Busy Offseason Ahead in Edmonton

The 2021-22 season did not go as planned for the Edmonton Oilers. After giving up a healthy amount of future assets, the season came to crashing halt in game 7 of the opening round. The Oilers of course would not be the last team to be surprised by the rabid Coyotes, as they went all the way to the RHL finals.

That fact does not bring much comfort to GM OilCountry. Many great young assets and draft picks were given up for the run. Some of those assets were really promising like Nicolas Roy and Mackie Samoskevich. So it would be an understatement to say the team expected to go further than the 1st round. The common question after was “what went wrong?” The answer could be complicated or as simple as they ran into a better squad. The more complicated according to some Edmonton pundits is the top line wasn’t good enough. Simply put, the offense did not show up. It didn’t show up in the beginning, middle, or crunch time of games. Many are laying blame on Evander Kane, saying he didn’t try hard enough due to salary being paid up to the playoffs.

The offseason comes with its own host of problems. The team is in cap hell, in negative finances, and is about to open up the wallet to two young breakout stars in Jusse Saros and Jordan Kyrou. Players likely on their way out are Jeff Petry, Brayden McNabb, and Evan Rodrigues. Then comes the expansion draft which should mean possibly losing another valuable signed player. Suffice to say there are many administrative tasks to be done before focusing on the 2022-23 roster.

If the offense problem was on display in the brief playoffs, how was the defense? Well it was definitely significantly better, but a lot of that rode on Jake Muzzin, Alec Martinez, Jeff Petry, and Brayden McNabb – all of who will not be available in one form or another to the Oilers this upcoming season. This leaves some major holes to fill on the backend going into the offseason. As of right now the Oilers only have 3 viable top 6 defensemen in Shea Theodore, Zach Whitecloud, and Justin Holl.

A lot of signs are thus pointing to a retooling year in Edmonton. After mortgaging a fair amount of future last season, the team is looking to hold on to the remaining blue chip prospects Cole Sillinger, Lukas Reichel, Olen Zellweger, Shai Buium, Sam Fagemo, Brandon Coe, and Karel Vejmelka. In the draft the team currently holds Detroit’s 2nd and St Louis’ 3rd, both solid picks that should bring in two more promising players. This will also be a key year for Grigori Denisenko, who is looking to finally break out in the NHL.

Expect the team to be busy as trading opens. Key veterans like David Perron, Tomas Hertl, Alex Killorn, and Tom Wilson should all be in play on the trade market. Once one or two of those pieces are moved, it should be established that the front office is back to looking more towards the future, where it’s looking slightly brighter than it is in the present.