Projecting Edmonton Oilers lines for the 2025-26 season
Edmonton Oilers fans may not want to hear it, but there may not be many more changes to this roster ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Unless GM Stan Bowman is able to find a way to move out a player in order to create more cap space, it’s hard to envision any more free-agent signings coming to Edmonton.
That said, they were able to add a few pieces in Andrew Mangiapane and Curtis Lazar, which helps offset the losses of players such as Evander Kane, Connor Brown, Corey Perry, and Viktor Arvidsson.
While a trade, or perhaps several trades, is always a possibility, we are going to take a look at what the current Oilers roster will look like from a lines perspective once the 2025-26 season gets underway:
Forwards
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Zach Hyman
Andrew Mangiapane – Leon Draisaitl – Matt Savoie
Vasily Podkolzin – Adam Henrique – Trent Frederic
Mattias Janmark – Curtis Lazar – Kasperi Kapanen
David Tomasek
The top line for the Oilers is unlikely to change, as both Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman have proven to have great chemistry with Connor McDavid. The question, of course, is whether Hyman will be healthy to begin the 2025-26 season, but if he is, he’s locked into his spot on the top line.
Meanwhile, the Oilers hope they have finally found Leon Draisaitl a scoring winger in Mangiapane. The 29-year-old scored a career-high 35 in 2021-22, suggesting he could be in for a big year should he find chemistry with the German centre. As for Matt Savoie, he should be given a top-six opportunity to begin the season after an impressive 2024-25 campaign in the AHL.
The bottom six could see plenty of mixing and matching, though the lines suggested give a nice balance of skill, speed, and physicality. David Tomasek, who was signed as a free agent out of Sweden, has a shot to crack the opening night roster, and may even be able to get some top-six opportunities himself.
Defencemen
Mattias Ekholm – Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse – Brett Kulak
Jake Walman – Ty Emberson
Troy Stecher
While the pairings may be tinkered, Oilers fans should expect to see these six defencemen in the lineup to kick off the 2025-26 season. The one question mark is Ty Emberson, who was healthy scratched often in the playoffs. Being just 25 years old, however, should give him the edge as the coaching staff hopes to take his game to a new level.
What’s also worth keeping an eye on is defenceman Atro Leppanen, who the Oilers signed out of Finland in April. The offensively-gifted blue liner may start the season out in the AHL, but could be called up early on should he appear ready for the bright lights.
Goaltending
Stuart Skinner
Calvin Pickard
Given the lack of goaltending available in free agency, Oilers fans need to come to grips with the fact they may see a tandem of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard once again. It isn’t the ideal situation, though it may not be as bad as everyone thinks.
While both Skinner and Pickard are highly inconsistent, this goalie duo has led the Oilers to two-straight Stanley Cup Finals. Based on how the offseason has shaped up so far, they may get the opportunity to go for a third-straight Final this coming season.
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