Let's take a look at what Bowman has done so far to the roster:
June 25
Oilers trade Evander Kane to the Vancouver Canucks for a fourth round pick in this year's draft. This increased the Oilers pick count to four from three. Although Bowman could've gotten more for Evander Kane than just a fourth round pick, he was more interested in the salary cap savings then the return of Kane, and because the player had a NTC he had to do him a favour and send him to his hometown Vancouver Canucks.
When healthy, Kane is one of the NHL's best power forwards and pests. But, 'when healthy' is the key. Although Kane has put up good numbers the last 3.5 seasons he's spent with the Oilers he's also suffered multiple major injures that have kept him out of the lineup for long stretches of time, including all of this past regular season, and, at the age of 33, power forwards usually slow down or drop off the map rather than get better.
Only time will tell whether this plays out or not. The Oilers fortunately didn't have to do any salary retention on his $5.125 million cap hit, so it seems both teams got what they wanted out of this deal.
A good omen for the Oilers is that 80 percent of Canucks fans reacted negatively to the trade. I'm sure the Oilers would've loved to have kept Kane but he just became a luxury they couldn't afford.
Kane himself is excited to be there as he'll be much closer to family and his kids can spend more time with their grandparents. Kane is currently slated to play on the Canucks second line with Filip Chytil and Conor Garland.
There were also rumours of Kane being a locker room cancer with the Oilers but there were never any specifics attached to that and later reports ruled that out, making Edmonton the first stop Kane has been in where he hasn't been a cause of locker room conflict.
Canucks fans seem to hate the move so much that Kane was actually attacked outside of a Vancouver bar, though it was confirmed that Kane did not instigate the incident. Let's hope that's an abberation in his hometown experience.
Oilers re-up Trent Frederic - Essentially the replacement for the aforementioned Kane, he has a reputation for producing secondary levels of offence as well as physical play and pestilence. We didn't see much of him in an Oilers uniform in the regular season after he was acquired at the trade deadline from Boston but he played 22 playoff games for the Oilers, producing 1-3-4 in 22 games.
Bowman liked him so much he signed him to an eight years $30.8 million, $3.85 million. It's rare to see a bottom six forward get this much term or cap hit, but he does save us $1.275 million off Kane's cap hit and is six years younger. Bowman says this player type is rare hence the term and cap hit. Let's hope he's right as Frederic is slated for third line center to start the season.
June 28 - Oilers trade their 2026 fifth round pick to Nashville in exchange for the Predator's fifth round pick in this year's draft. This was the final transaction prior to the draft and gave the Oilers a total of five picks in the 2025 NHL entry draft.
June 30
Oilers re-up Noah Philp - Multiple moves made today so the formatting looks a bit different. Anyway, Philp is widely recognized at this point as the incumbent fourth line center, but there will be other candidates vying for it during training camp. We'll have to see what happens. Only one year at $775,000 so at least he's got a good cap hit.
Oilers re-up Kasperi Kapanen - It remains to be seen what role Kapanen will play with the Oilers this year, I personally say extra forward - more on that in another blog to come. Kapanen brings speed and secondary offense to the table, but the knock on him has always been his inconsistency, which is why IMO he's best suited as the extra forward.
That will mitigate his consistency issues. He was picked up on waivers from the Blues last season after the Oilers ran into injury issues and needed some help at forward. One year, $1.3 million. Perhaps a tad much, but considering Kapanen did do some spells in the top six forward group and didn't look out of place perhaps it's not so bad.
At any rate, it's far from a boat anchor contract. His defense cratered in the regular season as he fell to a -16, but got back in everyone's good graces in the playoffs as he put up 3-3-6 in the 12 games he played as he was in and out of the lineup all playoffs long, but one of the those goals included the OT winner against Vegas in the second round.
Oilers re-up Evan Bouchard - $42 million over four years, $10.5 million AAV. We knew Bouchard was going to get his bag as one of the 10-15 best blueliners in the league, but we can also thank the Carolina Hurricanes as they were hot on his heels and willing to give him an offer sheet should be become available.
The Hurricanes would then pivot to signing ex-Ranger K'Andre Miller in free agency once the Oilers beat them to the punch. Apparently according to Bowman's post-July 1 free agency press conference, Bouchard's agent made it clear that a max-term contract was off the table, likely because Bouchard, much like a lot of high end NHL talent, can now see that the cap is set to balloon hardcore over the next couple of season and wanted to ensure they could get a bigger bag over their career.
I suspect we'll see shorter term contracts from Connor Mcdavid and other big free agents for the same reason, so Bouchard is just the first of many. Bouchard put up 14-53-67 and a +14 in the regular season, following that up in the playoffs with 7-16-23 in 22 games - and believe it or not, all of those numbers are a regression from last season, but I doubt anyone is complaining.
This was a core player that we really needed to get signed and fortunately Bowman suceeded in keeping him in the fold. I don't know about you but I'd take four more years of Bouch bombs any day. Fun fact - Bouchard was the Oilers only RFA at the NHL level, all the other RFAs were prospects. This was about the number we expected. It's nice to have it done.
July 1
Oilers trade Viktor Arvidsson to the Boston Bruins for a 2027 fifth round pick - this was a trade we all saw coming. Not only did the Oilers need the cap space for other players, but the player was dissatisifed with a dimished role last season and the Oilers were dissatisfied with Arvidsson falling short of expectations, so both parties needed to part ways with each other.
Arvidsson was signed with a NMC but he didn't hesitate to waive it once the Oilers made it clear they needed cap space. Just like with Kane, Bowman could've easily gotten more in trade for Arvidsson considering his upside, but again he was more interested in the cap savings. Ultimately both sides got what they wanted in this deal.
Oilers sign Riley Stillman - Depth blueliner for the farm so not much to see here. Two years, $1.55 million, $775,000 AAV.
Oilers sign Matt Tomkins - The Oilers saw a lot of goalies in their system leave as Olivier Rodrigue, Ryan Fanti, and last year's third stringer Colin Delia all walked in free agency. This was Bowman signing a new #3 and incumbent starter on the Condors but let's be honest - it's a good time to be a goalie in the Oilers system as there's been so much movement we can consider playing time fluid for those who are left.
Tomkins is the oldest and most experienced but the Oilers don't have a Yaroslav Askarov that's poised to make it to the bigs full time, so the Condors guys between the pipes will be a true meritocracy this year as beyond Pickard and Skinner every other spot is up for grabs.
Oilers sign Andrew Mangiapane - Two years, $7.2 million, $3.6 million AAV. Mangiapane's game is one of hands that are capable of putting up 15-20 goals a season with some physicality and pestilence thrown in. Consider Mangiapane to be Corey Perry's replacement essentially. I expect him to at least start on the second line with Draisaitl but others see the lines differently.
His contract comes with a full NTC in year one and a five team trade list in year two. He spent last year in Washington with the Capitals and underperformed in the playoffs which perhaps explains why the Oilers were able to get a potential top six forward at a cheaper rate. Hopefully that year in Washington washed the Flames stink off of him. :)
July 2 - Oilers sign Curtis Lazar to a one year $775,000 deal. Lazar is familiar to many Oilers fans as a guy who played his junior hockey here with the Oil Kings. He hasn't fulfilled the first round pedigree he generated when the Ottawa Senators drafted him in the first round in 2013, but he's managed to carve out a role for himself as a bottom six forward.
I expect him to start the season on the fourth line but he could just as easily be waived to Bakersfield. I suspect he'll be looked upon to replace Connor Brown in the bottom six next season.
July 9 - Oilers trade Sam O'Reilly to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Isaac Howard. It's always risky trading away prospects for each other but from the sounds of it Stan Bowman pounced on a situation that was simply too irresistible to him as he essentially traded away a player who won't be NHL ready for at least two years in exchange for a guy with a higher ceiling who is NHL ready now, or so the story goes.
As I hear from word on the street, Howard is said to be NHL ready now due to the fact that he put up 26 goals and 52 points in 37 games with a +19 for MIchigan State University in the US College system. He wanted to join the Lightning next season but the Lightning essentially told him they didn't have the cap space to play him on the Lightning next season and wanted him to join their AHL team while they found space in the cap for his inevitable bonus clauses.
However, Howard disagreed with that decision and thus refused to sign an ELC with the Lightning. This then put Lightning GM Julien BriseBois under the gun because he had a very limited window to sign Howard or risk losing him in free agency.
The Oilers, who needed to get younger next season, saw an opportunity and pounced. They didn't want to give up Sam O'Reilly as he was their best prospect in the system and was just drafted last season, but you have to give up something if you want to get something.
The consensus on O'Reilly is he's a future third line center so trading him for a top six winger with upside who is ready now makes sense on paper. However, with prospects you just never know - this could just as easily blow up in Bowman's face if Howard falters and O'Reilly shines in Tampa.
But, the buzz around Howard is he's a Calder trophy candidate for next season as rookie of the year, he's that good. This is the one NHL trophy no Oiler has ever won, so if Howard does win he'll be the first in franchise history.
Obvious candidates like Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier were ineligible as they'd already played pro in the WHA the season before, while other high end draft picks like Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Grant Fuhr, Paul Coffey, Andy Moog, Jason Arnott, Ryan Smyth, or Ales Hemsky all either got votes or were nominated but never won. On paper this is a win for the Oilers, so we'll see what happens next season.