3 roster upgrades the Oilers need to make this offseason
The Edmonton Oilers proved they are right there when it comes to competing for a Stanley Cup.
They fell just one game shy of their ultimate goal this season, falling in Game 7 of the Final by a 2-1 score. It marked the third straight year in which they’ve been knocked out by the Stanley Cup-winning team, having been eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in 2022 and the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023.
A big critique of this Oilers roster for several seasons within the Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl era was that they lacked the depth pieces to go on a long run. That is no longer the case, as several in their bottom six, most notably Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark, stepped up with great performances.
That said, the Oilers ultimately fell short of their goal once again and will need to further improve this summer as they look to win it all in 2025. Here are a few upgrades they should look to make to help with just that.
Scoring winger to spread offence
One area of frustration for Oilers fans during this playoff run was the lack of one more legitimate top-six winger to help balance the top two lines. For the majority of the postseason, the first line consisted of Connor McDavid down the middle, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman played on the wings.
As good as that line was, it left Leon Draisaitl on a bit of an island, as the Oilers rotated several players alongside him such as Dylan Holloway, Warren Foegele, Evander Kane, Corey Perry, and Ryan McLeod. Having at least one more consistent forward they can be confident throwing out with Draisaitl each game would result in plenty less headaches for head coach Kris Knoblauch.
Top-four right-shot defenceman
The Oilers pushed hard to improve the right side of their blue line ahead of the trade deadline, with their main target being Chris Tanev. Tanev instead went to the Dallas Stars, and the Oilers were unable to follow up with any sort of backup plan.
That turned out to be an issue for the Oilers, as outside of Evan Bouchard, their right-handed defencemen (Cody Ceci and Vincent Desharnais) really struggled in the playoffs. Those struggles even resulted in Brett Kulak and Philip Broberg sometimes being forced to play on their offsides, which is something that needs to be addressed this summer.
Goaltending improvement
Before the outrage comes, let’s immediately say this is not a shot at Stuart Skinner, who proved himself as a true number-one goalie in this year’s playoffs. Instead, it’s referring to going out and signing a capable backup who can step in and take over the number one position in case of emergency.
By all accounts, Calvin Pickard had himself a good season. The 32-year-old did everything asked of him and even picked up a huge win in Game 4 versus the Vancouver Canucks. That said, he had combined for just 18 NHL appearances over the previous five seasons. While he certainly deserves a ton of credit for the year he had, there are better options available.
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