Mark Giordano has serious interest in joining the Oilers: report

Mark Giordano isn’t ready to call it a career just yet.

The 41-year-old has continued to remain in game shape all offseason. Despite the 2024-25 campaign getting underway, he is still hoping to find a new home.

According to a new article from The Athletic’s Chris Johnston and Pierre LeBrun, the Oilers are a team Giordano is very intrigued about joining.

“Giordano has already enjoyed a 1,148-game NHL career but continues to chase an elusive Stanley Cup — making it a priority for him to try to land a depth job with one of the teams in contender mode,” the article reads. “The Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Carolina Hurricanes, and New York Rangers are among those seen as appealing possibilities.”

Whether the teams mentioned have mutual interest remains to be seen, but of the four mentioned, the Oilers have the biggest desire to improve their blue line. They lost some significant depth this offseason with the departures of Cody Ceci and Philip Broberg, and now have some rather marginal pieces to round out their top seven in Troy Stecher and Travis Dermott.

The other issue for the Oilers is that they don’t have any young defencemen they feel are ready to make the jump at this time. To improve their blue line, they will either need to find a trade partner or take a flier on a free-agent defenceman.

The issue on Giordano, of course, is his age. He is no longer the Norris Trophy-winning defenceman he was in 2017-18. In fact, he wound up sitting as a healthy scratch in all seven of the Toronto Maple Leafs playoff games last season.

Based on what appears to be a major decline, logic would suggest the Oilers should pass. That said, their borderline desperation to improve the back end may result in them giving Giordano one final opportunity.

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