The Edmonton Oilers are struggling to keep the puck out of their net.
Edmonton has allowed 3.33 goals per game this season, seventh worse in the NHL. Since returning from the Olympic break last week, the Oilers have allowed 12 goals over three games, dropping two of those contests.
Conversely, thanks to stars Connor McDavid (35 goals) and Leon Draisaitl (31 goals), the Oilers have scored 3.52 goals per game this season, third best in the NHL behind the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Edmonton’s contrasting play has them sitting third in the Pacific Division with a 29-24-8 record, just one point better than the Seattle Kraken, who have two games in hand.
And general manager Stan Bowman admits the team defensive issues are a problem.
“We haven’t played well defensively as a team. I think it’s a number of factors, all of them contributing,” Bowman told the media during an availability on Monday. “It’s goaltending, defence, and forwards. I think the biggest challenge for our group is we don’t put ourselves in a great spot often in games.
“We score a ton of goals, and I think that’s great. If you think back to the early part of our season, we weren’t scoring a lot, I think. So we’ve swung the pendulum probably too far one way, where we’re pushing to try to make things happen. And in the process of doing that, we put ourselves in really bad spots. I think until we learn as a team to be smarter about the way we approach the games, we’re going to see a lot of highs and lows to where we look great some nights, we’re scoring a lot of goals, and other nights we’re giving up a ton of chances and putting our defence and our goalie in bad spots. And I think that’s got to change. That’s more of a mentality shift for our group to understand what a winning brand of hockey is. I think we see it in spurts this year, but I don’t think we see it nearly consistent enough.”
Bowman attempted to fix their goaltending issues in mid-December by sending goalie Stuart Skinner, defenceman Brett Kulak and a 2029 second-round draft pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Tristan Jarry and forward Samuel Poulin.
Skinner was the starting goalie for Edmonton during their runs to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the past two seasons, but struggled during the early portion of the 2025-26.
Jarry has dealt with injuries during his time as a member of the Oilers, posting an 3.85 goals-against average and a .864 save percentage over 12 games.
Connor Ingram and Calvin Pickard have each recorded 16 appearances in net for the Oilers this season.
Bowman said it’s going to take a collective effort within to fix the defensive issues, rather than picking up “magical new players” ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.
“We want to put on a show and we want to score goals. And I think we all love scoring goals. But there’s two sides to it. And I think we haven’t managed that very well as a team. So yes, there’s lots of details underneath that as far as players need to play better,” he said. “No question, both forwards, defence, and goalies. I think the bigger way to fix that, it’s not going to be magical new players. It’s going to be the approach that we take as a team, understanding that going through a whole period without getting a lot of scoring chances is okay if you don’t give up a lot. And I think that’s what happens in playoff hockey.”
Despite having limited cap space, Bowman is hopeful they’ll be able to add a “player or two” ahead of the trade deadline.
“Certainly adding a player or two is something we’re looking for and I think it can be helpful, but it’s not like it’s going to completely change the fortunes of our team,” Bowman explained.
“We’ve got a lot of really good players here and It’s that commitment from our group to playing smarter hockey, winning hockey, I think is going to probably pay the biggest dividends.”
The Oilers host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
UPDATE
Following the news conference, Bowman made a trade, picking up defenceman Connor Murphy from the Chicago Blackhawks
Murphy, 32, has four goals and 13 points in 60 games with the Blackhawks this season while averaging 16:34 of ice time.
The 6-foot-4, right-shot defenceman is in the final season of a four-year, $17.6 million contract that carries a cap hit of $4.4 million. He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
