The 2026 NHL Draft is over. The Carolina Hurricanes are the 2026 Stanley Cup champions, meaning we are now firmly into the offseason, even though the Edmonton Oilers season ended over a month ago.
Oilers general manager Stan Bowman has been busy between firing head coach Kris Knoblauch and making major promotions within their front office. However, the work is far from over with the 2026 NHL Draft and free agency still to commence in the coming weeks, there are tough decisions that must be made.
Looking back, there are moves that Bowman has already made that he would likely want a mulligan on and for Oilers fans' sake, they better hope he has learned from his past mistakes.
Trent Frederic extension
When Bowman acquired Trent Frederic at the 2025 trade deadline, it made some sense. Although he was in the midst of a down season having scored only 15 points, he had reached 40 and 31 in the previous two years, respectively. Then, after just one regular season game as an Oiler and a mediocre Stanley Cup run where he scored four points in 22 games, Bowman locked him up to an eight-year contract worth $3.85 million per season. Now, through 75 combined regular season games played Frederic has recorded seven points in total.
Frederic is only 28 years old and if the Oilers can help him find his game and he can fit a role as a middle-six powerforward who can chip in secondary scoring, his deal will be fine. If they can't? It is a contract that will be a bit of a boat anchor for the next seven seasons.
Tristan Jarry trade
Entering the 2025-26 season, the Oilers made no changes to their goaltending tandem of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard. As many assumed, this did not work and just two months into the season as the Oilers could not hold onto a playoff spot, they were forced to make changes. This prompted the Oilers to acquire Tristan Jarry from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Skinner, defenceman Brett Kulak and a 2029 second round pick.
This trade would soon backfire with Jarry getting injured just three games into his Oilers tenure, something that should have been a sign. After his return, he would form the new tandem alongside Connor Ingram but quickly lose his spot as the presumptive starting goalie. Now, after just 19 games with the Oilers, Jarry has an abysmal .858 save percentage and 3.86 goals against average, with a 9-6-2 record.
Entering the 2026-27 season, Jarry has two years remaining on his five-year contract paying him $5.375 million per season. It seems like the Oilers may be stuck with this albatross contract on their books.
Andrew Mangiapane signing
The Oilers lost many players to trades and free agency in the 2025 offseason as they were forced to cut their payroll after signing their core players to massive extensions with Evan Bouchard needing a new deal and with Leon Draisaitl and his contract coming up. cap crunch forced Bowman to go bargain bin shopping and try to add supplemental offence in a player who might fit alongside their stars. That player was Andrew Mangiapane and he signed a two-year contract with an annual average value of $3.6 million.
In theory, it made a lot of sense. Mangiapane had played his best years just three hours south of the Oilers with their bitter rivals, the Calgary Flames. There, he posted career highs with 55 points (35 goals, 20 assists) in 82 games and with multiple other seasons at 40 points or above. Even in the pandemic shortened 2020-21 season, Mangiapane scored 18 goals and 14 assists for 32 points in just 56 games, putting him on pace for 46 points over a full season.
In practice, Mangiapane struggled to produce and was quickly relegated to a bottom-six role and was even a healthy scratch at points under now fired head coach Kris Knoblauch. He played 52 games with the Oilers scoring seven goals and seven assists for 14 points, averaging 12:36 a night. He was shipped off to the Chicago Blackhawks at the trade deadline, included in the package for newly signed Oilers shutdown centre, Jason Dickinson.
It is clear that whatever is Bowman's current process, needs to be tweaked. The team has made some hopeful adjustments with a major change behind the bench and some front office moves. We can only hope that these will be enough to change the outlook of the Oilers' franchise.
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