Heading into the offseason, Edmonton Oilers general manager Stan Bowman had a number of important tasks he needed to accomplish. The team has been good enough to make it to two straight Stanley Cup finals but not good enough to win, so he needed to improve the roster.
He needed to do this while juggling the difficult cap situation that having multiple star players up for contract extensions poses. So far, he has been able to pull this off with Leon Draisaitl’s contract kicking in and defenseman Evan Bouchard re-upping for a four year term.
In order to do that, he needed to shed salary which made the first part even more difficult because he had to trade established players and try to add a few that are unproven. He did this through a few savvy free agent signings, and making a big trade that many felt was a big win for the Oilers.
As of right now, the club has a few hundred thousand in available cap room heading into next season (via puckpedia.com). Keeping these hurdles in mind, these are three moves by the Oilers GM that stand out in his first full summer at the helm.
Acquisition of Ike Howard
In retrospect, acquiring Ike Howard could be the best move the Oilers made this summer, one year from now. The club sent their 2024 First Round pick Sam O’Reilly to the Tampa Bay Lightning for their 2022 First Round pick, Ike Howard.
It was reported that Howard was unwilling to sign an entry-level contract (ELC) with the Lightning, which was a dangerous threat since he would be an unrestricted free agent (UFA) eligible to sign wherever he chose. We have seen a slew of NCAA players leveraging this more and more in recent years.
This past year, Howard won the Hobey Baker award as the best player in the NCAA. The 21 year old destroyed the collegiate ranks, scoring 26 goals and 52 points through 37 games with Michigan State University. He fits a need for the club this year and is cost controlled, under an entry-level contract (ELC) for the next three years. This could allow the Oilers the opportunity to have affordable scoring depth for multiple years through a crucial contention window in the McDavid era.
This was a good piece of business by Bowman who was able to take advantage of the situation and acquire a player who can step directly into their NHL lineup and should be an effective scoring winger for this year and beyond.
Signing Andrew Mangiapane
Andrew Mangiapane was a standout middle-six player a few hours down highway 2 with the Oilers provincial rivals, the Calgary Flames for years. After being moved to the Washington Capitals last year, he struggled mightily and found himself needing to take a short term prove-it deal with the Oilers.
Before last season, he averaged just over 40 points per season each of the previous four years. At 29 years old and without a major injury, it is unlikely that his scoring magically fell off a cliff, so he is poised for a good bounce back.
In a summer where many people were seeing their contract values inflated due to the rising cap, Mangiapane took a paycut and is only making $3.6 million per year for the next two seasons. It is a good signing by Bowman and has the potential to pay dividends if he can be put in the right position to succeed.
Trading Evander Kane
By far the most inflated contract on the Oilers books — aside from Darnell Nurse — was that of winger Evander Kane. Kane was due to count $5.125 million against the cap this upcoming year. He has suffered major injuries and has struggled to stay healthy in recent years and as such played only 161 out of a possible 289 regular season games as a member of the Oilers.
That is why the Oilers dealing him to the Vancouver Canucks for a Fourth Round pick in 2025 was a good idea. It freed up cap, allowed the team to add to their prospect pool, and allowed them to reallocate that cap space to other players, notably the extension of Evan Bouchard.
At his best, Kane is a productive power forward, hovering around a 50-point pace throughout his career. Though he has found himself marred in controversy at times, he has been a well regarded player for his on-ice abilities. However in Edmonton, he has seen his regular season production dip each year and his postseason numbers have not been where they should be.
So far, it has been a good summer for GM Stan Bowman and the Oilers. Hopefully, the good summer can pay off come the 2026 playoff run and the city of Edmonton can finally hoise Lord Stanley's cup once again.