The Edmonton Oilers made real noise this offseason, but the back end still looks like the part of the roster that can drag them down.
General manager Stan Bowman has been busy reshaping the team, and not in small ways. Edmonton replaced Kris Knoblauch with Mike Babcock, traded Darnell Nurse, moved on from Connor Ingram, signed Frederik Andersen, and acquired Devon Levi. That’s a meaningful overhaul, and by any reasonable measure, Bowman has checked off a lot of boxes after a stretch when fans wanted him fired just a few months ago.
Even with all that movement, there’s still a lingering question hanging over this group: has enough changed to make Edmonton a true Stanley Cup threat again? Right now, the answer looks shaky. Bowman could still make more changes before the 2026-27 season begins, but if he doesn’t, this doesn’t feel like a team that should be penciled into another trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
The biggest issue is the blue line, which may have taken a step backward.
Edmonton’s goal entering the offseason was clear: trade Nurse. Bowman got that done, and from a cap standpoint, it was the right move.
But the Oilers also lost a defender who mattered more than the noise around him suggested. Nurse drew plenty of criticism, yet he was still one of Edmonton’s better all-around defencemen and someone who could handle a heavy workload.
Replacing that kind of usage was always going to be difficult, and the Oilers haven’t really done it.
Their closest attempt came with Ryan Shea, who landed a five-year, $20 million deal. Shea had a strong 2025-26 season, but there’s obvious risk baked into the move.
Before that breakout year, he had never played more than 39 NHL games in a season, and Edmonton is likely expecting more than the 18:53 he averaged with the Pittsburgh Penguins last year. Regression is a real possibility.
The Oilers have lived with defensive questions for a while, but they’ve usually had enough high-end talent to cover some of the cracks. Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard gave them one of the better top pairings around. Bouchard is still elite, but Ekholm looked like a player who had lost a step in 2025-26.
Jake Walman is another name on the back end, and his 2025-26 season was a struggle even while he averaged less than 19 minutes per game. Maybe he bounces back. Maybe that was the best version of him the Oilers are going to get.
Edmonton did make one solid move by bringing back Connor Murphy, who was very good after arriving at the trade deadline. But Murphy and Shea together still don’t feel like enough to lift this unit to where it needs to be.
In practical terms, the Oilers are mostly running back last season’s blue line, with Nurse out and Shea in. Based on what both players have done so far in their careers, most would still take Nurse as the better defender, contract and all. Edmonton also added Shakir Mukhamadullin from the Sharks, though he looks like a bottom-pairing option for this season.
Bowman has clearly improved parts of the roster, and the goaltending is better than it was. But in a salary cap league, fixing everything at once is never simple.
Edmonton has Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and that alone keeps them dangerous. Still, if the blue line remains this thin, it’s hard to picture the Oilers making the kind of deep playoff run they need, especially with so many strong teams in the Western Conference.
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