Edmonton’s offseason looked like it was careening off the rails before the Oilers found a way to steady it.
A sneak peek at Oil Drop Episode 61 of “Inside the War Room” lays out just how much was happening behind closed doors as the club tried to clean up an ugly start to the summer. The early mess included a showdown with the Vegas Golden Knights over the right to speak with and sign former head coach Bruce Cassidy, but the management group eventually started to regain control.
One of the first priorities was obvious: goaltending. Oilers general manager Stan Bowman opened the discussion by stressing the need to improve in net, and he made the case for Buffalo Sabres goalie Devon Levi as a potential long-term answer. The room then got a new wrinkle when assistant GM Bill Scott mentioned Frederik Andersen of the Stanley Cup-winning Carolina Hurricanes could be available.
Bowman followed that lead by calling new Oilers head coach Mike Babcock for more information on Andersen, who Babcock had previously coached with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The conversation clearly moved things forward. Edmonton ended up signing Andersen to a one-year contract with an average annual value of $2.8 million, and the club settled on a three-goalie setup featuring Levi, Andersen and Tristan Jarry.
The other major break came through a trade involving Darnell Nurse. Oilers CEO and president Jeff Jackson said he had spoken with San Jose Sharks GM Mike Greer, and Nurse had approved a move to San Jose. Because the Sharks were willing to absorb Nurse’s full $9.5 million cap hit per season, Edmonton finally created the kind of cap flexibility it had been chasing for years.
In return, the Oilers got defencemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zack Sharp. Whether one or both of them end up sticking remains to be seen.
Bowman’s summer work didn’t stop there. Edmonton also signed Colton Dach, Jason Dickinson, Kasperi Kapanen and Connor Murphy, giving the front office a more complete body of work after the rocky opening stretch.
That early stretch was rough. Word leaked that the Oilers were pursuing Cassidy for the head coaching job, which triggered a chain reaction that ended with Kris Knoblauch being fired and the organization getting dragged into a public relations fight with Vegas.
Edmonton eventually landed on Babcock, a controversial choice that left plenty of negativity hanging over the team. The goaltending decision and the Nurse trade helped change the mood.
Now the focus shifts to whether management can keep its hands steady. If the Oilers avoid a rash move, they should be positioned to add more forward help when the Monday, March 1 NHL Trade Deadline arrives. There’s still a lot of hockey left before then, though, and the rising salary cap could make for some interesting movement around the league.
There are still plenty of questions hanging over the 2026-27 NHL season in Edmonton. Will Babcock and assistant coach D.J.
Smith help the team or hurt it? How will the three-goalie system function?
Could one of those goalies become a trade chip later in the season? And what kind of year will veterans like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Mattias Ekholm and Zach Hyman have?
The biggest question of all might be how they respond if Babcock benches them or disciplines them.
For now, the Oilers are trying to ride the momentum they built in early July and turn it into something much bigger.
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Sharks Suddenly Look Like A Real Western Conference Threat
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The front office also attacked the roster in the areas that had hurt most, adding veteran help on defense and bringing in Mason Marchment to deepen the forward group for 2026-27. With a strong prospect pipeline still in place, the Sharks are starting to look like a team with both immediate bite and a clearer path to staying relevant in a crowded West. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Just Landed A Bigger Spotlight For Celebrinis Biggest Matchups
The Sharks are getting a much bigger stage in the upcoming NHL season, with their schedule now dotted by a healthy run of nationally televised games. For a team trying to draw more attention around its young core and rebuild its profile, that matters, and it gives fans around the league more chances to see San Jose in some of the NHLs most visible windows.
There are marquee matchups mixed into the slate, too, with familiar Pacific Division opponents helping fill out the broadcast calendar. The list includes high-interest meetings against the Kings and Vegas, a sign that the NHL sees enough intrigue in the Sharks schedule to put them in front of a national audience more often than a year ago. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks May Have One Rookie Who Changes Their Usual Plan
Ryan Warsofsky has usually handled rookies with a steady hand, easing them in with limited ice time and a gradual path to bigger responsibilities. For the Sharks, that has often meant patience over urgency, letting young players adjust to the NHLs pace and physicality before asking too much of them too soon.
Ivar Stenberg, though, looks like a different kind of case. His time in the Swedish Hockey League has already given him a long run against seasoned pros, which is why theres a growing sense he could be ready for NHL minutes right away. Even so, San Jose may still lean on its familiar development plan at first, leaving open the question of how quickly Warsofsky is willing to break from his usual script. [Read more 🡒]