Winning a Stanley Cup has proved elusive for the Edmonton Oilers so far during the primes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Edmonton lost back-to-back Cup Finals to the Florida Panthers in 2024 and 2025, and capped off an inconsistent 93-point regular season with a first-round loss to the Anaheim Ducks this spring.
McDavid was candid after the loss, calling the Oilers “average”.
“We’ve been searching for consistency all year and obviously we didn’t find it here in the playoffs,” McDavid said. “It’s tough. We were an average team all year; an average team with high expectations, you’re going to be disappointed. We just never found it.”
The urgency to win a Stanley Cup has been sky-high since Stan Bowman took over as general manager two summers ago. McDavid is signed through the 2027-28 season and has been adamant about playing for a winner. With that goal in mind, Bowman took his biggest swing yet since taking the helm.
The Oilers parted ways with head coach Kris Knoblauch despite a .624 win percentage and two Cup Finals in just two and a half seasons. In comes Mike Babcock, who many thought may have been done coaching in the NHL after an acrimonious and remarkably brief tenure with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
But Babcock’s hire came with the backing of the Oilers’ stars, who vowed they wanted to be pushed in pursuit of their ultimate goal.
“Leon, Connor, and Zach Hyman, and the rest of this leadership want to get better. And that’s what they’ve asked of me. And they’ve told me, we have to be better, and we expect you to make us better. And I said, well, that’s great to talk about in June. When camp starts and you’re making a guy do things he might not be so happy. And they said no, that’s not how it’s going to be,” Babcock said at his introductory news conference on June 23.
“We’re all committed, all in on winning. And, obviously in that time period we had gone through enough things and talked about enough things that they felt comfortable enough with the process, or I wouldn’t be here. I was very clear to them unless you’re 100 per cent all in on Mike Babcock, I have no interest in being the coach.”
The move to officially hire Babcock came just a few days after he was cleared in an NHL investigation requested by the NHL Players’ Association relating to his time with the Blue Jackets three years ago. Babcock was hired in July of 2023 but resigned before the season started after a report from the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast indicated he had asked players to share personal photos from their mobile devices.
Joining Babcock behind the bench in Edmonton will be associate coach D.J. Smith. The 49-year-old Smith guided the Los Angeles Kings on an interim basis last season and worked under Babcock with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2015 to 2019.
There were changes on the ice, too.
Darnell Nurse’s tenure with the Oilers ended after 12 seasons. Nurse requested a trade in June, telling TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger he was ready for a change. The 31-year-old got his wish less than a month later when the San Jose Sharks acquired him for defencemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zack Sharp. Nurse has four years remaining on the eight-year, $74 million deal that pays him $9.25 million per season.
“We’re certainly trading away a very good player in Darnell who ate up a lot of minutes,” Bowman said on July 1. “We’ve got two defencemen now coming in that are going to be able to bring different elements to the table, but I think all in all it’s going to be a big boost for our defence.”
The Oilers’ biggest free agent splash was defenceman Ryan Shea on a five-year, $20 million deal, who enjoyed a breakout season last year with the Pittsburgh Penguins. After playing only 70 games combined through his first two NHL seasons, Shea had six goals and 35 points in 80 games last season to finish second in scoring last season among Pens’ blueliners.
The Oilers also extended trade deadline pickups Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson on nearly equal five-year deals, giving Babcock more proven veterans to work with. Edmonton shipped their first-round pick to the Sharks ahead of the 2025 trade deadline, leaving them without much from the 2026 Draft in the way of prospects who could make an impact at the NHL level next season.
Also arriving is goaltender Frederik Andersen on a one-year, $2.8 million deal. Four different netminders saw significant time last season for Edmonton – Connor Ingram (32 games), Stuart Skinner (23 games), Tristan Jarry (19 games) and Calvin Pickard (16 games) – but the results were pedestrian. The Oilers finished 25th in goals-against average (3.23) and tied for 29th in save percentage (.883). They also allowed the eighth-most goals (265) in the league last season.
The Oilers project to go into the season with Andersen, Jarry and Devon Levi in net as Skinner was dealt to the Penguins in exchange for Jarry and Ingram is currently a free agent. Levi was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres after spending the entirety of 2025-26 in the AHL.
Bowman said during an appearance on TSN in one of Canada’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup games last week he was happy with where the Oilers were at heading into the season and added that he did not expect any significant additions before training camp.
Signings
- D Connor Murphy: Five years, $20.5M - $4.10AAV
- F Jason Dickinson: Five years, $20M - $4M AAV
- D Ryan Shea: Five years, $20M - $4M AAV
- F Colton Dach: One year, $3.6M
- G Frederik Andersen: One year, $2.8M
- F Kasperi Kapanen: One year, $2.6M
- D Shakir Mukhamadullin: Two years, $3.5M - $1.75M AAV
- F Mathieu Joseph: One year, $1M
- D Spencer Stastney: One year, $1.52M
- F Owen Michaels: Two years, $1.8M - $900K AAV
- F Max Jones: One year, $850K
- F Eduards Tralmaks: One year, $850K (two-way)
Trades
Acquired D Shakir Mukhamadullin and D Zack Sharp from Sharks for D Darnell Nurse
Acquired G Devon Levi and 2028 7th-round pick from Sabres for 2028 3rd-round pick
