Stan Bowman hints that Edmonton Oilers might acquire another forward
The Edmonton Oilers may not be done adding to their roster this summer.
It’s been a busy offseason for GM Stan Bowman, as he has shipped off Darnell Nurse in a trade with the San Jose Sharks, revamped the goaltending with Frederik Andersen and Devon Levi, and made a number of free agent additions such as Ryan Shea and Mathieu Joseph.
The work, however, is far from done as the Oilers will need to find some success on the ice sooner rather than later if they want to make sure Connor McDavid stays in Edmonton past his current contract.
Edmonton has seen massive changes to its goaltending and defensive group, but hasn’t done much with the forward group this summer. Joseph has been the only forward added to the NHL roster so far, and the team could potentially look at adding another between now and the start of the season in late September.
Bowman appeared on Friday’s edition of OilersNow with Bob Stauffer on 880 CHED, where he didn’t rule out the possibility of adding another forward either through trade or free agency.
“We have the three goalies, and the eight defencemen. More likely, if we were going to be adding a player, it would be a forward,” Bowman told Stauffer.
The Oilers have been linked to names like Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrik Laine this summer, both of whom are still looking for new contracts on the free agent market. Either one could potentially fill a need in the top nine for Edmonton, but it remains to be seen if Bowman opts to go that direction.
Edmonton is in a position where they can actually make meaningful additions late into the summer going into the season. Offloading Nurse opened up a massive amount of cap space for the Oilers, as they currently have around $4.7 million to play around with.
Bowman talked about how that extra space could impact Edmonton’s ability to make trades throughout the season.
“We want to leave some money available. We’re not just trying to accrue cap space ad nauseaum so that you can never spend it all,” Bowman said. “You have to have some flexibility, and we’ve put ourselves in a good spot. I like where we’re at.
“The team that we have to start the season is not going to be the exact same team in the playoffs. We’re going to have some new players, whether they come through trade or trade deadline acquisitions. We’re going to have to see how that shakes out.”
The Oilers GM also mentioned that he thinks Mike Babcock will help provide players that may have struggled last season with a fresh start and a chance for redemption going into a new year.
There could still be a few changes coming to the Oilers between now and training camp, but fans will have to wait to see if Bowman will pull the trigger on any further moves.