trusted in real NHL roles, that is a development worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]