The Edmonton Oilers, like many of the NHL’s elite teams, approached this past offseason with one goal in mind, or two, really. For one, they needed to find a way to remain atop the Western Conference, but they also needed to find a way to ultimately outmuscle, outlast, and outplay the Florida Panthers.
Edmonton didn’t win the Stanley Cup last season, but wow, you can’t deny they didn’t go down easily, even if it looked that way for a few games. After losing four games to three, however, it meant they were closer than closer, so long as they made enough moves to stay ahead of the pack in the West and improve their team enough so they could beat Florida.
A few moves I was happy to see, such as trading away Ryan McLeod for Matt Savoie - and trust me, Savoie is going to be a very, very good player in Edmonton. In Buffalo, I thought he’d be a top-six player, but he could get away, perhaps as early as this season, with being a complementary scorer in Edmonton with stars like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl taking the spotlight.
But hey, speaking of Draisaitl, he’s in town for a while now. And you know what this creates for Edmonton? Stability, because you know Connor McDavid will be getting his payday at some point as well once the 2024-25 season ends, perhaps around this time next year.
Edmonton Oilers did a lot to keep pace with the NHL’s best teams for 2024-25
They also kept players like Evander Kane and Adam Henrique around, both of whom are great complementary talents. Further, bringing in Jeff Skinner after the Sabres bought out his contract is a potential steal, and Viktor Arvidsson, assuming he stays healthy, is another step in stacking what was already an elite hockey team.
Losing Warren Foegele was a bummer, but still, they made up for it with their signings and acquisitions. I was also happy to see them move Cody Ceci, and doing so could create an even better blue line. Add in the goaltending tandem of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, and you have one solid team in Edmonton.
Overall, the Oilers are deep, and while anything can happen this season, they, on paper, look like an even better hockey team now than what they were in the 2024 playoffs. That says a lot about where this team could be headed, and if you’re a fan, you have every reason to be optimistic for the upcoming 2024-25 campaign and beyond, because they should make perennial deep playoff runs.